"Claire, stop it! Enough is enough. This is complete nonsense. Do I need your permission to decide who can go out with me now?" Shannon interrupted severely, her tone shifting in an instant. She couldn't stand such an unruly daughter sometimes. Claire's reckless and childish words were becoming vexing and irritated her. She must have spoiled her daughter too much, so Claire just kept disobeying her fearlessly, even defiantly. She wasn't listening to anything her mother said. How could a daughter not be afraid of her mother at all? On the other hand, if it was only Claire going with them, Shannon could still accept that. But she knew that if she gave the green signal to Claire, Louisa would come with them too. That would be most unacceptable to her. Shannon didn't want that in the least. What she had hoped for today was a warm, harmonious outing with her loving family. She wanted to go out to shop and spend time with them. She would get along with everyone, but Louisa was an exception due to her dirty conspiracies and motives.
"That's not what I meant. Anyway, I don't care what the reason is. I just want to go with you," Claire insisted, firm in her decision. She had always been like this, asking for whatever she wanted, especially with her mother - who had always been nice to her and would compromise in the end. That didn't seem to be the case today. Since Claire was so used to getting everything she requested from Shannon, she was not planning on giving up this time either. Even though she could sense the displeasure in Shannon's tone, she wouldn't be stopped by it. She pretended as if she didn't notice Shannon's anger and insisted on her wish again - the only outcome she would accept was that they let her go with them.
"What happened?" Kevin asked, arriving at the scene. He sensed the impasse between his mother and his sister. He had gone outside to get the car out. After waiting for them for quite a while, he came back to see what had happened, as they still hadn't come out. It seemed like his mother was not allowing Claire to go with them, and Claire wouldn't accept that. How could he ever resolve such problems between these women?
Oh, Kevin! You finally came. It's so great that you are here. Now let me ask you: how come Mom agrees to bring the two of you with her, while she refuses me so brutally? Why can't she take me with all of you too? Am I not a member of this family anymore?" Claire asked dramatically. As soon as she saw Kevin come in, she turned for his help immediately. Her eyes were welling up already. After being shouted at by her dear mother so thoroughly, which had never happened before, she felt like she was being treated wrongly. Her heart felt like it was breaking.
"You want to come with us?" Kevin asked, wondering the real purpose behind Claire's uncommon behavior. He looked past Claire and saw Louisa standing right behind his sister. Glaring at Louisa, Kevin recognized the little trick she played on Claire. No wonder she had seemed to be nonchalant when they had talked about going out a little bit earlier. It was not like she didn't care. She had already thought of this little plan, of how to use it to make his naive and innocent sister help her out. Of course she could pretend to be indifferent about all of this. What a manipulative girl! She had so many tricks up her sleeve. He had underestimated her before. But using his baby sister to achieve what she wanted? That was intolerable and unforgivable. As he saw through Louisa's schemes against his family members, Kevin disliked her even more. He was vexed and swore he wouldn't take it anymore. If she weren't the daughter of the Commander, he would kick her out of his house right now, and never let her in again. One thing was for sure, he wouldn't want to see this vicious woman again. Never, ever again.
"Of course I want to come with you! Otherwise, who knows if Mom would be willing to buy lots of good stuff for someone else, but not for me?" Claire answered. As the words came out, she deliberately took a peek at Leena. Without further explanations, everyone could easily interpret who this 'someone' was referring to as they followed her eyes.
On the other hand, Leena felt bewildered and confused. Why was she suddenly being dragged into this battle? She tried so hard to avoid doing anything that would provoke her sister-in-law. But since Claire mentioned her and pointed her out so intentionally in front of everyone, she knew Claire was still hostile to her.
"Kevin, let's go now. Just ignore Claire's nonsensical behavior. She's being unreasonable today. We would get late if we wait here for too long," Shannon said. She didn't want to keep arguing with Claire, because she knew it was useless and a waste of their time. She had made up her mind to teach Claire a lesson, and not to take her with them today. Shannon would not compromise so easily from now on; she was not going to encourage her wayward behavior any longer.
Meanwhile, Louisa felt embarrassed. She had never thought that Shannon would be so negligent to her existence that she wouldn't even give her a chance to go with them. Shannon knew she would go with Claire. Since she had completely shut out Claire's request, it meant that she indirectly refused her from going too.
"Come on, brother. My dear brother! Please say something in my defense to Mom. Ask her to let me come, pleaseee..." Claire begged, dragging out the word. She deliberately made herself sound like a desperate little girl, who was asking for her brother's help. At the same time, she grabbed his arm and swung it back and forth. She tried to make him recall the early memories of when they were toddlers, when she had been his delicate but lovable baby sister whom he strove to protect. As she looked directly into Kevin's deep eyes, the tears in Claire's own eyes fell. She would cry if he didn't speak for her, in vivid contrast to her previous, arrogant attitude. When Kevin saw the deplorable expression on Claire's face, he was unable to maintain his dangerous, strict countenance any longer. A brother could never be this cruel and relentless to his sister. He decided he would help Claire out just one more time. Just as he was about to say something to their mother on behalf of Claire, his kind wife said it for him.