---- Chapter 5 "Was he not doing it on purpose? Didn't you see it just now?" I took a deep breath, trying my best to suppress the fire burning in my chest, but my voice still trembled. "Mike, he just called Melanie a bastard to her face- why don't you tell him, is Melanie really a bastard?" Mike paused for a second, a flicker of hesitation flashing across his face. But within moments, he lowered his head again, gently coaxing Oliver in his arms, completely ignoring my question, with no intention of asking Oliver to apologize. At that moment, Jennifer, who had been standing silently on the side, shifted her eyes and suddenly put ona gentle, gracious smile. She spoke in a soft and delicate voice, "Ms. Harvey, I truly apologize. Oliver grew up abroad ---- -he's a bit straightforward and rough around the edges, he just says whatever comes to his mind. Please don't take it to heart." But just as those seemingly peacemaking words left her lips, the smug look on the little boy's face didn't diminish in the slightest-in fact, it became even more arrogant. Oliver raised his chin and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I wasn't making anything up! That's what everyone at school says! Melanie is a bastard! She stole my dad!" My fists clenched so tightly that my knuckles turned white. I stared at Mike, my gaze burning. I remembered how, in the past, he had used him being a neat freak as an excuse to show constant disdain toward me and Melanie-and we endured it all. We tiptoed around him in everything. ---- I turned a blind eye when he claimed to be "working late", while he was actually out sleeping with other women. I swallowed the bitterness and carried on. But today-I would not let anyone insult my daughter like that. "Mike, I'll ask you one last time-" I paused, took a deep breath, my eyes rimmed with red, and asked slowly and firmly, "Is Melanie your biological daughter or not?" Mike's expression darkened. Acold, bone-cutting sneer curled at his lips. "Don't you already know that better than anyone how she became my daughter?" "Enough. Oliver's paying a visit today. Let's stop making a fuss, no need to ruin everyone's mood." Mike furrowed his brows slightly, his tone laced with irritation.