"You go girl!" Eve happily cheered Rebecca as she got into the cab and headed towards the nearby cafe in their neighborhood. She decided to meet Mr. Jang first before meeting Winston and, lastly, meet her doctor.
Before entering the cafe, she nervously squeezes her hand. She knows she won't be meeting her ex-father-in-law; however, she can't stop feeling anxious; it's been a while since she heard from him, and she greatly respects Mr. Jang, the only person who treated her with respect before.
Rebecca slapped her cheek to compose herself. "You can do it!" She mumbled and then took a deep breath before heading towards the cafe.
She easily spotted Mr. Jang, an old man who, in his late fifties, was white-haired and always in a black suit with a silver lion lapel pin in the left side.
As soon as Mr. Jang noticed her, he stood up from his seat and bowed to her as a sign of respect to every Aldines.
Rebecca was once proud part of the Aldine family; well, who wouldn't be? The Aldine is a symbol of wealth and success not just in the land of England but almost everywhere in the whole wide world, and this is one of the treatments she always received before as part of the Aldine family.
"Mr. Jang, you don't have to do that anymore. I am not part of the Aldine," she said with a hint of bitterness in her tone.
"How are you, my lady?" he asked, ignoring Rebecca's comment. "I'm doing fine; how about you? I hope you are not overworking." She answered with a faint smile.
"I'm currently training someone now, and I might retire in a year or two." He smiled.
"You love your job this much, huh?" she says, then takes a sip from her cold coffee.
"Haha, yeah, his lord actually permitted me to retire any time now, but I insisted on assisting him for another year until the trainee fully understood the role," he says, before taking a few sips from his coffee.
After a few seconds, he broke the silence and handed a brown envelope to Rebecca.
"My lady, his lord would actually want you to stop harassing Ms. Hena," he says. "I am not sure what you are talking about, Mr. Jang," she says, avoiding his eyes.
"He knows about the accident that happened at another cafe, and he's currently handling the reporter and his company, who wrote the accident in the newspaper."
Rebecca felt a lump in her throat; she just read the news a few hours ago, but is his ex-father-in-law already handling it? It didn't even last for one day? What a powerful family indeed!
She can't help but feel so small, like whatever she will do will just be in vain. She's nothing but a divorcee with three kids, unemployed, and disowned by her own family. Literally nothing but a billion dollars on her bank—the money she exchanged for her pride and dignity. Thanks to her ex-husband, she will still survive somehow.
'What a loser. Fvcking loser.'
As she quietly sat there listening to Mr.Jang, her emotions were getting out of control, and to stop her tears from falling down, she forcefully bit her lowered lips while tightly clutching her dress underneath the table.
"M-my lady, are you okay?" Mr. Jang got startled to Rebecca's action. "Yeah, I am fine," she answered in a shaking voice.
"You're lips are bleeding." "Oh, it's okay, Mr. Jang, please continue to what we are discussing." She cut him off and grabbed some napkins on the table, wiping the blood stains from her lips.
"As I mentioned, my lady, his lord would like you to stop communicating with anyone from the family, not even your children. If you agree with this, he will not sue you and will pay you generously for this sacrifice."
'What the f*ck?'
Her ears started ringing as soon as Mr. Jang finished relaying the message from her ex-father-in-law.
It left her speechless and pissed. Inside her mind is a nonstop cuss, and war is going on.
"Sacrifice? And he wants me to give up my children? Haha." Her eyes are turning red while her vision is getting blurry. She can't believe what she just heard—did Alfredo Aldine really say that?
'What the fvck, old man! I thought you were at least better than any of your family?! But joke on me, you are much worse than them!'
She is aware that the Aldines possess the wealth and power necessary to achieve their goals. Thanks to the head of the family, Alfredo Aldine, who is the 4th generation mayor of the city and has the most of the business at the city. Going against him is like going against the law itself.
His wife, Amelia Aldine, who controls the other powerful families using her club—Billionaire's wife Club—it's an elite club that only the wealthiest and most powerful family can join.
Of course, we can't forget the outstanding sons of Aldines, Rafael and Winston, and the reasons why the operation of their business was going smoothly for years. They are the pride and future of Aldines Corporation.
Lastly, the daughters of Aldines that will unite the family with other powerful families through political marriage, Kastadia and Calisia, who are both at the peak of their own careers as an actress and ballerina.
Compared to them, Rebecca is nothing but a stain in their shoes that they can wipe out anytime they would like.
'A peasant, a maggot, and a dirt! I was never part of your family, only a decoration or in the papers.'
'For how long will I need to feel these suffocating emotions? For how long should I endure all your demands?'
'I just loved your son. Why must I need to be punished like this?
Without second thought at all, she tore the brown envelope before she could even look at the context of it, and it left Mr. Jang speechless and confused.
"I greatly respect you, Mr. Jang, and I know that you'll always be devoted to the Aldine, but don't you think these conditions are ridiculous? Haha, I am a mother, and I'll never exchange my kids for anything, even if I'll need to be put behind bars," she firmly said while clenching her fist. She did not wait for any response and stood up, then walked away.
"Mrs. Aldine, are you okay?" Dr. Perez worriedly looked at her. "I'm fine, Doctor; sorry, I just have lots of things in mind lately." She faintly smiled.
After her meeting with Mr. Jang, she immediately visited the hospital to get the result and planning to ask for some painkillers since she's been in pain lately; however, her mind just couldn't stop thinking about her kids and the threats of Alfredo.
"Why didn't you visit the hospital the first time you felt this unbearable pain in your stomach?" Dr. Perez asked out of nowhere.
Rebecca frowned. "I just don't have the time before, hmm, is it serious, doc?" she anxiously asked. "Where is your husband? or any family that will support you?" he asked again, brushing Rebecca's question away.
"We just got divorced, and I don't have any family to help me," she replied. "I didn't mean to—" "It's okay, doc, you can just tell me." Rebecca gave him a reassuring smile.
Dr. Perez seems hesitant; he took a deep breath before looking Rebecca directly into her eyes.
"You have stage three stomach cancer." He says.