A Heart Frozen Over

Archie had said, "Daddy and I are the men of the house. Mommy, you're just our servant. You have to take good care of us. Only then will I make money to support you in the future."

…

When I still didn't respond, Archie started to panic. He was shivering with his little arms wrapped tightly around his body.

The snow outside grew heavier, and flakes began sticking to his hair.

He dropped to his knees in front of the glass door, and his attitude toward me took a complete turn.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I won't play hide and seek anymore. Please let me in.

"I won't eat junk food again, Mommy. I won't play on my tablet at night either. I don't like Ms. Cole anymore. I won't ask for her to be my mom… Please, let me in…

"I'm so cold, Mommy…"

See? He understood everything perfectly. He knew exactly what would make me angry, but he did it anyway.

I watched as his little face turned purple from the cold. Only then did I slowly unlock the door.

It wasn't because I felt sorry for him. I just couldn't let him actually freeze to death because if he did, I'd go to prison. Throwing my future away over an evil child wasn't worth it.

Archie weakly lifted his arms, wanting me to carry him.

He looked so adorable. If I saw a child like him on the street, I might have felt pity. But now, as I looked at his face, all I could think of was everything he did to me in my past life.

I remembered how he took photos of my half-naked corpse and sent them to the family group chat, letting everyone mock me.

I lowered my gaze and took a step back. Archie's hands grasped at empty air.

Coldly, I said, "I found you, Archie. You lost. Now it's your turn to find me."

With that, I turned and walked away.

Archie knew I wouldn't come to hold him anymore, but he didn't understand why. His instinct for survival drove him to crawl toward the warmth, just like a dog.

…

In the end, Archie came down with a fever.

With that, the game of hide and seek was over.

Brandon called while I was at the pet store, bathing a stray dog. Watching the little pup go from filthy to clean made me feel a little better. It wagged its tail at me, barking happily in the pet bath.

I scratched its head while listening to Brandon's furious voice on the phone.

"Regina Foley! Do you even know that Archie has a fever? Where the hell are you? It's freezing outside! How could you leave him home alone? Do you even have a shred of parental responsibility?"

I feigned surprise. "What? Archie has a fever? That's impossible! He was perfectly fine when I left."

Brandon ordered me to get to the hospital immediately because he didn't know what medications Archie was allergic to or his past medical history.

I shot back, "You're Archie's father. Your son is sick, and you don't know anything about him. The moment something happens, you blame me? Do you have any sense of parental responsibility?

"I'm not in the city right now. Archie said he wanted cake from that bakery in the suburbs, so I drove out to get it. I won't be back for a while.

"Call his kindergarten teacher. I remember when we enrolled him, they recorded each child's allergies."

Then, I hung up.

I handled everything at Archie's kindergarten. Brandon barely even picked him up. He wasn't even in the parents' group chat. If he actually had the teacher's number, that would be strange.

…

Two hours later, I knocked on the ward door, holding a mango cake.

The person who opened the door wasn't Brandon. It was Archie's kindergarten teacher, Ellie Cole.