“Why should I listen to you? I'm going to call the police if you don't transfer the money to me. I'll let the police officers arrest this
little bastard." Mrs. Hudson was anxious.
Luca frowned and covered Tommy's ears.
"Madam, I'm recording our conversation. What you said is enough for me to look for a lawyer and file a complaint," warned Luca
with a serious tone. Who could accept their child being called a little bastard when the child had done nothing wrong?
The look on Mrs. Hudson's face changed. However, she remembered that looking for a lawyer was something someone did just
to threaten the other party. Oftentimes, they would just let the matter be. She replied boldly, "Go ahead and look for a lawyer,
then. I'll call the police too."
"Fine. Go ahead. I believe in Tommy anyway. I'm sure he didn't do anything wrong." Luca had faith in him.
Tommy would not lie to her to evade responsibility.
Mrs. Tuffey could sense the tension in the air, and she immediately interrupted, "Mrs. Hudson, Ms. Luca, please calm down."
The school bell rang right after she said that.
Luca turned to look at Mrs. Tuffey and said, "Mrs. Tuffey, the class has ended. Please bring Ashley and the other classmates
who witnessed the incident here. Let's see what really happened."
Mrs. Tuffey nodded. She had no choice but to ask the students to come here. Otherwise, this was never going to end.
"Mrs. Hudson, calm down. I'll go ask the kids to come in." Mrs. Tuffey hurried out of the office.
Mrs. Hudson sneered.
Luca let go of her hands that were covering Tommy's ears. Then, she said in a soft voice, "Come. Take a seat."
Tommy sat on the chair and stayed close to her.
After a while, Mrs. Tuffey and a few students came into the office. Mrs.Tuffey said, "This is Ashley. The others were seated near
Tommy in the classroom. They saw what had happened. Ashley, go ahead."
Ashley glanced at Mrs. Hudson cowardly. Mrs. Hudson looked fierce. She took a step backward.
Luca noticed that Mrs. Hudson looked scary to the kids. Hence, she said in a gentle voice, "Ashley, don't be afraid. Tell us what
happened."
Ashley turned to look at Luca and glanced at Tommy, who was beside her. She uttered her words slowly and told the truth,
“During recess, Charlie tore my stickers, and he also tried to lift my skirt. I screamed and stepped back. Tommy happened to be
walking into the classroom and saw what happened. He immediately stood in front of me and protected me. I don't know what
happened to Charlie. He was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He hit his head on the edge of a desk."
"Nonsense!" Mrs. Hudson immediately rose to her feet. She frowned and threw Ashley a hard look. "That's not what Charlie told
me. Are you lying to us?"
Ashley took another step back and immediately shook her head. "I'm not lying. I saw everything. Charlie is always bullying the
girls, but he's afraid of male students who are taller than him. That's why he got scared and backed away when Tommy stood in
front of me to protect me. He tripped and fell. I saw that myself. Tommy didn't push Charlie."
"Yes, Mrs. Tuffey. We saw that too. There was a huge distance between Tommy and Charlie. Tommy didn't even touch him." A
male student stepped out and spread his arms wide to show how far the distance between Tommy and Charlie was.
"Yes. Tommy didn't push anyone." The other students went along with him.
Ashley's voice was trembling when she spoke again, "Charlie lied. He was worried he would be in trouble. That's why he said
Tommy pushed him."
"How do your parents educate you? You're telling lies at such a young age!" Mrs. Hudson read her the riot act.
Luca reminded her calmly, "Yes, kids wouldn't know how to lie if their parents had educated them well."
Mrs. Hudson's face reddened.
"Madam, is this how you educate your child? How could he tell lies?" questioned Luca.
"You b*tch. Believe it or not, I'll rip your lips off if you continue to talk nonsense." Mrs. Hudson's eyes were red as she was
annoyed.
Luca saved the recorded conversation on her phone calmly. Then, she said to Mrs. Tuffey, "Mrs. Tuffey, since the students said
that this has nothing to do with Tommy, he can go back to class and get ready to attend the next lesson, right?"
"Of course." Mrs. Tuffey nodded and said to the kids, "Back to class."
The kids immediately walked out of the office.
Luca stroked Tommy's face and said, "Off you go. Stay focused in class."
"Okay." Tommy nodded and exited the office.
There were three adults left in Mrs. Tuffey's office.
Luca looked at Mrs. Hudson and said, "Madam, I know you won't apologize to Tommy."
"Hmph." Mrs. Hudson sneered.
Mrs. Tuffey quickly smoothed things over and said, "Alright, Ms. Luca, Mrs. Hudson, since this is a misunderstanding, let's put
this behind us and stop talking about it. Mrs. Hudson, Charlie is still in the hospital. It'd be best if you head to the hospital to take
a look at him."
Mrs. Hudson did not expect her child to be accused of lying when she initially had the upper hand.
She picked up her bag and walked out of the office.
Luca noticed that Mrs. Hudson was carrying an Hermes bag.
She was someone who could afford to carry a designer bag, but she had such bad behavior. After Luca watched her leave, she
turned to look at Mrs. Tuffey again.
Mrs. Tuffey apologized, “It happened so suddenly. I'm sorry for wasting your time."
“Mrs. Tuffey." Luca paused for a moment and continued, "I'd like you to do me a favor."
"I'll be glad to help." Mrs. Tuffey knew she was in the wrong too.
She did not ask the other students about the incident earlier due to the time and occasion, which caused Tommy to be wronged.
"I'd like to know about Mrs. Hudson's personal information. It doesn't have to be in detail. I only want to know her name and
address," said Luca.
"Are you..." Mrs. Tuffey paused for a moment. Was Luca making a move?
If the principal found out that Mrs. Tuffey had failed to deal with the matter, it might make it hard for her to explain things to him.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to do anything harmful to her. I'm taking legal action against her to make her take responsibility
after refusing to apologize to Tommy," replied Luca calmly. She had the conversation recorded on her phone, and she was not
afraid of losing.
Mrs. Tuffey smiled and said, "Ms. Luca, about this, Mrs. Hudson is indeed in the wrong. And I didn't handle it well. But there's no
need to take legal action against her. You'll still have to meet her in the future. Falling out with each other might not be a good
idea."
"Tommy will remember what she said to him a moment ago. A child's heart is fragile. Mrs. Tuffey, I need to do something for him.
Otherwise, the child won't dare to stand up for what's right and will become an obsequious child. What should I do then?" asked
Luca. She deliberately made it sound serious.
Even though it was unlikely that Tommy would be affected by the incident, it was something he would remember for the rest of
his life.
"Kids remember everything now. How much impact will this incident have on him?" asked Luca.
“Well." Mrs. Tuffey frowned.