Sophia arrived home after picking up some ketchup, only to find Tristan amusing himself with his toys in the living room. Tristanâs father was nowhere in sight.
âTristan, whereâs your dad?â
Tristan merely glanced up at Sophia, grunted, and ignored her. Instead, he called out towards the bedroom. âDad! The ketchup ladyâs back!â
Sophia was taken aback, not because Tristan was ignoring her, but because he referred to her as âthe ketchup lady. She felt a surge of annoyance. Wasnât it strange that Tristanâs father wasnât keeping an eye on him?
Marcus, Tristanâs father, was usually overprotective and would never leave Tristan alone. Sophia put the ketchup down and quickly headed towards the bedroom. On opening the door, she found Marcus just shutting down his computer.
âMarcus, what have you been looking at? How could you leave Tristan alone like that? You always say itâs risky for a child his age to be left unsupervised.â
Marcus slowly turned around in his wheelchair. âYou know how he gets with his toys. He wonât run off. I was only away for a moment. Itâs fine.â
Sophiaâs eyes darted to the recently closed laptop. With a teasing smile, she asked, âYou came in here just to use the computer? What could possibly be so captivating that it made you leave our son alone?â
Marcus maintained a poker face. âWhile we were watching TV earlier, there was an ad for a local kindergarten. I thought Iâd check out their credentials.â
âKindergarten?â Sophia paused, furrowing her eyebrows. âMarcus, the ads on local TV are obviously for local kindergartens. Youâre not thinking of enrolling Tristan here, are you?â
Sophia reminded him. âAs soon as Iâve settled my fatherâs affairs, weâll be leaving. How could Tristan possibly attend kindergarten here on his own? Marcus, I know youâre thinking of our sonâs future, but there are plenty of excellent kindergartens back home. Tristan can go to anyone he wants there!â
Marcus frowned slightly, with a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes. âLetâs not talk about other scenarios.
Tristan has spent most of his time at home with me and has had little exposure to the outside world. He would have language issues abroad, making it difficult for him to adapt to a kindergarten environment. I want him to attend kindefgarten in a native English environment.â
Sophia sighed. She had indeed overlooked the language barrier. But then she smiled. Marcus, our son is a quick learner. Learning a new language wouldnât be a problem for him. Besides, there are kindergartens with English-speaking environments. I promise to find a kindergarten that Tristan will be happy to go to. We really shouldnât consider staying here. We wonât get used to the lifestyle.â
Marcus didnât argue. âItâs up to you. I canât go out, so youâll have to handle all this.â
In fact, he had not been researching kindergartens at all. He had been checking his email, retrieving a message from Balfour containing a rehabilitation plan suggested by the doctor.
Sophia seemed relieved to see Marcus wasnât insistent on staying. She didnât want to stay either; she disliked the local environment and was afraid the Blanchet family might find them.
She pushed Marcus out of the room. âMarcus, letâs not rush into deciding about Tristanâs kindergarten.
Once Iâve settled my fatherâs affairs, weâll find the best kindergarten for Tristan. Weâll shortlist some good ones, and you can make the final pick.â
Marcus simply nodded without saying a word.
Sophia added. âIâve got the ketchup. Iâll start cooking for you and Tristan right away promise itâll turn out better than yesterdayâs meal. That was my first time cooking, and I didnât quite get the heat right. But today, Iâve watched many tutorials, and Iâm sure youâll notice the improvement.â