I was coming back from a double shift at the diner, soaked to the bone, my socks squelching in my wet shoes. The cold was seeping into my bones. I kicked the door shut, dreaming only of dry clothes and hot tea.
What I definitely didn’t expect was silence.
No music from Noah’s room, no beeping from the microwave heating up the food Liam had forgotten to eat. Just silence — thick, strange, unsettling.
They sat on the sofa next to each other. Motionless. Tense, shoulders straight, hands on their knees — as if preparing for a funeral.
‘Noah? Liam? What’s going on?’
My voice seemed too loud in the quiet house. I put my keys on the table and moved forward cautiously.
‘What happened? The programme? What’s wrong with you…?’
‘Mum, we need to talk,’ Liam interrupted, his voice so different I barely recognised it.
The way he said it made my stomach clench.
Liam didn’t look up. His arms were crossed over his chest, his jaw clenched—that’s what he does when he’s angry but trying to hide it. Noah sat next to him, his hands clasped together, his fingers clenched so tightly that I wondered if he could even feel them.
I slumped into the chair opposite them. My uniform clung to my body, damp and uncomfortable.
‘Okay, guys,’ I said. ‘I’m listening.’
‘We can’t see you anymore, Mum. We need to leave… We’re done here,’ Liam said, taking a deep breath.
‘What are you talking about?’ My voice broke before I could hold it back. ‘Is this… is this a joke? Are you filming some kind of stupid video? Honestly, guys, I’m too tired for your pranks.’
‘Mum, we met our father. We met Evan,’ Noah said, shaking his head slowly.
His name hit me like ice water down my spine.
‘The director of our programme,’ Noah added.
‘The director? Go on.’
‘He came to us after orientation,’ Liam said. “He saw our surname and said he had studied our files. He asked to meet with us personally and said he had been waiting for an opportunity to come into our lives for a long time.
‘And you believed him?’ I asked, looking at my sons as if they had suddenly become strangers.
‘He said you were the one keeping us away from him, Mum,’ Liam said, his voice tense. ‘That he tried to be there and help, but you decided to cut him out.’
‘That’s not true at all,’ I whispered. ‘I was 17. I told Evan I was pregnant, and he promised me the world.’ And the next morning, he was gone. Just like that, no call, no message. He was gone.
‘Enough!’ Liam interrupted sharply, standing up. ‘You say he lied. But how do we know you’re not lying?’
I flinched. My heart ached that my own children doubted me. I didn’t know what Evan had told them, but it was enough to make them think I was a liar.
It was as if Noah could read my mind.
‘Mum, he said that if you don’t come to his office to agree to his terms, he’ll make us drop out. He said he’ll ruin our chances of getting into university. Yes, participating in these programmes is important, but the real game will begin when we’re accepted for full tuition,’ Noah said.
‘And… what exactly does he want, guys?’
‘He wants to play the perfect little family. He said you stole 16 years from him with us,’ Liam said. ‘And that he’s trying to get on the state board of education. He thinks if you agree to pretend to be his wife, it will benefit all of us.’ There’s going to be a banquet we need to go to.
I couldn’t speak anymore. I sat there, the weight of 16 years pressing down on my chest. It was like a punch in the face… not just because of the absurdity of the situation, but because of the sheer cruelty of it.
I looked at my sons — their eyes were full of disbelief, their shoulders hunched with fear and betrayal. I took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled.
‘Boys,’ I said. ‘Look at me.’
They looked. Hesitantly, but hopefully.
“I’d rather burn down the entire education board than let this man take control of us. Do you really think I would deliberately keep your father away? My treasures, he left. Not me. It was his choice, not mine.
Liam blinked slowly. His eyes sparkled with the same light as the little boy who had clung to me with scraped knees and a broken heart.
‘Mum…’ he whispered. ‘What should we do?’
‘We’ll accept his terms, boys. And then we’ll expose him at the most opportune moment.’
On the morning of the banquet, I took seconds in the dining room. I needed to keep moving. If I sat still for too long, I would drown in my thoughts.
The boys sat at a table in the corner with their homework spread out in front of them — Noah with his headphones on, Liam drawing something in his notebook as if competing with someone. I poured them more orange juice and smiled — a restrained smile, but a smile nonetheless.
‘You don’t have to stay here, you know?’ I said gently.
‘We want to stay, Mum,’ Noah replied, removing one earphone. ‘We said we’d see him here, remember?’
I remembered. I just didn’t want to.