Unwillingly, he admitted defeat, took his clothes and said, “I’ll go for my classes now.”
Jasmine nodded in response.
“Give me the bag,” Jasmine reached for the bag that contained the gifts for the students, which was being held on to by Boyce.
Boyce did not comply, “I’ll go in with you.”
Jasmine asked with a smile, “Do you like kids?”
Boyce did not know the answer to that question, though he did like the two kids in Cormac’s house, he was not sure if he would like other kids or not.
Jasmine smiled, “I like kids. If I ever have kids, I’m gonna give them the best things in the world, love them, let them enjoy a world full of love.”
Boyce knew that she lacked family love, as she grew up in a rather poor environment. He patted her on the head, “You’re still a kid.”
Jasmine glared at him, “You’re the kid, not me.”
She then walked big steps towards the classroom. Boyce chuckled, then followed her steps.
When they reached the classroom, Jasmine, with the bag in hand, asked everyone to come over to her. The students were curious about what was in the bag as they approached her.
The contents in the bag were not exactly big and luxurious, just some fruit shaped erasers, pink notebooks, stationery boxes shaped like a car among other random toys.
Even so, everyone was beyond happy.
One of the students was someone without a mother, she cried as she hugged Jasmine. She never knew what her mother looked like. Jasmine heard that her mother was someone that was not local that moved to the village with the student’s father, hated the fact that they were poor, and she left after giving birth to her.
Her father had to work instead of looking after her, so he left her to her grandparents.
Her grandparents were old, unsurprisingly. Thus, they were unable to give her clean clothes. When Jasmine first met her, she was dark-toned and skinny, wearing a shirt that was so unbelievably dirty, she could not tell what colour it was supposed to be, her hair was also as messy as an overgrown field.
Jasmine brought her back to her home, gave her a shower and washed her clothes as well as she could.
This time, she specifically bought a new skirt for her.
The girl had basically never worn new clothes, as all her clothes were hand-me-downs from other people when they grew out of those clothes.
When she saw the skirt, she felt sad but grateful.
She was sad because her mother abandoned her, but she was grateful because a woman that was not her mother loved her like her mother should have.
Jasmine patted her on the back, “Don’t cry, Jenny.”
The girl’s name was Jennifer Marsh. Everyone gave her the nickname “Jenny”, as she was skinny and small for her age. She looked like a five-year-old despite being seven years old.
Jasmine wiped off her tears. She recalled her tragic childhood when she looked at Jenny.
It was because Jasmine knew full well how painful it must be for Jenny and other kids in similar situations, she had always did her best to help these kids. However, her abilities were limited by her wealth and influence, or lack thereof.
Thus, she could not help as many kids as she wanted.
Boyce was right, she must be better herself, so that she could help and support more kids.
She decided to finish her university studies before helping them.
“Are you crying, Ms. Burke?” Jenny wiped off Jasmine’s tears.
Jasmine was not crying, her eyes started to tear up as she recalled her childhood. Her home was a war zone most of the time, all she saw was her father relentlessly abusing the ever living hell out of her mother, let alone receiving parental love from them.
Boyce walked over to her, placed his hand on her shoulder, patted her on the back and said in a pained tone, “Don’t cry.”
She was holding back her tears when Boyce said that. With his pat, she felt as if she was supported, thus she turned around and cried audibly without a care in the world in his embrace. Chris, with his broken leg, slowly limped into the classroom. When he saw Jasmine crying in Boyce’s embrace, he frowned, continued limping forward, and interrogated Boyce, “How dare you bully Ms. Burke!?”
“I’m telling you, even if we are little boys and girls, we can still help our teacher to fight off bad people. Many ants can move an elephant, you know?”
Chris said in a proud tone.
Jasmine wiped off her tears, got out from Boyce’s embrace and said, “No one’s bullying me, okay?”
“Then why are you crying?” asked Chris.
“There’s some sand in my eyes, alright?” Jasmine pulled out the car-shaped stationery box and handed it to Chris, “This is for you.”
Upon seeing his gift, Chris was so happy that he forgot his injured knee as he ran towards Jasmine to grab his gift. As soon as he could get his hands on the stationery box, he opened it and saw that it was the double-decker car-shaped stationery box that he had always wanted.
“Thank you, Ms. Burke!” With that, he had completely forgotten to ‘avenge’ his teacher.
After his rush of happiness, he blinked and looked back at Jasmine, “Ms. Burke, are you dating this man?”
After all, she was crying in his embrace not long ago.
She was not crying because she got bullied, so those tears might be tears of happiness, or else why would she cry while hugging him?
Jasmine paused for a moment as if she didn’t expect such a kid to ask such a question.
She reached out to touch his head, “You’re still young, how come you are so mentally mature…”
Before she could finish her words, Chris grabbed her hand and clutched it tightly in his hand, gazing towards Boyce, “You mean that you’re in love with Ms. Burke?”
Boyce said graciously when facing these children’s questioning, “Yes.”
Chris thought to himself, ‘Sure enough, no wonder Ms. Burke was crying in his arms.’ Worrying that Boyce would not treat Jasmine well in the future, he asked, “Will you treat Ms. Burke well?” Jasmine looked at Chris, “Chris…”
“Ms. Burke, you don’t have a family, but we are your family. We will protect you and won’t let anyone look down on you or bully you easily.”
“That’s right.” The other students gathered around and shielded Jasmine behind them, unanimously questioning Boyce, “Will you be nice to Ms. Burke?”
Jasmine, who had already calmed down, was touched by the students again. She hid her lips, smiling, but tears in her eyes.
Boyce was calm, but his heart was fluttering. These children’s kindness also struck him.
‘Look, how simple they are. They will be good to whomever they are good to wholeheartedly, without any fake.’
The best feelings in this world were nothing more than pure sincerity.
He answered seriously and earnestly, “I will be good to her.”
“We remember that. We won’t let you off the hook if you can’t do that!” Chris spearheaded, and everyone followed suit.
Jasmine patted Chris’s shoulder, “Alright, does your leg still hurt?”
New Book: Beginning with a Daring Encounter
Celsie was tired of being labeled as an introvert, workaholic, and dull virgin by her friends. Determined to prove them wrong, she made a bet that she would do something daring on her 25th birthday. Now that the day had arrived, it was time to fulfill her promise. On her daring to-do list, there was one task: a one-night stand with someone.