Teacher's Day Flowers

"Back then, it was Hera who knelt before me, begging and pleading to marry my son. And now, this is how your family treats my son?"

Peter slowly put down his teacup and said to my dad, "Bruce, calm down. What she said was harsh, but she was just speaking out of anger. Let's not get involved in women's affairs."

With one sentence, he defined Sarah's vicious curses as "women's affairs", causing my dad to breathe heavily in anger.

I held my dad back and questioned Terry, "You gave us these flowers. Don't tell me you have no idea what's inside?"

He stared at me with innocent eyes. "Mr. Lawson, what are you saying? I bought these flowers from the flower shop. If you think there's something wrong with the flowers, I can call the flower shop and ask."

He pretended to take out his phone to make a call.

I watched his performance coldly.

With these words, he not only completely cleared himself of blame, pushing all the responsibility onto the flower shop, but also implied to Hera that I was a suspicious and jealous man, a stark contrast to his innocence.

What an actor.

Sure enough, Hera stopped him and glared at me, "He's just paranoid; you don’t need to prove your innocence.”

She walked up to me, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me hard, "Enough, Stanley! You're embarrassing all of us!"

"Embarrassing you?" I brushed off her hands, "You stayed out all night with your male student to revise his thesis, isn't that more embarrassing?"

"That's work!" Hera roared righteously.

Just as Hera and I were at a standoff, my mom slapped me hard.

Her eyes were red, filled with disappointment. "Stanley, is this how I raised you? Do you have no shame? Hurry up and apologize to Terry!"

My face burned with pain, but I felt cold all over.

My mom, without even asking me the reason, believed the outsider and slapped me.

I covered my face and, through blurred tears, saw the smug smile on Hera's face.

She even raised her eyebrows at me slightly.

And Terry, who was being protected by Sarah, immediately covered his mouth and widened his pair of "innocent" eyes, but the depths of his eyes held undisguised victory and mockery.

He thought he had won. I was alienated and utterly defeated, all according to his plan.

Hera stood in front of me and scoffed, "Do you realize your mistake now?"

She said in an unquestionable, commanding tone, "Get on your knees and apologize to Terry. Admit that you have mental problems and are making wild speculations. If you do that, I'll pretend all this never happened."

"How dare you!" My dad roared, pulling me behind him again.

But my mom grabbed my dad's arm tightly, crying, "Hasn't he caused enough trouble?! He should apologize! Do you want him to get a divorce for something so trivial, embarrassing our entire family?!"

I looked at my father, whose eyes were red from defending me, then at the smug couple.

I gently pushed my father's hand away, took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Okay."

I paused, then said the words they wanted to hear. "I'll get on my knees and apologize."

As soon as I spoke those words, the entire living room fell silent.

Hera's expression froze, seemingly surprised that I would compromise so easily.

She softened her tone, coaxing, "Stanley, stop being unreasonable and let's live in harmony, okay?"

"No, thanks." I looked at her expressionlessly.

I shook my phone and looked at Hera and Terry mockingly. "I can apologize, but before I do, I have to know what's in this bouquet!"

Hera said impatiently, "It's just an ordinary bouquet of flowers, how long are you going to be paranoid for?"

"Really?" I found the phone number of my laboratory and dialed it.

"Hello? This is Stanley Lawson. Stop all ongoing tests and help me identify what's in this bouquet of flowers. I'll send the materials over immediately."