His Mom's Offer
Hilda Shen clears her throat as she begins to speak.
"You must know already why I invited you for a private talk."
There was no emotion on the madam's face, but she simply picked up the teacup and sipped her tea. Hailey, who remained looking down, nodded her head.
"I won't take this long. How much do you want?" asked Hilda.
Hearing this, Hailey lifted her chin and pursed a sweet smile. She said, "Madame Shen, I'm sorry. But I don't understand what you were asking me about."
She sounded innocent, but clearly, her tone was sarcastic. Hilda Shen mumbled to herself.
Pressing her lips together, Hilda remained calm and expressionless. She already anticipates that this girl will answer her this way.
This is not their first meeting. It was the second time. I didn't have a plan to prolong this conversation, so Hilda placed a check on the table.
Hailey glanced at the check. Her attention quickly returned to the middle-aged woman, and her sweet smile remained on her face.
~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, at the Penthouse.
Vince lifted his head when his phone received a text message. After he saw the sender's name, he picked up his phone and read the message.
"I bumped into your mom. She was very generous. I wonder how many digits I should put in here?"
It was what the message said that Hailey sent, including a photo of a blank check.
Again, another text Hailey sent to him, and this time the message says this:
"Oops. I accidentally tore it in half. I think the bank won't accept it anymore. Poor me."
Vince couldn't help but chuckle and murmur while he read the messages.
"Silly girl."
Vince then types on his phone and presses send. It says, "Applause." He then adds an emoji of clapping hands.
He curled his lips into a smile, put down his phone, and stretched his back on his chair. His eyes landed on the tray Hailey brought over to the study. He remembered he hadn't eaten yet, and the time was one o'clock in the afternoon.
Vince got up from his armchair and walked toward the sofa. He picked up the fork and pinched a portion of the buttered chicken the girl baked for his lunch.
Once more, it impressed him with how it tasted heavenly. Even a three-star chef would be ashamed to compare the food he is enjoying at the moment.
Putting more food in his mouth, the more he praised the girl for being a cook mastered. Even the side dessert she prepared is mouthwatering just to look at.
"This girl can run her restaurant, and it's a ten-star one."
The food budget he gave is enough to feed a hundred people in months with a full three meals because she spoiled him with food.
Every time he came home to the penthouse, he was like dining in different parts of the world, savoring various cuisines with every meal.
He always found himself coming over to the penthouse for a reason. But lately, he realizes something else...
It was because she was spoiling him.
Vince remembers sending his mother a text message in the middle of his meal.
"Mom, just give up already."
Meanwhile, on the South Expressway, a black Rolls-Royce is headed to a particular village where only super-rich families can purchase a manor.
Hilda clenched her right fist upon reading the message her son sent her. It looks like that girl told her son about what she'd done!
"Unbelievable!"
Hilda gritted her teeth in anger. She doesn't know how to get rid of that girl from her son's life. She couldn't accept that her son would bring a mistress to their home one day and become the Young Madame Shen. She won't allow that!
That girl clearly wants to enjoy the luxurious life her son could offer her. She won't leave her son because if that girl succeeds and her son gets his dream divorce and marries her, she will become Mrs. Shen.
And this annoys her. She already used all means to end her son's affair. But her son doesn't budge!
Hilda wore a long face when she entered the Shen Mansion. Fred Shen, her husband, took a glance at his wife, then turned his attention back to what he was reading on his thin iPad.
"Someone upsets you?" he asked his wife, placing the iPad on the table and picking up his cup.
Hilda, who ignores her husband's question, throws her bag on the couch before she drops her body on the cushion.
Hilda mouthed, narrowing her gaze like she was throwing a sharp look at that woman, "I don't understand why our son couldn't dump that woman! Why is he looking for someone else? His wife is perfect! Why couldn't he fix his marriage with Eva!"
"Oh, you are talking about your son's girlfriend," Fred commented without lifting his gaze.
"Who else?" Hilda snapped. "And why do you sound uninterested? Are you siding with your son now? And what are you doing? Why don't you look at me when talking to me?" Hilda's demand.
Irritated, Fred lifted his chin and said, "And what do you want me to do? We have always discussed this issue every single day! My ears are numbing already! Besides, I already kicked your son out of the family! However, he is the only one who can run the company!"
Hilda glared at her husband. She frowned. "And because of this, you'll tolerate your son's affair? Maybe you also have a secret mistress. That's why you don't do something about..." Before she could finish her words, her husband's loud voice echoed in the living room.
"Hilda!" The veins on his forehead were now visible out of anger. What Fred hated most was being accused of such things. Ever since he married Hilda, he swears to respect her and love her, even if their parents only arranged their marriage, and love is absent initially.
Maybe this is what Hilda expects to happen to her son. But of course, things won't always work the same way. Fred Shen thought.
From the kitchen, Carl could hear the arguments. Carrying a glass of water, he strode toward the living room and offered the glass of water to Hilda.
"Auntie, Uncle, you need not argue over this matter," he comforted the couple. "You can't force my cousin to leave his mistress if it well serves him."
"What do you mean, it well served him?" Innocently, Hilda asked her nephew, Carl Johnson, son of her younger sister, who married an American businessman.
Curling a playful grin, Carl retorted, "Someone who satisfies my cousin's needs as a man."
With this, the water she was drinking at the moment choked Hilda.
"Auntie, are you okay?" Carl asked Hilda with concern in his voice. Fred, on the other hand, had just been shaking his head.
Recovering from the shock, Hilda slapped her nephew's shoulder, who was now comfortably seated next to her.
"Are you going to kill me?" she blurted out, which her nephew had just grinned at with amusement. Clearly, he was amused at what he was blabbering to her.
Hilda heaves a helpless sigh. She felt defeated that these men were not reliable enough to make her son Vince change his mind—not to divorce his nominal wife but to kick his mistress out of his life.