âDonât worry. This is waterproof, so she wonât be able to wash it off.â Nina reassured her.
Huh?
Maya felt somewhat relieved, but she was still afraid that her Mommy would find out.
âMaya, Nina, Mommyâs sorry for not protecting you two. Here, Iâm gonna clean your wounds and apply some ointment.â
Maya stood completely still, afraid to move while Nina casually stepped forward and held her arm out.
âHere you go, Mommy!â
Nicole held Ninaâs arm and began cleaning the wound slowly and gently.
I bet Nina must be hurting a lot with the water running over the wound like that!
Nicole thought to herself as she looked up at Nina. She was about to comfort her when she realized something was amiss. Wait a minute⦠There isnât the slightest hint of pain or discomfort on her face at all⦠In fact, she seems to be smiling gleefully!
Thus, Nicole began scrubbing the wound a little harder, but Nina still showed no signs of pain whatsoever. Her increasingly smug grin confirmed Nicoleâs suspicions about the wound.
So thatâs what the doctor meant when he said they were mischievous!
Nicole turned towards Levant and said, âThere must be a lot of things to take care of now that the wedding is interrupted. I can handle this by myself, so you should go take a look.â
Levant gave it some thought and nodded. âAll right, Iâll leave the kids to you, then. Call me if you need anything.â
âWill do!â
Nicole waited until Levant had left before interrogating her children.
âTell me. Whatâs the deal with this wound?â
âIt was the bad woman, Mommy! She knew you were gonna marry someone else, so she hit us! Please donât marry someone else, okay?â
Nina looked at her with puppy eyes while tugging on her sleeve.
Looking at Nina, Nicole knew it wouldnât be easy to make her confess, so she shifted her attention towards Maya instead.
âMaya, who is this bad woman?â
Uh⦠Wasnât Mommy questioning Nina earlier? Why is she asking me now? I know Kyle told me to say it was Ms. Susan, but Iâm too scared to! If Ms. Susan were to find out about this, sheâd probably turn me into a cactus with her needles! That would really hurt!
âT-The bad w-woman isâ¦â
Maya stammered as she turned towards Nina.
Nina continued her sentence, âThe bad woman is our stepmom, Mommy! If you marry someone else, Daddyâs gonna marry our stepmom, and sheâll abuse us every day! Weâre your children, Mommy! Are you really going to watch us suffer?â
That didnât answer Nicoleâs question, so she pressed on, âBy stepmom, do you mean Susan?â
âThere are lots of women who want to marry Daddy, so we could have lots of stepmoms, Mommy! Theyâll all abuse us!â
So is it Susan?
Nicole couldnât really understand Ninaâs vague answers, but the mention of Evan potentially marrying other women left an unpleasant feeling in her heart.
How many women does that fickle and heartless b*stard plan on marrying? Those who want to marry him are probably just attracted by his wealth and appearance. They donât know the man he truly is!
âIn that case, how about you kids come with Mommy to Wicked Palace instead? Itâs like a maze in there! Iâm sure youâll like it!â
Maya froze and stared wide-eyed at her. âBut weâll get lost easily if itâs like a maze, Mommy!â She said worriedly.
Oh, thatâs right⦠Maya does have a tendency to get lost very easilyâ¦
âThatâs alright. Mommy can show you around. You wonât get lost once you know the place well!â