Anxious, one of the children hurriedly grabbed her hand, hoping for Estella to stop ignoring them.
However, the touch startled Estella. As she moved away from the child, she screamed.
“What’s the matter?” the teacher cried out, swiftly approaching the crowd to find out what happened.
Even the children were stunned by Estella’s response. Once they came back to their senses, they began treating her in a completely different manner.
“She’s so strange!”
The children started thinking of Estella as a weirdo. Not only was Estella ignoring them, but she was even screaming non-stop.
At that, the teacher frowned as certain thoughts made themselves known in her mind.
This girl… doesn’t seem normal.
A headache formed in the teacher’s head when she realized that. In the end, she asked the other children to return to their seats as she tried to console Estella herself.
Unfortunately, Estella was unresponsive to anything she said.
Luckily, Estella had stopped screaming; she was now only ignoring everyone.
The teacher gave up, thinking, This is fine as long as she doesn’t disrupt the other kids.
Estella barely participated in any group activities that day.
Even during break times, she continued to sit on her chair in silence.
The teacher started to panic but did not know what to do.
When classes were over, Sonya came to pick Estella up. At the same time, she asked the teacher, “How was Essie? Was she a good kid today?”
The teacher pursed her lips.
She figured that Estella had some kind of psychiatric disorder, but she did not dare to say it to Sonya, a woman from a rich and powerful family.
Hence, she said in as much of an indirect manner as she could, “I… don’t think Essie can adapt to the new environment. She’s quite rejecting of the kids.”
Sonya patted Estella’s head, unfazed. “Didn’t I tell you that you should make more friends? Why are you ignoring them?”
The teacher glanced at Estella before turning to Sonya. She then rephrased her sentence. “It’s not that Essie is ignoring the other kids; it’s that she screams when they come close to her.”
Then, as if life was trying to prove the teacher’s words, Sonya noticed a few children who were getting picked up by their parents whispering as they looked in Estella’s direction. Along with the teacher’s words, Sonya could guess what those children were whispering about.
“Our Essie takes a while to warm up to strangers. It’s her first day here, after all. I hope the teachers will be more patient with her,” Sonya said, maintaining her polite demeanor. “Essie will be a good kid once she’s used to them.”
Then, Sonya lowered her head to look at Estella and asked, “Right, Essie?” Estella pressed her lips tightly together as she continued to hang her head. It was as if she did not hear Sonya.
Sonya furrowed her brows and crouched down patiently. “I’m talking to you, Essie.” The girl blinked before looking away from Sonya.
“I think it’s best for Essie to return to her previous school. The girl will feel safer with people she knows around her,” the teacher suggested.
The mention of Estella’s original school reminded Sonya of Roxanne and her two boys.
Estella was her granddaughter. Yet, the girl seemed close to Roxanne and her boys while being exceptionally distant from her, her own grandmother. In what way am I not treating her well?
With those thoughts in her mind, Sonya turned furious. She had to get Estella to say something to her. “Do you want to go back to your old school?” Sonya questioned with an icy look on her face.
Estella pursed her lips. Right as she was about to nod her head, Sonya continued speaking.
“I put a lot of effort into finding a new kindergarten for you. Can you bear to let me down? The kids here like you too. As long as you can accept them, you’ll surely be good friends with them,” Sonya said, completely ignoring the fact that she had given Estella hope before cruelly crushing it.
Tears soon sprang into Estella’s eyes. Sonya froze. In the next second, Estella’s tears fell uncontrollably, and she began bawling in front of the kindergarten.
“Ah…” Out of habit, the teacher stepped forward, about to comfort the girl. However, Sonya pulled Estella over to herself and uttered, “Stop crying!”
Estella bawled even louder. She had been living with Lucian all this while. Although Sonya knew about her condition, she had never seen Estella in a meltdown.
Her temples throbbed even harder at the sight of the girl’s crying, and she became extremely frustrated. “Stop crying!” she yelled by the girl’s ear. Startled, Estella paused for a few seconds.
She resumed crying a moment later. The teacher panicked, but she did not dare to take a step closer to the girl and her grandmother.
When Sonya realized that threatening Estella worked, she lifted her hand as if she was going to hit her in the next instant. “If you keep crying, I’ll beat you!”
Frightened out of her wits, Estella hiccupped and started crying in silence instead.
Sonya had no idea that the girl was frightened. Instead, she thought that her method worked, and she stood back up in satisfaction.
The teacher’s heart ached after she saw how Sonya treated her.
“I’ll talk to her when we get home. I’m sure she’ll be more cooperative tomorrow.”
With that, Sonya lifted Estella into her arms and turned to leave.
Estella silently sobbed the entire ride back to the Farwell main residence. Meanwhile, Sonya managed to calm herself down. Her heart ached when she saw Estella crying her eyes out.
“I wasn’t really angry with you. I was just scaring you. Don’t cry.” Naturally, Estella was unconvinced. She pursed her lips as fat tears continued to roll down her cheeks.
Sonya had no choice but to try and coax her. However, not only did it not help, Estella’s eyes were now swollen from how much she had cried.
As Lucian was worried about Estella, he came over to check on her after finishing work for the day. “Why is she crying so much?” He frowned when he saw how swollen Estella’s eyes were.
Sonya couldn’t help but feel guilty. “It’s because she’s not used to the new environment yet. After all, it’s only been a day. She’ll be fine after a while.” Hearing that, Lucian glanced at Estella suspiciously.
I was the one who sent Essie to kindergarten back then. Because of her autism, she does not know what the outside world is like. Even if she finds herself in an unfamiliar environment, she will hide away in a corner to avoid any interaction. When did she ever cry this hard?
However, as Estella refused to speak, there was no way for Lucian to discover the truth. “Since she isn’t used to it, she doesn’t have to go anymore. I’ll take her home and find a tutor to homeschool her.”
With that, he held out a hand to Estella. Although Estella was still angry with him, her dislike for Sonya was currently even stronger. She immediately hugged her daddy’s arm, tears streaming down her face.
When Lucian saw her reaction, he knew that his conjecture was right. My mother must have made her cry somehow.
Regardless, Sonya stubbornly refused to admit it. “Essie had been recovering well before, but Roxanne had to ruin it! If it weren’t for her, Essie’s condition wouldn’t keep relapsing.”
She only knew Estella was now able to speak and was unaware that it was all thanks to Roxanne, Archie, and Benny. Meanwhile, Lucian was fully aware of it. If it were not for her, Estella would probably still refuse to speak.
When he heard Sonya’s words, he frowned deeply and retorted, “You said yourself that it was because of a change in environment. It has been a long time since Essie has had any contact with them, so what does this have to do with them?”
Sonya instantly got upset. “Are you taking her side?” Lucian had already recomposed himself and looked at her with a casual expression. “I was just telling the truth.”
Then, he directed his attention to Estella, who was lying in his arms. After getting away from Sonya, Estella slowly stopped sobbing and relaxed leisurely against her father’s shoulder.
“I gave it some thought and concluded that it won’t be beneficial for Essie to stay at the Farwell main residence in her current condition. You and Dad don’t have any experience in taking care of her. I’d be a lot more at ease if I did it myself,” Lucian said in a low voice.
When Sonya heard that, her expression twisted, and she looked at him suspiciously. “What are you planning? Are you going to let Essie meet Roxanne again?”
“No,” Lucian replied as a frown formed on his face.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.