James caught the cup and shielded Angela behind his back.
"Out! You get out!"
The terrific shriek from Elva resounded in the room.
Angela's heart was pounding. She wanted to go up to see what was happening, but with just one step, she was stopped by James, "Stand here. I'll go and see."
"H'm," Angela answered with a nod.
He had no sooner walked to the door than Mrs. Brown was pushed outside the room by Elva.
"Get out of my face! From now on, we are not friends anymore! Don't come to me again!" With her eyes turning crimson, she slammed the door.
Mrs. Brown got scratched a few times on her face by Elva's fingernails. She jerked a kick at the door and shouted with her eyes getting red, "Elva, don't you think you are too partial? I treated you better than her, but why were you always on her side whatever happened regardless of my feelings?"
No response.
Mrs. Brown raised her voice, "Elva, don't pretend to be deaf! You can cut to the chase. We have been friends for decades, and do you want to dump an old friend of me just for that dead person?"
"Get away!" Elva cried, followed by a loud thump that sounded like something hitting the door.
With that, Mrs. Brown turned from purple to pale. She wiped the tears off the corners of her eyes and stamped her foot before walking towards Angela. Angela had never thought things would turn out this way, and now she felt more uneasy.
"I wonder what your mother is thinking! Tell her since she doesn't regard me as a friend anymore, I don't want her either!" Mrs. Brown said with a choked voice and stormed out with her handbag.
Angela stunned for a moment before walking to the entrance, and she knocked at the door, "Mom?"
There's no reply.
"Mom?" Angela knocked again.
Still, nobody answered.
James held her hand and tried to comfort her, "Don't think too much."
"Her depression worsened recently, and she had drugs secretly." Angela felt a flurry of disturbance, "I invited Mrs. Brown to make her relieved, but ...."
She didn't go on, but went downstairs, walking by James. She asked a few servants to watch out for anything unusual downstairs and report it to her.
After that, she got the key to her mother's room from a servant and went back to the second floor.
"What's up? Who was arguing with mother just now?" Luna came out after coaxing the two children.
Angela told her what had happened briefly, and with a frown, she said, "I just knocked at the door several times, but mom didn't answer."
"Don't be too sensitive," Luna said. "To be frank, our mother had always easily got stranded in upset when something happened before she had depression. Now her condition becomes more severe than before but not that severe as you think."
Angela replied with a "h'm", yet her frown didn't disappear.
She kept feeling flustered as if something would happen.
Luna shot a glance at James.
"If you still worry about it, I can find a doctor to see Mrs. Chante." James stroked Angela's nose, "You became so thoughtful after you got pregnant."
Luna agreed, "I was also suspicious when I was pregnant. Once your brother came home late, I would doubt if he cheated on me or had an accident on his way home."
Hearing their words, Angela turned puzzled: Did she really think too much?
Yet, "I'd better talk with mom, in that case, I would be at ease."
Luna nodded and knocked at the door, "Mother, could you please open the door? Taotao is bawling and looking for you!"
James took out his cellphone, sent a few messages through WeChat, and put it back.
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