Ch.33Chapter 33. Because I’m Your Mother

“That’s Cuss! Bro! That kid with the body bag!”

I’m screwed!

Cuss mentally screamed this while running at full speed.

Who would have thought he’d bring someone stronger when he couldn’t win with his own strength.

This was unexpected.

“Got you, you little rascal.”

“Eeek!”

But she couldn’t even make it a few feet before being stopped.

As she fell on her backside and looked back, the big guy from earlier was holding onto her bag.

“Shall we have a chat?”

“Ugh……”

The boy said this while firmly pressing his index finger against Cuss’s forehead.

Cuss tried her hardest to gather her skirt and stand up, but she couldn’t rise against the pressure of just one finger.

Seeing this, Tom and the boy burst into laughter.

“Pfft…… Hahaha!”

“Why are you bullying Cuss! An upperclassman picking on a younger student! Aren’t you ashamed?”

“What?”

When Alice shouted from behind, the boy turned his head while running his fingers through his hair.

“Bullying? I’m just resting my finger here. Right, Tom?”

“That’s right, bro!”

“Tch.”

Finally catching on, Cuss swatted away the boy’s finger and stood up.

But the two brothers couldn’t stop laughing.

Cuss knew they were mocking her, but she didn’t particularly feel bad about it.

Not yet, anyway.

“So you’re the giant first-grader?”

“……”

“I hear you hit my brother Tom and didn’t apologize?”

“I did. Apologize.”

“You need to give a sincere apology.”

As the boy took a step closer, Cuss backed up until her back hit the wall.

He wasn’t as big as Jinsoo, but he was certainly large enough to make breathing difficult.

His muscles were nothing like the other first-year kids.

Could she win if they fought?

This was all Cuss could think about.

“What’s a sincere apology?”

“You know, that thing they do in Asia when apologizing. A bow, was it?”

“Huh…?”

“Didn’t your Asian father teach you? Oh! You were adopted recently, right! Sorry about that! Hahaha!”

Once again, the two brothers started laughing at something incomprehensible.

Cuss, who had merely been bored until now, felt her irritation building.

She wished they would just let her go now.

“I apologized. Tom apologized to me too. Isn’t that the end of it?”

“What? Tom, you apologized too? Why did you do that? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well, that’s… bro. Their parents made me do it, so I had no choice…”

“Damn. Both the daughter and parents are crazy. Do you know who our father is?”

“Sigh……”

He was saying exactly what Tom had said before getting hit.

Would this guy also quiet down if she beat him up?

Cuss silently raised her head, made eye contact with the boy, and clenched her fist.

“Oh. Want to fight? Go ahead. Hit me. I dare you.”

“……”

As Cuss was about to throw a punch, she remembered Jinsoo’s troubled face and calmed her excitement.

Although he said it was okay, if she started another fight, even Jinsoo might get angry this time.

She didn’t want to see that side of Jinsoo again.

It definitely wasn’t because she was afraid of getting put in a headlock by an angry Jinsoo.

“I said hit me. Come on.”

“……”

The boy began moving closer.

He was so close now that she couldn’t even run away.

When his knee came between her legs, Cuss flinched in surprise.

“Huh?”

The boy also jumped back with a dazed expression.

Something soft had just touched his knee…

“Hey!”

At that moment, a sharp voice called from a distance, and the three turned around.

A young woman with brilliant blonde hair wearing sunglasses stood there.

A new teacher?

Everyone was confused, seeing an unfamiliar face.

“Cuss! Let’s go home!”

“Ah! Okay!”

As the woman removed her sunglasses and called out, Cuss ran over quickly.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she stopped and turned to wave at Alice.

It was the greeting Jinsoo had taught her to always do when meeting or parting with friends.

By the time Alice, looking dumbfounded, waved back, Cuss had already run back to the blonde woman and was hugging her.

“Wow. Is that her mom? She’s really pretty.”

“She doesn’t look young for her age… she just looks young.”

“My mom said not to play with her because she only has a dad.”

“Tsk.”

Realizing the situation was over, the boy and Tom clicked their tongues and turned away.

Being caught didn’t matter much.

They hadn’t used any profanity or violence.

In fact, they had been trying to provoke Cuss into throwing the first punch, but their plan was ruined.

‘But what was that just now…?’

The boy was confused, recalling the sensation he had felt on his knee.

*

“Tom brought his senior? That’s too much……”

“It was annoying. He kept blocking my way and wouldn’t move. I almost hit him again, breaking my promise to Jinsoo.”

“I came at a good time then? Hehe.”

Juliane smiled at Cuss, who was sitting sulkily in the passenger seat.

Among those little kids, she had looked like a complete giant, but sitting here talking, she was clearly just a child.

‘Mom…’

Juliane reflected on the stares from students and parents earlier.

She had never imagined becoming a mother in her entire life.

Yet overnight, she had become the mother of such a big child.

Well, technically she was the lover of Cuss’s stepfather.

Actually, even that was just an act.

‘The age difference probably isn’t even that much…’

She didn’t know exactly how old Cuss was, but she looked at least 15.

That meant there was less than a 10-year gap between them…

Yet she was called a mother.

It felt like complete miscasting.

“Where are we going?”

“Hmm… First to Jinsoo’s house.”

Juliane had considered taking Cuss to her own place until Jinsoo got off work, but she shook her head.

Rather than taking Cuss out again to match Jinsoo’s quitting time, it seemed better to wait at his house.

Above all, she wanted to look around the house while Jinsoo wasn’t there.

Not for any sinister reason, but to check if there was anything harmful for Cuss.

“Um… Cuss.”

“Yeah.”

Unable to bear the silence, Juliane spoke first.

Although they had spent entire days together before, there was still a subtle distance between them.

“How was school?”

“I don’t remember.”

“What? Why?”

“I slept the whole time.”

“……”

Hmm.

Perhaps she wasn’t very motivated to study.

Juliane had to suppress the urge to say something.

She wasn’t her real mother after all.

This was something Jinsoo should handle.

“Did you make any friends?”

“If you mean people I’ve bonded with, yes.”

“Who?”

“Alice and Tom.”

“Tom too…?”

“Yeah.”

Tom was the boy who had just been bullying Cuss with his senior.

Yet she still considered him a friend.

Juliane was impressed by her unexpectedly broad-mindedness.

“We’ve arrived, but there’s nowhere to park…”

She realized she had no way to open the garage.

Juliane parked the car in front of the garage and turned off the engine.

Cuss had already unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door, and hopped out.

Before, she hadn’t even known how to open a car door and had struggled.

Juliane found herself smiling fondly.

“Hmm… ummm…?”

Standing at the front door, Juliane frowned.

How were they supposed to get inside?

Touching the doorknob didn’t bring up any hologram or anything.

It was a completely analog doorknob.

The problem was that she hadn’t received a key from Jinsoo.

As Juliane was considering whether to call him…

Swish…

“It’s here.”

Cuss moved a flowerpot beside the door and took out a key from underneath.

Juliane stood with her mouth agape, unable to speak.

My goodness.

She thought this only happened in classic dramas, a complete fantasy.

There were actually people who lived like this.

Marveling in many ways, she stepped inside as Cuss opened the door.

“Jinsoo…”

“He comes at 6.”

“You knew that.”

Cuss scurried to her room, put down her bag, and then flopped onto the sofa.

Juliane had been worried she might whine about wanting to see Jinsoo.

Apparently, Cuss wasn’t as dependent on Jinsoo as she had thought.

“No, Cuss. When you come home, you should wash up and change clothes.”

“Mmm… too bothersome.”

“Doesn’t Jinsoo tell you to wash up?”

“…He does.”

“Then you should wash up. I’m standing in for Jinsoo right now.”

“……”

In the end, Cuss pouted and slumped down.

Yes, now she was acting like a child.

Juliane sighed but smiled.

“Come on.”

“Mmm…”

When she held out both hands, Cuss slowly raised her arms and took them.

With a gentle pull, Cuss got up from the sofa and began trudging along.

At least she listens well.

Juliane had worried she might throw a tantrum, but it seemed Jinsoo had trained her quite well.

‘Is this Asian-style education…?’

Was this the effect of the Asian-style corporal punishment she’d only heard about?

She had always thought hitting children was barbaric and ignorant.

But perhaps it was quite effective.

“Hmm…”

“Why are you following me?”

“Hehe… huh?”

When they reached the bathroom, Cuss turned around and glared.

It was such a perfect look of wariness that Juliane was quite taken aback.

“Oh, no. I was just going to bathe together…”

“Not allowed.”

“…!”

As Cuss turned away with a firm refusal, Juliane felt utterly dejected.

It felt like being told “I hate you, mom” by a daughter.

Certainly, last time too, Cuss had been reluctant to show her naked body…

Jinsoo had insisted it wasn’t trauma from sexual assault.

Then perhaps there were unsightly scars somewhere on her body?

Juliane took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“It’s okay, Cuss!”

“Huh?”

“It’s okay to show me! I’m your mom!”

“Uh, you’re not my mom though.”

“Right now I am!”

“Uh, eh…?”

As Juliane kept approaching, Cuss backed away, feeling uncomfortable.

This was a crisis.

A crisis of her tentacles being discovered.

The problem was this time…

“Come on, Cuss. It’s okay, can you raise your arms? Raise them~”

It seemed difficult to escape.