"Little girl, you should know the temper of your sister-in-law. It'll be better if I don't get myself involved. She might yell at me if I do." Duke shrugged and laughed at himself as a picture of Belinda's scowling face came to his mind.
"What a discovery! So you're a henpecked husband too?" pouted Leena. It seemed that she had to face the blame from Belinda and felt that she deserved it. After all, it was her who had set them up in the first place.
"Who told you so? I just don't want to argue with her, okay? Stop. Don't talk nonsense. Remember to give her a call. That's all. Come home once you're back. Bye." Duke was afraid to ask her about how she was treated by Kevin's family. He felt anxious about it and it worried him that he might not get a positive answer. On top of that, he didn't want to give his sister any pressures about it too. He just said a few words to her then hung the phone up. He heard that Kevin was born in a military family. He wondered if Leena could even get used to the serious ambiance that type of family usually had.
Leena frowned as she stared at the call-end notification on her phone. 'So annoying. I even didn't finish my words! I can't believe he hung up on me! Is it necessary? It seems like he is afraid that I might ask him to displease his wife!' she thought.
"Didn't you call your brother last night?" Kevin asked as he shot her with a confused look. He was under the impression that she already called her family the moment she arrived. He never expected for her to forget the whole thing.
"Um! I forgot. I'll call my sister-in-law first." Belinda didn't cool down until Leena gave her a lot of explanations and talked like a cute baby.
"Girl, I'll punish you for this when you come back." She said with clenched teeth. She was worried about her for the whole night and she couldn't even figure out why she couldn't stop worrying. It wasn't just because she was her sister-in-law but she also loved her wholeheartedly. She cared for her to the bone even if Leena pissed her off sometimes. She attributed this to her love for Duke. It was a case of "Love me, love my dog".
"Well, then I'll never go back again." Leena shook her head. How could this happen? They were both someone's sisters-in-law. Why were their fates different? Belinda could get up on a high horse but she could only stoop to butter Claire up.
"You can give that a try. Do remember that I have a lot of ways to catch and drag you back though." Threatened Belinda with a cold smile on her face.
"Do you have to be so cruel? Okay! I'll go back to present my respect to you, old lady. Would that be all right?" Leena said. She might not have any idea of how Belinda would punish her but she could imagine how horrible the scene would be.
"Bad girl, do you want me to beat you? Who's old? Speaking of this, are you having a good time with his family?" Belinda wanted to ask whether she was mistreated by his family but felt that it would make her sound too narrow-minded. After all, Kevin was born in a military family. How could they put a cute girl like Leena in a difficult situation?
"Um! I'm very happy. So don't worry about me! All of them are nice to me." Leena replied. She wasn't good at lying. If only she was standing before Belinda, her secrets wouldn't be secrets anymore.
"Very well. I gotta go. I have a meeting waiting for me." It was only after hearing what Leena said that Belinda felt at ease. She wasn't just a sister-in-law to Leena, she was like a second mother too. Thus, she took special care of the lady.
"Okay. Bye!" Leena cutely stuck her tongue out as she wondered if her lie passed.
"How was it going? Belinda isn't mad at you, is she?" It was Kevin's concerned voice that broke through her thoughts. He might be sitting beside Leena the whole time as he tried to listen to what the two were talking about but everything Belinda said was just garbled. He could only sense her judgment, boldness, and strong personality with her tone. After all, he had just met her several times and didn't get to know about her.
"I don't know, either. That's her. She's always ambiguous," said Leena with a sad face. 'I just forgot to call her! Did she need to frighten me like that?' She thought. She should have known that Belinda had a fragile heart.
"Don't worry! It'll be fine. I'm sure that she barks worse than she bites." Kevin touched her hair in a comforting way.
"I know it! It's just... ugh! The more she talked to me like that, the more I missed home." The lady was easily upset thus she totally forgot what kind of situation she was in.
Wow! You made it sound like you are mistreated by my family." Claire butted in while pouting. It seemed that Leena was getting a lot of love from her family. Well, that was just her observation anyway and was still yet to be confirmed.
Ugh! I didn't mean it that way. I Just got emotional. Don't get me wrong." Leena explained at once. Her relationship with Claire was just getting better, thus, she didn't want to continue the tension between them.
"I don't think too much because our family doesn't mistreat you." Claire said out of nowhere. All she knew was that she didn't like the way Leena talked and how she made it sound like she was suffering since she got in their home.