SOPHIA'S POV

I watched as Lucas walked away. Is he going nuts or something? I'm sure he's got a few screws loose.

What about me? What have I ever done to him? I was a faithful wife. He was the one who cheated on me. He was the one who ruined our marriage.

What is he trying to do? Plead innocent by turning the tables? Whatever did I do?

"Oh my head!"

I'm not going to let him ruin my day. I plan to have a blast with the kids when they return from school.

Thanks to him I wasn't able to see them before they left. It's no biggie. I've got plans made.

I am so excited for the day I have ahead of me. I will make sure to stay positive, and do not let my ex get to me. I will be strong, and I will have a great day.

I whistled and moved my hips to the tune as I went inside the kitchen. I need to start preparing on time if I want things to go as planned.

I met a woman who appeared to be in her late 40's in the kitchen, cleaning.

"Mrs Lucas!" she called out excitedly. "It's so good to finally meet you."

"Um Hi? I don't think I know you." I said trying to recall if I had ever met her.

"You don't know me. I am Cassy, the cook. I heard so much about you from the kids."

"The kids? They talked about me?" I asked, my heart fluttering.

"For the first few months when I started working here, a day didn't go by without me hearing about you. I must say you're way prettier in person than in pictures Mrs Lucas."

"Call me Sophia and thank you for the compliments."

"What do you need ma'am? I'll help you with it."

"Oh, no, no, no, no. I can handle it."

"I can't let you do that. It's my job to cook, just tell me what you want."

"I insist. You can even take the day off if you want."

"What? Mr Lucas won't be mad?"

An idea crossed my mind. I grinned when I thought of the outcome.

"The thing is we planned an outing together and we'd be eating out so there's no need to cook so the food won't go bad."

"Oh! I see."

I could tell she wasn't convinced. She might probably know what I was up to.

"You see, we're trying to work out our marriage for the sake of the kids."

"Oh! Okay, okay. I understand. I wouldn't want to stand on your way. I'll just clean up and be on my way."

"Thank you for understanding. Please let Nancy know that she can go too. I'll pick up the kids and watch over them today."

"Okay ma'am."

I let her clean up while I go upstairs to pick up the other things.

LUCAS POV

I Ignored everyone's greeting as I walked, no! More like marching into the office. The day started off poorly, and the day was only going to get worse. I walked angrily into my office and slammed the door shut. I was mad as hell. My morning was ruined. I'm going to have a bad day, but I can't change it now. And it's all because of that wench. I'm starting to think I made a terrible mistake allowing her to live in the house.

How long has it been? Just two days and it's frustrating. And God knows how long she intends to stay.

I was still struggling to pull myself together when my thoughts suddenly flashed across my mind. Images from my dream came flooding back and I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier.

I slammed my bag on the table angry. The bag hit the table, causing everything to fall out onto the floor. I was so mad that I wanted to do something extreme

I'm losing it. I'm losing it. This woman hurt me badly. She broke me and yet I still find myself feeling things I'm not supposed to feel.

"Mabel!" I yelled. "Get in here."

She hurried over, shaking. I don't blame her. Bad things happen when I get angry. I can't work like this.

"Clean this up." I said walking out of the office. I gotta clear my head.

I know it's too early to drink but it's what I really need right now.

As I opened my car door, I heard my name. Seriously? I don't need company right now.

I turned around to see Ava stepping out from her car. I groaned under my breath. Ava is the last person I needed to see.

Sure we're best friends but she can be really insensitive sometimes.

"Hey!"

"Hey? Hellooo, Ava here. What's with the mood?" she asked, reaching out for a hug but I evaded her.

"I'm just having a bad day. Nothing more."

"Let me guess, wife?"

I didn't respond.

"See? I told you it was a bad idea to have that witch around…"

"You will address her with respect." I said, getting angry. I'm the only one allowed to be mean to her.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! Easy tiger. Defending her now, aren't we?"

"I'm not defending her…"

"Uhh, yes you are."

"Let's just drop it."

"You avoid issues when you're in denial."

"Ava!"

"Fine. I'll let it go. Only because I don't like your mood. Alright, let's make you happy." she said wanting to enter my car.

"I want to be alone." I said, stopping her.

"Huh?" She looked at me like she was meeting me for the first time. "What'd you say?"

"I'm sorry but I want to be alone."

"Are you…"

"I'm sorry Ava…"

"Suit yourself." she said not letting me finish. See why I said she was insensitive?

I got into my car and drove off.

CLAIRE'S POV.

It was a cold, breezy day and I couldn't help but shiver as the wind blew my hair in my face. I was sitting on the bench with my brother, Aiden, and we were waiting for our ride to come pick us up.

"I'm so hungry," Aiden whined. "I just want something to eat."

I didn't feel like eating anything, so I offered to go over to the school canteen to get him something to eat.

I didn't see my history teacher coming and I bumped into her.

"Hey! Can't you see?" she yelled at me.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't see you. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you."

Her face looked angry and she was breathing heavily and holding her side. "As if! I know your kind. You have a rich father and you become all rude."

"Ma'am, I'm not rude.".

"Now you're talking back? You need to be taught how to keep shut when elders are talking." she said, raising her hand to hit me.

"Try it and you'll rot in prison." I heard a voice say behind me.

My history teacher suddenly froze.

"So-Sophia Miller? Sophia Miller? Oh my God! I can't believe I'm meeting you here. I'm a huge fan of yours."

"Really? Is that why you're bullying my kids?"

"Your kids? You must be mistaken. They don't have a mo…"

She stopped talking. I guess she saw the resemblance. She covered her mouth in shock.

"Claire, where is... Mom? You came to our school?"

"Yeah! I'm here to pick you guys."

"Did something happen to the driver?" I asked.

"Nothing happened to him. He's fine. I've got a surprise for you guys."

"Really? I love surprises" Aiden jumped excited.

"Great! I brought you a change of clothes, it's in the car. Why don't you change while I handle miss…"

"Tanya." I said.

"Miss Tanya."

"I'm so sorry ma'am. I didn't know they were your children."

"And that's enough reason to bully children."

"She was being rude...

"My Claire is not a rude girl."

"She…"

"Don't come to work tomorrow," Mom said.

I couldn't help but smile. I think mom is cool.

***

SOPHIA'S POV

I sat on the bench as I watched them play in the beautiful blue ocean. Aiden and Claire were playing by the beach. I laughed hard as I watched them run around and jump in the sand. I knew that I needed to take a picture of them. Aiden and Claire were both having so much fun and it made me happy to see them so carefree.

They were running around and laughing as they chased each other. Aiden was chasing Claire and she was running away from him, but he would always catch up to her. One time she tripped and fell on the ground, but quickly got back up and ran away again. They were both laughing hysterically as they played in the Sand

"Okay, you win. You're faster than I am." Claire said in surrender. "I can't run anymore."

"I told you so."

Claire walked towards me while Aiden stayed back building sand castles.

"Mom, can I have a bottle of water please?"

"Sure darling. Here you go." I said, handing her a bottle.

"Are you having fun?"

"This is the most fun I've had in a long time. Thanks mom."

"You're welcome sugar." I said pulling her closer to me.

I pondered within me how I was going to raise the issue of Miss Tanya with her without ruining the mood. But I had to ask. I'm her mother after all.

"Claire? Can I ask you something?"

"Miss Tanya?"

I nodded.

"It wasn't always like this. She was really nice at first. But she just suddenly changed and bullied me. I tried to avoid her, but she would always find me and tell me to stop what I was doing. Then, she started pushing me around and I got really scared of her."

"And you didn't do anything to her?"

"None that I can remember."

"Did you report to anyone? The head teacher or the principal."

"I did but they wouldn't believe me."

I was angry and felt bad at the same time. How dare a teacher bully a student. My child at that age was not to blame for this teacher's actions. I was disappointed in the school board for not stopping this teacher from acting like this. The school board should have had a better policy in place to stop this behavior.

"How about your dad?"

"Dad was always busy. He always comes home late, so I had no time to talk to him."

So much for being a better parent. His child was being bullied by a teacher and he had no idea.

"Did she inflict any physical injury on you? Tell me the truth."

"She didn't mom. I'm fine."

"I'm so very sorry for not being here all this time. I'm here now and I promise to always protect you and your brother. I'll make up for the times I wasn't a mom. I'll be there for you and I'll take care of you and love you.

She nodded with a bright smile on her face.

"Mom! Look what I found." Aiden shouted as he ran to me. "It's a seashell"

"A seashell?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's a seashell," Aiden replied with a smile.

The white and blue shell in his hand looked like a pearl. I picked up the shell and ran my hand over it.

"Wow, what a beautiful seashell!" I exclaimed to my son.

"Look, mom!" He said excitedly, handing me the shell and pointing to the colorful pattern on the inside.

I collected the shell and examined it. It was a pretty big one, and it was quite heavy too. I looked at the bottom and saw that there were tiny shells, which made me think that it had been washed up from the ocean.

"It must have been washed up from the ocean," I said to Aiden.

"That's what I think, too," he replied.

"Do you wanna keep it?"

He nodded with enthusiasm. "I'll show it to dad when we get home."