"Don't be scared, Benji. I've already called an ambulance. Someone will be here to save you soon. Just hold on for a little longer, okay?"

There was a trail of blood leading all the way to a cubicle inside the toilet. Just the sight was enough to sting my eyes.

Benji had left the blood trail when he fled into the toilet earlier. I couldn't imagine just how scared he was, nor how much pain he had been suffering from…

My body trembled as I clutched at Benji's forehead wound. But blood kept seeping through the gaps of my fingers. I couldn't stem the blood flow at all.

I could hear an ambulance's sirens blaring from outside the window.

"Benji, the ambulance is here! Help's coming for you!"

But at that moment, Joshua Tucker ran past the window while cradling a boy in his arms. He headed for the ambulance right away.

"Kenny, don't be scared! I won't let anything happen to you!"

The ambulance left just as quickly as it had come. I could barely believe what I just witnessed.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Don't go! I was the one who called the ambulance! Joshua, Benji is dying! Come back!

"Joshua, please…"

No one noticed that the actual victim was already on the brink of death.

I called Joshua's number hurriedly. Heck, I even called him twice, yet he never picked up my calls.

When I called him for the third time, Benji grasped my wrist with a bloodied hand. "Mom, stop calling him… Dad will never come back to us…"

Tears rolled down my cheeks at that moment.

"I'm not calling him. I'll call 911 again. Another ambulance will be here soon…"

"Mom, I… I can't breathe…"

Benji's hand felt so cold. It was even colder than the tiled floor beneath us.

"I'm sorry, Mom… I can't protect you anymore in the future… Will you still choose to become my mother in my next life? But I don't want Dad anymore…"

Before Benji could finish his sentence, his hand hung limply.

My heart stopped beating for a moment. Intense pain finally flared from my chest a few seconds later.

I couldn't care less about the blood that flowed out of Benji's wound continuously. Soon, I carried him on my back and stumbled out of the bathroom alongside the crimson trail.

Benji's blood flowed down my neck. It felt warm, yet it continued trickling down silently.

"Don't worry, Benji. Since the ambulance refuses to stop for you, I'll take you to the hospital myself."

Thank goodness I ran into a good Samaritan, who drove us to the hospital immediately.

I sank down on my knees in front of the doctor while begging him to save Benji's life. All he could do was shake his head as he sighed heavily.

"Your son has already been dead for quite some time… My condolences to you, madam."

"Nonsense! How could he be dead? He was still talking to me earlier! Please, doctor! Save him!"

My vision was blurry with tears. My heart was in so much pain that I thought it was going to burst.

Bright sunlight poured through the window, yet all I could see was darkness before my eyes.

…

I called Joshua during Benji's funeral.

I had tried to reach out to him for the past three days. The call finally went through this time.

"Joshua, Benji's—"

"Don't you dare bring that name up in front of me! That bastard almost broke Kenny's arm! How can he continue playing the piano from now on? Rosalind cried so much that she almost fainted several times! This is all your fault for being such a failure of a mother…"

I couldn't hear the rest of Joshua's indignant words, for I had already ended the call.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

I vowed to make those who had bullied Benji pay ten times the price for making him suffer.

As for Joshua… It was time for our ridiculous and pathetic marriage to come to an end.

When Benji's funeral was over, I headed to the hospital right away.

Rosalind Lane's son, Kenneth Young, resided in a VIP ward. His arm was bandaged, and he could be seen chatting with Rosalind and Joshua animatedly.

Joshua's expression crashed instantly the moment he saw me. He hurried out of the ward afterward.

"Who told you to come here? Kenny's condition has just stabilized! Don't cause trouble for us, now!"

"Joshua Tucker, your son is dead, and yet all you care about is another woman's son!" I roared at Joshua hysterically, earning shocked looks from Rosalind and Kenneth.

Joshua's expression darkened even more. He pushed me further away from the ward before warning me, "Watch your mouth, Eleanor Miller! It's difficult for Rosalind to raise her son on her own! What's wrong with me lending her a helping hand as the principal?

"Besides, Benji was the one who had been bullying Kenny all these years! He had slashed Kenny's arm, you know! What makes you think you have the right to cause a ruckus at the hospital, huh?"

I could memorize every single word that made up Joshua's hate speech toward Benji.

Rosalind and her husband had already gotten a divorce. That was why Joshua took care of her all year round.

To think that my own husband took care of another man's ex-wife so diligently despite the fact that we never got a divorce.

Kenny's father had abandoned him. In return, Joshua took the father's place and showered him with paternal love.

Benji's father might still be alive, yet his prolonged absence from his life made him no different from being dead.

There was a time when a window in my house was broken during a winter month. The cold wind kept blowing into the house the whole time.

But at that time, Joshua was busy learning new recipes for Rosalind and Kenny. He told me to find a builder to repair the window and that he didn't know how to repair it. I was also told not to rely on him to deal with everything in life.

When I fell sick, I insisted on showing up at work. At that time, Joshua had taken Rosalind to another region just to attend a conference. In a way, the business trip became a leisure trip for them as well. He had told me not to be jealous of Rosalind.

Even when it came to the teachers' rankings, my rank would be below Rosalind's. Joshua's excuse was that he needed to be fair as the high school principal. Therefore, he mustn't be biased toward me.

Whenever he returned from business trips, he'd buy Kenny toys and gifts. Because of that, Kenny often showed off everything in front of Benji.

Benji was so angry that he destroyed the only gift Joshua had given to him. However, he got punished by Joshua instead.

Rosalind's son was a two-faced devil. He put up an obedient façade on the outside, but he was secretly twisted on the inside. In fact, he was always one of the people who constantly bullied Benji.

But Joshua refused to listen to my side of the story, nor did he believe my words. On the contrary, he was brainwashed by Rosalind and Kenny into thinking that Benji was the bully instead.

Every time they accused Benji of bullying them, poor Benji would end up with scars from Joshua's harsh disciplinary punishments.

Such cases had happened so many times that it became a norm.

As I gazed at Joshua's enraged expression, I felt like chortling all of a sudden.

"Fine. If you don't want me to show my face at the hospital, you should sign the divorce papers, then."

I passed the divorce papers to Joshua. They had already been signed before I came to the hospital.

Instead of accepting the papers, Joshua slapped them away before glaring at me angrily. "Eleanor, are you done? You can forget about threatening me with a divorce!"

He thought I was forcing him to return to my side. But the thing was, I didn't want to spend another second around him.

"If you refuse to sign the papers, I'll get a lawyer to start the divorce proceedings—"

Suddenly, Kenny's shriek of pain drifted from the VIP ward. "Josh, my arm hurts!"

Joshua rushed back to the ward instantly. A moment later, his gentle and loving voice filled the room.

"Be a good boy now, Kenny. I'm here. There's no need to be scared."

As I stared at the trio in the VIP ward who resembled more like an actual family, I felt the urge to laugh hysterically on the spot.

Had Joshua used such a tone to speak with Benji, Benji wouldn't have felt so disappointed and helpless before breathing his last.

To think that I had chosen such a man to become my husband… To think that Joshua was actually Benji's father…

Benji, this was all my fault. A man like Joshua shouldn't have become your father…

I picked up the divorce papers and chucked them into the ward. After that, I left the hospital without even sparing Joshua a glance.

I arrived at an extremely famous law firm in order to look for a lawyer and inquire about bullying cases in high schools.

Benji couldn't just die for nothing. I mustn't let those bastards get away from murdering Benji scot-free. Soon, they'd definitely target other children.

Before I left the firm, I heard someone calling out my name.

"Eleanor Miller? Is that you?"

Raphael Westwood smiled brightly at me. He was just as cheerful and handsome as I remembered him to be.

I shot him a small smile. For some reason, I felt a little awkward to be facing Raphael. After all, he had once pursued me back in our university days.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing at the firm? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Raphael handed me a glass of lemon water. He seemed to sense my hesitation, for he added with a smile, "I'm a business partner of this firm. You can always talk to me if you're facing any problems."

I raised my head, clearly shocked. Raphael's smile—kind and gentle as usual—greeted me at that moment.

Two hours flew by since we started chatting. Raphael had an in-depth understanding of the entire incident. However, he didn't show any sympathy toward me.

His lack of reaction made me relax slightly, as though I had been speaking with a professional and ethical lawyer all this time.

At that moment, my phone rang. It was a WhatsApp message from Joshua.

"Look at the time! Why aren't you home yet?"

I just stared at the message for two seconds. For the first time ever, I didn't respond to Joshua's message at all. Instead, I turned off my phone.

Raphael just glanced at me without asking anything.

By the time we left the café, it was already raining outside. Raphael opened his umbrella and offered to drive me home.

When I was about to turn him down politely, a figure dashed toward us at that moment.

"Eleanor, I called you over a dozen times! How dare you turn off your phone and disappear on me!"

Joshua was so pissed that his complexion had gone stark white. That was when he noticed Raphael in all of his glory. A cold chuckle escaped from Joshua's lips right away.

"Ah, so you were dating another man, huh? No wonder you never bothered keeping an eye on our kid!"

"Our kid? You still have the gall to mention 'our kid'?"

Those two words triggered me instantly. I could vividly recall Benji's face, which was etched with helplessness and despair, during his dying moments.

Joshua began berating me angrily. "You're a mother, yet you always return home late at night! Your son loiters on the streets as well, just like you! Why don't you look at how Rosalind raises her son and learn from her?"

"Oh? Since Rosalind is such an expert at raising kids, then you should become her husband and her son's father! Oh, right! You're already playing the role of a father to her kid!"

I was practically growling out the last sentence through clenched teeth.

Joshua was momentarily stunned, but he began chastising me even more. "Eleanor, don't be so petty! Kenny doesn't have a father figure in his life anymore, so he treats me like his closest family member! What's wrong with that?"

I raised my head and took a deep breath in order to suppress the burning sensation in my eyes. I no longer wanted to waste my breath on that bastard of a husband.

"Have you signed the divorce papers, Joshua?"

Then, I looked at Raphael before introducing him to Joshua. "This is Mr. Raphael Westwood. He's in charge of my divorce case… as well as Benji's bullying case."

Joshua's eyelid began twitching out of anger. "What do you mean by that? Are you planning to throw our son into jail?"

Raphael could no longer hold himself back. "Mr. Tucker, based on my understanding of this situation, the victim has always been your son. He passed away three days ago."

"What are you talking about? Kenny is a sweet boy! How could he bully my son?" Joshua retorted instinctively.

As always, he prioritized his first love's son. He couldn't accept the fact that the so-called sweet boy, whom he had loved and pampered from a young age, would be the one bullying others.

Joshua then turned to glare at me. "Did you tell him that? How could you slander Kenny? Kenny's the one who got beaten up to the point of hospitalization! To think that you'd still believe that brat's side of the story!

"I must've been too lenient to your son in the past for him to turn out like this! All he does is bully Kenny! Where did you hide him this time, Eleanor? He must've gone into hiding because he knows he's screwed up big time, right?

"I swear, this time I'll definitely whoop his ass!"

I calmly watched Joshua venting his anger on the spot. It was as though I was staring at a stubborn mule.

On one hand, he called Kenneth by his nickname—Kenny. On the other hand, he referred to Benji as my son instead of his. Based on the terms used, I could already tell which child was his favorite.

Ever since Rosalind showed up as a teacher at school, I knew that Joshua was a goner and that my family was doomed.

Rosalind and Kenneth could always capture Joshua's heart without lifting a finger. Their every move tugged at Joshua's heartstrings and influenced his mood greatly.

Benji and I were just a huge eyesore to him. He had always wanted to kick us to the curb for a very long time.

My demeanor was so calm that Joshua finally registered the second half of Raphael's sentence once he was done venting his anger.

"What did you say just now? My son died three days ago?"

Raphael mocked ruthlessly, "Oh? You're finally starting to worry about your own son?"

Anger took over Joshua's features instantly. "No matter how big of a jerk my son is, you shouldn't jinx him like that! You bastard!"

After that, Joshua threw a heavy punch at Raphael, only for the latter to grab his wrist. Then, Raphael shoved Joshua's wrist away.

Joshua was about to continue lashing out at Raphael when I rushed up to him, clearly unable to withstand his behavior any longer. Then, I slapped Joshua across the face.

"Benji really is dead! He died in the school's toilet cubicle three days ago! Your beloved Kenny was the one who bashed his skull in! Yet, you snatched the ambulance that I called away!

"Benji bled so much to the point that he was no longer bleeding by the time we reached the hospital! You aren't fit to remain as Benji's father, you bastard!"

I chewed Joshua out hysterically in one go that I could barely breathe after that. My eyes were burning so much because of my unshed tears.

Joshua looked stunned. His eyes had gone as wide as dinner plates in disbelief.

"So… What you said… is real? Benji's really—"