My heart always beats fast between my ribcage whenever I see her in parents-teacher meetings. Her eyes are brighter than the stars of night, her cheeks are redder than the rose, and her wavy blue hair reminds me of deep blue ocean. She is the perfect definition of beauty; even more beautiful than the sun rising over the ocean.

Yet I've never had a chance to talk to her outside work, and I don't think it's ethical to do so. After all, she is a twenty-seven years old single mother of my student named Jack. I hear many nasty rumors about her:

Her having a son out of wedlock.

Her having a son with a sugar daddy.

Her being an escort and having a son without knowing who the father is.

But as a teacher, I won't let those rumors cloud my judgement about her and her son. Until one day one of the parents bring it up.

"Sensei Fullbuster." Mrs. White, one of the parents, raises her hand.

"Since we are all here, I want to address an issue regarding Ms. Lockser's son, Jack." She has sounded so resentful—so unpleased.

I see Ms. Lockser gasping as she heard her son's name. And from Mrs. White's tone, we all can tell it's going to be ugly.

"With all respect Ms. Lockser, I think it's time to move your son to a special school. Your son's disability slows down the class and my child cannot get into Fairy Tail high school with his current grade," she says with her stern, threatening eyes on Juvia, and suddenly all other parents begins to agree.

"That's true Ms. Lockser, your child shouldn't be in our school. He writes very slowly and our children's math lesson is five chapters behind compared to other classes," another parent adds quickly.

I hate to admit it, but they are right. My class is behind compared to other classes because we need to facilitate Ms. Lockser's son. He is diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy or we call it DMD; it's a progressive muscular weakness. At first the disease will steal the ability to walk, and slowly or quickly it will destroy respiratory muscle which eventually leads to death.

However, he is just a poor, sweet boy, and I want him to have the best school experience like a child at his age. Going to school, meeting friends, and fooling teachers. Before I open my mouth to defend Jack, I am surprised, and stunned to see Ms. Lockser bows her head to all parents who are in the classroom.

"Juvia is truly sorry, Juvia knows her son has disability, but doctor told Juvia that Jack's disease progresses rapidly. Doctor diagnosed him that he won't survive for the next five years. So please let him study with your children. Jack—," she pauses as her eyes fills with tears.

"Jack says he loves this school. He loves meeting your children, and Juvia just wants to give him the best school experience while he is still alive. Please, Juvia begs you all. Please, give Jack a chance!" she begs as her tears start falling.

I am stunned that she swallows her pride to protect the interest of her son. From that moment, she has my respect.

Part of me doesn't want to deal with her— a single mother with a husband's or boyfriend's or even perhaps random stranger's mystery identity and a DMD son— is just too much for me. I don't want her to darken my word with her misery. But there is also a part of me that wants to get to know her better, and protect her.

I have an ambivalence about it, and I'm not really sure what to do. It will be much easier if only I could just get rid of this feeling in my heart and thoughts.

But at the end of the meeting, I decide not to pursue her. I just don't think it's a wise move, considering the father of Jack may come back into her life and I don't want to mess up somebody's relationship. It is against my principle.

But fate decides otherwise. As all the parents are ready to step out of the classroom, suddenly some of my students run into my classroom, and they look frightened.

"Sensei, sensei, Jack falls down on the floor and he chokes his own neck," says one of my students panicking.

I glance over Ms. Lockser's face. She looks haggard, with her eyes puffy, cheeks mottled red. She is scared, scared beyond words.

"Where is Jack?" I ask, urgently and my students lead me the way to where Jacks lays on the floor.

He just lays there, unconscious. His face turns blue and his eyes dilated. I try to palpate his brachial pulse, but it's just so weak. Shit, am I too late?

Without thinking it through, the first thing in my mind is CPR. I compress his chest while yelling at any adults in that room, "call 911!"

Apparently all of the parents follow me when my students lead me to where Jack is. But apparently they are all just watching; and I even see some of them recording me? Like it is some sort of entertainment while I'm in a life-saving business. Then I hear Ms. Lockser calling 911 with tears. "Please help my son. He is dying! Please!" she begs.

In the sadness of her voice, I can hear how much it hurt her to see her son lays unconscious on the floor.

In few minutes, ambulance comes over, and Ms. Lockser and I follow the ambulance. Jack is my student. It's my responsibility to make sure my student is alright.

When we get to the hospital, the nurse takes him into an operating room. Seems Jack is not only aspirating, but he also has cardiac issue and we are not allowed to see him. We have been waiting and waiting for five hours, and waiting for something that we are not certain of seems like an eternity.

I notice her hands trembling and her knees quivering. She remains silent during the wait, but I can feel her fierce desperation and her trembling fear.

I snatch at her cold hands tightly, and I hold her. I just want her to know that she is not alone. I am just hoping that I can take away her fear, and comfort her in any ways I can. "Jack will be fine, he is a fighter," I tell her and I mean what I say. I know her son is a tough little man. Despite his condition, he still puts a smile on his face and he still writes, even though I can tell the muscle and the joint in his tiny hands are getting weaker and weaker as time goes.

She smiles, looking up at me with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Sensei Fullbuster. I'm just scared," she says.

"Me too, but he will make it through," I say with tears in my eyes. I am trying to be strong for her, but I'm can't. I just don't want to believe that my student has to leave this world before I do. For God sake, he is just ten years old. He is such a sweet boy, and he deserves far better than this.

She then rests her head on my shoulder.

In between sobs, she starts to giggle. "I remember when Jack ate the whole birthday cake that I baked, and the look on his face when the chocolate is all over his face."

"That must be very precious," I chuckle.

I see her smile through her tears as she talks about Jack. She both cries and smiles at the same time. The more I spend time with her, the less I could care about her rumors. I don't want to know her past. I just want to spend more and more time with her.

Until one guy with long black hair and pierces on his eye brows comes up.

"Juvia, how is Jack?" Then he looks at me with anger as if I am the one who cause Jack to be in this situation. "Who is this bastard?"

I narrow my eyes. What a fantastic beginning I have with this stranger.

"Gajeel-kun, this is Jack's teacher. Sensei Gray Fullbuster."

But he ignores her. Instead, he grabs the collar of my shirt. "Teacher, huh? Why are you holding her hand then?"

Before I can say anything, suddenly a nurse comes out of the operating room. "Your son is fine, Ms. Lockser, but he is sedated now. You can see him, but only one person allowed."

"My son makes it," she continues crying, happily. Slowly, she turns to see me, and I smile warmly at her. "I told you, your son is a fighter—"

She then leans over and hugs me. She whispers near my ear, "Thank you sensei."

I scoop her hair into my hand, its softness surprising me. I have never ever touched such soft and delicate hair like hers. I lean in closer and inhale the lavender scent of her hair, and I feel the warmth of her neck. God, I wish I could stay like this for eternity, but then Gajeel grabs my shoulder. "How long are you going to hug her, pervert?"

I scoff and she shortly lets me go after she realizes what she's just done. I notice the delicate pink tinge to her cheeks and she just looks adorable.

"Ok, go see your son, woman, I have a word with this pervert."

She then hugs Gajeel, and tells him, "Thank you Gajeel-kun," and Gajeel just nods.

Then she left both of us to the PACU room.

I don't know why, but I blurt out. "Are you Jack's father?" But as soon as the words come out of my big mouth, I regret them. I hold up a hand. "Never mind, you don't need to answer. It's none of my business anyway."

Gajeel raises his brow. "Then why are you here?"

"Well, Jack is my student, so—"

"I'm not stupid, I was also a student once. Your job is only to make sure he gets into ambulance with his mother and you don't need to wait until Jack is awake."

I bite my lip, blushing. "Yeah, I care for both of them," I admit.

Gajeel then pats my shoulder. "I'm not his father and Juvia is not his mother."

My eyes widen at his words. Juvia is not Jack's mother?
He then continues, "Juvia found Jack nine years ago in the dumpster. After that she adopted and took care of him like her own son."

"B-but she was only eighteen at that time."

"Yeah, I know, that woman is crazy. She told me that she fell in love with Jack the moment she saw him, and her life has changed drastically since then. She struggled with study, work, kid, and love."

"Love?"

"Yeah, she was close with some guys, but once they found out she had a disable son, they left her. That's why, you break her heart, I will break your bone," he says with a threatening tone in his voice.

I just gulp.

"Oh one more thing, Jack doesn't know that Juvia is not her biological mother. So keep it as a secret."

His words keep echoing inside my head. I'm sure she knows the nasty rumor about her, yet she neither says anything nor defends herself. Maybe she just doesn't want to hurt her son's feeling if he finds out that he was abandoned in the dumpster by his biological parents?

I've never seen such a strong woman like her; she is a woman who is capable to love and when she loves, she loves freely and passionately. Finding her is like finding a treasure hidden deep in the ocean floor. I'm definitely not going to let her go. I'm going to ask her out, maybe a cup of coffee won't be a bad idea.

A/N: I know this is too late for mother's day and too early for national adoption day. But I'm fond of the idea of adoption and I want to write about this. It's also my first time writing first POV and in present tense, so I'm sorry for any errors. Hope it's not too disappointing. Review please. Thank you :)