Ace's Porsche pulled over my house and without giving him the opportunity to open the door for me, I sprinted out of the car.

Ace followed me whilst I ran towards the door and tried to unlock it. Goodness, it was locked from the inside!

"What's the matter?" Ace asked stepping beside me.

"Mom's home," I whispered in fright while also seeing the lights emitting out of the house.

He ruffled my hair. "Don't worry Birdie, she won't-"

"Don't touch me like that," I warned him as he took his arm off, "not around her."

Exhaling deeply, I rang the bell. Footsteps were heard as the door opened quickly, revealing my boiling mother.

"Where were you?" she scowled.

"I-I was with my friend," I answered eyeing Ace.

"Do you have any idea of what time it is?" she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "NINE!" Her yell startled Ace and me both equally. We had assumed to reach within half an hour, but the traffic ruined things even more.

Ace began, "Ma'am I don't think-"

A deathly glare from her soul wrenching eyes was enough to stop Ace mid-sentence.

Turning towards me she said, "Don't you understand that you got to be at home when neither papa nor I are present? And how careless could u get? Did u know that you'd left this entrance door wide open when you left?" she banged the door hysterically.

"Mom, I'm so-"

"AND YOU COULDN'T TAKE YOUR MOBILE EITHER!" she screamed. "WHAT ARE WE RECHARGING YOUR PHONE FOR WHEN ALL-"

"Mom, I said I won't repeat-"

And then it came with a loud thwack. A painful slap at my left cheek that left my eardrums ringing and world swinging for a few seconds which felt like ages. If it were not for Ace, I would've been lying on the floor due to the intensity.

Holding me in his arms he glared angrily at Mom, "How dare you physically abuse Nayan? He is your son!"

"You don't get to teach me about parenting my son!" she raised her finger towards the Porsche. "Go! Get out of my sight with your fancy car and never get back here ever again!"

I placed my palm against Ace's lips to prevent him from igniting my mother any further. Gesturing to the car, I asked him to leave with a pleading sign.

Patting gently at my shoulder and staring unbelievably at mom, he turned and approached the car. Peeking out through the window one last time, he drove away into the darkness.

"Get inside," mom ordered, "unless you want to spend the night out here."

Obediently, I entered, tears streaming down my eyes as I made my way to the bedroom, shivering continuously. Oh why was my mother so brutal? Why did she hate me?

Closing the bedroom door and turning off the bedroom lights, I hopped into the bed, laying on it as tears streamed down my cheek. Clasping my dearest soft toys, a teddy and a bunny that had been gifted to me by dad on my fifteenth birthday, I wept on hoping the inanimate toys could ease my pain. Could they? No, they couldn't. And that's what made me cry even more.

I don't know for how long had I been crying but when I opened my eyes, the sun was dawning already. I guess I must have slept while weeping since large amount of crust had formed in my eyes.

Getting off the teddy and bunny who had been crushed by my tummy the entire night since I lay on them, I got up to assess my situation.

So, mom was mad at me since she had not called me for dinner the previous night. Dad was probably not home yet, since he would have woken me immediately and talked about the incident. Howver, mom must've told dad about the incident. Did that mean I was in trouble? I hoped not.

Getting into the washroom I brushed my teeth and cleansed my teary face. My left cheek appeared redder than usual due to the legendary slap and it had swollen slightly. How embarrassed I felt in front of Ace!

Honestly, I did not feel like going to school today. Reason? Ace must have informed about the incident to Stacy. And Stacy being Stacy, she must've whispered it into everyone's ears. Not that I was offended. But it was definitely going to be irritating when everyone would ask for my well being.

"Ouch!" I cried in pain when I hit my foot at the wall in frustration realizing the harm was made to me. Wonderful!

Looking at the mobile, it was about six in the morning. I had enough time to complete a couple of assignments which I could not yesterday.

Sprinting to work, I began working on them quickly, completing all three assignments by half past seven. Whoa, I was faster than I had realized!

It was then that my bedroom door opened and in entered dad, who appeared not so pleased.

"Am I disturbing you?" he asked politely upon looking at the scattered papers and books all over the bed.

"Oh no daddy," I said, pushing a bunch of books aside to make space for him to sit. To my relief, he sat without much inconvenience.

"We need to talk about yesterday," he said looking at me.

I gulped. I knew it was coming. Was he mad at me? Was he going to slap me the way mom did?

"I'm sorry dad, I didn't realize how late it got last-"

"It's not about that," he said, "it's about your irresponsibility. You had literally left the door wide open. Do you understand how naive it was of you to do so?"

I looked down, ashamed. He was right, I should've been more careful. My vision blurred as tears began dripping down my eyes.

"I-I'm s-sorry d-dad, I didn't m-mean to-"

To my surprise, dad wrapped me in a warm hug as I sobbed on.

"Don't cry my son, it's alright. We as humans make mistakes. But promise me you won't be repeating this again Nayan."

"I-I promise dad."

"Pinky promise?" he smiled, bringing out his pinky finger.

I smiled back, "Pinky promise," as I intertwined my pinky finger with his.

"Don't forget to take your mobile in case you ever go outside uninformed," he suggested. I nodded back in reply. "But I need to know, where were you yesterday?"

Damn, now what? What was I supposed to say? Should I lie? No, I didn't like the idea of lying to my dad. Maybe I could speak half of the truth? Yeah that seems a much better option.

"I went with Ace," I said. "He showed me the nearby forest."

"The forest?" Dad wondered. "Must've been fun. What did you guys do?"

"We just-"

"Hang on," he said narrowing his eyes at my cheek. Tilting my face by my jawline, he stared at my slightly swollen cheek.

"Who did that?"

"Mom," I sighed.

Dad shook his head in disbelief. "Shreya! Why doesn't she ever understand that physical force never works out!"

Saying which, he stormed out of the room. Sure enough, I could hear arguments within a few seconds of his departure. Never mind!

Getting into shower, I bathed and dressed into my usual T-shirt and jeans. I never wore anything fancy to the school. Got to save all the fancy stuff for parties and other occasions.

I was ready on time. By the time I came out for breakfast, the argument had ceased as mom passed me my breakfast. Within moments I had devoured the bacon and eggs and was ready to go to school.

Kissing a goodbye at dad's cheek and not even glancing in mom's direction, I left for the school.

The only worry that I suffered with was what would happen when others saw my swelling? Of course I had tried my best in hiding it using all available skincare products I could use. However, I couldn't help but stress for the inevitable.

Hey guys, hope ya'll doing great! What do you think about this chapter? Do you think what Nayan's mother (Shreya) did was right or was it not? What do you think about his dad (Deepak)? Please let me know through your comments!