"Mother?"
Sarah was surprised when she just came out of the room and saw Mrs. Collins was talking to Michael.
"You're awake? You should have slept a little longer," Michael commented with a smile when he saw his wife.
Sarah just smiled shyly when she heard that, but her expression immediately changed when her gaze saw the expression on Mrs. Collins.
Michael then called Sarah to sit next to him.
"Sarah is starting a clinical clerkship, so she's been very busy," Michael explained. A proud expression was evident on his face.
"I see," answered Mrs. Collins, smiling faintly.
Suddenly, Michael's cellphone rang, and it seemed like it was an important call because Michael went straight to the bedroom to pick it up.
There was silence in the living room, making Sarah feel awkward.
Not long after, Michael came out of the room, his face looked troubled.
"Sorry mom, looks like I have to go out for a while, something happened," said Michael.
"Oh, all right. You can go," said Mrs. Collins casually.
"Eh?" said Michael confused, he did not expect his mother's response would be like that.
"What's wrong? You want to kick your mom out after I just came here? Your wife can accompany me," said Mrs. Collins who seemed to have no intention of leaving immediately.
Michael became a little flustered when he heard that.
"Besides, I want to know your wife more deeply, we can go shopping together," added Mrs. Collins smiled kindly.
"Okay then, I'll go first," Michael said, then hurriedly left his apartment, leaving Sarah and Mrs. Collins alone.
"Em.. Then I'll get ready first before we go shopping," Sarah said awkwardly then stood up.
"Sit down!" said Mrs. Collins in a cold voice.
Sarah gasped when she saw Mrs. Collins, wasn't her mother-in-law acting sweet earlier? What's with this suddenly changing atmosphere?
Sarah sat back down timidly
"Sorry, mother," Sarah said quietly.
"Mother?" Mrs. Collins sounded cold. "Who is your mother? Do you think being married to Michael will make you call me mother?" asked Mrs. Collins.
Sarah fell silent when she heard this.
"If it's just the two of us, don't call me mother. I feel disgusted to hear that. Understand?"
"Y..Yes."
"Oh right, starting from tomorrow, you should come to my house to make breakfast, do this every day" said Mrs. Collins while crossing her arms in front of her chest with a slightly raised chin.
"Every day? But I'm busy with a clinical clerkship, how…" Sarah couldn't finish her words when suddenly Mrs. Collins hit the table in front of her, making Sarah gasp.
"How dare you refute an elder's words! Is that what your parents taught you?!" shouted Mrs. Collins, the expression on her face looks very annoyed.
"Ah, right, I forgot, aren't you an orphan? I don't think your parents ever taught you because they were already dead."
Sarah could only bite her lip to hold back her tears. She had often been ridiculed as an orphan, but she didn't expect her own mother-in-law to say that to her.
***
"When her son is not around, she immediately changes as if she was a different person," thought Sarah, recalling the incident of that time. An incident that made her realize that even though she was married to Michael, his mother never accepted her.
"I guess people don't change easily, even after all these years, Mrs. Collins is the same," thought Sarah, smiling subconsciously because she stupidly thought people changed easily. Well, Michael is like that.
"You! Did you just laugh at someone older than you? Do you think I'm a joke?" asked Mrs. Collins, looking offended.
"Well… I haven't seen you for three years but you're still criticizing me, isn't this funny?" asked Sarah who stood up and looked at Mrs. Collins. Seems like she had no other choice but to deal with Mrs. Collins.
"And… So what if I choose to ignore you? Who the hell are you that I have to listen to you, grandma?" Sarah continued, lifting the corners of her lips.
"You! Did you just call me grandma?" asked Mrs. Collins, looking very surprised.
"So? What do you want me to call you? Mother? My mother has died. Mother-in-law? I'm not married. Michael's mom? Doesn't sound good. Ah! What if mother's patient?" asked Sarah who finally smiled when she got the right call.
"Hey! Are you done?!" shouted Mrs. Collins with a flushed face. She was really annoyed and felt humiliated.
How dare this bitch humiliate her like that!
Sarah subconsciously closed her eyes when she saw Mrs. Collins's raised hand. She was trying to look strong, but actually her hands couldn't stop shaking.
One second, two seconds…
Sarah finally opened her eyes when she didn't feel the slap from Mrs. Collins' hand. She wondered what had happened.
Her eyes widened when she saw Mrs. Collins stopped in midair and a hand grabbed her wrist.
"Michael?" asked Sarah who was surprised to see Michael and Mr. Collins standing behind her.
It seemed that Mrs. Collins' screams made the two men rush to find out what was going on
"Mom! What are you doing? Are you going to hit Sarah again?" Michael asked. His voice was cold.
Mrs. Collins became flustered when she saw Michael coming.
"No, it's not like that. I didn't want to hit Sarah, but…" Mrs. Collins couldn't continue her words, her brain was thinking hard.
"Sarah's hair! Sarah's hair looks great and I want to try touching it! Hehe," continued Mrs. Collins awkwardly.
Sarah couldn't help but snort when she heard the excuse, at least Mrs. Collins could come up with an excuse.
Michael finally let go of his mother's hand when he heard that even though he didn't really believe it.
"Oh yeah, why didn't you tell me you wanted to come here? Have you had breakfast? Want me to make breakfast for you?" asked Mrs. Collins who immediately hugged her son's arm.
Again, Sarah could only snort when she saw Mrs. Collins's behavior. The old woman changed again when Michael was in her sight.
"Thanks, but we've had breakfast."
Sarah no longer focused on Michael and his mother and chose to look at Mr Collins who had been silent for a while.
She wanted to give a signal that he wanted to talk to Mr Collins alone.
However, Sarah's facial expression immediately changed when she saw Mr Collins' behavior. The man stood up while closing his eyes, his facial expression looked like he was in pain, before finally staggering a little.
"Father!" Sarah called then quickly ran over to Mr Collins and caught him, she didn't even care if she had pushed Mrs Collins a little in her way.