A Husband For Killer Mom

“It’s great,” praised Lori while showing her sweet smile making the boy’s face blush. “Why is your face blushing? Are you sick?” Lori didn’t help her reddening friend as she brought her face closer to the boy, and neither did she expect her friend to be so fragile and blackened out that instant.

“Oh, no! Miss Dee! Cliver fainted!” Lori panicked as her friend fainted right in front of her nose.

Miss Dee, who was not far from them and witnessed their little interaction, could only shake her head. ‘Lori, don’t get your face closer like that, ah! Don’t you know that this kid likes you and is shy?’

Of course, no one could hear the teacher’s silence pondering. Even if the kids heard it, no one would understand the meaning.

“Don’t worry, Lori. He will wake up soon,” coaxed the teacher and shifted her eyes to the blackened-out boy. “Cliver, if you don’t wake up now, I’ll get a doctor to inject you.”

As if the little boy had never fainted before, Cliver immediately stood up, bluffing the confused Lori. “Cliver? Are you alright?” Alas, when her green-purple eyes looked straight at the boy, Cliver fainted once again.

“Miss Dee, do we need to go to the hospital?” Lori couldn’t help but worry about her unwell friend.”

“There’s no need to do that. I’ll get someone to take him to the infirmary. You continue your drawing, okay?”

.....

Lori nodded her head and sat back down at her desk.

“Lori, what are you drawing?” after Cliver was taken in by one of the caretakers, another of Lori’s classmates walked up to her.

This boy was as appealing as Cliver, but with black hair and eyes. This boy’s face had a hint of an eastern person, just like her mother’s. Lori and this boy sometimes secretly spoke Chinese.

“I’m drawing myself and my mom and dad.” Lori showed the boy her drawing paper with three individual stick man shapes. Her father’s figure was drawn using a blue crayon and was much taller than the other two figures. While the figure of her mother was red and the little girl was pink.

Lori also added flowers to decorate the three of them so that the pictures show her playing in a beautiful flower garden.

“How about you?”

“Same with you. But I also drew my newborn sister.”

“Can I see it?”

“Sure.”

The drawings of the boy named Jackson were much better and more detailed than those of Cliver and Lori. But Lori didn’t feel inferior to her unattractive picture, but her heart felt cloudy when she saw the tiny image accompanying the family, and it was Jackson’s newborn baby sister.

Lori wondered, how does it feel to have a little brother? Even though she had Eugene as her younger cousin, she couldn’t be with the boy for twenty-four hours.

It had been a long time since her father and mother promised her a younger brother for her. Her father often tempted her mother with the excuse that Richard wanted to give her a baby brother so Lori wouldn’t feel lonely.

Lonely? Is Lori feeling lonely?

When she was with her parents, Lori didn’t feel lonely. Her mother and father always accompany her and pick her up at school. They gave her abundant love and ensured she didn’t lack anything.

However… there were times her father and mother would talk about something serious that was difficult for her to understand. It was then… Lori felt lonely.

If she had a younger sibling, she would not feel lonely. Lori could play and laugh with her brother when her parents wanted to discuss something serious and talk about adult problems. She didn’t want a younger cousin like Eugene, but her very own brother... when will she have that?

“Lori, Lori. This Saturday, my mom and dad will take me to the playground. Do you want to come with me? I already told my mom I want to invite you, and she said yes!”

Lori blinked several times as if considering the invitation without realizing that Miss Dee had returned with Cliver, who was awake.

“NO! Lori promised me first!” Cliver protested in a loud voice, making Lori gasp in shock.

Lori didn’t think the boy would wake up so quickly from his stupor. Not to mention... when had she ever made an appointment with Cliver? She was sure she had no appointment aside from going with her parents for her usual horse ride.

“When did she say that?” Jackson did not want to give in and countered Cliver defiantly.

“Uhm...” Lori was about to separate her two classmates when she felt someone tug on her sleeve.

“Lori, aren’t you going horseback riding with your parents this Saturday?” Louis, the son of one of her father’s company partners who own a horse farm—whispered into Lori’s ear so Cliver and Louis couldn’t hear him.

“Of course. I’d rather ride a horse than go to the playground.”

Louis gave a faint smile while nodding his head upon hearing Lori’s reply, but only Miss Dee noticed the sparkling look of triumph in the little boy’s eyes.

In contrast to Cliver and Jackson, who sometimes like to push Lori and ignore Lori’s true feelings, Louis is more subtle and always manages to get the answers he wants from Lori’s mouth.

When school hours were over, for the umpteenth time, Lori had to think of a way to break up the debate between Cliver and Jackson. Somehow the two of them always fight when Lori is with them.

Should Lori avoid them for a while? That way, the two classmates wouldn’t fight and could become good friends like the others. She asked Louis what she thought of this idea because Lori didn’t want to reduce the number of friends she played with.

“It’ll be alright. You can avoid them as much as you want.” came the answer from the quick-witted boy.

“But, my friends will lessen if they become disliking me.”

“I will never dislike you.”