I'll Teach You, Marianne.

Since this morning Anne had had headache by Christian's refusal to play quietly. The child was very active, running around in the house so that the condition of the house currently was so messy. Christian sulked, annoyed at not being allowed to play in the rain outside. Linda and Paul had even given various reasons to calm down the child, but the boy still didn't want to sit quietly.

"Baby, come here. Mommy has something for you," said Anne quietly, for the umpteenth time trying to seduce Christian.

Christian turned to his mother. "No, I don't want to eat."

Anne chuckled. "Mommy didn't invite you to eat, I only asked you to accompany me to eat. Mommy hasn't eaten since last night and now Mommy is very hungry."

"Why haven't you eaten yet?"

Yes, Anne's method worked. Her son managed to focus his attention on her.

"Everything tastes bitter. I can't taste the taste of food. That's why Mommy wants you to accompany me to eat," replied Anne, lying with a sad face.

Christian was silent for a while, and finally, with small steps, he walked over to his mother who was in the pantry. "Are you sick, Mommy?"

"I don't know, baby."

"Well then, I'll feed you something to eat, okay?" Like a grown man, Christian paid sweet attention to his mother.

Anne's eyes suddenly filled with tears, her little baby was now able to give her unexpected attention. Without a word, Anne then grabbed Christian to sit on the counter.

"Okay, I will eat now."

Christian smiled. Without speaking, the handsome boy, who looked very much like Jack, reached for the fork that was on his mother's plate to start feeding his mother. From a distance, Paul and Linda smiled with emotion. They didn't think Christian could do that. Anne really enjoyed her breakfast and lunch this time, the food her son fed tasted 10 times better. Christian himself enjoyed his new activity. Occasionally, he made the mistake of dropping spaghetti sauce on the table, but he didn't stop his activities and he continued to feed his mother eagerly until finally the spaghetti on the plate ran out completely.

"Are you full, Mommy?"

"Yes, look at Mommy's belly now," said Anne quickly, showing Christian her belly.

Christian chuckled at what his mother did. He slowly put one hand on his mother's stomach. "How did I get in Mommy's stomach first? Did you eat me?"

"Eat? How can I eat you, dear?"

"Then how did I get in Mommy's stomach?" Christian asked again.

Anne was confused. She didn't know what to answer. The older Christian got, the more critical the questions he asked, and sometimes the questions were difficult to answer, like the questions that just came out of Christian's lips. Christian, who was a very curious child, wanted to know the answer to the question he previously asked, seemed to be sitting patiently, waiting for an answer from his mother. He looked at his mother expectantly. Anne, who could not answer Christian's question, finally gave up. She gave her son permission to play in the rain outside.

"What are you doing, Anne? You said not to let Chris play in the rain. But why are you even giving him permission?" Linda protested angrily at Anne.

Anne took a deep breath. "I can't answer the question he asked, Linda, so I just let him play in the rain."

"What did Chris ask you that you can't answer?!"

Anne stared intently at Linda the same way she watched Christian play in the rain with Paul. "He asked how he got in my stomach. There's no way I wasn't telling the truth."

Linda growled. "He's still asking that?"

"Yes, the boy is very stubborn. His curiosity is very high," answered Anne in frustration.

Linda massaged her forehead which suddenly ached. "It's a bad idea to tell him that babies come from the mother's belly, the child grows to be like the father."

"Linda, don't say that. Christian my son, he has nothing to do with that man," said Anne quickly. For three years, Anne had been trying to get Jack out of her heart.

Linda smiled faintly at Anne's words. She slowly stroked Anne's messy hair. "Jack, the man is getting stronger. You know how powerful he is right now, that's why you have to be prepared if one day we meet him, Anne."

"No, Linda, I don't want to see him. I don't want to."

"I know, Anne, I know. But you have to be prepared for any incident. We can't hide from him forever, Anne. Jackson Knight Clarke is a terrible man, you have to be able to face him again, Anne. It's possible that he will try to take Christian from us , that's why you have to be prepared to deal with it," said Linda quietly, trying to make Anne realize how powerful Jack was right now.

Anne lowered her head. "I'm not going to let him take my son, Linda. I've been the one who fought to keep Christian since he was in my womb, I'm the one who always cried when Christian was sick, not him. Not that bad guy."

"I know, Anne, we both raised Christian. Neither Paul nor I would have allowed him to take Christian from us. We just had to prepare for the worst that would come, Anne."

"D-do we need to move, Linda?"

Linda shook her head. "That's not the best solution, we can't keep hiding, Anne. Besides that, it will be difficult for us, Christian certainly won't like it. The kid will definitely ask in details of the reasons why we have to move, you know that Christian's curiosity is very high. That's why we have to prepare for the worst that could happen, Anne."

Anne was silent as she heard Linda's words. Even without being reminded, Linda already knew how strong and how big Jack's power was at this time. His big name was enough to make a lot of women flock to him, though Anne tried to fool herself that everything would be all right. 

"I'm not ready to face all of that, Linda. I couldn't imagine seeing him, let alone meeting him in person, I don't have the courage, Linda," said Anne honestly.

"I know, but believe me, Anne, we can definitely get through this again. We've been through the bad things that happened in the last few years. That's why I'm sure we can all get through the worst. We just need to be prepared, so if what you don't want does happen, then we'll know what to do. You know very well that Jack's people keep an eye on my family."

Anne was silent for a long time. She looked very nervous. Her eyes continued to stare blankly at Christian who was playing and laughing with Paul outside.

"I'm not leaving Christian to him, Linda, Christian my son," said Anne softly in a trembling voice.

To be continued