Teacher's Day Flowers

The atmosphere at the table instantly turned cold.

My father-in-law, Peter Swift, looked sullen, my mother-in-law's hand froze in mid-air, and my parents stared at me in shock, clearly bewildered.

My mother was the first to react. She grabbed my hand and said, "Stanley, don't make a scene. Today is an important day for Hera."

Hera's expression changed from bewilderment to rage.

The fire in her eyes seemed ready to burn me to ashes. "Say that again?"

I repeated it, my voice not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of everyone present, "I said, I want a divorce."

My mother-in-law, Sarah, slammed her fork down on the table with a loud clatter. She pointed at my face as she spat out her words.

"Stanley, are you out of your mind? Do you know what day it is today?! It's the day Hera gets promoted to associate professor! It's a glorious occasion! Why are you spoiling the mood? What is your problem? My daughter works so hard on her research for this promotion, and she can't even receive a bouquet of flowers?"

I didn't look at her. My gaze was fixed firmly on Hera.

Her beautiful face was filled with incredulous anger. "Over a bouquet of flowers? Seriously? Stanley, has jealousy made your heart so twisted? I was just putting some flowers my student gave me in a vase. Is that really a reason to act like this?"

My father banged the table and glared at Hera with a silent authority. "Keep it down."

Hera glanced at my father, took a deep breath to suppress her anger, and put on a heartbroken expression.

First, she patted Sarah's hand reassuringly, then turned to my parents and apologized.

"Bruce, Candice, I'm sorry. Stanley must be under much pressure at work lately, so his emotions are unstable. Please don't think too harshly of him. I'll have a talk with him."

She tried to reach for me, but I sidestepped her.

Hera looked sincerely apologetic. "I'm sorry, Stanley. I've neglected you because I've been so busy with my research. My bad. But these are just some lilies. Aren't you overthinking things? He's just a simple student."

Hera's older brother, Caleb Swift, couldn't stay silent anymore. He tried to smooth things over. "Stanley, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. What do you want Hera to do? Throw away the flowers her student gave her?"

"Yeah, Stanley," Hera's sister-in-law, Lindy Swift, also tried to persuade me, "I've met that kid, Terry Nash. He's well-behaved and sensible. He surely didn't mean anything by it. Don't overthink it. Apologize to Hera and we can put this behind us."

My gaze swept over everyone at the table.

My father and father-in-law frowned, not saying anything.

The look on my mother's face changed from confusion to realization, and she now looked at me with reproach.

Hera, as expected of a professor, turned my request into an unreasonable demand with just a few words.

I ignored her pretentious remarks and pointed to the increasingly fragrant lilies on the floor.

"You say these are just ordinary flowers, right?"

I stared into her eyes.

"Then I dare you to close all the doors and windows in the living room and stay in here with me and these flowers for an hour."

Upon hearing that, Hera's face turned pale.

She instinctively took a half-step back, her left thumb unconsciously rubbing her index finger, her expression extremely unnatural.