Chapter 4

Early the next morning, I took a shift-change request to the kindergarten principal's office.

I didn't want Mason to continue staying in Lily's class. I was afraid she would corrupt him.

But the principal looked at my request with difficulty.

"Sutton, actually Lily is quite attentive to Mason normally."

"Besides, I've heard from other parents that you manage the child too strictly. The kid is under a lot of pressure."

I froze. "Other parents?"

Walking out of the office, several parents who were usually active in the group chat immediately surrounded me.

"Sutton, it's actually normal for young teachers to be close with children. Don't be too sensitive."

"Exactly. Every mom struggles with childcare these days. If a teacher is willing to pay extra attention, you should count yourself lucky."

Only then did I understand — Lily had long ago painted me as a controlling woman in everyone's eyes.

Walking to the end of the hallway, Lily suddenly emerged from the storage room and cornered me.

"Sutton, do you know why Gideon likes me?"

I looked at her coldly. "Because you're cheap enough."

She didn't get angry. She said softly, "Gideon says I'm like you when you were young. But he also says you've become too boring."

She took a step forward.

"Actually, Gideon has talked to me a lot about you."

"Like that college roommate of yours, and the postpartum caregiver when you were in confinement, and your former dance partner."

"Gideon said every one of them understood him better in bed than you do, knew better how to make him happy."

Lily laughed brightly. "Sutton Reed, you really are a failure as a person."

My brain exploded with a roar.

All those years of what I'd thought were misunderstandings and coincidences had actually been humiliations Gideon left for me.

At noon when I got home, I threw my bag hard onto the sofa and confronted Gideon, who'd just gotten off work.

"Is what Lily said true?"

"My college best friend suddenly going abroad, the postpartum caregiver bringing you soup in the middle of the night, my dance partner leaving the group chat — was it all because of you?"

Gideon's hand paused as he loosened his tie. He frowned impatiently.

"Sutton Reed, what are you freaking out about? Those are all things from the past. Is it necessary to dig up old accounts?"

He stepped closer to me.

"Didn't you always know what kind of person I am?"

"All these years, haven't you been the one clinging shamelessly to this family, insisting on giving the child a complete home?"

Those years of what I'd thought were misunderstandings, what I'd thought were broken friendships — they'd all been Gideon's chronic humiliation of me.

That evening, Mason came home from school.

He was carefully cradling a handmade award medal made from colored cardstock.

As soon as he walked in, he shouted excitedly.

"Daddy, look! Isn't the medal I made pretty? On Friday, the class is having a family activity for me!"

I walked over to look at his work.

But he took a big step backward, clutching the medal protectively to his chest.

"Don't touch it! Don't mess up the little flowers on top — Lily helped me paste them on."

My hand, frozen in midair, slowly withdrew. On the back of the medal, written crookedly in marker, was a line:

Daddy, Me, Lily.

Mason hugged the medal to his chest, glanced up at me, and added softly:

"Mom, can you not come to Friday's activity?"

"I'm afraid if you come, you'll get upset again and make Lily angry."