Daughter-in-law Strikes Harder

“What happened with stealing the invitation card and all. Is this how the whole thing finally goes? Ellen, who made sure to stop by her mother’s room after watching Dalton leave in the limousine, jeered at her mother’s failure to do what she had promised heavens and earth to do.

“Who would have known that the sneaky old man was bringing an invitation card, for a party that was to be held in two days time?” Eleanor clenched her teeth in anger, as she picked a sachet of supplement from the numerous ones in the packaged box and sipped one.Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

“When someone is all talk, Dalton wouldn’t just fail to disappoint them,” Ellen said with a really mean look in her eyes, that had her mother wondering if that was still her daughter who was always supporting most of her plans fully. Especially the ones that came to separating Dalton and Aria.

“Are you even supporting your friend in this whole thing anymore? Do you even want her to still be officially part of this family? This isn’t like you,” Eleanor chided with a clear look of distaste written on her face.

She didn’t like how Ellen was becoming so nonchalant about many things that involved her, and now preferred to either be on a live session or on an endorsement tour.

“This is not about not caring about Hailey now, mother. Now that it seems like grandfather really cares about this lady, that is not also the same as before, and that Dalton seems to keep wanting something from her, we should not mess anything up. Do you know how much we have done against her?” Ellen stated, and tried to make her stubborn mother understand that nothing really mattered anymore, because Aria was now under Dalton’s umbrella.

Recollecting how badly her mother had treated Aria and how she had even been the catalyst, made her mood change to the one of guilt, immediately she said her last words. She could not say that she was being influenced by her mother’s actions or anything, because her foolish self was old enough to make decisions of the right thing.

‘It is too late to make anything right.’

“You sound really supportive of Aria these days, and it is making me the villain here. Do you realize how deep you are in this, Ellen? It is too late for the pity or withdrawal games by trying to atone for your sins. Over thirty months is not a joke, Ellen, so snap out of it,” Eleanor cleared the air with her daughter sternly, with her eyes burning of splattering flames.

~••••ㅅ••••~

“Isn’t it like fate that we have been meeting too often at gatherings like this?” Collin joked, as he collected his own glass of vodka martini and drank it immediately.

“Oh well yes, I will affirm that,” Aria replied, and smiled because she finally had someone to talk to, after her husband left her alone to talk to his business acquaintances or whatever they were.

“That is a coat you have there. Looks good on you,” Collin commented with a wink, which made Aria roll her eyes to show how unimpressed she was.

“Just Dalton and his stupid PDA acts. I would rather stay in the cold,” she frowned, and it made Collin kind of jealous to hear her talk about her narcissist husband. He changed the subject immediately.

“How well do you see this place? Do you like what you see?” Collin tried to continue the conversation, glad for himself that he had time to talk to the lady he really liked, before meeting the intended person his father had planned for him.

“Group of serious minded young industrialists, company owners, young people of high educational level and tech skills. It is not really for someone like me. I don’t fit in here,” Aria smiled dryly, and collected her fifth glass cup of the same drink, unknown to Collin.

“I think you are way better than they all are. It is really not easy to keep up with that kind of position and pressure, especially as a young person who might still be so interested in having fun before the end of their thirties and twenties,” Collin stated.

“Hmmm. Life is both hard for the poor and rich in achieving the unending thirst and desires, that they would always have as humans. I wonder what pressure would finally break their camel’s back,” Aria said with indifference, as she turned to the bartender and asked for a bottle of water to feel better from her stomach that was beginning to feel upset.

“I hate to admit, but Dalton Miller is really an impressive man. The pressure never shows no matter how hard you try to see him in it,” Collin commended, and Aria nodded her head in agreement the moment she slurped on the entire bottle of chilled water.

“So what are you doing here? Sure you didn’t come here to meet and talk to a married woman all day, because as you can see, everyone seems to have a company or talk mate here. Where is your date?” Aria asked as she turned around to see if there would be any lady that was glaring at her, and the next hand that grabbed her closer to his body was so familiar.

“I have been looking everywhere for you, darling,” Dalton said grumpily while trying to keep his anger down, as his eyes glared at the man who had been laughing with his wife the entire time.

“You do not abandon me to talk to a bunch of random people, and then come back here to claim some kind of dumb right, Dalton,” Aria said under her breath to prevent her voice from being too loud, so that it would not draw the attention of others who were in their own business.

Collin was trying hard to hold himself too from making a scene, as he watched Dalton’s hand grab firmly around Aria’s arm like some kind of possessiveness. In his own opinion, Dalton was stupid and empty-headed except for his outstanding business and company innovation. He really hated his bossy attitude.

“Let’s go enjoy our time together, darling,” Dalton nudged Aria and repeated the same ‘darling’ word that almost almost made her puke, as she gave Collin the reassuring look and smile before leaving with Dalton.

“I think you are finally out of your mind!” Aria almost spat into Dalton’s ears when she acted all endearingly, so that one one would understand the anger that was circulating between both of them.

She finally broke free from his grip and pretended to give him a peck by the cheeks, as she made her way into the bathroom to relieve herself of a filled bladder. It was just hard for both of them to remain in even just a friendly atmosphere for too long, because he would end up ruining it with his ways of handling things.

Dalton turned to the other side of the hall angrily, when he watched her leave just when he wanted to be with her. A waiter approached him with a tray of wine, and he grabbed it immediately at the right moment to feel better.

After Aria was done calming both her nerves, tipsy eyes and stomach down, she came out of the bathroom with a really bright look. She walked slowly on her heels to avoid tripping from what she had drank earlier, which her body seemed not to be welcoming well as it usually did.

And there he was, staring at the bathroom corner and waiting for her to come out. He took her arm and led her back to the hall, and they stood beside one another talking indistinct words. The mood at the party switched immediately and everyone in pairs began to dance in accordance, to the slow and rhythmic music.

Though not really great dancers or maybe had never really practiced, both Aria and Dalton tried to go along with the flow. The music was really nice. The atmosphere was a great one. And everything suddenly changed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Her head banged insanely the moment her eyes tried to part open, with every part of her body aching so badly in ways she couldn’t explain. She wondered how much she had drank to be so hammered to her bed, until her memory jolted her up that she was in an unfamiliar setting.

Her eyes flickered alongside her lashes as she tried to balance the clearness of her vision, to understand what was happening and where exactly she was. That was the moment she realized that her body was feeling weird under the white sheets.

Raising it immediately to see what was going on, Aria almost shrieked in mad horror when she saw that she was naked under the white clothing. The whiff of cologne that found her nose at that point again, was too familiar to relax.

‘What the fuck happened? What happened?’ her brain screamed into her mind, which yelled to her heart of what could have gone wrong.

That was when her eyes darted to the right when she noticed that one was sleeping beside her, and it was her worse, worse nightmare that was sleeping beautifully under the sheets too.

‘What?!’