"Didn't you say you would eat with me?"
"I'll play with the kids for a while." Avery's heart melted when she looked at her daughter’s tearful eyes.
Elliot nodded and went to the dining room.
After he walked away, Hayden said in a sullen voice, "Why did you lie, Mommy? Elliot was the one who hurt you."
"He didn't do it on purpose," Avery explained. "He’ll be sad if we tell it to his face."
"Let him learn his lesson!" Hayden raised his voice on purpose so Elliot could hear it clearly from the dining room.
Layla pursed her lips, clenched her fists, and said in a crying voice, "Daddy is such a careless klutz! You should punch a boo-boo on his head too."
Avery sighed. "Your uncle Mike already punched him, and your father now has a boo-boo on his head too."
Layla stopped crying immediately. "That's more like it."
"You should eat if you're hungry, Mommy!" Hayden said.
"Sure... Although, how did you know it was your father who did it? " Avery did not remember telling them about her injury.
"Uncle Mike said that Elliot punched you last night, so when Mrs. Scarlet and Mrs. Cooper said that you had a head injury, it was easy to connect the dots," Hayden explained.
"He didn't do it on purpose. Don't blame him for it." Avery pleaded with her children. "It's the new year, so let’s not dwell on such minor stuff. You guys can go ahead and visit Uncle Eric tomorrow. I won’t come with you, and your father's not going to join you either. He's going to visit my uncle on my behalf."
After hearing what Avery said, the children could only bear with it instead of getting even with Elliot.
Layla was much more sensible when Avery got injured.
He could tell that Avery's injury was very painful when he saw it that evening.
"What should we do, Hayden? Mommy doesn't want to go to the hospital, but what if the injury gets worse? Sob sob..." Layla was anxious.
"Elliot's going to visit mom's uncle tomorrow, so I'll bring her to the hospital then," Hayden said. "I won't be able to go with you to Uncle Eric's house tomorrow."
Layla nodded obediently. "Okay. You must bring Mommy to the hospital and get her checked. She’s so naive for refusing to go to the hospital when it's so serious.”
"She's afraid that Elliot would feel guilty, so she pretended that it didn't hurt at all." Hayden analyzed his mother’s thoughts.
Layla sighed. "It’s so tiring to be an adult and think about so many things... It's better to be a kid because you can just cry if you're unhappy!"
"You should go to bed, Layla! I'll help Mommy register at the hospital!" Hayden turned off the lights in the room, switched on the table light, and unlocked his cell phone.
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