Chapter 13
Chapter 13 By the time Odell came to his senses, Sylvia was miles away and her silhouette was the size of an ant.
Odell’s expression turned as black as tar, and an intimidating roar sounded through the cracks of his clenched teeth, “Sylvia!” Tara was frightened by his terrifying expression, and it took a while before she dared to approach him.
She hugged his arm and tried to comfort him, “Odell, forget it. She has always been like this and there’s nothing we can do about her. Let’s not get caught up with her antics.” This only seemed to make things worse. What Tara said reminded him of the previous infuriating encounter with Sylvia.
As if letting her threaten him with a razor blade to his neck was not bad enough, he had already let her escape from his very palms so many times! Just as he was about to erupt with anger, Tara quickly reminded him, “Odell, let’s go in and see Liam.” This seemed to do the trick of calming him, and his expression changed swiftly. He would deal with the present situation first. Then, he would have all the time in the world to send someone after Sylvia and take care of her.
He composed himself and stepped towards the kindergarten entrance.
Tara glanced in the direction Sylvia fled toward and grinned wickedly. She quickly trailed after Odell.
When they arrived, the children were on their lunch break. The headmaster and the headteacher attended to them and relayed the events from the very start to them.
At the end of the story, the headteacher stated, “Master Odell, the other children’s parents are already here. The parents of the aggressors have personally apologized to Isabel’s mother and have received forgiveness. Similarly, Isabel and Liam have also forgiven them, and that was how everything was wrapped up.” The headmaster echoed, “Master Odell, we deeply apologize for what happened. We vow
that something like this will never happen again.” With that, both of them looked at Odell with an anxious glance.
Although they were one of the more reputable kindergartens in Westchester City, it would be devastating to get on Odell’s bad side as it could lead to them closing down.
Odell fell silent for a moment. “Bring me to Liam.” The headmaster responded dutifully, “Alright, Master Odell. This way, please.”
In the sleeping area for the children, by the time Odell arrived, all of the children were sleeping soundly in their respective beds, except for Liam, whose bed was crammed with two tiny figures.
Liam, who had always disliked direct physical contact with others, not only allowed Isabel to squeeze into his bed but even tolerated her resting her leg directly on top of him.
It was as if the two were siblings.
Odell was stunned by what he saw.
Next to him, Tara was baffled as well. The headteacher rushed to explain, “Master Odell, that’s Isabel. She’s Liam’s best friend.” Odell grunted. “Yeah, I know.” The headteacher breathed a sigh of relief.
Tara recalled what happened last time at the Elysian House and continuously cast a curious glance over the two sleeping children.
After a while, they left the kindergarten.
The headmaster and the headteacher personally escorted them to the parking lot.
After getting in the car, Odell started the engine. Tara started cautiously with a degree of doubt, “Odell, I know there are some things that might be out of line for me to say.”
“Just say whatever is on your mind,” Odell declared. She sighed. “It’s just that I think Isabel is a bad influence on Liam.”
Odell raised an eyebrow at the notion.
Tara observed his expression before adding, “Liam has always been a quiet boy, but at least, he used to be a good boy and never talked back to you. I feel like he’s been starting to become more rebellious recently. “Besides, why would the two boys decide to pick on Liam out of nowhere? I bet it was Isabel who provoked them and that their true target was Isabel. Liam wanted to help Isabel but ended up suffering for it. Odell’s expression turned solemn. Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
It was true. Ever since Liam made friends with Isabel, he had become more rebellious.
“Odell, I think Isabel is a really rude girl. It probably has something to do with the way she was raised. I’m just worried that if Liam continues going to her house for dinner every day after school, he will slowly pick up bad habits,” Tara explained with an upset look on her face. Odell was quiet.
Tara looked at him.
Having been with him for so many years, she knew his temper like the back of her hand. Although he did not utter a word, the way that his eyebrows tightened suggested that he agreed with her sentiment.
Tara struck while the iron was hot. “Odell, I say we stop letting Liam go to her house.” Odell grunted, “Hmm.” Meanwhile, Tara celebrated silently.
How dare that damned brat call her ugly?
‘Let’s see you continue to hang out with Liam now!’
In the afternoon, Sylvia took the freshly bought ingredients into the house and began sorting them out with Aunt Tonya.
It took them the better half of the day to prepare everything. The barbecue grill was set up as well. All they needed to do was to wait for the children to come home,
Sylvia changed into a nice dress and set her hair. Then, she sat in the living room and waited for them.
After a long while, there was finally a knock on the door.
Sylvia immediately rose and went to the door. She was greeted by the sight of Isabel standing by herself at the door, and the first thing she noticed was her eyes which were red like a rabbit’s.
One look at Isabel, and she could tell that she was devastated. Sylvia immediately squatted down and wiped her tears while asking anxiously, “Isabel, what happened? Why are you alone? Where is your brother?”
Isabel cried out in a mix of anger and sadness, The uncle brought us here but refused to let brother leave the car. He said that brother is no longer allowed to come to our house for dinner
The thought that he would never get to have dinner with them again and would be separated from his sister and mother pained Isabel greatly, so she burst into tears.
Sylvia felt similarly troubled by this.
Why did Odell suddenly decide to ban Liam from coming over? Was it because of the incident with the other kids during the day? Liam had only been helping Isabel. If that was the root cause, this was a rather ridiculous reaction. She hurriedly took Isabel into her arms and did what she could to coax her, “Don’t be sad. Mommy will find a way to get your brother here.”
Isabel buried her face in her arms, crying and shouting, “Stupid stinky uncle and the ugly lady, it’s all their fault!”
Sylvia furrowed her eyebrows upon hearing the mention of the ugly lady. She asked, “Did you meet the ugly aunt from the last time today?”
Isabel choked back tears as she complained, “She was with the stinky uncle when they sent us home just now. She kept acting friendly and smiling at me, telling me something about how civilized people acted.”
No wonder Odell suddenly changed his mind.
To think that Tara would pull a stunt like this with a child, it seemed Sylvia had underestimated how petty she could be.