Chapter 14
Iris:
“Are you okay, Iris?” Mom asked, handing me a cup of coffee, taking me off guard when she approached me. I was sitting in the study room, alone, as I looked out the window, watching it pour.
My parents weren’t stupid, they knew that something was bothering me, and thankfully, mom took the initiative of taking care of Lillian for me while I tried calming myself down. It has been hours since we arrived, and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to face anyone as I tried drowning myself in the pain that I was in.
I was surprised to enter the house to find that she was already there, waiting for our arrival. Dad was sitting in the living room as they also brought their maid to help with things, wanting me to rest, or clear my mind to be more
specific.
Though I initially grew confused as to why they were here. I knew that she and dad had spare keys to the house; therefore, I didn’t ask how they got inside. Just like I had spare keys to their house, they had theirs to mine. It often came in handy if one of us grew ill, or if an emergency was to occur.
In my mind, it was important for them to be able to enter when they wanted to. One, sometimes they were needed around and I wasn’t able to tend to the door. Two, considering that I was not married and was a single mother, at least someone would know how to reach my daughter if anything ever happened, especially when I knew that Dean didn’t know about Lillian to begin with. Now, that he knew, I knew that things were going to take a wild turn, I just wasn’t sure how much I was going to like it.
“Mother, please don’t get me the wrong way, but is everything okay?” I asked, and she frowned in confusion.. However, she shouldn’t be as confused that I wasn’t sure of why she was here. The two of us have been having rocky relationships for as long as I can remember. She couldn’t expect me to not ask such a question.
“Is asking about my daughter a wrong thing in your dictionary now?” Mom asked and I raised an eyebrow. For a woman who did not want me back inside her house after my divorce, her question came as a surprise to me, I had to admit that much. If anything, she was the most to fight me about my relationship with Dean without even bothering to listen.
“I do believe that you are well aware that I have my reasons to ask, mother. Needless to say, I have had a long day.” I said, and she nodded. She knew that the two of us had a major gap between us, but she often refused to admit it, and I understood why. Mom and dad believed in keeping the vision of our family perfect. To everyone, we were the happy and unbreakable family that everyone would want to be part of. It was far from the reality of things, but I knew not to object or question it. It was how things had to be if we wanted to live without random rumors spreading around.
“I asked because I know that you saw Dean for the first time in years. I wanted to know how it went, and whether or not you got to talk about Lillian.” She said, choosing to be direct. Her questions never came for no reason, I knew. that much about my mother. I had to admit though, I did not expect her to be this direct with what she said. Her caring about whether or not Dean knew about my daughter confused me.
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“Need I ask the reason?” I asked, shaking my head in question. Thankfully, Lillian was now taking a nap and wouldn’t be intervening in such a conversation. I still didn’t know how I was going to explain to her that the owner of her school was her father. Just the fact that he was the owner of her school came as a major surprise to me. Mostly because this was the last thing that I expected him to do.
“He would need to pay child support…
“I do not want his money, mother.” I said, stopping her. She frowned at my words and shook her head in question. It was the main reason that Dean and I got into our first argument that distanced the two of us. She wanted me to go after his money, and though it wasn’t in MY own intentions to do so, he took it out on me when he knew that he couldn’t do so when it came to her. She made me lose the man that I was in love with, and now she wanted me to
risk my daughter’s security and sanity over the one thing that she seemed to love.
“Why not? The other woman has benefitted from it while and after your marriage. You chose to end it by giving her everything, at least do not deprive the child from what is rightfully hers.” Mom said, angering me even more if that were possible. Just the fact that she wanted me to use my daughter for such a thing annoyed me. I didn’t take the initiative of accepting the divorce when I knew that I was pregnant to come, five years later, wanting to claim any money from the man. It just sickened me that she still had her eyes on it despite everything that we had, and needless to say, we had a lot.
“I did not raise my baby alone, go through my pregnancy and labor alone, only for me to ask for child support. My apologies, but you didn’t even bother supporting me through giving birth like every other mother did. I was in that room alone, crying in pain while holding a nurse’s hand because you refused to come. You refused to come to your own daughter’s labor because I chose to divorce a cheater, something that you have refused to acknowledge.” I said, wiping the tears that fell from my eyes. “Therefore, to answer your question, Dean did find out about his daughter and I will not ask a dime from him. I don’t want his money, but if he chooses to see her, then it would be under my watch and supervision, not you, and not anyone in the world.”
“Is that so?” Mom asked, raising a challenging eyebrow, glaring at me as she asked. Though I could tell from her tone that she was satisfied with the news, I couldn’t help the anger that bolled in my ch*st at that.
“You gave me the option to either stay with him or choose to be on my own. I made my choice, what changed now? Or is it the fact that you know that I personally came to claim what was mine? You are upset that it wasn’t you who was assigned to take care of the companies and think that you can take advantage of that part through me, don’t you?” I asked, glaring at mom who shook her head, her expression filled with disgust.
It was something that she often did. Her judgment and anger from me. She was angry when I was complimented, when I worked to make myself something, and when I refused to be insulted. In her mind, it was what she drew for me to be. I was to be the wife of a man who wanted nothing to do with me. I was to be patient through everything. and when asked whether she would have been with dad if it were her, I was told off and was told to not compare.
In her mind, the two of us were different in terms, and in truth, we were. I wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt my daughter and just watch. It was against my nature, and considering that I knew how she would feel, I would rather die than accept this on her.
“You know, when your father told me of the decision of giving you everything, I was against it. I asked him to HIRE
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someone to do the work. I personally have no interest in such hardships. But now, I want to watch you run yourself to the ground.” She said, making my ch*st burn. “I have enough money to support me and my great grandchildren. However, I won’t be needing to support anyone as I have no children to begin with.”
I stayed quiet as I waited for what she had to say only for her to smile, her smile cold and wicked making my ch*st ache. She, of all people, knew how to damage me as a daughter, and that was something that I both dreaded and feared. Though I stayed calm, I knew, judging by her cold smile, that she would end up stabbing me in the back worse than anyone would do.
“I will call the accounting team tomorrow to withdraw all my shares.” Mom said, knowing that this would be the first thing to drop my stocks considering that I am now in my dad’s place. She was doing this out of revenge, this was something that I knew for fact. “You can do what you wish in “YOUR‘ companies. ALL my shares would be withdrawn tomorrow. Good luck building your market from there, yeah?”
