I sat by the entrance and read through the article on the paper again and again. Suddenly, I recalled Christopher saying that I shouldn’t sit on cold surfaces. Then, I fumbled around for a flyer and sat on top of it before ruminating over the article again.
“I’ve opened multiple alternate accounts to attack Crystal online. You owe me a treat, Eve.”
“That’s for sure.”
It’s great to see a b*tch like her suffer karmic retribution. I hung up on the phone and grinned from ear to ear. I bought some of my favorite snacks and some seafood from the market, planning to cook a scrumptious meal to celebrate the delightful news. My phone rang before I left the market.
It was from Lyle. I looked at the caller ID for two seconds before deciding to ignore it. I pressed on the silent button, and after a while, my phone buzzed again with multiple texts. The texts were all asking about my whereabouts. It seemed like he was urgently looking for me.
Nothing good ever came from him looking for me. There was no point meeting him anyway. I’d better take the time to think about how to explain things to Grandma.
I was just thinking about Grandma when the caller ID indicated that it was Josephine calling. She was the housekeeper and caretaker of my grandmother, so I answered her call right away.
“Mrs. Smith, you’d better hurry back and take a look at Old Mrs. Smith. She saw the news about you and Mr. Smith on the TV and fainted. She doesn’t look good even after she woke up. She’s not listening to a word I say.”
“What? Did Grandma faint again? I’ll get home right away.” I had kept the thing about Lyle cheating on me as a secret because I was afraid that Grandma might not be able to take it well. I even went as far as to say that Lyle and I were doing well. However, Crystal’s high-profile nature blew my cover. How would I be able to face Grandma if anything should happen to her?
I hailed a cab and reached the Smith family in a jiffy. Josephine dragged me to the back garden, and I was greeted by the sight of my paternal grandmother standing under a hibiscus tree. Her sorrowful manner was accentuated by her graying hair; gone was her jubilant manner. A lump formed in my throat as I looked at her.
After turning eighteen, I cut almost all ties with the Tanner family, and for a good reason. Dad had wanted me to marry the third son of the Warner family to elevate the Tanners’ status, and even going to the extent of cutting off my financial support after I refused the arranged marriage to make me comply.
Actually, I was interested in art, and I was good at it. My work had been favored by one of the artists over at Astoria back then. However, after submitting one artwork I considered to be one of my best, my application was rejected. On the other hand, Crystal was the one who took a fancy to my work.
I did not understand the reason I failed the application, not especially since I poured three months’ worth of blood and sweat into that work. Albeit all those hard works, the fact it did not earn a successful application made the artwork a worthless piece of paper. In the end, I chose to study finance in Avenport, and since I was dirt poor and could not afford the schooling fees, I resorted to working odd jobs to support myself.
Sharon was the one who offered me a job in the Smith family. She was using the administration work as a front to hand me money because she knew I wouldn’t just accept the money if she offered it to me without a proper cause. It was thanks to her that I finally got the time to really concentrate on my studies. She would also come up with a myriad of excuses to buy me things such as clothes, necessities and even learning equipment while preserving my dignity. Since then, I had long considered Sharon to be my own grandmother.
I took a coat and walked over to drape it over her shoulders. “Grandma, it’s quite windy here. Why don’t we head back in the house instead?”
Sharon sighed at the sight of me and patted my head gently before she pointed at the hibiscus tree and said, “This tree has accompanied me for years. Now it’s getting old too.”
I caught a lump in my throat as I detected the sorrowfulness in her tone. “Sorry for disappointing you, Grandma.” That was a truthful admission. I did let her down.
“Don’t be, silly. You’re the one who’s suffered,” she said as she patted the back of my hand.
Unable to contain my emotions, I burst into a sob. It felt as if I finally had the chance to vent my pent-up feelings. I could not depend on my father while my husband ganged up with outsiders to go against me. I basically had no one to turn to, and I could only find solace in her words.
The indignation I felt had been eating me from inside out. The nights and days I was ignored by Lyle, the nights he left me alone when he was out cheating on me with Crystal, the vicious words he spewed at me to make me agree to a divorce; all that despair and helplessness I felt was enough to strangle me alive.
