(Rachael)

"Mom, you're home!" shouts my son Cole, who came running down the stairs after I called for him. I laughed as he launched himself at me, hoping to get a hug that I awkwardly gave him since my hands were full.

"I brought pizza, is that ok?" I asked him, and he happily nodded his head.

"As much as I ate already, I can't pass on pizza," he replied, which was true. He has an obsession with pizza, and I'm not joking. something I knew he got from me since I'm the same.

After we got to the dining room, I placed the pizza on the table and sat down. Then we started eating.

I invited Mariah for some as well, so now she was sitting with us.

"How was work? Is Mr. King still being grumpy?" Mariah asked, making me groan. I often vent my frustrations to her, letting her know how much I hated my job. Mariah reminded me of my mother in a good way. They are close in age, which is forty-seven. my mom had me when she was twenty.

"He's getting worse, I can't concentrate without having to hear him shout my name over and over. I'm this close to quitting, I tell you." I replied.

"I think you two are in love with each other." Cole said, making me choke a bit. He's nine years old, so he's going to say things like this. but I didn't expect him to say it now.

"I'm not in love with him, and I doubt he is too. We hate each other too much." I tried to argue back, but Cole only rolled his eyes and said yeah right.

"Don't forget you're going to your grandparents this weekend. I have to stay at work late because of some important meeting I have to attend so I won't be free." Cole nodded his head and smiled.

"It's ok, mom, you don't have to explain. I love spending time with grandma and grandpa." Well, that's good to hear.

Looking at Cole, I can say that he looks exactly like his dad. He has jet-black hair and gray eyes, even dimples, when he smiles. I try my best not to let it affect me because knowing that he will never get to meet his father was hard.

I did try to track him down for a while, but it was rather difficult. It was at that point that I decided to raise Cole on my own. It didn't make any sense to run after a man who didn't want to have anything to do with us.

When I was done eating pizza, Mariah told me that she would take care of Cole for me while I went and took a shower and got out of my work clothes.

I got up and kissed Cole's forehead before making my way toward my room. I am extremely tired, but I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Cole before I go to bed.

After my shower, I got dressed. Mariah came to inform me that Cole said he was going to his room. so, I made my way towards his room door and knocked when I got there.

opening the door, I saw him at his desk doing homework and smiled.

"Aren't you a bit late with doing your homework?" I asked since it was almost 7 pm.

"Yeah, I guess so. Sorry, mom." he replied with a pout. I chuckled and shook my head.

"It's ok, but please do your homework during the day so that you can see better. I don't want you to have problems with your eyes at such a young age." he agreed with me and went back to what he was doing. I decided to help him so that we could finish quicker. He usually told me no, whenever I wanted to help, but this time he was allowing me to since it was math, and he hated it.

After we were done, he put his books in his bag and jumped on the bed. I walked over to him and sat down while sighing.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a quiet tone.

"Nothing, baby, don't worry about it." I replied, not wanting him to know what was really bothering me. I shouldn't be laying my burdens on a nine year old. it's not right, and I wasn't going to start now.

"I still think that you and Mr. King are in love with each other," he said out of nowhere, making me narrow my eyes at him.

"And why do you think so?" I asked, wanting to know what exactly was running through that crazy mind of his.

"It's just that my teachers act the same way, and one day, I overheard Mr. Howard told another teacher that he was in love with Miss Beverly. Why was he treating her like that. The other teacher, Mr. Stanford told him to grow up and stop acting like a child. that if they are in love, they should just accept it and talk like normal people do." I laughed a little at what he said.

I guess he was right, but how am I going to do that with Xander? I can tell that he definitely hates me.

"Well, what's happening between those teachers has nothing to do with Mr. King and me. I think your theory is incorrect there hun." I knew I was denying it, but I just didn't know what to do. I was confused, and everything was so hard for me these days.

Deciding to go back to my room, I hugged Cole and told him to brush his teeth before bed, to which he said that he already knew.

what he said next shocked me, though, because I wasn't expecting that from him. I didn't know that he was thinking about something like that. Am I a bad mother for not realizing sooner?

"I wouldn't mind having a father, you know. It's been a long time now. you deserve someone else to look after you." I smiled at him and left, feeling my heart breaking into a million pieces.