Chapter 6
“Sorry, I can’t make it. Oakley is an adult now, and I believe he can take responsibility for his own actions. If you need to, you could go directly to the Gates Group and speak to Oakley’s father.”
I hung up the phone after finishing my sentence.
As the screen went dark, memories of Oakley as a child resurfaced. He had always been a sensitive boy. During his school years, Anson and I were caught up in our startup, so we often left him in Jean’s care.
It wasn’t until Oakley was five that I realized his temper had gotten out of hand due to indulgence. But I couldn’t bring myself to fire Jean, and Oakley wouldn’t let me discipline
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him either.
+ 5 Points
C
Fed up with Oakley’s spiraling behavior, I finally lost my patience and gave him a good beating. Anson, however, turned on me, pointing his finger in my face, and accusing me of being wrong. He said I was nothing like his late wife, that I could never measure up to her.
From then on, I simply washed my hands of Oakley altogether. As he grew older, Jean continued to spoil him, and whenever Oakley got into trouble, Anson would have me handle it with the teachers.
Oakley didn’t object to this arrangement, knowing that no matter what mistake he made, I would never punish him.
Now that I was finally free from the two of them, they still expected me to clean up their
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+ 5 Points
mess? They must be dreaming.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed aside the memories and drove to the office to handle work.
The next morning, as soon as I arrived at the office, I noticed a group of staff gathered in small clusters, whispering excitedly. Their faces were full of gossip.
As soon as they saw me, they scattered like birds taking flight. I felt a pang of confusion. I’ve always been kind to my employees–why did they seem so scared of me today?
While I was still puzzled, Mrs. Adele pushed open the door to my office and waved at me with a smile.
Seeing her, I quickly made my way over, a nagging feeling telling me that the gossip
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15 Points
they were talking about probably had something to do with me.
“Oh, your son has really made a name for himself,” Mrs. Adele began, her voice filled with excitement. “At just twenty years old, smoking, drinking, racing cars, chasing women, and now he’s gotten that poor girl pregnant and made her have an abortion!”
As soon as the door closed, Mrs. Adele eagerly shared the news. I was stunned for a moment, but then the phone call from Oakley’s counselor yesterday flashed through my mind.
“How do you know about this?”
I couldn’t help but voice my curiosity as I looked at Mrs. Adele, who was lounging on the couch, seemingly enjoying herself.
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+ 5 Points
“Oh, it’s not that I know. Everyone who loves to follow trending topics already does. Apparently, the girl’s parents were waiting at the university for Anson. When they couldn’t find him, they decided to go to the company and wait for him there with some relatives.”
At this, I quietly set my tea down on the table. It had been my idea for them to go. to the company and confront him. I hadn’t expected them to actually go.
Mrs. Adele noticed my silence and quickly wiped the excitement from her face.
“Did I say too much?”
