Can I say no? I thought secretly to myself. Obviously, I can’t do that. God sure has a sense of humor giving Christopher a mother like Julia! I knew that she had deliberately called Christopher away to the office so that she could see me alone. However, I had no choice but to invite her in.
Although Christopher and I did not have a wedding, we were still married. This meant that Julia was my mother-in-law, even if she was not fond of me, I still had to be cordial to her. I politely invited her into the house and poured her a cup of tea. Julia surveyed the state of the house. I saw her lips twitch disapprovingly when her gaze fell on the unmade bed. I hastily stepped forward and closed the bedroom door.
“Mrs. Lane! Here, have some tea!” Christopher had repeatedly requested me to address his parents as ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’, but knowing that his mother disliked me, how could I bring myself to call her ‘Mom’? That would upset her even more.
Julia stared at me for a while. Then, she sat down with a look of disgust at the couch that I had just tidied up a moment ago. She kept silent and went on to scrutinize me.
Well, the house is messy, but I can’t help it! Your son and I just had it on the bed and the sofa, and if I had not stopped him, you would probably have walked in on us making love on the carpet right now! I thought helplessly to myself.
“You don’t go out for work? Do you just stay at home all day?” Julia finally spoke. She sounded displeased.
“Uh, yes!” Is Julia actually taking an interest in me? Is she starting to accept me? I really was naïve to be so optimistic even in such circumstances. Julia had made sure her son was out of the way before she came over. She obviously had no good intention if she did not want Christopher around during her visit.
“As a woman, it’s absolutely fine if you don’t work. As long her husband has the money, he’ll be able to provide her with everything that she desires. If nothing else, the Lane family definitely is not short of money.” Julia delicately sipped the tea that I had poured for her.
Then, she frowned and said, “This tea was given to Gordon by someone who came to visit from the capital. It was just a small box of loose tea leaves. It disappeared from our house the very next day. I thought Darius had taken it, but it turns out, it was Chris who had brought it here.”
I smiled nervously. I did not know what to say to Julia’s remark. Christopher had brought home that box of tea leaves. He had said that it was very good tea and he wanted to enjoy it at his own pace, but I did not know how to appreciate it and had drunk it as if it were my everyday breakfast tea. I had kept it in the kitchen, oblivious to the fact that it was such a special tea.
“Well, Chris really likes tea. I guess that’s why he bought it here,” I said with a nervous chuckle.
Julia glanced at me reproachfully and said quietly, “Chris likes black tea, not green tea.”
I could not say anything and pretended to be oblivious to her insinuation. Yes, Christopher hates green tea! In fact, he’d rather drink plain water than green tea. I’m the one who loves green tea. I know that the tea is good, but I didn’t know exactly how special it is.
“Ms. Tanner, I think you know the reason for my visit.” I should be grateful that Julia was speaking frankly to me instead of playing games with me.
“Mrs. Lane, please just speak your mind.” Julia and I looked at each other unwaveringly, neither one of us was willing to back down. “There are some things which, I’ll do to the best of my ability for you if you ask of me. However, there are also some things that I will not agree to even if you were to point a gun to my head because those are the things that I cannot concede to.”
“That’s fair!” Julia placed her cup back on the table. Her tone was cold and arrogant as she continued, “Chris has always been a very independent child. We have never interfered with his decisions and we allowed him to do whatever he wants. He grew up with Monica and they had a great relationship all these years. I’ve always thought that he would marry her.”
Julia picked up her cup of tea again and stared coldly at me over the rim of the cup “If I really wanted to drink this tea, I could easily buy it for myself. There are many ways for me to get it. Similarly, if I wanted you to leave Chris, I could easily do that. I have many ways of getting what I want, but I chose to come to you directly. Do you know why?”
