Noah's heart hurts so much as he gazed at his ringing phone. It felt like someone was tearing it apart with a saw.
Mrs. Antonio who had been standing in front of Noah's desk all the time also saw Noah's ringing phone. She careened her head to see the caller ID and became furious immediately upon seeing that it was Jasmine calling.
“Why is she calling you now, sir? Does she have an idea of what disaster she had caused?” Mrs. Antonio asked with an eye roll, hoping Noah wouldn't pick up the call.
Noah leaned back in the chair, his fingers gently on the table rhythmically as if he were thinking about something. You could tell that he was furious by his expression.
Mrs. Antonio was glad to see this she then chimed in to stir the pot further,
“All the board of directors is not pleased with the way the event turned out, Mr. Cooper, and they would like to hold a meeting with you soon”
Noah looked straight at his assistant, the outline of his side face and his temple were tightened into a line. Mrs. Antonio was startled for a few seconds but soon continued, “Had it been you've known that this was how it's going to turn out, you would have asked Danica to be your date to the party, isn't sir?”
Noah's throat constricted in pain, “You can go back to your office now” he made the sound from deep in his chest, dull but extraordinarily firm.
“Okay, sir. But sir, the meeting with the…”
“I'll get back to you on that,” Noah interrupted firmly, glancing at his wristwatch.
“Alright, sir,” with that, she sauntered out of the office with her iPad, her heels click-clack against the floor.
At Aurora's school.
Aurora was seen sitting on her seat in the third roll of the classroom, looking out the window with an expression to be mixed with a trace of pity and warmth.
“Hi, Aurora,” this voice seemed to pull her out of her deep thoughts. She retracted her gaze to her left-hand side direction, and there sat the cutest boy in the classroom. He had a tall nose, sexy thin lips, and deep big round eyes. He looked really handsome in their school uniform, a white shirt, blue blazer, and a burgundy tie.
Aurora didn't respond as she stared and thought inside her heart, what's he doing here? She doesn't even know his name, but she was very much aware of the fact that all the girls loved to be around him.
“My name is Samuel,” the boy introduced, having a bright, broad, compassionate, and sincere grin on his face.
Aurora scoffed scornfully, and asked sarcastically, “How may I help you?”
The smile playing around Samuel's lips remained diminished as it occurred that he didn't take any offense at Aurora's rude behavior when he was only trying to be friends with her.
“I would like to be your friend, Aurora. Please don't say no,” his smile grew wider as he said these words.
“No,” Aurora pronounced just what he didn't want to hear, “I don't want to be your friend. Can you leave now?”
Samuel's smile faded for a second, he had always observed Aurora and knew Aurora to be a calm and easy-going girl, he never knew that she had such a temper.
Smiling awkwardly to mask his embarrassment, Samuel rose to his feet and muttered, “Take care of yourself,”
Aurora cast a contemptuous look at him while he walked back to his seat in the first roll.
“Hello everyone,” their teacher's cheerful voice jolted Aurora back to reality, and she swiftly looked straight to the front of the class.
“Hi, Miss Angel” the students chorused except Aurora. She was really in a bad mood today and only wanted to be alone.
If only her father had taken Jasmine inside her apartment last night, perhaps her mood would be a lot better today.
“I have great news for the girls. Would you like to hear it?” the teacher grinned from ear to ear and moved from one place to another in the front of the class.
“Yes!” the female children squealed, their faces beaming with smiles.
“Okay. The good news is that there's a food competition coming up next week, the theme of the competition is Mother and Daughter cooking” the teacher explained word by word while the students listened attentively, including Aurora.
“I'm talking to the female students, you all should inform your mommy at home about the food competition. Your mommy is going to prepare a meal and the judges would have a taste of every meal they would ask you to prepare. So from there, a winner will be announced afterward and would be awarded a lot of prizes, including a trip to Paris”
Most of the students exclaimed with happiness immediately, “Paris!”
“Oh my, I love Paris”
“My mom had promised to take me there for a holiday if I pass my examinations”
“I'll make sure my mom wins so that we can to Paris,”
“Me too”
These were the dialogues coming out from the female students as the whole class was filled with noise.
By this time, Aurora's eyes were already swimming with tears. Her heart hurt a lot as she thought that, this would be the second or third competition the school would be holding for mothers and children, and she had never participated in any before.
It was closing hour.
Aurora carried her backpack and threw it on her back and ambled out of the classroom just like the other students.
However, just before reaching the entrance, someone called out her name, “Aurora,”
She quit her slow pace and gradually turned around to see who had just called her name, but seeing the person, her heart seemed to be grabbed by something and was so heart-wrenching painful. Clearly, she was about to get bullied by her and her cliques again.
“Would you be participating in this new competition?” the girl asked in a mockery tone. She was a bit taller than the rest of the girls in the classroom, and this made her feel superior to them.
Aurora didn't say a word, but lowered her head and turned around to walk away.
“Tell us, Aurora, will you finally reveal your mom this time around?” another voice asked her, and they all laughed out loud when Aurora wasn't saying anything.
“Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! It's so bad we wouldn't be meeting your mom again,” the first girl said, putting her pace forward and coming to stand in front of Aurora.
“Come on, Jessica, she and her mom might participate in the competition, and we won't have to meet Mr. Cooper this time but Mrs. Cooper” the second girl ridiculed, and they laughed shortly again.
“What's going on here?” they all turned to the entrance simultaneously.
“Oh, Samuel, you're still in school?” Jessica spoke in a friendly manner as she left where she was standing and hurried to meet Samuel as if she were going to embrace him.
Aurora quickly made use of this opportunity to escape from their midst and walked past them. Seeing the tears on Aurora's face, Samuel felt something was off as he turned to look at Jessica, who in turn ducked her gaze and then smiled sheepishly with her other two friends.
A wide smile emerged on Noah's lips upon seeing his daughter walk in his direction beside his car.
“Sweetheart,” he called out happily, moving closer to her. However, he soon noticed that his daughter's wet eyelashes and his smile could no longer continue.
Stunned, he squatted right in of her, confining her movement.
He slowly held her arms and looked into her eyes as if searching for whichever reason that could make her cry so much in school to cause her eyes to redden so much like this.
“What happened, Aurora? Did someone hurt you? Tell me,” Noah inquired apprehensively, swallowing every now and then.
Aurora stared at her father's face for a long moment and then explained everything to him, without leaving any stone unturned. Well, except for Samuel's part of the story.
Inadvertently, his hands that were holding Aurora's fell, and he slowly stood up.
“Let's go home,” he muttered and turned to open the passenger side door.
“Is that all you're going to say, Daddy?” her voice become hysterical as she looked up to stare at his father's face.
Noah looked back at his daughter's face and furrowed his brows tightly, “Tell me, what do you want me to do, Aurora? His tone was cautious, but he was feeling inexplicably fury deep down in his heart.
“Do something, Daddy. I want to participate in the competition this time," she demanded, more tears rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Sighing, Noah moved back to where his daughter was, “There's no way you can participate, Aurora. It's a mother and daughter cooking, like you've said, and I'm a father. Moreover, I don't know how to cook and which you are aware of,”
He sighed heavily again, cursing his bitter life inwardly.
“Okay, how about we rent a mommy?”