Chapter 27 Chapter 27
Audrey wanted so badly to retort to her but remembered the warning her brother had given them. So she chose not to mind her and walked past her. She went and took a seat on the couch, trying hard to ignore the annoying Marlie.
Marlie, on the other hand, sat beside her as she was determined to annoy the girl or get her flare up. If Audrey dares to hurt her in any way she would get in trouble with Chad. And that is exactly what Marlie wants.
Audrey was completely absorbed in her phone, paying no attention to Marlie who was sitting next to her. She could guess Marlie's intentions and she didn't want to fall into her trap.
Marlie, being crazy had a plan and was determined not to let it fail. She has to let Audrey fall into her trap by all means.
"Sister-in-law, why are you ignoring me?" Marlie asked, using a sweet tone of voice and feigning innocence, hoping to get a reaction from Audrey.
But Audrey didn't want to look at her face again. Still engrossed in her phone, a call came through.
"Why are you keeping late?"
Marlie couldn't hear the other person on the call or figure out who it was, but she could hear Audrey's side of the conversation.
"We will enjoy ourselves today," Audrey said with an evil grin.
Marlie chuckled and moved a little further away from Audrey since her presence was being ignored. She was waiting to spoil the fun day of Audrey, but it seemed Audrey was so guarded against her.
A few minutes later, Angelina entered the room with her sweet smile.
"Hi, girlfriend!"
Without acknowledging Marlie, she greeted Audrey cheerfully. It was as if Marlie were just a ghost beside Audrey.
Marlie knew Angelina was deliberately trying to get under her skin and couldn't help but mutter to herself, "The mistress is here."
Marlie picked up a fashion magazine and pretended to read, still sitting near the two friends, while pretending to ignore them.
"Girl, someone's face looks like she's been crying all night. I wonder if she was beaten up," Angelina teased, referring to Marlie's puffy face.
Marlie responded with a sarcastic scoff, paying them no mind. Sometimes, ignoring some people is the best way to insult them.
"Yeah, her face looks like a balloon," Audrey joined in the teasing. She had ignored Marlie for a while and couldn't hold back when Angelina brought up the topic. She couldn't help but smirk at Marlie's puffy eyes. If getting under Marlie's skin would make her feel better about herself, Angelina wouldn't waste such chances. After, she is the princess of attention-seeking.
"Maybe she got rejected," Angelina joked.
"Actually, he left this disgusting woman alone in the room, I'm sure of that. I told you my brother has high taste in women. There's no way he will fall for such lowly women who don't even know their limits." Audrey said and both of them giggled at Marlie's expense.
Marlie continued to ignore them. Their petty comments didn't affect her since they were not the reason for her tears.
Besides, she's buying her time pretty well before attacking them. If she's going to respond to their petty insults, she, of course, wants to gain some benefit from the outcome.
It's just like playing a chessboard and buying her time to checkmate them at the end of the game with an honorable win.
Unfazed by their chatter, Marlie remained seated on the couch, still pretending to read the magazine in her hands.
However, Audrey and Angelina weren't finished with her yet. How could they just let her ignore them? They always took advantage of Charlie's vulnerability and thought this time, it would be best to worsen her situation to get her out of their way since stress would prove detrimental to her health.
Charlie wouldn't tell Chad anyway. Why not add salt to her wounds to worsen her pain?
"By the way, how is your night out with Chad tonight?" Audrey deliberately asked Angelina in a high-pitched voice as if she wanted the whole household to hear her.
Marlie was startled by this. Was Chad taking his mistress for a night out? However, she bit her tongue to hold her questions in.
"Yes, my Chad has reserved a private room for just the two of us," Angelina said shamelessly, mocking Marlie, who was listening intently to their conversation without showing any obvious interest in them, but she was fuming inside.
"Damn you, Chad!" Marlie cursed silently. Her facial expressions revealed her annoyance and watery eyes. But the magazine covered her face from the two chickens who want to be Phoenix in her present.
"How long did my sister have to endure this humiliation from you?" Marlie inwardly questioned with burning fire.
She struggled to control her anger, not wanting to start a fight that would only benefit those two witches. Even if she was enraged, she still pretended to be unbothered by their remarks.
Therefore, she held back and shielded her face behind a magazine, hoping to conceal her anger from the two individuals.
"I'm certain you will relish it, just like that night at his wedding," Audrey grinned devilishly, resembling a malevolent entity.
What?!
Marlie's heart raced with irritation, had her sister been left alone on her wedding night for a mistress? How cruel could Chad be?
Angelina mockingly remarked, casting a sidelong glance at Marlie.
"Please desist from uttering such things in front of others,"
Marlie felt sympathy for her sister. The fact that Chad had visited his mistress on the night of their wedding and that those witches were constantly rubbing it in Charlie's face.
Marlie yearned to retaliate, she badly wanted to jump at the two best them square and fair. She was holding onto the thin line of her patience which seemed to be wearing off little by little.
However, at that moment, Vien intervened by offering coffee to Angelina, silently signaling Marlie not to react. The old woman noticed how Marlie was silently gripping the magazine tightly as if due badly wanted to strangle someone.
Marlie's anger intensified to the point of tears. In frustration, she threw the magazine aside and rushed upstairs when she couldn't stand how much the two bitches were regarding her sister.
Audrey and Angelina erupted in laughter witnessing the sight of Marlie running upstairs.
"She got what she deserved," Audrey concluded, calmly sipping her coffee as if their insults were a natural thing to do.
"Enough! I will stop your nonsense, Audrey!"
Vien glanced at Audrey in anger, silently telling herself.
With a forceful impact, Marlie slammed the door and leaned against it, weeping. Her heart ached for the suffering her sister had gone through in this hell-calling house.
How could they have treated her sister in such a horrible manner?
What had her sister done to warrant such mistreatment from them? What did the innocent and sweet Charlie do wrong to them?
And why had Chad married Charlie if he did not love her in the first place? What was his deal?
Vien knocked on the door, pleading with Marlie to open it. After a few minutes, Marlie complied and allowed her entry.
She wiped her face and questioned Vien, "What do you want? Did they send you here?" She asked the old woman coldly.
Vien remained silent but extended a diary towards Marlie. Marlie turned and noticed it, asking skeptically, "A diary? What am I supposed to do with that?"
Vien replied tearfully, "Someone told me you would recognize it, even if it was in the shadows." Her words halted Marlie in her tracks.
"Charlie?... Is it Charlie's diary?" Marlie exclaimed, rushing to retrieve it from Vien's hands.
Marlie couldn't resist hugging the diary as if her life depended on it. It felt like hugging Charlie.
Wait! Why does Vien possess Charlie's diary?
As if she could understand her frown, Vien answered... "I picked it from the things Charlie burnt before leaving this house to get you." She tearfully replied Marlie.
Why would Charlie set her belongings on fire? Was she not intending to return to her husband again? Such questions crossed Marlie's mind.
"What secrets does this diary hold?" Marlie interrogated Vien, who replied never opened the diary herself.
"I don't know my dear. I've never opened it to check its contents." She answered truthfully.
But could remember Charlie's words.
"Charlie once described this diary as her confidant. She claimed that it served as her source of comfort and honesty, replacing the connection she had lost with you. She poured all her emotions and thoughts into those pages," She paused briefly before continuing,
"Every event concerning her that unfolded within the confines of this house is recorded within those pages, I think." Vien completed.
Marlie's expression turned to shock as she absorbed the information.
The answers she had desperately sought were now within her reach.
"Why are you giving this to me?" Marlie couldn't understand why Vien would willingly hand her the diary, knowing full well Marlie's intentions for being in that house.
"Your sister desperately wished for you to be present in this household. She firmly believed that your presence would rectify everything. Consider it as me fulfilling her final desire," Vien explained.
But Marlie couldn't easily accept this explanation.
Marlie wasn't dumb. If Madam Vien wanted to fulfill Charlie's last wish, why didn't she give her the diary earlier and what's with the ultimatum?
Marlie couldn't help but ask again... "So why would you offer her a consolation to me now?"
" If only you promise not to harm anyone, I will consider it as my tribute to Charlie," Vien stated before exiting the room.
Marlie found herself somehow convinced by her words. Even if she is not, at least Vien will not get in her way. She stared at the dairy with a happy grin on her face.
Meanwhile, outside the room, Vien clutched a torn page from the diary. She opened it and silently read:::
{'Chad, I am aware of your unhappiness in this marriage. I know Marlie is the only woman who can bring you joy.
I was never the one you loved. I was a fool not to have noticed all this while. We could have saved each other from emotional pain if only I had known the truth earlier.
You would have been married to my little sister now and lived a happy life. Of course, I would have also perhaps found someone who would truly love me back. But all is the past now. Let me rectify this unfaithful intertwined fate of us three.
Even if I have to sacrifice my happiness to unite you with Marlie only wish is for you to love my little sister unconditionally }
Vien clenched the paper tightly after reading it.
"I have never witnessed Chad getting so close to any other woman aside from Miss Marlie.
When I saw them so close to each other this morning, I tried to understand you a little, Charlie.
Perhaps you are correct, she truly is the only one capable of bringing him happiness," Vien murmured to herself as she wiped away her tears.
She recollected the day Charlie inscribed those words in her diary. She had been there, attempting to dissuade her from leaving her marriage for her sister Marlie.
On that day, when Charlie contemplated erasing her memories of Chad, she selected the diary to reveal the pain Charlie had endured.
Because she felt Charlie's pain when Audrey told her about Marlie's intimacy with Chad on her engagement day.
"You also wished to shield the truth, didn't you? Well, I will assist you in keeping it hidden from her. Nonetheless, I am sorry but she has to experience the pain you endured.
I believe this family owes you an apology, and she should be the one to deliver it. I know she claims to want to avenge you; however, she doesn't even have any idea that she was actually the main culprit of your pains all this time.
I hope you will protect her from above and not let her sink deeper before it is too late for her. Rest In Peace, Ma'am Charlie."
Vien thought to herself sadly.