Every day, they mocked him for having an embarrassing mother, and eventually, he just couldn''t take it anymore-he ended up fighting with the three of them.


    But he was no match for them, not even close.


    Afterward, their ridicule only got worse.


    They even rallied other kids to join in, all ganging up tough at him together.


    Back in his old preschool, there was nothing he dreaded more than running into those three boys.


    And yet—unbelievably—they''d transferred here, too.


    The boys swaggered over, quickly and expertly hemming Keen O''Brien in.


    Panic flickered in Keen''s eyes.


    The ringleader, Sheldon Ayers, fixed his beady gaze on Keen''s delicate, striking face, a hint of jealousy glinting beneath his scowl.


    Sheldon had never liked Keen. In fact, he''d disliked him for as long as he could remember.


    His mom was alwaysparing him to Keen, whether there was a reason to or not. Whenever Sheldon brought home a bad grade, she''d sigh, "Look at Keen— he aces every test. Why can''t you be more like him?"


    "If you mess up basic addition and subtraction again, I''ll never understand how I ended up with such a hopeless son!"


    "All you do is eat, eat, eat! Just like your father, who spends all his time chasing women instead of doing anything useful! At least your dad can run a business. Why couldn''t you inherit any of his brains?"


    "Keen already speaks three foreignnguages, and you can''t even string together a sentence in English!"


    "Look at Keen, he solves Rubik''s cubes for fun, and you''re still ying with mud!"


    At first, Sheldon had honestly admired how clever Keen was.


    But that faded with time. Soon, all he felt was resentment.


    If it weren''t for Keen, his mom wouldn''t be so hard on him!


    When Keen transferred to a new preschool a while ago, Sheldon was thrilled.


    Finally, his mom would stop using Keen as the gold standard.


    But then, after hearing about Keen''s new school, Sheldon''s mom tracked it down. When she found out all the kids there had to pass anguage test, she hired a private tutor for Sheldon. Every day, he was drilled on vocabry. If he couldn''t memorize the words, he wasn''t allowed to sleep.


    Sheldon''s resentment toward Keen only deepened.


    He swore that once he got into that new preschool, he''d pay Keen back for every miserable moment.


    He teamed up with two other boys who couldn''t stand Keen either, determined to make sure Keen would never dare show his face around here again.


    That way, their mothers would finally stopparing them to Keen.


    Marvin Connolly nced at the three boys.


    He had no intention of helping Keen.


    Even if the tables were turned and Keen was the one doing the bullying, Marvin still wouldn''t get involved.


    He was always going on about Keen, day in and day out, but deep down, he was jealous—jealous of Keen, more than anyone.


    Grades, poprity, social skills-none of that interested Marvin in the slightest.


    He only envied one thing: that Keen had a mom who truly loved him.


    Even now, being ostracized and left out, Marvin didn''t hold a grudge against Keen.


    It didn''t really matter to him.


    The whole world could ignore him, and he wouldn''t care.


    As long as Ste didn''t ignore him, that was enough.


    "Hey, you little pest, what are you staring at? This has nothing to do with you-get lost! Or you''ll get the same as him!" Sheldon barked, noticing Marvin''s gaze and putting on his nastiest scowl.


    Marvin barely reacted, indifferently turning away and walking off without a word.


    Seeing Marvin leave, Keen''s anxiety only grew.


    That troublemaker might love to y the victim and get him in trouble, but Marvin had never actually hit anyone.


    Keen disliked Marvin, but he wasn''t afraid of him.