Chapter 1366:
She wasn’t someone who cried easily. But this time, she couldn’t hold them back. What hurt her wasn’t the questions she couldn’t answer — it was the way they talked, as though not having a father was something shameful. As though she were incomplete. As though something about her were simply wrong.
“I have a father!” she shouted, her voice fierce and trembling all at once.
“Then bring him here!” Liam taunted with a grin. “Can you even do that?”
Evelina stood still for a fraction of a second.
𝗕𝖾 th𝘦 𝗳𝗶𝘳ѕ𝘁 to r𝖾𝖺d 𝗈𝘯 𝘨𝗮𝘭𝗇𝗼𝘃𝘦𝗹ѕ.𝖼оm
Then she did something she had never done in her life.
She rushed forward and shoved him.
Liam slipped, staggered back a few steps, struck the small chair behind him, and landed on the floor.
He lay still for a moment — then burst into loud, wailing tears.
The classroom erupted into chaos.
The teacher, Mariana Ortiz, rushed over, guided Evelina to one side, and knelt down to check whether Liam was hurt.
“Evelina! You are not allowed to hit others!” she said firmly.
Evelina stood apart, tears streaming silently down her face, biting her lip and saying nothing. She had no intention of apologizing.
She didn’t believe she had done anything wrong. Liam was the one who had said she had no father. He was the one who had mocked her first.
Back at the office, Melany was in the middle of a conversation with Alyssa about importing fabrics from abroad when her phone buzzed on the desk.
She glanced at the screen and saw it was a call from Evelina’s kindergarten.
Her heart gave a small lurch. She picked up immediately. “Hello, Ms. Ortiz? This is Evelina’s mother.”
“Hello, Ms. Cohen. Could you please come to the school? Evelina got into a fight with a classmate today.”
Melany set down the document in her hand, her expression tightening. “A fight? Is she hurt?”
“No, she isn’t injured, but the child she pushed is very upset. The other parent is already here. If you could come as soon as possible, that would be appreciated.”
“I’ll be there right away.”
She ended the call, grabbed her car keys from the desk, and walked out quickly.
Evelina in a fight? It seemed impossible. She had always been an easygoing, obedient child — she had never caused trouble or started a conflict, not once in her former kindergarten. Something must have happened.
Melany pressed harder on the accelerator, moved through a yellow light without slowing, and arrived at the kindergarten in roughly two-thirds of her usual travel time.
Mariana was waiting at the office entrance. She came forward with a slightly uneasy expression the moment she spotted Melany.
“Ms. Cohen, please don’t worry. Let me explain what happened.”
Mariana walked her through the entire incident. As she listened, Melany glanced toward her daughter, who stood silently by the window, eyes swollen and red — and her chest tightened at once.
When Mariana finished, she stepped over and reached for Evelina’s hand. The child shook her head and moved forward on her own, coming to a stop directly in front of Melany. She lifted her face and spoke quietly.
“I’m sorry, Mommy. I shouldn’t have hit my classmate.”
Melany crouched down to meet her daughter’s gaze.
.
.
.