Sitting behind the mahogany table was Christian scrolling through his laptop and at the same time, taking note of some points which he wrote down on his jotter.
This process went on for a while before his ringing phone interrupted him. Since it was a strange number, he delayed picking up but when the caller wouldn’t stop dialing his contact, he received the call.
“Who am I speaking with?”He asked, holding his phone to his ear.
“Good day, I’m Ms. Blair, Alex’s teacher.”The feminine voice on the other end replied and for a moment, Christian took the phone off his ear.
After staring at the workload in front of him for a while, he placed the phone against his ear once more.
“Yeah, I’m Alex’s father. How may I help you?”he asked and at the same time wondering why she didn’t reach out to Laura.
“Alex got into a serious fight with his mate who is now in a critical condition, can you come to the school right now?”She asked with a shaky voice.
Christian wanted to direct the call to Laura but before he could think of that, she interrupted, “I have been trying to reach out to his mom but her phone is not connecting. It would be okay, if both of you can come over at once.”She said.
“Okay, I will be there soon.”He replied and with that hung the call.
For the next few minutes that followed, he didn’t make a move, he just sat there, staring into space as different scenarios played out in his head all at once.
“If his teacher called, then it must be very serious. I wonder how serious it is right now?”He muttered, shutting his laptop.
As he made his way towards the door, he dialed Laura’s contact but just as the teacher had said, he couldn’t connect to her.
He kept on calling her contact for a while and when she still wouldn’t pick up, he pushed his phone into his pocket with a frown on his face.
“Are you heading out?”Damien asked, walking towards his direction.
“Yeah! You know what, give me an hour I will be back and we can talk about the issue you brought up.”He said, patting his shoulder.
“Sure.”Damien replied, making a u-turn to his office. He was actually going to meet with Christian before they crossed paths.
Inside the elevator, Christian tried to reach out to Laura but it was still the same result. He kept on with this until he got to his car and once again, he gave up with the call.
About half an hour drive got him to the twins’ school and immediately he got down, he began to trace their class room when he walked past a lobby.
At first, he wanted to ignore the person sitting on one of the benches but on a closer look, he discovered it was Alex, cuddling up with his legs to his chin as he stared into space.
It was obvious that he had no idea what was going on around him even when Christian joined him on the bench.
“Alex.”Christian called holding his shoulder.
At once Alex rose and then began to take backwards steps but before he could leave Christian’s reach, he pulled him back to himself and then made him sit back on the bench.
“Seems you have done something really bad and you’re scared. Do you mind sharing?”He asked, patting his head and at the same time making him tremble the more.
“Aren’t you going to say something?”He asked when he still wouldn’t speak.
“I didn’t do it. He started it.”He said, fiddling with his fingers.
“What are you talking about?”He asked.
It was at this moment that Alexa, Laura and their teacher arrived at the scene.
“Oh, you’re here. I have no idea about it, pardon me.”Ms. Blair said, holding a tablet.
Sensing that she wanted to show them something on it, he raised his brow at her and almost immediately, she pushed the device into his hands.
“The parents are causing trouble right now. We have tried all we could to abate the situation but they won’t sit still.”
Still staring at the picture, Laura took the tablet from him and immediately she saw the extent of the damage Alex had caused, she gasped, stepping backwards with her hands over her mouth.
The child who was Alex’s age mate was in the school health care receiving treatment after Alex had used a pen to stab his hand.
“I will be right back.”Ms. Blair said and after a curt bow she took her leave, leaving the family behind.
Almost immediately, Laura dropped to her knees, holding Alex by his shoulder and forcing him to look back at her.
“What happened?”She asked, peering at him but he wouldn’t look back at her.
“Aren’t you going to talk to me?”She yelled this time around, hitting his shoulder. Instead of saying a word, Alex began to sob while Laura still tried getting words for him.
Seeing that no matter what Laura did Alex wasn’t going to talk, Christian held Alexa and then pulled her to himself.
“What happened?”He asked. It was as if she had been waiting for this time because the moment he asked the question, she began to run her mouth.
“It was Carter who started it. He was bullying Alex and even when he wouldn’t say a word to him, he kept up with it. Alex got angry and then stabbed him when he snatched his pen from him.”
“Really?”There was a hint of excitement in his tone which made Laura snap her head upwards only to see a smiling Christian.
She ignored it but when he held Alex’s shoulder, pushing his knuckle towards him for a hit, a frown appeared on her face but she still didn’t react to it.
“You did what was right?”He said.
“But mom said…”Alexa wanted to disagree with him but he didn’t give her the chance to do so.
“Carter bullied Alex, if he hadn’t reacted to it, it would have continued that way until he did something really awful to him. Alex did the right thing by stabbing him.”He said, deepening the scowl on Laura’s face.
As if on a cue, Ms. Blair returned and together they went to the administrator’s office to sort the issue out. After several deliberations, Carter’s family agreed to let the issue slide, putting an end to everything.
Meanwhile, while all these were happening, Laura was mute, trying to bottle up the anger that was threatening to tear her apart.
****
When they got home, before Christian could walk off, she pulled him backwards and with her hands crossed on her chest, she asked, “What was the meaning of what you did back there?”
“You refused to pick your calls so I had to be there for the kids.”He replied.
“That’s not it.”
“Isn’t it?”He asked with a raised brow.
Tilting her head to the side, Laura began to pace around the little space between them, her lips lodged in between her teeth
Just as she had managed to bottle her anger at the school, she was trying to do the same here but couldn’t.
“Is anything the issue?”
“Yes, everything is… everything is so wrong, what do you think you infused on the kids back there? Are you out of your mind?”
“What did you want me to say? I should chide him for standing for himself?”He asked with a scoff, folding his hands across his chest.
He already knew this was going to come up when she was wearing a scowl since they had left the school earlier.
“If Alex hasn’t reacted that way, the bullying will continue and …”
“And what? Is that why you encouraged him to stab his mate? What if something really serious might have happened to the victim, huh? I doubt if you will spew all these things you are saying right now.”she yelled.
“You can yell all you want but that won’t make me condemn Alex’s action. You should be grateful that it ended on a good note instead of bringing up all these.”He snapped at her.
“What?”
He didn’t say anything to this, but after one last look at her, he brushed past her and then began to head towards the stairs.
Before he could start climbing, Laura was standing right in front of him.
“I’m not going to allow you to leave until you tell the kids that you were just joking with your words.”She snapped.
“I wasn’t, so I’m not saying that! Out of my way.”He snapped, trying to bypass her but she wouldn’t give way.
They continued this way and when he couldn’t take it anymore, he halted and with his hands resting on his hips, he said, “I won’t allow my kids to be a weakling like Rian.”
His words earned him a slap from Laura who was seething with anger.