Chapter 2

I sent the message, but Nolan didn't reply.

Instead, he added Maria to our family group chat, and she fired off more than a dozen messages in a row.

Hello, everyone. I'm Nolan's fiancée. I joined the group because I want Nolan's mother to give me an apology and a reasonable explanation.

Nolan and I have no problems in our relationship, but his mother is always picking on me and putting me through obedience tests.

Last time I went over to her place for dinner, she forced me to wash the dishes and do the housework. I just said I didn't want to, and she flipped the table and cursed at me.

And last month, she asked if I wanted some fruit. I said no, but she still shoved it into my mouth.

Nolan and I aren't even married yet, and she's already pushing me to have a baby. She actually told me that if I don't give birth to a boy, I'm not fit to be a daughter-in-law of the Fox family.

...

Not satisfied with just text, she also posted a video of herself crying and wiping away tears into the family group chat.

Those messages set the family group chat on fire instantly.

A lot of the younger generation and relatives in the group came forward one after another to blame me.

Holy crap, what century is she living in? So backward, insisting on a boy? Why not just have another one yourself?

Exactly. She's a young woman with a master's degree, and she speaks so gently too. Bullying her like this is really out of line.

Unbelievable. Has she been scrolling too many short videos? Now she's pulling out this whole obedience-test routine.

...

I was left with nothing to say.

But the truth is, I never once thought of making her wash dishes or do housework.

The bowl was just a little far from me that day, and I wanted her to pass it to me.

As for the fruit.

I asked her if she wanted some fruit, but she was busy playing a game and ignored me, so I washed a few pieces and set them in front of her.

She made a face right then and said, "I already told you I don't want any, and you insist on washing it for me. Are you trying to force me to obey?"

The idea that I pushed her to have a baby is even more absurd.

I knew she'd only recently finished her master's, so I offered a couple of words of advice: "For a woman, your career matters more; there's no rush to have children."

And she decided I was being snide, that I was actually pushing her to marry and have kids.

I was so angry my hands were shaking. I'm getting old and slow at typing to begin with, and this only made it worse.

I chose my words carefully and had just sent my edited explanation into the group.

But all that popped up was a red exclamation mark.

Nolan had already removed me from the group chat.

He messaged me.

Mom, Maria says that with you and her in the same group, she feels sick every time she sees your profile picture.

She's willing to give you one more chance. As long as you write a two-thousand-word apology that satisfies her, I'll add you back to the group.

But you have to pin this apology to the top of your social media feed for a month and post it in every one of your group chats, to show you mean it.

If you won't apologize, then don't blame Maria and me for no longer recognizing you as our mother.

Write an apology? No longer recognize me as their mother?

Over something that never even happened.

Just how far do they intend to push me?

To my mind, I've never once shortchanged my son or his girlfriend all these years.

Never mind the twenty thousand a month in living expenses, I even paid the rent on the two-thousand-square-foot apartment they lease.

And all the extra money spent on Maria, I never held any of it against them.

They even said they wanted to get married, and I agreed on the spot to give them an eighty-eight-thousand dowry.

Plus a two-hundred-thousand wedding home and a fifty-thousand new car.

And all this talk of an obedience test is nothing but nonsense!

All I did that day was ask her to hand me a bowl, and that makes me some unforgivable villain?

That I deserve to be treated like a criminal by my own son?

My nose stung, my whole body trembling without stop, and I quickly swallowed a blood-pressure pill before it eased.

A thousand thoughts ran through me, and it took real effort to finally calm down.

I looked down at my phone, made a call, and made up my mind.

"Is this Rodney? That new home we agreed on last time—I don't want it anymore."

"How much of the deposit can I get back?"