427: SEVEN YEARS OLD

SEVEN YEARS OLD

"What happened to you?" Serefina stared at the crying little Hope before her lime green eyes, demanding an explanation from Ariel.  0

Today was one of those very rare days when Serefina had time to pick Hope up from her school. And, she found the little girl crying her eyes out until her breathing turned into rasping. 

Ariel, who walked her out of the school gates, was looking at Serefina apologetically and started to speak timidly. 

"I am sorry Mrs. Mason," She started, Ariel knew Serefina as Hope's mother because that was what the papers said. As for Lana she was Hope's sister and would often drive and pick up the little girl if it wasn't Serefina herself, who did that. 

As for the man that Ariel saw a year ago, she had never seen him since their last encounter. 

Just like always, Serefina completely ignored Ariel and walked toward Hope who was still covering her face with her hands. 

"Stop crying." Serefina's voice was stern with no trace of warmth laced in it. "I said stop crying." This time her voice sounded firmer than before and made Ariel flinch. 

"Mrs. Mason…" Ariel tried to talk to Serefina, but the witch refused to look at her. 

However, Hope choked twice before she stopped sobbing and put down her hands as she stared at Serefina with teary eyes. Though she stopped crying, her tiny shoulders were still shaking from her earlier outburst. 

"Tell me what happened." Serefina demanded, disregarding Ariel completely, who was still standing there.

If Serefina thought Ariel was someone not important, then she wouldn't waste her time on her or even spare her a single glance.

As for Ariel, the school where she was working was one of the most prestigious schools in this red river city, hence all the children there must come from prominent families, though she had never heard about the Mason family, but Ariel wouldn't treat Hope recklessly, especially after she witnessed how arrogant Hope's mother was. 

"There was a boy…" Ariel tried to explain to Serefina, but the later shot her an icy glare.

"I asked her, not you." Serefina became impatient. "Tell me what happened." She shifted her eyes toward Hope again. 

"It was Drake…" Hope talked in her soft, quivering voice as she played with the edge of her shirt nervously. She didn't like it when Serefina glared at her. "He bullied me…"

"Bullied you?" Serefina's face turned unsightly. 

"So, it was…" Ariel tried to explain it hastily, but Serefina raised her hand to stop her from spouting another word. 

"Why did he bully you?" Serefina frowned. How come someone under her protection was bullied so easily?

"Because… because…" Hope fidgeted and averted her gaze elsewhere before she answered. "Because my front tooth is missing…" she pursed her lips sullenly. 

Hope had just started losing her baby teeth a few weeks ago and now her front tooth was missing which made the little girl quite upset because how she looked like without her tooth.

Serefina raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Then, what did you do?"

"Hm?" Hope choked once again and blinked her eyes as a tear fell on her cheek which she wiped immediately because she knew Serefina didn't like to see her cry. 

"What did you do to him after he mocked you about your missing tooth." Serefina elaborated her words impatiently. 

Hope shook her head. "Nothing…" she said timidly.

"Mrs. Mason, please don't be angry… I have already punished Drake for his rude behavior." Ariel interrupted again, not wanting Serefina to misunderstand the situation. 

"What kind of punishment did you give him?" This time, Serefina turned her head to look at Ariel. 

Ariel bit her lower lip nervously under Serefina's hard gaze. This woman was always scary to look at. "I asked the boy to apologize to Hope."

"And?" Serefina raised her eyebrows. 

"And I gave him a punishment of writing at least ten pages of apology letter to Hope." Ariel dropped her gaze as she fidgeted. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to look at the woman in front of her. Mrs. Mason has this overbearing aura. 

"And?" Serefina asked the same question impatiently, not even caring when she noticed that Ariel had actually started to cower under her eyes. 

"I think… I think that punishment was enough for a little boy. They are still children." Ariel tried to find an excuse to justify her decision. It was the right punishment as she had followed the school rules, yet Serefina's words made it look like it wasn't enough.

An uncomfortable spell of silence followed her words before Serefina talked to Hope coldly. "Next time, if someone bullied you like that again, punch them in their face. Got it?"

"Mrs. Mason… you can't teach your daughter things like that." Ariel was startled when she heard her.

Yet, Serefina didn't bother to argue with the homeroom teacher as she ushered Hope into the car, leaving Ariel in her puzzled state. 

She could only shake her head helplessly and pray that Serefina didn't mean her words, unknown to her, what ensued in the car was actually the opposite. 

"Do you remember what I said before?" Serefina glared at the little girl beside her. "If someone bullied you, you have to punch them in the face, so they will stop doing that."

Hope bit her bottom lip as she kept silent for a while before she answered. "But, what if I don't have a friend anymore because of that?"

Hope had been struggling to make friends because she kept seeing things that the rest of her friends couldn't see. 

They thought Hope was weird as she kept talking about something that they couldn't understand. 

Only when Lana had a nice talk with her and explained one or two things that she had to know, did Hope start ignoring those creatures her friends couldn't see. 

And Kace said she was not a weird child. Hope was special because she could see them. 

"What's the point of having a friend that will hurt your feelings? You don't need to have a bunch of idiots to be called as friends, you just need some who keeps you happy." 

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