The sun was almost at its peak when Georgina and Henrick's parents arrived at the Werlington Golf Club. Her soon father-in-law introduced her to their acquaintances present in the area. They talked for a moment before they entered inside. It isn't her first time in a golf club. Georgina remembered when she was young, she always tagged along with her father, but today is a bit different.
Unlike her mother-in-law's circle of friends, her father-in-law's acquaintances were hard to get along with. Despite their kindness, Georgina couldn't help but to noticed their hostile stares as soon as the man turned his back. She's unwelcome in their world. The elite groups in the business world are scarier than she expected. No wonder her mother feels inferior when facing them.
"Where's Henrick, Hector?" One of them asked.
"You mean the bastard son of mine? He's doing whatever he wants. It's the reason I brought my future daughter-in-law. Isn't she beautiful?"
"O-of course," A wry smile formed on the old man's lips as he glanced at Georgina.
"Mr. Jung, I'm not informed you're coming here after a long time."
They looked behind, where the voice came from, and saw Mr. Fuentes, Kiela's father.
Amidst the conversation, Georgina noticed the two people behind him. It's Henrick and Kiela whispering to each other while laughing. Those unexpected scenes made her curl her eyebrows as she glared at Henrick's arms wrapped around Kiela's waist.
"Henrick?! Why are you here?" Amanda asked with wide-open eyes as she noticed them.
"Old hag? I didn't know you were coming here too." He said and removed his hand from Kiela's waist. "Kiela invited me to come with her, I thought you didn't need me since all of you were pushing me away, so I came with them."
"If it isn't Kiela, my dear." Amanda came forward to greet Kiela—kissing her left cheek. "You're getting prettier. Anyway, I heard the sad news about your engagement. I'm sorry to hear it, my dear."
"It's fine, Auntie. Sorry if I'm taking Henrick's time with you. He's a good friend of mine. Besides, I'm more comfortable telling my problems with him."
"As long as he's a great help to you, Georgina won't get mad about it, right?" Amanda jolted as she looked at Georgina.
"Of course." She said with a wide smile. "You can take him whenever you want. It's not like I need him."
An awkward silence came in the area after she let out those words. Even Amanda's eyes got widened in surprise while Kiela looked away.
"What's with this awkward atmosphere?"
Georgina jolted out when she heard a familiar voice. She looked behind Henrick and saw the person she didn't want to meet. It's her mother, Coleen, and Uncle Rex.
Their existence alone isn't the only reason the awkward silence triggered tension between them. It's also because of the person behind her. It's Giovanni Javier, the ex-fiance of Kiela and ex-boyfriend of Georgina. Despite the tension, Georgina noticed that Giovanni's holding her mother's stuff like a slave. She gritted her teeth and clenched both fists.
"Mrs. Alvarez... Well, should I call you Soon to be Mrs. Serrano?" The old geezer from before broke the silence. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that the late Mr. Alvarez's daughter is here."
"Hey, old man... Be careful of your words. It's my wife who's mocking in front of me." Henrick said before giving him a death glare that made him look away. "Gina, don't mind hi—" He was about to hold her wrist but saw Georgina's eyes fixated on Giovanni's direction. He clenched his fists and glanced toward Giovanni, who looked down as soon as their eyes met.
"Tsk. I'm sorry." Georgina almost whispered and glanced at Henrick with those enraged looks before striding towards her mother. "You damned evil witch, let's talk." She whispered to her mother before grabbing her wrist without looking straight into her eyes.
Georgina hastily dragged her somewhere. Even the people there seemed confused and followed them through her look.
"Dad, why don't we start playing? I think they need to talk about important things." Henrick said, trying to divert their attention.
"It's a good idea. Let's all play. It's been a while."
***
"Argh. You're such a brute devil child. What's with you?" Coleen winced while caressing her shoulder after Georgina dragged her inside the women's comfort room and pushed her hard on the wall.
"Why are you with Giovanni? What are you planning now? Didn't they surrender their company? You already got what you wanted, so what the f*cking hell is this? Tell me, you f*cking evil witch." She shouted while intensely glaring at her.
Instead of an answer, Coleen laughed at her before crossing both arms.
"What? This thing triggers you to become crazy. As I thought, he's still your weakness. Even if you acted tough, you easily broke down with a glimpse of that man suffering. Do you think you can win against me with that unstable burst of the emotion of yours?" She said. "If you want to act tough, stick to it until the end..."
"I don't need your d*mned annoying words. Tell me, why? Why he's following you?"
A tear falls from her eyes while staring down as her body trembles.
"Gina, do your in-laws didn't know about your ex? You almost surrendered everything and even used them for your revenge to save that man?" She flinches upon hearing her words. "Did they know how you became a madwoman when it comes to him? What would they feel if they knew how you're madly in love with another man while seeing their son?"
"Y-you..."
"I'm sure you know that the Jung family is powerful and influential among the elites. Are you trying to disappoint them?"
Georgina couldn't take it, so she tightly grabbed her collar and glared as her tears kept falling and her lips quivered. No words come out of her mouth, as if something blocked it all.
"I-I'm asking you a simple question. Can't you answer me with a simple answer? Or do you want to use it to blackmail me again? What the f*cking hell do you want from me? Are you eager to take my shares in the company? What?" She said and pushed her onto the wall again—not letting go of the collar of her shirt.
"He offended the Fuentes Family. What do you expect the consequences? They're part of an elite family. Do you think they'll let it pass easily?" Coleen said without breaking her stare into Georgina's eyes.
"W-What are you sayin—don't tell me..." She let go of her mother and stepped back as both eyes widened. "Don't tell me..."
"Did you offend the Fuentes family? It's the punishment for him. They gave that d*mned annoying man to me as a slave because he has a lot of debt in their family. Until he paid all their debt, he'll be my slave. I have no idea what's going on, but do you know what they said to me?" She chuckled. "This d*mn man, it's yours to be punished."
"W-what?!"
"I wonder what it means? Does anyone know the dispute between the three of us? Though it's a good thing for me since I could punish him for getting on my nerves over these last two years. It's time for me to get revenge, isn't it?"
"Stop it, don't do something to him. You d*mned evil witch."
"Gina, it seems like you don't understand the situation we're in. The man you love is being punished not by me but by the Fuentes Family for breaching their contract. Although, for some reason, they're using me to do the work while they only supervise." She explained. "I'm just doing what the Fuentes Family told me to do. Since it's like killing two birds with one stone."
"W-why? Why is this happening? Van isn't a slave for a useless sh*t like you."
"If you have any complaints about it, you should tell them, not me. Besides, you better think about where the information came from. Why do they want me to punish that man? There's plenty of ways to torture him."
"F*ck." She mumbled to herself as she took another step back.
"Why don't you ask your future husband?"
Georgina flinched and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"You're too innocent and naive, Gina. Not because someone showed you kindness, you can trust them. Sometimes the one closes to you is the one trying to ruin you. I expected you learned from me, but I guess you've got fooled, though I don't have any evidence to support that claim." Coleen shrugs her head. "Anyway, I shouldn't waste my time here, so think about it while I'm away."
Georgina heard her laugh as she left the women's comfort room. Coleen's last words kept echoing inside her mind—thinking about it made her knees collapse. She slides down while covering her face with both hands.
Henrick can't do it, he knows she cares for Giovanni more than anyone, but if even the slightest chance that he's the one behind it, she didn't know who to trust anymore.