Chapter 286 The vile mother
Chapter 286 The vile mother
"Hello my darling, how are you"
"We need to talk" something in his voice must have alerted his mother to the severity of the situation.
The silence between them stretched for the longest time but he patiently waited until she folded "I will be there in a little while"
Wang Lu dropped the call and walked to his bedroom, it looked o different from when she had lived with him. He had changed everything in a fit of rage a few months after she was gone, now he allowed himself to feel that small pang in his chest; finally giving free rein to that small voice that wondered why he hadn't kept something of her, something to remind him of the better days, of a better love.
Wang Lu shook himself out of the hold of memories and headed straight to the bathroom. No matter how dramatic it sounded, he did have a date with fate; he had completely flopped the first time around. And he had paid for it, losing every good thing that has ever happened to him, this time he was ready too late; but he was going to do his best.
His absent butler must have let his mother in at a point because when he returned to his living room he found his mother perched on a settee complete with tea service and a perfunctory smile.
His mother stood up to give him a kiss on the cheek but he evaded her neatly as he dumped the content on his arms, rattling the entire table.
Wang Lu knew she had caught sight of the pictures when she pursed her lips. "Darling, no need to be sorry surly"
He ignored her quip and dived right into it "I just want the truth from you. Why did you do it?" He hated the note of plea threading his voice
"Why for you my dear" was her breezy reply as she returned back to her seat and cradled the saucer she had dropped when he got into the room.
For some reason, her light manner infuriated him. "Don't! Don't do that, don't act as if you were looking out for my best interest!" He growled, emphasizing each word as he pinned her with a glare.
She replied hastily, losing some of her flighty attitude "you were too caught up in her wiles to realize she was a gold digger"
But even he knew that it was just the handy excuse she has "She didn't even want the money"
Mrs. Lu pursed her lips again, before taking her time dug through her purse to unearth a filigree lighter and a pack of cigarettes. She lit one deliberately before taking a long drag and after she exhaled replied,
"pish honey, an attack of conscience or something? How am I to know what goes through her mind"
It was obvious she couldn't even see the irony in her own words.
"I've to ask you to not smoke in my house, for the hundredth time" Wang Lu roared out of anger.
"She always did make you obstinate as a bull" she replied sullenly before taking another stubborn drag
"And not very malleable for you." He countered easily
"I don't know what you mean," she returned while eyeing him warily, before she sighed, a very put upon sigh, and said, "I'm sure you'll eventually come to the realization that I did this for you, for us."
"This was all for you and the fact that you couldn't stand her." he returned
"That trailer trash, that white trash creature had you completely blinded by her open favors you couldn't see she was not at all the kind of person we wanted in the family." She answered with returning fervor before she tapped her cigarette against the saucer and took another drag, all the while eyeing him warily.
The rising scent of burning tobacco incensed him, her casual attitude annoyed him. The sudden realization that all his life she had gotten her way regardless of whoever had to pay for it drove him to such heights of anger that he had to clench his fists on his lap,
"Who is this 'we' mother?" He asked, his tone deceptively calm.
"Why, the entire family, you were becoming a laughingstock." Mrs. Lu informed him with no little glee, but he knew her too well to ever believe a word out of her mouth ever again.
"You did this for yourself" he accused
She stubbed out the cigarette furiously in the saucer before lighting another one in quick succession, her reserve quickly replaced by open disgust.
"I wonder why you couldn't see that you had to marry a respectable wife if you insisted on having that gold digger in your life, you could have made her a discreet mistress; that's all she was really good for anyway."
"That woman was my wife" he ground out.
"Good riddance" her tone flippant.
"And you abused her, right in my fucking house! And not just that, you hired someone to hit her with a car? The moment your little mini spy informed you I threw her out of the house, you arranged for her to be hit by a car. How could you?!"
He shouted back. By God he wanted to shake her, he wanted to shake her senseless until her flippant attitude was replaced with something appropriate, like fear, like remorse.
"Is this what this is about? Your wounded pride? I did it so that she wouldn't make a fool of you anymore, you should be over it by now." She returned, gesturing vaguely around them, the cigarette in her hand spraying ash and smoke
"I'm sorry." His voice heavy with sarcasm "no one handed me the memo"
"So dramatic" she sighed on another exhale.
"Have you no remorse about this? All of this? She loved you like a mother. Worshipped the ground you walked on and you just threw her under a bus, literally. And she lost her home, her marriage, and her child. Our child, a child that would have been your grandchild." The pleading note was back in his voice and he wondered again why he was trying to reason with her.