8 Daughter-in-law

I regretted what I have said to him.

'What if he says he likes Veronica?' I asked myself. I was not ready to listen to his reply, I wanted to escape from the situation at that moment.

"Jessica!!"

My saviour called me. It was Rachel. She stood at the threshold of the door and saw that Austin and I were alone. She quickly apologized for the interruptions she caused and tried to leave. I reacted quickly and went to her to hold her hand and asked her if my mother called me. My mother never called me, I just had to leave.

She didn't understand  my intentions but she understood that something was not right and just gave a simple nod.

I looked at Austin who was  behind us and said that I would meet him soon.

"Sure," he replied.

Rachel and I walked towards the hall where people enjoyed the party. Rachel followed me, I knew she was curious to know what happened. We stood at one corner near a pillar. Rachel faced me and crossed her arms against her chest, she raised her eyebrow, "tell," she demanded.

I told her what happened.  I could clearly say that she was unhappy for what I've done but then she understood my feelings and said nothing to me. She just gave a nod instead. Pausing for a few seconds, she rubbed my cheeks and  told me not to think  much and not to ruin my mood.

"Sure," I replied with a smile on my face.

"That's like my girl," she said with a wide smile.

"You look very pretty today," I said while hugging her.

"Thankyou, you look stunning too," she complimented me.

Rachel wore a  red one piece dress with half sleeve  leaving her  hair open   which  was to her  shoulder level, her eyes were sparkling and made her look more beautiful.

"Obviously, she always looks stunning, unlike you," came a voice from behind us.

It was Justin. He was in a tuxedo, his  hair was messy  but looked handsome and pious.

"Ture, she looks stunning, but look at you , you look like a waiter and you are talking about me," Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I guess you need to go for an eye check up Rach," he said and twisted the corner of his lips.

"Thankyou for your concern, but I guess you should go and have a check up instead of me," she said and pouted. She looked to her right side to avoid Justin's annoying face.

He looked at her and didn't utter a word  but he let out a chuckle.

"You looked cute while pouting, it reminded of something.."

Justin said to Rachel while placing  his hands in his pockets, the girl who was angry few seconds ago had a small smile on her face, she was surprised by his comment but didn't actually  believe him.

" Really? whom?" she asked him skeptically.

He nodded and said while taking a step back and looking at her not missing her expressions, "you looked cute while pouting and that reminded me of a cute  pig which I saw the other day." He  bursted into laughter.

I was surprised by my cousin's comments at first, but he ended up teasing her as always, well that's how my cousins was, he is  a teaser.

When Rachel was a kid she used to cry when Justin  teased her but as the  time changed she was no more a kind of person who cried when someone  teased her. Rachel looked at him for few seconds and then  turned her back not wanting him to see wiping her  tears. I  stood where Rachel's back was facing towards  me and looked at Justin whose face turned pale and I could see that he regretted for what he told just now, I gave a quizzical look at Rachel.

"Justin !!!"  A woman yelled his name which made Justin and me  look at her, she  came towards us. She wore a grey chiffon maxi dress and tied her hair into a bun, she looked like a twenty five years young woman but she was actually  in her early thirties.

It was his mother, Helen Tyler  Smith. Justin looks just like his mother.

"What did you do to her  Justin?" She questioned  glaring at  him while hugging Rachel  who was covering her face.

"Mom the thing is ..."

Before he could complete his sentence, his mother beat him using a harsh tone, " is this how you treat a girl ?"

"That's alright aunty, I'm fine," Rachel said wiping her fake tears and looked at Justin with a wicked smile. I knew she wasn't crying but didn't know why she was acting like that but after I saw my aunt, I understood her evil plan.

" I'm sure she must've have told something to Justin, what do you say Justin ?" said aunt Clara, Rachel's mother, who came and stood beside Justin,  her hands were on his shoulder to support him.

"You are right as always aunty, wish your daughter was like you, sweet and kind," Justin said  with his eyes on aunt Clara and a smile on his lips, he then glared at Rachel.

"What do you mean...she is a sweet girl and don't even dare to tease my Daughter-in-law," Helen said holding Rachel's hand.

"Stop it mother," Justin said.

"I'm talking about my daughter in law not about you."

"Fine, whatever," Justin left to avoid the conversation.

"Why did you tell  like that you do know that he doesn't like when you call Rachel as your daughter-in-law," said Rachel's mother.

"What's wrong in it, I'm going to make my son marry your daughter in future, what do you say Rachel, will you be my daughter in law?" My aunt  asked Rachel.

"Au..nn..ty, I think time will decide," Rachel said and looked at me widening her eyes.

I quickly understood what she meant, I told my aunt and Rachel's mother that we had nothing since we came and excused ourselves.

We walked briskly and faced our backs to them, I heard My aunt saying with a giggle to Rachel's mother  that Rachel was blushing. When I looked  Rachel  I saw her face turn red.

"Why do our parents say such  embarrassing stuff. We are just in our eighth standard and they are talking about our marriage," Rachel said, her eyes rolled in frustration.

"You should be happy that my aunt is supporting you."

"Didn't you see how Justin left when his mother called me  her daughter in law?"

"So you are angry not because you didn't like her calling you daughter in law but because Justin didn't like it," I said and giggled.

Rachel doesn't  want his parents  to force Justin to like her.

"He doesn't hate you," I said, and rubbed her cheeks.

"He doesn't like me either but  one thing I know is that he loves teasing me," she said in a low voice.

I didn't want her to be sad hence I diverted the topic and we talked about other stuff and laughed  and suddenly my eyes fell on Austin who stood at the door, ready to leave. We both looked at eachother and smiled, he waved at me and left with his parents. After  the guests left, Rachel with her mother and I with my parents left the Smith house.

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When Rachel and Justin were kids, Jessica's aunt decided that Rachel would be her daughter-in-law and my uncle was happy. But Rachel and Justin always argued with each other. It was Jessica who always used to try to stop  their arguments when they were kids but as they grew she stopped getting involve in their arguments because she thought it would be wiser not to get involved between her cousin and her best friend.