Once there was a tiny worm named Ro. Ro lived on a beautiful plant with his worm friends. It was a one-sided friendship because only Ro considered the worms his friends. The worms always humiliated Ro for his super-tiny body and imperfect looks.

The worms wanted to kick Ro off the plant because they didn’t want an ugly worm staying with them. In the worm world, a plant with even one ugly worm was looked down upon, so everyone was ashamed to be sharing the plant with Ro.

From dominating Ro,  scolding him in front of 10 other insects, grouping against him, bullying him, shouting at him, criticizing him, and calling him names, the worms did everything to get rid of Ro.

You might have seen monsters in TV shows and movies, but in Ro’s life, his fellow worms were the most terrifying monsters ever! 

And, Ro, he just tolerated it all because he feared about not being able to survive without the worms. So he just took up all the humiliation from his so-called worm friends.

One day, a worm named Zu who lived with Ro visited another plant. When he went to the new plant, the worms over there showed off how amazing and beautiful each worm of their plant was. They just went on and on about the beauty and perfection of their plant.

On the way back home, Zu imagined the same things for his plant. He wanted his plant to be the most beautiful and perfect in the entire worm world. But with Ro staying there this dream could not be achieved.  

Right then, Zu decided to take over the task of kicking Ro out on himself. 

Until now, the worms had tried to hurt Ro only verbally but now Zu was ready to go that extra mile and hurt Ro physically. From the next day, he started coming up with cheap and disgusting ways to root out Ro from the plant. 

Ro understood that if he continued tolerating this humiliation he might die. While leaving the plant meant death, living on it meant the same. Now, it was do or die for him. Rather than replying or reacting back to Zu’s horrifying behavior, Ro decided to leave the plant.

After days of searching for a new plant to live on, Ro finally found a tiny plant that looked habitable. Even though it wasn’t as beautiful as the previous plant that he lived on, the plant had a good and welcoming vibe. 

With time, Ro started liking his new home. He would clean the dry leaves of the plant, dig in the soil, keep the predatory insects away and take the utmost care of it.

Slowly the tiny plant started growing and in less than two months it turned into a beautiful plant with numerous flowers and miniature fruits.

Ro would relish over the nutritious fruits & leaves of this beautiful plant. And, gradually the tiny, ugly and plain looking Ro transformed into the most good-looking worm of the worm world. 

The news of Ro’s and the plant’s beauty spread like wildfire in the worm world. Everyone wanted to witness this unbelievable transformation. 

The next day, Zu and all the worms who once criticized and bullied Ro went to meet him. They were mesmerized to see this new Ro. Everyone appreciated and buttered him. They even asked Ro if they could come over and start living with him. 

But Ro laughed and decently denied.

Today, Ro’s plant is open to take in any and every worm of the worm world. Be it ugly, beautiful, weak or strong; everyone is welcome there except Zu and his so called friends.

In life, we might also be surrounded with toxic people or environments and the best way to deal with both is to move away from them and focus on ourselves. 

In the story, while Zu’s energy was being spent on doing bad to Ro, Ro just moved away and spent all his energy on himself. This helped Ro become a better version of himself.