By the time they reached home, Smore was no longer somnolent. He carried his little backpack and started on completing his first homework: an arts-and-craft project.Arianne snuck up to him and cast a question, “What did the teacher teach you today, Son?”Smore pouted in disdain. “Nothing! All she did was busy herself pleading those babies to just stop crying already—it’s just soooo annoying! And then she wanted me to play with them, too! Urgh, as if I wanna! Those babies should go home and go back to drinking their mommy’s milk!”Arianne paused before replying, “Hey, hey, hey! Hold on a minute, young man. You grew up being breastfed too, you know? How can you look at your peers this way? It’s normal for young kids your age to be attached to their parents. Just because you’re different doesn’t mean you have the right to hate them for it, ok?”Smore shot a side-eye leer at Arianne’s bosom and declared, “I don’t believe you. There’s no way you’ve got milk in there.”First, Arianne w
The woman’s harangue left the teacher’s face completely flushed. For a moment, the poor teacher stammered as words failed her.Arianne drew a sharp breath. “Excuse me, ma’am, but what you’ve accused just now was pure slander. Look, they are kids about two- or three-years-old; they got into a bit of a scuffle, but there's still nothing a mutual cooperation between parents cannot achieve, right? You putting on this overdramatic attitude is a bit excessive, ma’am. Sure, I’ll be mad if my son was the one being hit too, but what’s done is done. The only thing left for us to do is to get together calmly and solve this together; a verbiage just isn’t helpful.”“Yes, Mrs. Tremont has got a point,” the teacher quickly piggybacked on Arianne’s rejoinder. “Especially when it really isn’t as serious as you’re making it out to be, ma’am. Just a bit of a nosebleed, honestly. If the medical check-up revealed nothing serious, then I think some medical compensation as well as a private talk with your
Arianne was starting to see red. Smore’s worldview was a little too awry for her liking. “Aristotle Tremont, what is the meaning of this? A toy can be shared with everyone; whether anyone can play with it or not shouldn’t have anything to do with how rich they are! Also, you started hitting people first, young man, and that makes you firmly in the wrong. If someone else started this, I wouldn’t have asked you to suck that up, but this isn’t the case now, is it? You hit someone first—and that makes you wrong, period!” she chided. “You know what I’m getting from you? I’m seeing a brat who’s so spared by the rod he’s turned spoilt. Just you wait; that will be rectified tonight!”Tiffany quickly moved in and yanked her friend’s shoulder. “Whoa, whoaaa! Ari, chill! Smore was only trying to help my son because they are homies; ya know that, right? Now turn that frown upside down and y’all talk about this calmly when y’all go home, okay? No smacking,” she said appealingly. “I know you’re sup
The commotion was sonorous enough that it attracted a doctor and a few nurses, but not one of them succeeded in de-escalation. The man was simply too drunk with the reciprocal, an-eye-for-an-eye justice that he ceased considering anything else.“If you want to slap someone so badly, then slap me! If you’ve got the balls to do that, then come on, show me what you got!” Arianne snapped at the man as her patience ended in distress. “But this better be the end of this stupid feud between the kids, you hear? Once you hit me, anything that comes afterward is strictly between us adults!”Tiffany swooped in and shielded Arianne. “What in actual hell! You trippin’, girl?! This guy you’re waving your red cloth at has the stature of a buffalo, for God’s sake! He can literally slap the living daylight out of you! Listen, hon, be patient; Jackson’s on the way. I’ve called him just now!”Meanwhile, Smore—who had lived three years without bending to anyone’s will—reacted to the threat hanging over
That single over-the-shoulder throw seemed to have thrown the father’s bravado out of his skull. He laid on the ground, stunned for a few seconds, before scrambling to his feet. “You… You f**king cheated! You snuck on me!”Jackson flicked a loose strand of his bangs away from his forehead, nonchalant. “Meh, you were just slow. You’re welcome to try pointing at me again if you don’t believe me. Personally? I maintain it’s best to talk this out, but hey, if you want a tussle, who am I to deny ya’? Honestly, Jackson West has never lost to anyone in a fight.”Jackson… West? A strange, foggy sense of familiarity surfaced in the father’s mind. He seized onto the vagueness and tried to conjure more details, but regrettably, the man turned out to have a skull several times too large for his brain. “Pahhh, you can be Jackie East or North or whatever for all I care! I can point at you however I want, man; what’re you gonna do about that?! It’s not like I’m desperate enough to be seduced by you
One of the few things in life that lit up Arianne’s fuse was seeing a man hit a woman. The very act of it stung her eyes and carved a frown on her face. “We’ll pay for your son’s medical bills, and that’s our last word on the matter. Excuse us, we’re not interested in your family’s internal debacle—and really, those things belong to the confines of your house, don’t you think? To bring it out on the streets like that—God, it’s just so embarrassing! Honestly, if we’re being strictly objective here, then everyone’s got fault in this. All of us need to go home and teach our children proper manners.”Unfortunately, Arianne’s plan was thwarted the moment they returned home—Smore had sprinted up the stairs to his room before bolting it shut from the inside. Arianne rapped on the door for a good few minutes, but the brat refused to answer. “Go away, Mom! I know you’re gonna beat me up. I’m not stupid enough to open the door!”Arianne could feel her hair bursting into flames of rage. This li
Arianne nodded. “The menu, please. Pass it to me.”The waitress asked offhandedly, “You’re here alone, hmm?”Arianne paused for a second. Honestly, she had always wanted to bring Mark along, but she never found the chance… And of course, they just had that blasted quarrel that weighed her heart down now that she remembered it. “Yeah… I guess I’ll be dining alone tonight. Simple dishes should suffice for someone who’s eating alone.”After picking her dishes, she asked casually, “So, is your boss around? Ever since the restaurant’s opening, he always seems to be around, huh? But he’s not around right now though… Why is that?”“He’s gone out around this afternoon,” the waitress answered with a smile. “Not sure if he’s gonna return at night, but if you’re looking for him right now, you could probably give him a ring.”Arianne flashed her a smile. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just asking. Anyway, don’t let me keep you.”Service was fast; her awaited dishes were laid before her very soon.
Arianne sampled every single dish on the table. “No, honestly, I think they are all very good! Really, I’m not the type to lie if I can help it,” she remarked. “Your restaurant’s business is just… booming, man. Which is kinda surprising, don’t you think? Considering your family’s main venture is something else, wouldn’t your family have a bit of an opinion about you directing your focus into your restaurant?”Mateo's eyes cast down to the floor and shook his head. “They’ve always been respectful of my life choices. Anything I want to do doesn’t face opposition from my family—under most circumstances, anyway. Of course, I can’t abandon the family business, either, so I guess after a while I won’t be able to watch my restaurant as often as I’d like.”Arianne nodded. “I agree. I wouldn’t want you to spend too much of your time and focus on a single eatery, too. Your family’s main business should be the right way forward—especially when this restaurant’s significance hardly matches the g