Chapter 3 Great Mommy Is Enough

I looked at the four children standing beside Ms. Petra - the twins, one holding the hand of a scrawny child, the other holding a stocky child's hand, all tightly hugged by an angry-looking woman.

"Ms. Lauren," Petra said awkwardly, "I'm sorry if I caught you off guard by addressing you like that. The thing is, the twins and—"

"Your ill-mannered brats pushed my son!" The woman hugging the stocky child by Ms. Petra's side suddenly snapped. She gave my shirt and jeans a dismissive once-over, and I saw the disdain in her eyes.

"Ms. Lauren, I heard you're unmarried. If you weren't prepared to be a single mother, you should have demanded your partner use protection instead of letting them become a menace to society!"

Although I was angry at her judging my kids without knowing what we've been through, the priority now was to get to the truth. I walked over and crouched down to the shame-faced Shane and Sherry by my side. They always acted mischievous at home, but I knew how much they loved me.

They never resented me for not letting them see their dad, always believing I was the best mom in the world. The thought pained me - was my selfishness causing them to be viewed through tinted lenses? If I hadn't left LA alone back then, would they have avoided this?

I sighed inwardly and gently asked my son, "Shane, tell me the truth. I believe you two wouldn't attack your classmate without reason..."

Before they could speak, the woman shrieked again. "Are you insinuating I'm slandering your children?" She turned to the teacher. "Ms. Petra, I believe your eyes have seen the truth."

I saw the torn look in Ms. Petra's eyes, but I still trusted my kids. "Ms. Petra, please tell me exactly what happened."

"Ms. Lauren, the child the twins got into the scuffle with is named Almer. I didn't hear the commotion as I was in the teachers' lounge handling some matters. When some kids alerted me about a fight, I saw Almer on the ground with Sherry on top of him," Ms. Petra explained with a concerned tone.

I cupped Sherry's face gently. "Sweetheart, is what Ms. Petra said true?"

"With so many witnesses, she can't avoid the truth!" the woman immediately snarled.

Ms. Petra seemed to be growing weary of her, releasing the scrawny child's hand to block Almer's mother from approaching me.

"Mrs. Flora, you need to calm down. It's still unclear exactly what transpired, so you can't keep treating the twins this way," Ms. Petra stated.

The woman named Mrs. Flora scoffed rudely, brushing past Ms. Petra's hand. "Don't defend the obviously guilty party! I know children from single-parent families always end up ill-mannered due to lacking a proper family upbringing. Their words hold no credibility."

我的真的很想朝她脸上出拳, but I knew I had to stay calm. I looked at the worried twins and said softly, "Don't worry, Mommy just needs you two to be brave and tell us what happened."

"No, we didn't gang up on Almer," Shane glared at the larger boy before saying. "He was bullying Dylan. I heard it, so I warned him to stop harassing Dylan."

"Yes, that's right. Shane only warned him not to bully Dylan, who has a speech disorder. He got mad and tried to hit Shane. I pushed him away from Shane, then sat on him so he couldn't attack again," Sherry explained as well.

"Mom, look how big he is, how could we gang up to bully him?" Shane scoffed. "He just likes playing the victim, such a crybaby. He was the one bullying Dylan first!"

"Bullshit!" Mrs. Flora shouted. "If you claim my son bullied Dylan, then why don't we ask Dylan what he saw?"

The child named Dylan that Mrs. Flora accused was hiding behind Ms. Petra.

"Dylan," I called out gently. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?"

Dylan kept his head down. I saw him glance nervously at Almer, then lower his head again, clutching Ms. Petra's clothes.

"See," Mrs. Flora sneered, taking Dylan's timid behavior as proof she was on the right side. "If the twins were telling the truth, the supposedly protected Dylan wouldn't hesitate to defend them. Ms. Lauren, you should know children don't lie, right?"

"So let's not waste any more time. The twins must apologize to my son and promise never to harm him again, or I'll have them expelled!"

Seeing Mrs. Flora's arrogant behavior fueled my anger, but I had to remain calm. I scanned the classroom and noticed the surveillance camera, turning to Ms. Petra. "Was the area where the kids scuffled a blind spot for the cameras?"

"Mom," Almer suddenly groaned with a frown. "Let's just go home."

"Impossible," Mrs. Flora stated. "At the very least, your father should know about this. Then we'll have grounds to stop sponsoring this so-called elite preschool! I can't believe my children are attending the same school as kids whose fathers are unknown!"

"Mrs. Flora, please watch your words. That constitutes personal discrimination, which goes against our school's teaching philosophy," Ms. Petra said, then looked at me. "Ms. Lauren, yes, the operator was at the hospital earlier, but I just reached him."

"Hmph." Mrs. Flora blocked my path, sneering. "If the CCTV proves your kids lied, I demand they kneel and apologize to my son."

I pushed past her coldly. "I can't wait to see the truth."

As we entered the CCTV room, a man immediately apologized, "Ms. Petra reached me while I was at the hospital." He then fiddled with the electronics on the desk, pulling up Ms. Petra's CCTV footage.

"Well...what do you see happening?" I asked, glancing at Mrs. Flora.

The footage showed Almer seemingly saying something to Dylan, then pushing him. As Dylan nearly fell, Shane stood up and said something to Almer. What followed matched Sherry's account - Almer tried hitting Shane, but Sherry pushed him from behind, causing Almer to fall with Sherry sitting on top.

"Now who should apologize, Mrs. Flora?" I asked sternly while glaring at the vicious woman. "At the very least, teach your child to be gentle and not bully smaller, weaker kids. If Almer truly enjoys bullying others, he can pick on someone his own size!"

Mrs. Flora glared daggers at me, then roughly grabbed Almer's hand and dragged him out of the CCTV operator's room. Her scolding voice carried out, and Almer sounded like he was crying.

"Good lord," I shook my head in disbelief. "No wonder her kid turned out like that!"

As Ms. Petra and I exited the surveillance room with the kids, a woman rushed over, and Ms. Petra immediately went to greet her. "Mrs. Erica, thank goodness you came so quickly," Petra said with relief. She turned to me. "Ms. Lauren, this is Mrs. Erica, Dylan's mother. It was her child the twins protected."

Mrs. Erica patted my arm. "Ms. Lauren, I'm so grateful to you and the twins. Dylan has been frequently bullied by Almer and his friends recently. My son is a bit slow and has a stutter, so they often mock him. Thank you, twins, for protecting Dylan."

I patted Mrs. Erica's shoulder. "It's no problem, I'm glad we could help. If Dylan faces any more trouble, my kids definitely won't mind lending a hand."

The twins nodded eagerly, and Sherry hugged Dylan tightly until the little boy's face turned red.

Suddenly, Ms. Petra's next words made us all pause. "Ladies, don't you think Dylan's eyes look quite similar to the twins'? From a distance, I'd suspect they were family."

Mrs. Erica immediately nodded. "Indeed, they do seem to share some resemblance."

I didn't read too much into it, seeing it as just a subtle twist of fate. I smiled without responding, then exchanged phone numbers with Mrs. Erica, as she said I should come over for a meal sometime since she wanted to thank me and the twins. Ms. Petra also promised to issue Almer a warning letter so he wouldn't repeat his behavior.

"Mom, can I ask you something?" Shane suddenly asked on the drive home.

"Of course. What is it?" I replied, keeping my eyes on the highway ahead.

"Is our father a bad person?"

Shane's question caught me off guard, causing me to lose control of the steering wheel and swerve.

I quickly readjusted my grip and slowed down the car. My mind was a whirlwind, unsure how to respond. But their father was definitely not a bad person - in fact, he was an extremely well-mannered gentleman.

"No!" I looked at them in the backseat, deciding to stop hiding the truth. "Although I can't tell you who your father is due to circumstances I faced, I promise he is someone everyone would be proud of and deserves your respect."

The twins quickly cheered, no longer pressing why I wouldn't let them meet him, but their understanding only deepened my guilt. Watching the traffic lights ahead, I felt a sudden urge to contact David and tell him what happened, because he did nothing wrong. I felt I was being unfair to David and the twins by denying them the right to know each other.

But I had promised myself not to return to the past.

What should I do?