Sweet Sorrow novel Chapter 2

As Nicole walked down the street with her suitcase in hand, her phone suddenly rang. It was Austin's mother, Selina Zhang. For a while, Nicole deliberated whether or not she should pick up. With a sigh, she answered the call and put the phone to her ear.

"Blanche said you just came back. Is this true?" Selina Zhang asked in an angry voice.

"Yes," Nicole replied in low spirits.

"Well, you'd better come here right this instant. Tom came by yesterday and gave me some delicious pork ribs. I need you to make some soup,"

Selina Zhang ordered in her usual, bossy tone.

"I..." Nicole stammered, getting all flustered, "I don't think I--"

But before she could finish her words, Selina Zhang said on the phone, "The doctor told me to drink more soup to supplement nutrition when I went to the hospital yesterday. You can come later. I'll take out the spareribs from the frozen room."

The phone was directly hung up, and Nicole didn't have a chance to express her will.

She hesitated for a while and decided to go to her mother-in-law's home.

"How was Blanche feeling?" Selina Zhang asked upon Nicole's arrival.

"She's fine!" Nicole bit her lip and answered indifferently, "She and her baby are doing pretty good."

"I'm going to give her a call. You should start cooking dinner now. The ribs are on the table."

Then Selina Zhang impatiently waved her hand, and entered her bedroom with her phone in her hand.

Nicole clenched her teeth, trying her best not to snap back at Selina Zhang.

For over a month, Nicole had been taking care of Selina Zhang's daughter wholeheartedly. Despite this, Selina Zhang didn't even really care about how Nicole was nor did she even mutter any words of thanks.

There was no warmth or love here for Nicole.

After stewing the sparerib soup, Nicole cooked some rice and prepared some other dishes. She put them on the table and went to Selina's bedroom to tell her that dinner was ready.

As Selina chatted away on the phone, her face was full of smiles. She had never smiled at Nicole that way when she was talking to Blanche Liang.

Ten minutes later, Selina finally hung up the phone and walked out the bedroom.

Selina ate the meal Nicole had prepared. When she had finished eating, she looked up at Nicole.

"Austin won't be back until tomorrow. You can stay here tonight. Wash my clothes while you're at it," Selina said with a half-smile.

Nicole was surprised. 'Business trip?

That can't be right. Did Austin lie to his mother?'

Even though Nicole knew that Austin was definitely not on a business trip, she decided not to expose his lie to Selina. After cleaning up the dishes, she then proceeded to wash Selina's clothes as instructed.

It was a rather big pile of laundry. What's worse, Nicole had to wash it all by hand since Selina did not own a washing machine.

Judging from the amount of dirty clothes here, it looked as if Selina had not washed a single article of clothing ever since Nicole went to the countryside to look after Blanche Liang.

As Nicole was about to start on the laundry, Selina happened to walk by. "I'm still feeling a bit weak," Selina explained as she gently rubbed her hands. "That's why I waited for you to do the laundry. I'm old and incapable now, you know." With a sigh, Selina went on her way.

Deep in her heart, Nicole had a feeling that Selina was just acting. But when Nicole thought of her own mother, who was old and incapable to do any hard work, she suddenly became sympathetic.

It was already midnight when Nicole had finished washing everything. Feeling so exhausted, she slumped on the sofa and fell fast asleep.

Early the next morning, Selina woke Nicole up. "There are so many things in this house that need some decent cleaning," Selina said to her. "Oh, and when you're done with that, I need you to go to the supermarket and buy some things."

All day long, Nicole had worked nonstop. It was not until she had finished making dinner that she was finally able to put her feet up.

"I'm sure that Austin hasn't eaten enough outside. Don't just sit here quietly. Go and boil an egg custard for him."

Seeing that Nicole was doing nothing, Selina asked her again.

Hearing Selina's mentioning of Austin, Nicole became angry and retorted, "He eats very well outside!"

Selina's face instantly pulled. "What nonsense are you talking about?"