Chapter Ten
A Month Later
Sounds of cutlery filled the room as Lionel and I savored our breakfast. The dining table had never been this silent; we were both in a hurry to get to our respective companies. After I finished my breakfast, we strutted towards the door, but as we were about to leave, we bumped into Mrs. Ramos. The moment I saw her, my heart raced. I knew she had come to disrupt the peace we were enjoying, even though I didn't know exactly how. If it was a month ago, I would have easily guessed that she was here for the baby issue again, but now that Lucia has our baby inside her and Mrs. Ramos is aware of that, I couldn't guess how she planned to disrupt our peace.
"Buenas días, Ma," Lionel greeted.
"Buenas días, Mrs. Ramos," I greeted with a smile.
"Good morning," she said, curving her lips into a smile that lasted only a second.
"When did you come back from your trip?" Lionel inquired curiously.
"Today. I haven't even reached my apartment," Mrs. Ramos said.
"Why?" I asked curiously with a smile.
"I missed you guys," she said with a smile. As she made that statement, I sensed something ominous. I just hoped it wasn't what I was thinking.
"I have been gone for almost a month. When I heard the news about the surrogacy, I was..." she said, pausing as Lionel gave her a threatening look. "I was so glad that you guys had finally found a solution to the seriously damaged womb."
I looked at her, angered by her last line, but I kept it cool because I knew she was about to say something worse.
"Mom, can you skip to the reason why you are here? We are late, and I have to go to the office, same as Larissa," Lionel said.
"Larissa? What's she doing? Is she now working for your company? Let me guess, she's your cleaner?"
I was angered in my spirit. I knew she was here to piss me off, but I was still yet to hear the most annoying thing that would ruin my day forever.
"What the heck, Mom! What's the meaning of all this?" Lionel questioned angrily. "She's the CEO of JK and she has a meeting with the board members."
"Oh, if I guess what's really going to happen in the meeting, they are about to depose you," she said.
I closed my eyes as she uttered the statement but still controlled my anger because I knew this was not the reason why she was here.
"Mom, can you just go straight to the reason why you're here," Lionel said, his voice laced with anger.
"Really, you want to get angry at me because of this__,"
"Mrs. Ramos__,"
"Mom," Lionel interrupted before I could say what was in my mouth.
"I'm here because there is a renovation going on in my apartment, and I didn't want to lodge in a hotel, so I decided to come stay with you."
"Wait, wait, wait, you want to come and live here? Do you know the ruckus you cause whenever you just come to visit? And also, your house was renovated about three months ago; there's no way it needs renovation right now," Lionel said.
"I know you won't believe me, but the pipes in the kitchen and toilet are broken, and some parts of the ceiling are broken too."
"What? How did it happen?" Lionel inquired curiously. I scoffed, not surprised a bit because I knew she was about to give a very unreasonable explanation of how it happened. I was very certain that she did all the damages intentionally to come stay with us, and the purpose of her coming is to give me a hard time.
"I was__,"
"Leo, let her stay until they finish the renovation," I said, interrupting her. I was very certain that after her speech, even though the story would sound idiotic, she would still stay. So, I interrupted to save us time.
"Are you sure about this? There are other houses she can stay in, she can stay in__"
"Yes. Let her stay here," I said with an ingenuous smile on my face. I could see the perplexity in Leo's face about my response.
"Okay, Mom, what about your clothes and everything you will need?" Lionel inquired.
She smiled and clapped her hands, and her personal maid, Alicia, walked in with Mrs. Ramos's luggage in her hands.
"Of course she's at the door," I whispered to myself as I saw Alicia walk in. I knew she had planned the whole thing and no matter how the discussions went, she would finally stay.
"Wow," Lionel said with an iota of stupefaction on his face as he saw Alicia walk in. "Anyway, Mom, enjoy yourself. We have to go now."
"Okay, see you guys later," she said with a smile and ascended the stairs with Alicia behind her, carrying her belongings.
I exhaled sharply, and we both walked out of the door heading to the car parking lot.
"I am really surprised when you said I should allow her to stay," Lionel said.
"Ugh. You think I really wanted your mother to stay? What I did was to cut the discussion short. She had it all planned already and__"
"That's why Alicia was at the door," we both echoed.
"I realized that when I saw Alicia walk in with her luggage," Lionel said. I smiled and slid inside my blue Mercedes as Lionel opened the door for me and watched me drive out of the building before he entered his black Maserati.
As I headed to my office, all I could think of was how long she would have to live with us, but that question could only be answered by the witch herself. Seems I am really about to know what the definition of ruckus really is because living with this devil's elder sister would be hell on earth.