My Son Got Beaten

: The Ex-Boyfriend

My son's homeroom teacher called to tell me he'd been hit by a classmate.

I never expected the other parent to be my ex-boyfriend.

He looked at me mockingly.

"Your son can't even win against a girl. How pathetic."

The words flew out of my mouth:

"My son is just like you, of course."

"Don't you forget how I pinned you to the ground and beat you."

"..."

He froze. I panicked.

1

I took time off work and rushed to the school.

If my son started it, he deserved a beating.

If he *didn't* start it, then the other kid deserved one even more.

If you get in a fight, you fight to win. His mom—me—has never lost a fight in her life.

I walked into the office fuming, but also a little ashamed.

The homeroom teacher was sitting down. My son was standing off to the side with scratches on his face, and next to him stood a girl.

'He couldn't even win against a girl... No, wait. Why would a boy hit a girl in the first place!'

My shame dwindled, leaving only a trace behind.

"Leo Carter..." I glared at my son. The words that were supposed to follow his name weren't appropriate for the setting, so I just mouthed them while rolling up my sleeves, ready to administer some family justice. A good paddling, for starters.

"Mrs. Carter, please, just wait a moment. The girl's parent will be here shortly."

The teacher's subtext was clear: stop the theatrics and wait for everyone to arrive so we could sort this out all at once.

「Three minutes later」, the girl's parent came running in, huffing and puffing.

In those three minutes, I had imagined all sorts of scenarios—some where we'd be understanding, others where we'd argue endlessly. The one thing I never expected was to run into him.

"Mina Carter? What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." I shot him a sharp glare.

In that moment, all I could think was, 'It's a small fucking world. How did I end up running into him?'

Caelan Corbin. My ex-boyfriend. The only boyfriend I've had in my nearly thirty years of life.

"Oh, so you two parents know each other. Why didn't you kids say so earlier? This should make things much easier to resolve," the teacher said, trying to smooth things over.

...

No one responded. The silence was awkward.

"Mrs. Carter? You..." The teacher prompted me.

Right then, I was filled with nothing but pure rage.

"Teacher, you've misunderstood. I don't know him. I'd rather be acquainted with a pig than with him."

"..." The teacher was completely at a loss.

Caelan was a head taller than me. He looked down from under heavy lids, giving me a sidelong glare.

"Hasn't changed a bit after all these years. Still acting like you've swallowed gunpowder. If there's ever a war, we should bring you along. Think of all the bullets we'd save."

"No one will think you're mute if you just shut up," I seethed through gritted teeth.

If the teacher and kids hadn't been there, I would've given him a smack across the face long ago.

"Alright, parents. Here's what happened today. Leo Carter and Ivy Corbin had a conflict over collecting homework. Ivy started it, and as we can all see, Leo got hurt."

The teacher was clearly trying to resolve this quickly. She probably sensed that the conflict between us parents was going to be more troublesome.

But my attention was caught by the fact that the girl looked a bit like him around the eyes, and that her last name was also Corbin.

'After we broke up, he must have found someone else right away, gotten married, and had a kid.'

It was like pouring gasoline on the fire of my anger. I felt like I could explode at any second.

"A girl hitting someone? What kind of parenting is that? So aggressive at such a young age. Be careful, or she'll never find a husband when she grows up. Apologize! You must apologize to us!"

I was being deliberately difficult. Leo stared at me in surprise. I wasn't usually like this, at least not in front of him.

Caelan's face darkened, and he pulled Ivy Corbin behind him.

"Your son can't even win against a girl. How pathetic."

My anger shot through the roof. The volcano erupted.

I didn't care about anything anymore.

"My son is just like you, of course!"

"Don't you forget how I pinned you to the ground and beat you!"

Caelan's pupils dilated. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he grabbed my wrist and bit out, "What did you just say?"

I panicked, hating myself for my big mouth.