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

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

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

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 was having a slight headache. “Stop crying for now and let me take a look at that! So, Chubby Chuck snatched Lil’ P’s toy and even pushed him, did he? You were right to protect your little brother, but you can’t just go up to him and swing a punch at him now, can you? What if you injured his eyes or somewhere important? We must be virtuous first; if we can’t get our logic across to them, then we tell the teachers. The teachers won’t be able to overlook the situation since it happened in school. Of course, I’m not asking you to keep it inside and not retaliate when you’re being bullied. You’re free to let it out if someone hits you first. You’ve got to be tough when you have to, but you have to weigh the severity of the situation first too.”The more Arianne spoke, the more aggrieved Smore became. He cried so much, he had trouble kneeling down. Arianne, no longer able to bear seeing him in this state, hugged him. “All right, stop crying now. It’s shameful for a man to cry so mu