Love Like You Never Loved Before

Christopher didn’t even lift his head to look at her as he cut up a small piece of the fish and ate it before drawling out, “I’m here to help Lyle retrieve a document. Yvonne just happened to be cooking, so I stuck around for a free meal.”

His mouth curved into a mocking smirk. “Is there a rule that outsiders can’t come into the house, or…”

That took her aback, and she whipped around huffily to glare at me. “What kind of dish is this? It has too many bones, and it’s way too raw. What if Lyle chokes on a fishbone?”

What is he? A child who can’t pick bones out from his own food?

What a load of crap.

She continued to nitpick by adding, “Look at this lunchbox! It’s ugly, and you used way too much oil! How is Lyle supposed to eat this? Are you trying to make him starve?”

Anger flared up within me. How could there be such a vile and wicked woman? Wait… Lunchbox?

I glanced at Christopher, who winked at me. No wonder the lunchbox was so ugly. Lyle was lucky that Christopher hadn’t hidden some fishbones inside it on purpose.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Wendy screeched.

Yes, yes. Sorry for getting distracted and not acknowledging your godly presence.

“I’ll make a new one.” Picking up the lunchbox from the table, I tried to use it as an excuse to make my escape.

“Where are you going? I’m not done with you yet!” she interrupted. “Oh, you’re upset because I gave you some constructive criticism, aren’t you? Starting to grow sick of me already?”

I exhaled deeply through my nostrils. “I wouldn’t dare think of such a thing.”

She scoffed. “Is there anything on earth that you wouldn’t dare do? You would have hit me if it weren’t for my position as your mother-in-law, wouldn’t you?”

Well, she’s not wrong.

She was about to go on when Christopher suddenly slammed his hand down on the table, startling both of us.

When we turned to look at him with wide eyes, he gave us a sunny smile. “This fish tastes amazing, Yvonne! It’s much better than anything my housekeeper makes. Lyle is a lucky guy to have married such a sweet and diligent wife. Oh, I do wonder where I’ll be able to find a woman like you.”

Wendy froze in place, her expression immediately souring. Without another word, she turned around and went upstairs to continue her inspection.

I snuck a glance at him as I followed her up the stairs. Meanwhile, he raised an eyebrow at me, mouthing the words, “Pay me back with your body later.”

My cheeks flushed. He’s way too good at that.

Of course, she wasn’t satisfied with the rest of the rooms either but didn’t say a word in Christopher’s presence. She merely sat down on the couch, seemingly waiting for him to leave before she could finally blow up at me.

Christopher tried to hang around for as long as he could, but apparently, something urgent that he needed to attend to came up. He even whispered to me, “Want me to find a reason for us to leave together?”

I contemplated the idea for a moment before shaking my head. After all, I would only be delaying the inevitable if I left now.

There was nothing else he could do, so he just reminded me to call him if I needed anything and left.

As I had expected, her face fell as soon as Christopher walked out the door. “You’ve grown quite the nerve now that there’s someone standing up for you.”

I forced a polite smile. All thanks to you.

“What? Are you really not going to say anything?” Her glare grew sharp, and she started to throw a tantrum. “Who are you going to play the victim for now that he’s gone? Do you think I don’t understand what goes through your mind? You wanted to act all innocent and timid in front of other people so that they would think your mother-in-law was being cruel to you, didn’t you?”

She’s quite an imaginative one, isn’t she?

I knew that she would refuse to listen to my explanation. Thus, I didn’t answer.

Frustrated, she pressed on, “What are you standing around for? Go and serve me dinner! Are you not going to serve me even a glass of water while I’m here?”

You didn’t even give me the chance to do so, but okay.