Raising Him Killed Me

Esther was a little stunned.

After a while, she said, "Son, I'm doing this for you. How could the school's food be compared to your aunt's cooking?"

"It's fine, Mom. I'll just stay in the dorms. Besides, Henry is at school as well, right? He can look after me."

Esther finally said, "Oh, right. That's true."

I smiled at her and handed the wad of bills to Jason. "Here. This is from your mother, for this month's living expenses. Keep them well. You'd need to buy quite a lot of things for the start of the semester."

I then said to Esther, "By the way, Esther, come with me to help with the registration."

Esther was about to refuse, but I immediately grabbed her wrist and said earnestly, "Do you know how few kids make it from the county school into Thornbridge High? As his mother, shouldn’t you meet the teachers and ask them to take good care of him?"

"Jason has real potential," I added. "He will get into a top-ranking college in the future! Don't mess this up!"

Jason immediately said, "Mom, listen to Aunt Eva. What if the teachers treat me unfairly because they never met my parents?"

Esther had no choice but to nod, but she secretly glared daggers at Jason.

I chuckled. This time round, I was not going to be the one footing the bill.

That night, they stayed over at my place. Just like I said, I did not have much space for them, so Esther had to sleep on a mattress on the floor.

The next morning, I took them to school. Henry was a senior, so he left for school early in the morning.

I pulled them along and pointed to the office building by the side. "Go queue up to get registered. I have to have a word with Henry's teacher."

Then, I left.

I was telling the truth, of course. Henry had always been in the top ten of his class. I wanted to know his prospects better.

Half an hour later, when I finished meeting with Henry's teacher, I received a call from Jason.

"Aunt Eva, can you come over quickly? My mom said that she was heading to the toilet, but it had been a while."

I headed over to him to see him pacing on the spot, anxiously. "Aunt Eva, what should I do? It's almost my turn, but my mom hasn't given me the money for the school fees!"

He looked nervous, but it did not reach his eyes. I knew this was one of their schemes.

I took my phone out and was just about to call Esther when Jason stopped me. "Her phone is with me!"

"I'm guessing she'll be back soon. She's an adult. She can't get lost. Stay in line. I'll go and look for her!"

Then, I headed to the security room to have a look at the surveillance footage.

When I left home, I brought a packet of cigarettes with me. For the past three years, I had gotten quite close to the security guards. I handed him the packet of cigarettes and told him that Esther was missing. I wanted to look for her.

The security guard offered to help, showing me the surveillance footage. Sure enough, I saw Esther hiding around the office building.

I snickered and headed over there. Esther thought I did not know what she was trying to do. She wanted to wait until I paid for the school fees before showing herself again.

I went up to her from behind. "Esther, there you are!"

She jumped and turned to look at me with an embarrassed smile. "I-I got lost!"

"Jason has been searching for you for a long time! It's time to pay his school fees. Come, we'd better get going!"

Then, I pulled her along. "Look around. Isn't the environment great? You don't have to worry about Jason going to school here."

Esther smiled but said nothing. When we arrived back in line with Jason, she wanted to put on another act by pretending that she forgot her purse. I immediately said I had to answer a call and left.

The 'call' lasted for half an hour. I looked up and smiled at them from time to time before lowering my head down once more, pretending that I was on a call when I was in fact listening to music.

Esther had no choice but to pay the school fees. Once she did that, I kept my phone and returned to them.

"Is he registered? Let's have a meal before heading home!"

I added, "Jason, you'll be staying in the dorms tonight, right?

"Well, Esther, you should head back to work. Next time, you can just wire his money over to him."