I was stunned. It only took a casual word from Charlie to completely ruin Jesse's one special day in the year.

When Janine saw how pale I looked, she turned away guiltily. "Let's just take them together since they're almost the same age."

Jesse stared at Janine and Simon Lloyd holding hands with a look of dismay. My heart ached for Jesse, and I had no idea what to say to him.

Simon was in a little bespoke suit with nicely styled hair, as Janine and Charlie stood protectively around him, looking like he was the main star of the day. Jesse stood in stark contrast as he was dressed ordinarily, with only me by his side.

I suddenly had enough, and I picked Jesse up in my arms to walk away.

"What are you doing, Joe? Are you upset because of Simon and me?" Charlie looked anxious as he tried to stop me. His nails dug deep into my arm, and I flung him off with pain. I had not used much strength, but Charlie fell hard onto the ground.

He looked at me in bewilderment. "Why did you hit me, Joe? Can't we just get along?"

My arm was still throbbing with pain from being grabbed so hard by Charlie, and I clenched my teeth in anger. I was about to question him when Janine suddenly slapped me. "Is this how you act as a father?! How can you bully another person in front of our son?"

It was a hard slap, and Janine still had her keys in her hand when she slapped, which scratched my face in the process. I started bleeding from the wound almost immediately.

Jesse ran over and spread out his tiny little arms in front of me protectively. He was crying while yelling, "Don't hit my dad!"

I ignored the wound on my face as I watched my son's lone figure in front of me, trying to shield me from Charlie, Simon, and Janine, and something inside me broke.

It was fine that Janine did not love me or care about me, but could she hurt our son again and again?

I stumbled over to hold Jesse in my arms and wiped away the tears from his eyes. I walked away without looking back, but that was also when Janine turned to look at me after she anxiously made sure that Charlie and Simon were fine.

Janine's eyes widened when she saw me walking away, and she quickly ran up to grab me, trying frantically to stop the bleeding on my face. "How did you get so seriously hurt? I wouldn't have done this if you hadn't bullied Charlie…"

My face was pale when I looked up at her, and there was sorrow in my eyes. It did not matter how hard I always tried to explain myself. In Janine's eyes, I was always the bully who hurt Charlie. Yet, it was because of Charlie that I lost my cat, my wife, and the ability to have more children.

It happened the first time I found her cheating on me. I had prepared lunch and was delivering it to her at the office, only to witness Charlie and her naked in a passionate embrace. I went mad and dashed forward to beat up Charlie, but Janine tried to stop me and we both fell to the ground. It was that blow that caused permanent damage to my reproductive system.

Janine was stunned to see tears in my eyes, and her heart ached for me at that moment. She tried to wipe away my tears, but Charlie suddenly started sobbing behind her. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have ruined your relationship."

With that, Charlie turned away and ran into the heavy traffic. Fierce honking was instantly heard in the air, and Janine let me go right away to run after Charlie without hesitation. Jesse and I looked at each other calmly before getting into the car and driving away.

When our car drove past them, Charlie was holding Janine quietly in his arms. His eyes met mine. The guilty look on his face had vanished, and I knew instantly that he was telling me that he won, but who cares?

Jesse and I moved to another house that night, but Janine showed up unannounced at around 11 pm. She looked upset when I opened the door without saying a word, and she said brusquely, "It's only a divorce. Why would you move out of the house? This is only temporary since we'll be getting remarried in a few days."

Janine walked casually into the house, sitting right on the couch and admiring the decor. However, she was stunned when she saw the family photo on the wall.

The family photo was supposed to have our family of three, but Janine had disappeared from it. It flustered her, and she was about to lose her temper when she noticed the wound on my face. A guilty look flashed in her eye, and when she tried to touch my wound, I stood up to avoid it.

Janine's hand froze midair with a strange look in her eye. I did not show concern for her as I usually did. Instead, I pointed at the guest room. "You can sleep there tonight, or go back to your house."

With that, I returned to my room, but Janine squeezed through the door right before I could shut it tight. Janine pressed her sexy body against me right away. "It's been a long time since you touched me, honey."

She did not notice me flinching when she touched me, and continued treating me as the old Joe who would give in to her every whim. I pushed her away and slapped her hard.

Janine went blank as she had not been expecting this. She was about to lose her temper when she suddenly grabbed my hand instead with a stunned look and asked, "Why did you take off your ring?"

Our rings were ordinary silver rings that were bought when our condition was poor, and we did not have extra money to spend, but we still wore them happily. When our lives started getting comfortable, Janine bought me many luxury rings, but I never wore any of them, and she knew how important our original rings were to me.

We have been married for more than a decade, and I never once took my ring off, no matter what happened, but now, I had quietly removed the ring from my finger. Janine's heart beat wildly from an unknown fear, and she said, "Let's get remarried tomorrow."

I pulled my hand away coldly. My mother was no longer with us, and I had custody of Jesse. Janine could no longer threaten me. "You should leave."

Janine was stunned, unable to believe her ears. "What do you mean?"

I put some distance between her and replied calmly, "Exactly what I said."

We were silent for several seconds, and the look in Janine's eyes dimmed when she finally understood what was happening. Her voice trembled as she said, "You did all of this on purpose, didn't you. You're using our marriage to force me to sever ties with Charlie!"

I almost laughed. Janine was still convinced that I cared about her. My silence seemed to confirm her thoughts as she kept saying 'fine' repeatedly. She pointed at my nose and said, "Don't come begging me when you start regretting this!"

Janine slammed the door behind her, and the noise woke Jesse up. He walked out of his room groggily, and I quickly carried him in my arms while gently coaxing him back to sleep. My heart was filled with contentment as I looked at his peaceful little face.

…

The next morning, I woke up early for Jesse's parent-teacher meeting at school. When we entered his classroom, we saw Janine with Charlie and Simon, sitting in the class. They stayed close to each other, looking like a real family of three.

For the past seven years, Jesse had grown up without Janine ever attending any of his parent-teacher meetings. He had never mentioned anything about being bullied when others badmouthed him behind his back, calling him a bastard without a mother.

However, now, when he saw all three of them together, Jesse was forced to face the hard truth. He ran off with his head lowered and tears in his eyes.

Janine was filled with guilt, and she stood up to run after him, but Charlie stopped her. I was taken aback to see this, and my heart pounded with fluster as I turned around to run after Jesse. When I turned the corner, Charlie and his friends caught up to me.

Charlie punched me in the face and said with disdain, "Have some decency, Joe Langdon. Now that you've gotten a divorce, stop using your kid to blackmail Janine!"

His friends chimed in, "Yeah! Have some decency! Even your son is following your footsteps by being shameless. Look at him faking that cry."

"What's this called? An apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Hahahaha!"

"Shut up!" I was trembling with anger, but did not argue with them as I was worried about Jesse. I wanted to run after him, but Charlie grabbed me by the collar.

Charlie said menacingly, "Janine lost her temper with me yesterday because of the trouble you've caused with that little bastard son of yours. I got Simon to teach him a lesson. How can you go looking for him when you can't even save yourself?"

I could hear Jesse's vague screaming coming from the swimming pool in the distance. My heart was in my throat as I tore his hand away from me and ran toward the swimming pool.

"Get him! We need to teach that son of a bitch a lesson!" They came after me and had me surrounded, and they proceeded to slap me one after the other. My lips were torn, and my hair was pulled out, scattering all over the ground.

Jesse's screaming got even more hysterical, and I felt something snap inside me. Rage was pouring out of me as I punched the face next to me crazily. Charlie was hit in the nose and started screaming as every punch made his face bloody.

His friends were shocked by my crazy punches, and they started running in every direction. "Help! There's a madman out here!"

My eyes were red with anxiousness as I ran with all my might toward the swimming pool. When I was about to open the door, a sudden force came from behind me and pushed me to the ground. I fell heavily onto the ground and hit myself against the steps. I saw black for several seconds. I could hear buzzing and Charlie's angry accusations.

"Joe got mad when he saw you with me and Simon, Janine. He said we're beggars and thieves… I think my nose is broken…"

His friends added on to the accusation, "Charlie's right, Janine. Joe Langdon is a vicious man who wants us dead…"

They kept telling her about all of my wrongdoings, but all I did was crawl up the steps slowly, and I saw my son's little body struggling in the swimming pool through the crack of the entrance. He wanted to call for help, but his tiny mouth was filled with water the moment he opened it.

All I saw was red as I smashed into the door without hesitation, but Janine grabbed me from behind with both hands around my waist. The dark look in her eyes was filled with agitation. "You were the one who pushed me away, but you're also the one who can't let me go. What is it that you want?!"

I almost threw up with disgust. How could she still harp on this at this moment of crisis? I slapped her so hard, she fell to the ground, and I roared at her, "Listen! That's our son calling for help!"

Janine's eyes widened. "What?"

Before I could continue, Charlie piped up with disdain, "What are you talking about, Joe? Jesse is playing in the field right now. Stop with your nonsense and look at how badly you beat me up!"

Janine's worry for Jesse vanished immediately, and she grabbed my arm while saying sternly, "Apologize!"

The others around started pushing me around. "Are you deaf?! She told you to apologize!"

As the splashing in the swimming pool became weaker, the last strand of reasoning in my head broke. I struggled to escape from their grips and slammed into the door, opening it and jumping into the pool in a few strides.

Everyone standing on dry land started criticizing.

"What's with the act? Everyone is at the parent-teacher meeting, and no child would ever come here when it's so remote."

"Yeah. Especially when it's so dark. We don't see anyone in there at all."

"Well, Joe Langdon is a drama queen by nature. He's just trying to attract some attention after getting his divorce."

Janine frowned as she listened to everyone talking away, and felt annoyed when she saw the ripples on the surface of the pool. "Stop your act, Joe. I'll count to three, and if you don't get out of the water by then, I'm leaving!

"Three, two, one…"

Janine dragged the countdown, but the pool surface remained still as no one emerged from below the water. Her jaws clenched, and she looked disappointed.

Charlie smiled and pulled her away from the swimming pool. "Let that penniless loser continue being dramatic if he loves it so much. We shouldn't…"

Before he could finish, everyone heard a splash. I emerged from the pool, heartbroken and crying with my lifeless son in my arms.