Pete blushed. "No, no, it's fine, Mommy."
Nora chuckled softly and said, "Cherry's a big girl now."
Pete ran away in a hurry after Nora let go of him.
He stood outside the door to the bedroom and listened to the movements inside. The sound of running water, the sound of someone in the bath, and the sound of Mommy walking around in slippers after she was done bathing.
After confirming that Mommy was dressed, he opened the door and saw her lying on the bed. With her eyes closed, she said, "Mommy has a very important operation in two days, Cherry. I need a crazy amount of sleep for the next few days, so I'll go to bed first, alright?"
"... Okay, Mommy."
His sister had told him before that Mommy had poor health and that her hobby was sleeping. She was usually either asleep or dealing with troublesome issues so that she could sleep.
Therefore, he mustn't disturb Mommy.
Two minutes later, when he heard steady breathing coming from where the bed was, Pete tiptoed over to his mother. His tiny little form climbed onto the bed. Then, he found a spot in Nora's arms and curled up there. Before he knew it, he had fallen into deep sleep while listening to her heartbeat.
How wonderful.
He also had a mother now.
As a result, he didn't see the SOS messages from Cherry on the cell phone in his pocket:
"Help, Pete!"
"Let's exchange our positions again, Pete!"
"Sob, I don't love Daddy anymore!"
Downstairs.
Cherry took advantage of the opportunity while Justin was pouring a glass of water to send another text message to her brother on her cell phone. When she saw that he still wasn't replying, she could only give up and start tackling her assignments.
She bit her pen and stared at the textbook, her face all wrinkled as she frowned.
She, who had grown up abroad, was still at the literacy development stage. She couldn't understand the questions on the papers at all!
Justin sat next to her when he returned.
It had been half a year since he last tutored his son. As such, he didn't know how far their current progress was. He pointed at the simplest question and asked, "Do you know how to solve this?"
Cherry's big eyes were completely blank.
Justin fell silent for a moment. Then, he flipped back to syllabus from half a year ago. "What about this?"
Cherry shook her head hard.
"..."
Justin stared at her. He wanted to ask Pete why he couldn't solve the question now when he could do it half a year ago. Also, was he really shaking his head when he hadn't even read the question?
Cherry wordlessly suggested, "Why don't we learn about history instead, Daddy? I'm very knowledgeable in that."
"... Alright."
Justin flipped open the textbook. "Who's the first president of the United States?"
Cherry's eyes lit up. She raised her hand and said, "I know this!"
Justin breathed a sigh of relief. His son had fallen behind in his mathematics, but it would also do if he was doing well in his history classes.
As soon as the thought formed, he heard her yell, "Tom Cruise!"
"... It's George Washington!"
Cherry blinked. "Oh right, I must have remembered it wrongly. Next question please, Daddy."
"Which American politician was assassinated in 1963?"
"Leonardo DiCaprio!" Cherry immediately answered.
"..."
Justin took a deep breath and told himself not to get mad. His son had just started talking a little more. He mustn't lose his temper. He decided to try again. "Who invented the light bulb?"
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