Immediately, Leila straightened up her clothes, nodding in shyness.
The car soon arrived in the villa. However, there was a luxurious car parked in the yard. Leila turned to look at Vincent in surprise. “Do we have a guest?”
Vincent’s expression slightly changed when seeing that car, pressing his thin lips tightly.
Leila didn’t know what happened. They both got off.
Leila went to fetch the bags from the trunk, and then she walked into the living room with Vincent.
However, as soon as she entered the living room, Leila sensed a different atmosphere as if there was a coldness in the living room, which was fulfilled with something weird.
Looking up, Leila found a mid-aged woman sitting on the sofa -- she looked both dignified and graceful.
In a daze, Leila stared at her -- the woman wore an adjusted cheongsam with a white print. Her figure was very well maintained. With the cheongsam wear on her body, she looked more elegant on her neck there was a pearl necklace. Her earrings were a gray diamond shape, and the material was unknown. Her hair was tied up, making her look neat and capable.
When the woman saw them come in, she gazed over at them. Under her gaze, Leila suddenly shivered, feeling so cold.
Then she heard Vincent call, “Mom, why did you come back?”
As he spoke, he walked towards her.
Leila was completely shocked.
Was this woman Mr. White’s mother?
Then she was her mother-in-law, wasn’t she? Leila wondered what she should address her -- calling her Mom as Vincent did. She decided to remain silent and wait for Vincent to introduce her. Leila gaped and watched Vincent walk up to the woman and hugged her.
Nora Morgan chuckled. Above Vincent’s shoulder, she gazed at Leila more sharply.
Leila trembled. Nora seemed to snort. Although they were far away from each other, Leila still felt her sneering at her. For some reason, she believed that her mother-in-law came here without bad intention.
“Mom, this is Leila,” Vincent made the introduction for them after turning back and seeing Leila.
“Leila, this is my mother,” he said to Leila.
Leila immediately walked up and put the bags beside the door. With a slight smile, she greeted, “Mom, nice to meet you.”
Nora nodded at her arrogantly. Her graceful and well-maintained face is full of pride and disdain. “Are you the second daughter of Mr. Hunter, the mayor?”
“Mom, please call me Leila.” Leila’s heart skipped a beat. She could hear the hostility from her mother-in-law’s tone.
“Okay, Leila!” Nora cast a cold glance at her. When seeing her cheap shirt and jeans without any jewelry and her messy hair, she snorted. “Can’t our White family afford you? You dress so cheaply!”
Leila felt panicked, blushed in embarrassment. Subconsciously, she looked down at herself - a shirt and jeans, seemingly quite cheap indeed. But she didn’t spend the money of the White family. She bought all of them using her salary from the part-time job. However, what Nora said made her embarrassed. Her teeth sank into her lips. She secretly looked up at Vincent, only to find him sitting on the sofa and loosening his tie as if he was an outsider completely.
Leila could only fight back by herself. She said in a light tone, “Mom, if you don’t like me to dress in this way. I’ll change it tomorrow.”
Her retort made Nora’s arrogant blame quite unreasonable at this moment. Feeling Leila’s soft refute, she slightly squinted. Then she saw Leila raise her head and smiled slightly at her, her eyes full of calmness and sincerity.
Nora snorted and said, “I’m starved. I haven’t had dinner yet. Go to cook! Besides, if I’m talking to my son, I don’t want to be interrupted.”
“Okay. I’ll prepare for the dinner now.” Leila nodded immediately and picked up the bags.
Nora sat down on the sofa and looked over at Vincent. The stiff expression on her face became relaxed.
“Mom, the doctor said you should lead a peaceful life to maintain your health,” Vincent reminded her in a deep voice.
“I know. I haven’t been back for a long time, and I miss you.”
“I just came back home last night. We’ve just met, haven’t we? If you wanted to come back, you should tell me. Then we can come back together.”
“I just decided all of a sudden.”
Leila walked into the kitchen with the ingredients. Then she started to wash the vegetables. She held her head high and wanted to smile at herself, but the bitter tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Her hands trembled when washing the vegetables. Finally, she calmed down and washed the vegetables in silence.
An hour later, the delicate dishes appeared on the dining table. Looking at the dishes, Leila was sitting and waiting at the table, because she didn’t know how to inform the mother and the son, who were chatting over there.
Time passed by slowly. It was getting darker and darker. Looking at the cold dishes, she found them still chatting while watching TV. She was certain that Vincent had seen her waiting for them to have dinner while standing beside the dining table, but he didn’t say anything to his mother. He just cast a clod glance at her.
Leila’s heart became colder and colder as if it was frozen by the ice. With just a touch, the sharp pang would cause pain all over her body.
She walked to the sofa and stood aside. Then she reminded them in a low voice, “Mom, Mr. White, the dinner is ready.”
Nora checked the watch on the wall and said unhappily, “Why did it take you such a long time? Can you cook or not?”
Leila kept silent.
Nora walked over to sit down at the dining table. Looking at the four dishes and one porridge -- sesame oil chicken, braised spareribs in brown sauce, eight-ingredient porridge, a bitter melon salad, and stir-fried celery. Her expression changed slightly and sat down.
Vincent turned around and looked at Leila, sitting down as well.
Nora had a taste of the porridge, frowning deeply. “How come it’s cold?”
“Just, just now, I saw you were chatting. You said I can’t--”
“How dare you retort? Has the Hunter family taught you to be a daughter-in-law like this?” Nora patted on the table suddenly. Her young-looking face without any torture of life was covered with icy coldness, looking extremely strict.
“I’m sorry. I’ll heat them,” Leila immediately said.
“I don’t eat leftovers. So you don’t welcome me, do you?”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Moment in Destiny
the writing is quite childish, but maybe it's just the translations...