Tell Me Again, My Love

The butler stumbled to excuse himself and quickly rushed toward the kitchen using the back door. It was better for him to stay out of Mrs Si line of sight or he would be blamed for something he did not do. 

Silently he prayed for the safety of Young Mistress. Good luck, Young Mistress. Madam did look angry just now. Maybe he needed to add another prayer, and he did just that. He even pulled some of the maids and even the cook to join him with the prayers.

Angel, on the other hand, was looking around desperately for a place to run and hide. She saw the bushes of red roses and yellow roses not far from there. Unfortunately for her, her feet seemed to be glued to the ground. She could not move any of them!

She gulped down her saliva, trying not to cry. Why her sister-in-law was so scary?

Mrs Si stormed forward until she reached her silly little sister-in-law. Clucking her tongue in dissatisfaction, she could not help from lament how poor her silly sister-in-law looking right now. So pathetic!

"Where do you think you are going?" her hands on her hips, she asked Angel.

"I... I..." Angel"s eyes were looking around wildly. 

Someone... anyone... please help her!

Her back was wet with sweat. Even her face too! But she was too scared to wipe her face.

Why did she have to be here and receiving the stare? She did nothing wrong. She did not even disturb the family, just dealing with her own emotion, her own feeling. Was it even a crime?

 Without wasting another moment, Mrs Si pulled Angel into the house. She knew Angel too well. If she waited for Angel to follow her, this silly girl would quickly run away. She would not do what she was told to unless someone "disciplined" her.

This was all her husband"s fault, her heart blamed. If he did not overprotect Angel since young, this silly girl would not be so laid back until she could not even distinguish which one is right and which one is wrong. She did not even know how to cook!

And it was also her husband"s fault for following this girl"s whim of wanting to live independently. 

Independent? Harry, her dear son even told her, rather absent-mindedly, how frequent Angel skipped her meals. She did not want to even touch the lack of sleep Angel had especially when she received so many projects to do.

This was unacceptable!

"Prepare the room for your Young Mistress," she ordered the maids.

Both the girls bobbed their head and rushed upstairs to do just that. They were scared to be blamed for anything. In fact, the other maids were hiding somewhere else.

Angel sat on the cus.h.i.+on, crossing her arms sulkily. It was so clear she would be imprisoned again. Her elder sister-in-law was so controlling, so stubborn, so... so... so infuriating!

Both did not say a word to each other. Angel was sulking at one corner of the couch while her sister-in-law, Harry"s mother sat on the lone couch, staring at Angel furiously.

"Madam, the room is ready," one of the maids, who lost to the paper-scissor-water, reported weakly. She quickly ran away once the Madam nodded her head. 

Safe. She was safe.

"The kitchen is preparing your meal. You go upstairs and clean a bit. So smelly!" Mrs Si pinched her nose, twitching her lips disgustingly.

"I am not smelly. I don"t smell bad!" Angel cried, hurt when she was accused of having body odour. 

Even though she did not take a shower for days, she did not smell bad at all. None of her paintings complained. She tried to sniff but her nose was too stuffy to smell anything.

Nonetheless, she believed her own words. She was not smelly at all!

"Do you want me to push you into the bathroom or you will do it yourself?" Mrs Si lifted a brow coldly.

The temperature dropped even more immediately but both were too furious to even feel it. Only the helpers turned victims.

Master, quickly come back and sooth Madam back. We are freezing in this Antarctic house. Each one of them cried silently. The butler, again, pulled them to pray more, except for the cook who was furiously whipping meals for Young Mistress Angel.

Mia, who was skipping happily into the house after spending time with her friends, paused and looked at her delicate little aunt. Then, her eyes landed on her mother and her body s.h.i.+vered uncontrollably. Without thinking, she quickly ran upstairs, hiding in the safest place; her bedroom.

Three maids were shaking when they brought dishes after dishes of food for Angel to the dining table. Maybe she was too nervous, the cook ended up cooking so many, it was enough to feed the whole family!

The maids continued praying when both women still refused to give in. When would their Master return? They were turning into snowmen already!

Finally, their prayers were answered. A familiar car was seen approaching the perimeter. 

The butler adjusted his outfit and hurriedly went to the front to welcome the Master home. He even made a large detour to avoid both Madam and Young Mistress so that he would not be blamed for "stealing" their oxygen.

Women when they were mad, they were irrational, especially these two "mountains".

The butler took the briefcase from Mr Si and followed behind meekly. His voice was not that clear when answering questions until his Master frowned.

However, the confusion soon was cleared. When he stepped into the house and saw the two women standing facing each other furiously, he understood almost immediately why the butler was so scared and why the temperature in the house too low.

He guessed these two were having disagreement again. His wife and his little sister were both kind-heartened and meant well, but they were too excited to even give in to each other. They thought they were in the right, resulting in so many confrontations like this.

"h.e.l.lo, my love," he bent to kiss his wife"s cheeks and then lips before he leaned toward Angel to pat her shoulder, "Angel."

"Dearest husband, look at your little sister and tell me she is not smelling funny?" Mrs Si pointed at her sister-in-law dramatically.

Mr Si twitched his nose and coughed. He put a wide smile and kissed his wife"s cheek gently. "Just do what you need to. I trust your judgement. Angel," he turned to look at his sulking sister, "Obey your sister. I order you."

"Elder brother!" Angel cried sadly seeing how biased her big brother was. How could he simply go to that side without thinking about her feeling? Was she his biological sister?

Since he got married, she was always being bullied by this bossy woman. Her way of spending her time was not suitable and wasting time. That she needed to help her big brother in the company, not spending time painting her heart out. Even when she got her first commission, her sister-in-law told her the career she chose would not bring her bright future. All the nags were about how pitiful her elder brother was, struggling to bring the company to a higher level. 

It was a torture living here with them. She could not accept too many commissions or she would receive more nagging. A torture!

That was why she kept so much of her earnings, taking quite a long year, to buy a dream house. Once she received the key, she gathered a lot of courage to announce she would move out and live independently. 

But now, after months of living away, apart for the time she was "imprisoned" after the engagement was cancelled, she was "kidnapped" from her home and brought into this "prison" again. She was not happy with this arrangement!

"I do not want to take any shower. Not ever," she declared loudly, then frowned. What did she just say?

The couple stared at her, c.o.c.king an eyebrow.

Angel"s brows knitted together. She tried to remember what she just spoke. Did she misspeak?

"Mia, Harry," Mrs Si roared, calling her children loudly.

It did not take long for the siblings to go down and stand up straight like good soldiers.

"Bring your aunty upstairs. Mia, take a few maids to help you bathing your aunt. I want, when you are done, she is wearing a pink pyjama and her hair in braids. In short, I want her presentable to my standard before we take our dinner."

Mia and Harry looked at Angel. They gave her a sorry look before Harry took charge to carry Angel upstairs. Mia chose a few maids to help her freshening up their aunt.

Angel screamed and struggled the whole way but none allowed her to disturb their task; making her presentable according to Mrs Si"s standard.