Silence descended over the room.
Kael cleared his throat hesitantly. "That was harsh."
Soren gave him a hard look. "Are you feeling sorry for her?"
Kael shook his head, nervous. "No...I..."
Soren raised a hand and stopped him. He didn’t want to hear it. His attention returned to the file on the desk.
"Cancel all the meetings for the day."
Kael blinked, caught off guard. "But sir?
"I’m going to my daughter’s school."
Kael swallowed the rest of the words. He nodded understandingly. "Noted, sir."
Kael walked out, closing the door behind him softly.
~~~~~~~~~
Elowen was working on her design drawing when Daphne appeared beside her desk.
"If you have finished preparing your presentation, hand it over to me."
Elowen looked up. "I haven’t finished it. Even if I had, why would I give it to you?"
Daphen’s patience was running thin. She slammed her hand on the desk and leaned toward her.
"Listen. I can get you fired. One word to Mr. Black, and you will be out of this office."
This was how Daphne had intimidated everyone around her.
She usually used her connection with the HR director to threaten other employees. She had even taken credit for other designers’ work by forcing them to hand over designs.
Elowen had surrendered her hard work more than once because she was afraid Daphne would make trouble for her. But she was tired of being bullied. She wouldn’t let Daphne walk over her anymore.
"Do whatever you want." Elowen met her gaze without flinching. "I’m not giving you my presentation."
"You..." Daphne clenched her fist. "You will regret it."
Elowen flashed a faint, challenging smirk. "We’ll see who regrets it."
Daphne stomped her foot and stormed away.
Elowen returned her focus to the design drawing. Just as she was about to finish it, her phone rang.
It was from Seraphina’s school.
A sense of unease settled inside her.
"Hello."
"Mrs. Vale. Your daughter fought with another student. Please come to school."
"What?" Elowen shot to her feet. "Is she hurt?" Panic rushed into her voice.
"Please come quickly." The woman ended the call without answering her question.
Elowen’s heartbeat faltered. The unanswered question terrified her even more.
"Sera..." She grabbed her bag and hurried out.
Daphne saw her rushing away. She frowned. "What’s wrong with her?"
She then glanced at Elowen’s desk and saw the design drawing lying there carelessly. A sly smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"You are such a fool, Elowen. You left the design like this."
A malicious glint entered her eyes. "I asked you to cooperate, but you wouldn’t listen. Now don’t blame me for being cruel."
She strode toward Elowen’s desk. She glanced around carefully.
No one was paying attention to her. Lifting her phone, she quickly took several pictures of the design. She checked the photographs one by one.
A satisfying smile danced across her lips. "At tomorrow’s presentation, you will be humiliated and sacked."
She turned to leave, only to come face to face with Vera. She drew in a startled breath.
Vera narrowed her eyes as she studied her suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"
Daphne immediately forced a nervous smile. "Nothing. I saw Elowen leaving in a hurry. I was wondering what happened to her."
"She is not here," Vera said coldly. "You should go back to your desk."
"Fine, fine... I am going." Daphne walked away.
The smugness lingered in her eyes. She had already gotten what she had been looking for.
At the school...
Seraphina sat in the corner with her head bowed. Her eyes turned red from crying. One of her sleeves was torn. Her skirt was covered in dirt, and her hair was messy.
She looked miserable.
Beside her sat another girl, who scrunched up her face as she glared at Seraphina.
"Natalie, you shouldn’t have done that," the lady teacher said. "She is your classmate."
"Teacher, she pushed me first," Natalie protested.
"You bullied me," Seraphina argued through her tears.
"Don’t lie," Natalie snapped. "You started it."
"That’s enough." The teacher’s voice became firmer. "Your parents are coming. I don’t want any more fights between you two."
Just then, a woman rushed in.
"Mom..." Natalie rushed to her mother. She started crying all of a sudden. "She pushed me."
She pointed at the scratch on her elbow. "It hurts."
The woman’s expression darkened. "What?" Her furious glare immediately landed on Seraphina. "How dare she?"
She stormed toward her. "I’ll teach her a lesson."
"Mrs. Green, please calm down." The teacher tried to stop her.
But the woman was too furious to listen to her.
"You pushed my daughter."
Seraphina looked at her fearfully. "I didn’t..."
Before she could finish, a slap landed across her cheek. The force sent her crashing onto the floor.
Her palm scraped against the hard floor. Pain shot through her knees.
She sobbed, clutching her throbbing cheek.
The teacher rushed in and stood in front of Seraphina as if to shield her. "Mrs. Green, you can’t beat a child like that."
"She hurt my daughter," Mrs. Green yelled. "Instead of punishing her, you are stopping me? My husband donates thousands of dollars to this school every year so my children can receive a good education. And now I find out that my daughter has been bullied."
The teacher fell silent. She wanted to defend Seraphina, but she didn’t want to offend the Green family either. She feared the school would lose donations.
"I should go to the principal and tell him to fire you."
The teacher panicked instantly. "No, please, Mrs. Green," she pleaded. "Don’t do this. I’m begging you."
Mrs. Green smirked with satisfaction. "Then throw her out of the school," she demanded, pointing at Seraphina. "She can’t study here."
"I..." The teacher was speechless.
"What? Are you hesitating? If you don’t do it, I’ll make sure you don’t work here either."
"Mrs. Green, please try to understand," the teacher tried to persuade her. "It’s just a fight between children. Over such a petty issue, we can’t expel a student."
"Then I’ll talk to the principal. I’ll see how she continues studying in this school."
"Who has the nerve to expel my daughter?" A furious voice suddenly rang through the room.
Everyone turned toward the doorway.
Elowen stormed in.
Hope flickered in Seraphina’s tear-filled eyes. "Mommy."
The moment Elowen saw her daughter on the floor in a messy state, something inside her snapped.
"Sera..." She rushed over and knelt beside her. Her fingers trembled as she gently cupped her face.
"How did this happen?"
Her gaze moved over every inch of Seraphina.
The finger marks were glaringly prominent on her cheek.
Elowen’s eyes filled with tears. Her fingers moved to her torn sleeve and touched the scratched mark on her shoulder.
Seraphina flinched.
Elowen stared at her daughter for several seconds. The pain in her eyes slowly transformed into fury.
She looked at the two adults behind her.
"Who did this to her?"
No one replied.
Elowen pushed herself to her feet. "Not answering? Do you believe I won’t take action against you?"