“Teacher… please don’t tell my dad, he’ll scold me…”

William Brooks sighed, pressed the phone, and asked Edward Sutton again.

“So, do you want to tell the teacher why you got into a fight?”

Edward Sutton couldn’t hold it in anymore, stammering with a sob in his voice, “David Foster said… said my mom doesn’t want me anymore… and my dad is about to not want me either…”

“……”

Before taking over this class, William Brooks had generally learned about the students’ situations.

Edward Sutton was considered rather special.

According to the former homeroom teacher, he came from a single-parent family. The conditions were actually quite good, but his father was especially busy, so usually the nanny and a home tutor took care of him.

Not to mention picking him up or helping with homework, his father hadn’t even attended a single parent-teacher meeting.

When he enrolled last September, it was actually the nanny who brought him.

That was just unbelievable.

Hearing what Edward Sutton said, William Brooks felt both angry and sorry for him.

“All right, the teacher understands. I’ll call David Foster over later and criticize him. But you have to remember, no matter what happens, you shouldn’t solve things with your fists, okay?”

-

After dealing with this matter, the sun had already set outside the window.

Not long after, the school bell rang for dismissal.

William Brooks tilted her head back and rubbed her neck, letting out a long breath.

No wonder when she first met the former homeroom teacher, she thought she was 38 years old and wondered how she could have a child at such an advanced age.

Turns out, she was only 28.

That’s the blessing of being a homeroom teacher.

After writing her work summary in the office for a while, William Brooks still felt uneasy about the classroom’s cleanliness, so she got up and walked toward the classroom.

At this time, all the children at school had already gone home one after another.

The school, covered in doodles, was as quiet as a cartoon oil painting.

William Brooks rubbed her temples, planning to just take a quick look and leave.

But when she stood in the corridor and looked inside, the sky was darkening, the autumn wind was blowing, and the faint light shone on a little boy, making him look especially lonely and pitiful.

“Edward Sutton?”

William Brooks was startled, and her first reaction was to reflect on whether she had said something today that hurt the child.

“Why haven’t you gone home yet?”

Edward Sutton, in the corner, was lying on his desk and said gloomily, “No one came to pick me up.”

William Brooks immediately raised her hand to check her watch.

“It’s already five thirty. Where are your parents?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t you have a nanny? Didn’t she come?”

Edward Sutton rubbed his eyes, his voice especially hoarse: “I don’t know…”

“……”

William Brooks really didn’t know what to say about this child’s family.

“Don’t stay in the classroom by yourself. Come to the office and do your homework for a while. The teacher will wait with you.”

Edward Sutton nodded, put on his backpack, and followed William Brooks.

On the way back to the office, William Brooks called both Edward Sutton’s nanny and his father.

The ridiculous thing was, she couldn’t reach either of them.

She arranged for Edward Sutton to do his homework at the desk of a neighboring teacher, and as she sat down, she looked closely at the little boy.

His fair, delicate face, with thick eyelashes casting a shadow, looked as cute as a girl.

Sigh, how could his parents be so heartless.

In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour had passed.

William Brooks had already tried to contact Edward Sutton’s family six or seven times, but not once was she successful.

By this time, even the teachers working overtime had all left, and the child was still pitifully waiting for someone to pick him up.

Seeing that her phone was about to run out of battery, William Brooks was completely out of patience, and was even more anxious than Edward Sutton.

If she hadn’t gone to check the classroom on a whim today, would the child really have been left waiting alone?

What if something happened to him if he ran out by himself?

It was getting dark, the child hadn’t had dinner, it was raining outside and chilly, and staying in the office wasn’t a solution.

William Brooks took Edward Sutton’s hand and sighed softly.

“Are you cold? Let me take you home first, okay?”

A child alone outside always feels insecure, so he nodded and started packing his bag.

Edward Sutton’s home wasn’t far from the school, just a few kilometers, but today the traffic was unusually bad, and the taxi took almost half an hour to get there.

On the way to take him upstairs, William Brooks looked at the upscale neighborhood and felt more and more incredulous.

How could they be so at ease leaving a child at school without a care?

How can someone be so irresponsible as a father?

But then she thought again.

A single father, working hard to support the family, it really isn’t easy. Maybe he thought leaving things to the nanny would solve everything.

But no matter how busy you are, you should still balance work and family.

She thought about it for a long time and felt she should find a chance to have a good talk with this single father.

While she was hesitating, William Brooks suddenly received a call from the nanny.

“Is this Teacher Zhu?” the nanny asked anxiously, “Is Edward Sutton still at school?”

William Brooks: “…You’re only calling now? I’ve already brought him to the door of his home.”

“Oh! That’s great! I was so scared!”