"Auntie! I missed you!" Calista coquettishly said as she made quick steps towards the other without restraints.
When Susan saw Calista being herself and doing what she couldn't even do, even in private, she simply surrendered.
There was a reason why her mother loved Calista a lot. Calista was never shy with her affection towards the people she liked the most.
Just like how she was open to showing her hatred, it was the same with her affection as well.
"I missed you too. I thought that you no longer had me in your heart!" Susan's mother, Anna complained as she held Calista's hands.
Susan followed the two like a bystander as she watched the interaction between the two with amusement in her eyes.
She used to be envious whenever she saw her mother and Calista being so intimate like mother and daughter before. However, as time passes, she begins to understand something she never did before.
Her relationship with her mother seemed to be improving, and it was after a while she realized that Calista would say good things about her to her mother. And it was thanks to that she was able to marry her husband into the family.
She didn't want to leave her family and marry into another family. The thought of being abused by her mother-in-law made her fear marriage.
After seeing a lot of girls marrying into families and yet struggling to maintain a smile on their faces, Susan didn't want to suffer like that.
Maybe she was influenced by Calista's deeds. After all, who had never heard about her in the whole district?
She was so brave to chase her love and married a man twice her age. However, apart from having some fights with the co-wife and her kids when her husband wasn't there, her life was much better compared to many.
Maybe it was because she was richer than others, which was why she didn't suffer much in the past.
Nevertheless, befriending Calista despite her being in another generation, seeing how she used to call Calista's late husband uncle, was the best thing that ever happened to her.
Calista, Anna and Susan all entered the central room where Susan's father, Mark, the village chief, was sitting and having some tea.
"Uncle!" Calista greeted the village chief as soon as she saw him.
When Mark saw Calista, he couldn't help but look at her with familial love. In his eyes, she was just like another daughter of his. And one who he loved spoiling despite not having much in his name.
"Calista, you are here!" he warmly welcomed without standing up.
Calista grinned playfully at the village chief as she sat on another stool.
Susan and Anna both sat on the mat and Calista, as always, completely pretended as if she didn't see a single thing.
"How have you been, uncle?" Calista began to exchange pleasantries.
The two always clicked and would talk for hours as long as no one disturbed them. It was only when Rita, Susan's younger sister-in-law, the little girl who was married into the family two years ago when she was fifteen and now seventeen, brought some food that the two stopped their happy talk.
Calista didn't refuse the food. After all, the Dickens style of living was much better than compared of other villagers out there.
Calista sized up the little girl who already had a fat boy at her age with hidden envy in her eyes.
She was twenty-seven and yet she had no child to call her own. No wonder what unfilial stepdaughter of hers was so daring to call her names.
One day she was going to teach all of them a lesson!
The meal was eaten in silence, something that truly bothered Calista a lot, especially when she was around people. When she was alone, it wasn't a bother, but why should they torment each other with so many people around?
After the meal, Mark finally asked the reason why Calista had visited them. And upon hearing that question, all eyes were on her.
Seeing that, she couldn't help but smile mischievously as she thought of how well and badly the old man was going to take her news.
"Hehe, it's just a little thing, uncle. I hope that you will help me finalize it!" she said mysteriously while looking at him with a half-playful and half-serious gaze.
When Mark heard that, he couldn't help but shudder as he recalled the last time Calista played the same trick on him.
"You ….. what are you trying to do again this time?" he stuttered as he looked warily at her.
Susan, upon seeing the wariness and fear in her father's eyes, couldn't help but stifle her chuckle.
Seeing that, it also brought back some memories. Calista had always used the same trick to trick her father so many times.
The last time Calista did it was when she made her father build a shed two years ago, which was now used as a school where Calista would teach the kids twice every week.
The cost of the shed was all borne by her father and at that time, Calista shamelessly stated that as a village chief, he should make a sacrifice for the honor of the future generations.
Although the motive was beneficial, the fact that he had to fork out money to build the shed made the old man's heart bleed. Fortunately for him, when the villagers heard about Calista's suggestion, they all ended up contributing.
However, that left a mark on him. And now that he was hearing Calista bringing the same statement again, Susan didn't doubt that her father was probably scolding all generations of Calista by now.
Anna, on the other hand, looked away with a smile on her face, wondering how her husband would be at it later that night complaining about how unruly Calista was and yet when facing her, he wouldn't do a single thing.
When Calista saw Ba Susan's expression, she knew instantly that the man was still traumatized otherwise. Why would he show such an expression when she hadn't even said a thing? It's not like she bullied him that much before.
However, she couldn't let him fear for long, as she wasn't there to make things difficult for him at all this time around.
"I don't want any buildings or money contributed this time!" she clarified first as she waved her hands in dismissal, hoping to put him at ease.
And surely when he heard that, a sigh of relief escaped his mouth. Even the tension looming around him seemed to have completely vanished as well.