When the time came, Raeleigh enrolled Carsten into a kindergarten. On the first day of school, Carsten was bullied.


    Raeleigh felt sorry for him as she gently touched his swollen face. He had been beaten because he could not speak.


    She wanted to confront the bully, but Jepherson stopped her.


    He told her that Carsten should resolve this matter by himself.


    That year, Raeleigh could not sleep well at night. Hair loss became an issue, and she was exhausted all the time.


    But after half a month, the children stopped bullying Carsten. Instead, their parents came to Raeleigh’s home.


    “Just take a look at your child…”


    The parents pointed to their child, and Raeleigh was confused when she saw a boy about the same height as Carsten.


    The boy seemed to have taken a serious beating, but when Carsten had gotten beaten up like this, Raeleigh hadn’t gone to look for trouble with the bully’s parents, did she?


    Raeleigh retorted, “And? It’s normal for children to fight. My son can’t speak; he’s autistic, but your son can talk. What do you want me to say? My son has never fought with other children before. In fact, he has always been bullied.”


    “No, Carsten is harsh when he’s violent. He even told me that he beat me as revenge. He does talk.”


    After that, the boy burst into tears.


    Raeleigh said, “You shouldn’t lie, boy. My son has never spoken a word since he was a baby.”


    “Ah…”


    The boy cried even louder, and Raeleigh said, “You can do whatever you want. It’s not good for children to fight, but my son has neverid a hand on another child! Besides, it takes two to tango, doesn’t it?”


    The boy’s parents were furious. “Though my son likes to get into fights, he never lies. Your son is obviously a lively child, yet you insist that he can’t talk. I wasn’t going to ask for anything from you, but if you keep denying, I’m going to sue you.”


    “You may do as you wish.”


    Raeleigh seethed.


    With a bang, she closed the door and turned around to look at Carsten as he stood in the room. Raeleigh had neverid a hand on him. She stepped forward and held him into his arms. Although he was only four years old, he was already a heavy child.


    Raeleigh sat on the sofa and said to Carsten, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. If theye back, I’ll chase them away.”


    Carsten looked up at her and fell asleep in her arms.


    The next day, another child came to their house withints of their own, and this continued for a week. Raeleigh was truly exhausted by the time the weekend rolled around. She thought about how everyone was saying that Carsten could talk, and how it didn’t make sense for all the children to lie.


    Raeleigh drove Carsten to the kindergarten. After Carsten got out of the car and waved goodbye to Raeleigh, she pulled away but turned back shortly after. She had already made an appointment with the teacher, so she went right into the kindergarten.


    She hid in a corner and watched as everyone listened to their sses. However, Carsten was nowhere in sight.


    Raeleigh felt this odd, and thought that someone must have secretly instructed Carsten to do so.


    Since the teachers seemed to be in on this, it could only mean that this was Jepherson’s doing.


    Raeleigh began to look for Carsten. Eventually, she stopped when she heard pping noises and the sound of someone blowing a whistle on the ser field.


    She walked into the ser field and noticed several children ying ser there; Carsten was amongst them.


    Their game was somewhat different from the usual ser game. It seemed like they were training to y ser. Usually, the goalkeeper would lead the training by blowing the whistle if he were dissatisfied.


    But apart from the goalkeeper, everyone else seemed to be trying their best to kick the ser ball.


    It was as if they werepeting against each other to score the most goals.


    Raeleigh froze for a moment, staring at the man in ck giving the children instructions.


    At this moment, the children noticed Raeleigh. Shaney had grown up. As anathletictwelve-year-old, her body was slender and fit.


    Meanwhile, Forden was already taller than Shaney while two other children were equally tall. Jacqueline was pretty too, and all of them wore colorful jerseys and were training hard.


    Carsten stood among them, sporting a ck jersey. His face was nk when he saw Raeleigh.


    He thought he was going to receive a beating.


    He felt guilty ying ser while the other children were studying. Besides, he had a bad habit of beating up a kid each day.


    He nced at Santiago who dropped his whistle and pped his hands together. “Alright, let’s call it a day. Go rest.”


    As Santiago walked towards Raeleigh, pieces of memories surfaced in her mind, overwhelming her.


    Santiago still looked the same. He had not changed one bit. He walked to Raeleigh and held her in his arms.


    Raeleigh hugged him back and asked in a hoarse voice, “When did you return?”


    “Half a month ago.”


    She pushed him away and touched his face. “You haven’t changed at all.”


    “Neither have you.”


    Santiago raised his hand to pat Raeleigh’s head. Raeleigh rubbed her head and noticed the children around them had already surrounded her.


    “Mom…”


    “Mom…”


    Everyone called out for Raeleigh at the same time. Meanwhile, Carsten rushed to Raeleigh’s side and hugged her leg. “None of you can take her from me.”


    Upon hearing Carsten’s crisp voice, Raeleigh looked down at him, then squatted down and asked, “Carsten, when did you learn to talk?”


    Carsten nced at Santiago. “Uncle Santiago taught me how to.”


    “Why didn’t you tell me?”


    “He said that I should keep it a secret and surprise you. So, I didn’t tell you.”N?velDrama.Org ? content.


    Carsten had grown more mature, and his voice sounded melodious. Raeleigh was so overwhelmed with joy that she could hardly think of anything else.


    “I’ll forgive you this time, but I won’t be so nice the next time this happens, understood?”


    “Understood.”


    s, Carsten managed to escape scot free. However, when Raeleigh stood up, he held her hand tightly, as if he was afraid that someone would take her away.


    Santiago bent down and carried Carsten in his arms, asking him to ride on his shoulders. Then, he looked at Raeleigh and said, “You should know that this child has a knack for getting into fights. He’s been beating up kids every day.”


    “Are you saying he inherited this from Jepherson?” Raeleigh chuckled awkwardly.


    “Jepherson never beat people up. I think he got it from me.”


    Santiago walked away with Carsten in his arms and Raeleigh watched the children follow them. She stared at Santiago as she walked behind the group. All of a sudden, she felt as if her thoughts were no longer messy and confusing as before.


    Much seemed to have changed in four years, and none of these changes were expected in any way by Raeleigh.