Queena had made the decision not only to mend her relationship with her daughter-in-law, but to strengthen it. Melinda shared the same goal, and the next few days saw the two women bonding over the littlest things.

They grew close enough for the older woman to joke once or twice that Melinda had become her sworn daughter, with Jonas coming a close second to her in terms of Queena’s affection.

One of the activities they often enjoyed together was shopping, then later sitting at cafes. Yulia had done her best to thwart their mother-daughter outings, but was always shut down by Queena.

At first she thought the Gu madam was only acting on her feelings towards her husband’s bastard, but seeing the way she interacted with Melinda gave Yulia a sense of foreboding. Queena was becoming Melinda’s ally.

What started as malicious jealousy on her part became a paranoia that ate at her greedy heart, and she soon found herself scrambling to contact Emily so they could do something about it.

To her disgust, she couldn’t reach the actress’ phone no matter how many times she called.

This went on for a couple of days, until Yulia finally found a report on the internet saying Emily was off to some remote location in the mountains for a shoot.

She must be in some place without reception, which was why Yulia’s calls couldn’t get through. She threw her phone on the bed and stomped downstairs to cool her head.

She found Nelson, Melinda, and Queena in the living room as she descended. Her sister-in-law was holding out a piece of clothing to her grandfather, and Queena said something that made all three of them laugh. The scene only stoked the fire of envy that burned within Yulia, and she strode over to where they stood to join in on their conversation. "You seem to be having fun," she said as she approached, and her tone effectively hinted at what she was feeling. "What do you have here?" It was a coat with exquisite embroidery.

In her desperation for attention, coupled with the riot of ugly emotions that ran rampant in her heart, Yulia yanked the clothing from Nelson’s hands with more force than necessary.

The fabric was ripped.

She stared at the piece of clothing with horror. An awkward silence fell into the room for a couple of beats.

Then the two elders burst into action simultaneously, Nelson abruptly pulling the clothing back to him, and Queena turning to Yulia in visible anger.

"You—"

Before she could start berating Yulia, however, Melinda had come in between them and put a reassuring hand on her mother-in-law’s shoulder. Yulia turned away bitterly.

Nelson was glaring at her granddaughter. This coat was supposed to be a present, and he hadn’t even had a chance to wear it yet, but this rude, foolish girl just appeared out of nowhere and ruined it.

"Grandpa," Melinda said, her tone gentle. "I have been looking at embroidery projects recently, but I never got to actually doing it.

Would you mind if I make an experiment of my skills using your coat?"

She smiled at the old man as she reached for the piece of clothing. He let her take it.

Once again Melinda was salvaging the situation, and doing it with grace and class! Although he was still feeling sullen, Nelson would never think of ruining her efforts by staying cross.

"All right, you can do whatever you want with it. But be sure it turns out beautifully, or I will be very unhappy."

conniving little smile then, to show her that he knew what she was

only nodded. Beside them, Queena was sporting a pleased little smile herself, feeling rather proud at how her daughter-in-law handled

her head in shame, and nursed her fury in

has arrived." He handed various envelopes to the two,

of them were addressed to Nelson, and the others to Queena. Melinda, as

them away. He never liked socializing. "You can take care

was reading through its contents. It

missed Queena and apologized for being so busy with her projects that she hadn’t

Queena’s eyes darted towards Melinda. Her daughter-in-law still wore a little smile on her face as she folded Nelson’s

Yulia, who was glaring at the stack

different Melinda was from Yulia and Emily, and felt a sense of security

well," she instructed, handing the post over to the butler

invitation’s sender as it passed hands.

that she had worried about what might

the past few weeks of her gaining her mother-in-law’s favor would all go

Yulia had also seen who sent the invitation, and could not believe she just witnessed

Melinda’s recent days of bliss. She had to

her that night, and both of them were in a very foul

didn’t you warn me you were going to disappear to some godforsaken place with no reception?" Yulia spat over the

that you were gone, that bitch Melinda had been sucking up to

blame on her? How was she supposed

for them and all that brat did was complain. "Are you saying this is all my fault?" she said coldly, and

her place. Emily heaved a long sigh of frustration. "Tell me

Emily dialed Queena’s contact number. If she needed to do some damage control, she might

was cheerful over the phone, but she made sure to inject a quality of sulkiness, alluding to

There was no mistaking the

you been busy

"Quite."

bit her thumb as her mind raced. "Aunt Queena, you must tell me when you’ll be free. We haven’t seen each other for such a long time. I really miss your

you a souvenir from my trip to the mountains. I

she might engage Queena’s curiosity when she mentioned her present, but there was

scheme coming to her on the spot. "Aunt Queena, I’ve heard

tone indicated that

among the staff. Apparently there was someone who was trying to prevent a story from making its way to

man and a woman, both married. They were collaborating on a new book, and as such were spending a lot of time with

and some source said

new book with Kent, and she was aware that they had been rumored

her throat. "Is that so? I understand being a writer isn’t

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