Chapter 13

Ryan seemed disgusted as he tugged on her shirt gently, chuckling. “Let me give you some advice while we’re at it. Not just any man out there can provide the life I gave you!”

Silvia found his expression extremely distasteful. He was basically telling her she couldn’t survive in this world without him. He suggested that it was best to stop her ‘tantrum’ and to stay in her lane; to stay as Mrs. Pierce.

His arrogance and false sense of superiority definitely stemmed from her obsession with him in the past. However, seeing and hearing all of this now just made her so furious that she began trembling; she even felt her vision blurring out for a second.

‘Does he think I’m that useless?’

‘I was a valedictorian back in university! I graduated with first honors as a Chinese Mandarin major! And I had been quite active in other school activities as the head of the art department within the student council!’

‘If I hadn’t married him, I would’ve been a bright young white-collar woman by now! I wouldn’t need to try so hard to build a resume like now!’

Naturally, she didn’t intend to complain about her past choices, as she never regretted choosing this path. However, that didn’t mean that he could ridicule or look down on her current situation.

‘Besides, does he think I married him because I was longing for a luxurious life? All I ever wanted was love.’

Suddenly, the school bells within the kindergarten rang, pulling her out from the sea of anger within her mind.

“So, you want to fight for custody?” She lifted her head and smirked, completely unafraid.

“Fine, then. I’d really like to see you try. I’d just like you to wonder if you’ve ever fulfilled your role as a father for the past three years? Need me to remind you how much you didn’t care about Autumn?”

“Do you really think you can win against me, her mother, who has been caring for her every single day?”

His expression turned cold. As he was about to respond, Silvia interrupted him nonchalantly.

“Sure, I admit that you can give Autumn a better life when it comes to money. But I don’t think you can give her any emotional support or happiness at all.”

“Since you’re clearly about to rekindle your relationship with your ex, you’d be too busy writing your love story. What makes you think you’d have the time or energy for Autumn?”

Ryan was quite angered that Silvia mentioned rekindling with Mariah once again. He had already explained that he never intended to do so, which was why he couldn’t understand why she was holding on to that false assumption.

“What is your problem?!” he hissed, not at all understanding the fact that his arrogance and awful temper was pushing her away even more.

Silvia wasn’t scared to face his anger head on. “Don’t celebrate just yet. Financial advantage isn’t enough to win custody over. I’ve asked my lawyer, and the court would likely favor the parent who can provide the child with an overall better life.”

At that moment, the woman felt like she could even represent herself in court if she just put her mind to it.

“I’ve been caring for my daughter her entire life, and you have almost no relationship with her. Besides, with your little lover around, how could you expect the court to let Autumn live with you?”

“Plus, you realize that the court would consider the child’s opinion when it comes to custody, right? What makes you think she’d take you up as an option?”

Having said all that, Silvia seemed pleased to see Ryan’s face twisting with rage. After that, she simply chose to ignore him and headed towards the kindergarten gates to wait for their daughter.

Behind her was a speechless man, clenching his teeth upon listening to every point she made.

‘Not only did she give me attitude, but she’s yelling at me too? Isn’t she enjoying this a bit too much?’

The moment Silvia got to the entrance, her daughter, Autumn was already hopping out with her little backpack. Having not seen her mother for an entire day, the little one was overjoyed to see Silvia. Autumn lunged towards Silvia and gave her mother a big hug.

“Mama, I missed you so much!” The little girl said as she rubbed her cheeks against Silvia’s thigh, which made Silvia slightly melancholic as well.

She bent down and hugged her daughter back, saying, “Mama missed you too.”

It was impossible for her to not miss her little girl, after all. Autumn was Silvia’s world and meant everything to her; she would give up her soul just for her daughter.

“Papa?”

Just as Silvia was getting up, holding Autumn’s hand to take her home, the little girl squealed in a high pitched voice.

Autumn’s surprised expression showed just how surprised and gleeful she was to see her father. She was more than happy to welcome the man, as he had never picked her up from school; not even once.

Her mother was the one who came picking her up every single time. Whenever Silvia was down with severe period cramps or any stomach problems, Ophelia, Greg or Nora would be the ones helping out.

Her father, Ryan, was the only one who never showed up.

In actuality, Autumn really wished for her father to come pick her up at times. She envied the other kids who were able to leave hand in hand with their fathers.

She had also learned a chant in class about fathers, and it went like, “Papa, Papa, he’s really cool! He’s strong and tough because he rules! His hands are rough to the touch! But he walks me to school!”

The little girl admitted that her father was indeed quite cool, since he never smiled much. It seemed he was strong and tough as well. Her mother mentioned that her father was very capable and earned lots of money.

It was wrong to say that his hands were rough, nor that he walked her to school. Based on her memories, Ryan had never held her hand after all.

She had previously asked her mother if her father could come pick her up just once, but her mother always said that he was busy with work and had no time to do so.

Silvia was always the one to accompany her to the playground during the weekends too, mainly because Ryan had to work overtime. He never did have free time for his family.

Hence, she was quite angry at her father and tried to annoy him by wearing nonsensical clothes earlier that morning. However, she didn’t expect him to not be affected in the slightest.

‘Hmph… So boring.’

Despite that, Autumn’s anger quickly subsided when he surprised her by coming to pick her up right now. ‘Maybe he really was busy back then and he really didn’t have time for me.”

Everything was simple in a child’s world. Although the adults had neglected them due to personal issues, the child rationalized the situation quickly and concluded that their parents genuinely didn't have enough time to accompany them.

Silvia glanced at her daughter's joyful expression, then turned around to see Ryan walking over to them. The woman furrowed her eyebrows and instinctively shielded her daughter with herself, visibly alarmed.

She thought Ryan would leave, especially when she had told him off a while ago.

‘Yet this man ended up approaching us instead?’

‘How shameless can he be? Is he really going to try and take my child away from me, and in public no less?!’

Thinking about this, Silvia pulled Autumn into her arms, only to find Autumn’s little body freezing cold. Color drained from Silvia’s face, and she couldn’t care less about the approaching Ryan as she immediately asked, “Autumn, didn’t you not wear your coat today?”

If she had to be honest, she had somehow noticed that her daughter was wearing less than usual; Autumn only had a dress and a thin cardigan on. Although the weather was turning warm during this time of the year, the temperature was still too low for a frail little girl to be out without extra layers of clothing to keep warm.