Filed to story: Dumped by Scumbag Adored by Billionaire
“What?” Kim was confused.
“Niles almost knocked down your son,”
“Oh no,” Kim went pale upon hearing what almost happened.
“Who knows? With your personality, you would have insisted I killed your son when it was all your carelessness,” Reina said harshly.
She couldn’t help but want to punish Kim a bit. They said what comes around goes around. Kim has had her fun maltreating her in the past, perhaps, this was the universe telling her that this was her turn to retaliate.
Revenge was not satisfying, people would say, but she – Reina – would enjoy every inch of this.
“No, I…” Kim faltered, unable to refute that accusation. Tommy was her only source of joy now, she would have probably done so.
“As much as I thought,” Reina snorted.
Niles didn’t say anything, he would let his wife have her full now and talk to her when they get back home. Besides, he was the one who convinced her to come, he’d have to take her the way she is.
“But don’t worry, I’ll keep my eyes on him well,” Kim said to her as some sort of apology.
“You better do,” Reina replied, shooting her a look of disdain.
Without even being invited in, Reina waltzed into the room like she owned the place; however, she froze in her footsteps as soon as her eyes laid on Angela.
How was this possible? Her lips trembled just as a sudden pain gripped her heart.
The third point of view:
Reina gulped, her heart pounding loudly in her ear. When she thought of coming here, she never braced herself for this kind of shock, she didn’t expect this.
Angela was a shadow of herself – how could someone age this quickly? Her cheeks were sunken and her once beautiful skin she had treasured and taken care of with the best body cream money could buy was dry and she had an unhealthy pallor.
Aside from that, Angela had lost weight – a lot of weight. Though she hasn’t lost all of her hair nor sections of it as common with cancer patients, Reina noticed that her hair was dryer and duller. In conclusion, a look at Angela, one need not be told that she was dancing with death; the grim reaper was just around the corner.
But she didn’t look this bad when she came to the wedding? How could the sickness degenerate this quickly? Unless…
Reina’s eyes grew wide as it dawned on her, they had been using makeup to hide her frail state.
No matter how dysfunctional a family was, at the end of it, blood was thicker than water and Reina proved it at that moment.
She turned to Kimberly, “You knew her health was this bad, and yet you didn’t care to inform me?!”
“Inform you?” Kim snorted, “Were you even willing to listen?!” She yelled back at her.
“I would have listened if I knew it was this terrible!”
“No, you wouldn’t have listened until you saw it with your both eyes! Why? Because you kept encouraging yourself with the events of the past!”
“Shut up!” Reina hollered, “Everything that happened so far is your fault so don’t try to make it look like it’s my fault I didn’t know mother fell sick!”
With the way tempers were flaring, Niles decided to step in – but that was a grave mistake.
“Ladies, perhaps, we should all take a breather and -“
“Back off! This is family business!” Both Reina and Kim said in a chorus.
Given the warning, Niles quickly lifted his hand in surrender and took a step back. However, the man didn’t expect the turn of events that followed.
Reina turned to Kimberly with anger, “How dare you speak to my husband that way?” she hissed.
“I didn’t,” Kim defended.
Niles didn’t dare to interrupt, he has learned his lesson never to butt in between two arguing ladies else he receives the heat.
“I heard you, right. Are you saying?I’m deaf?” Reina insisted.
“Both of you should cut it out,” Angela finally spoke for the first time since she arrived, “You shouldn’t argue in front of the kid,”
It was at that moment that their gazes fell on Tommy cradling his mother’s laps, looking confused yet scared from their raised voices. Unlike Niles’, both of them obeyed the order this time but not without glaring daggers at each other.
“The both of you can wait for my death to continue your argument. Right now, I want my last memory to be of my daughters being in harmony. That is not too much to ask, is it?” Angela said to the both of them with a weak smile.
This time, Reina and Kim turned their glaring eyes on their mother. How could she be so careless about death?
“You really want to die that quickly, don’t you?”
Although Reina appeared to be harsh, the truth was that she was choking from pain inwardly.
It was strange though, on her way here, she had thought she would be indifferent to everything, but now the pain was gripping her heart so hard she couldn’t breathe. But then, she wouldn’t show it, she wouldn’t give Angela the satisfaction of knowing she still cared amid everything she did to her. Neither would she cry, she was no longer the weak Maria. Reina was a different person – she told herself.
“Kimberly,” Angela called her, “Can you take Tommy to play?”
Though it seemed like a request, Kim knew it was an order. She wanted to protest but understood that her mother didn’t want Tommy to be involved in their discussion. Kids might not be as intelligent as adults, but they have a good memory, and the boy without knowing the history of their family might misunderstand everything when he comes to the age of understanding.
“Mummy, let’s go play!” The boy seemed very enthusiastic to leave which made Kim sigh.
“Fine,” Kim gave in but she didn’t leave right away. She went ahead to where Angela laid and placed a peck on her forehead, “I’ll be back,”
That might be Kim showing her affection to Angela, but it was also a warning to Reina not to mess with their mother.
“Alright, I love you,” Angela smiled back at her with affection, “And Tommy too,” she kissed the little boy who had come to her bedside.