He spoke domineeringly, leaving no room for discussion.
Triggered by his words, Margaret’s heart rate shot up, and she clutched her chest while breathing heavily as though she was about to faint.
Yuliana quickly tried to console her by giving her water and appeasing her. Then, she looked around and realized that no one else seemed anxious.
Even Ellie felt embarrassed for Margaret.
“Grandma, stop acting. The last time you were like that, we sent you to the hospital. However, the doctor said you were in the pink of health. Please stop your act.”
“Rascal, what are you saying?” Yuliana chided her daughter.
Although Margaret may not be ill, at least they should pretend to care for the older lady since she was trying so hard to pretend that she was unwell.
Shaking, Margaret wagged her finger at her son.
“Matthew, do you want to be the reason for my death? Sure, go ahead and send me to my grave. Once I kick the bucket, no one will be in the way of your marriage with that s*ut. You are such an unfilial son!”
Matthew flicked off the cigarette ashes and took another puff. Then, he turned to look at his father.
“Dad, do you share mother’s thoughts?”
George looked like someone had burst his bubble. Staring back at his son, he stammered, “Huh? What?”
“What are your thoughts about my decision to marry Clarissa?” Matthew asked again.
Instantly, George could feel the heat from his wife’s stare.
Frowning, he shrugged. “I don’t make decisions for every single thing in the household. You are already an adult, so why do you need my consent for anything?”
Of course, Margaret was unhappy to hear his reply.
“George!” she whined.
“Come on. Matthew is already thirty-six years old, not six nor sixteen. He has lived almost half his life. Why does he need your consent for the person he decides to marry?” George reasoned.
He rarely expressed his opinions.
But every time he did, Margaret had to listen to him.
Despite so, Matthew’s marriage was one thing she would not give in to.
Once she heard his rebuttal, she snapped back, “I am his mom, and so long as I don’t accept his decision, he cannot get married. Well, if she is that great, he can try to disown me.”
Matthew frowned.
Squeezing out the cigarette in his hand, he uttered, “That’s it. I’m leaving.”
“What? Matthew, don’t you dare…”
Despite Margaret’s request, he already stood up and left the Tyson residence.
She did not hold him back. There were so many people in the house today, yet none of them was standing on her side, and it made her angrier.
“What is the meaning of that? That’s it? Is he really set on marrying Clarissa? Does he want me dead? Huh?” Margaret complained hysterically.
Other than Yuliana, who tried to reassure her, the rest did not have that much patience.
George did not even bat an eyelid, while Matthias exasperatedly expressed, “Mom, Dad is right. Matthew is thirty-six years old. Besides, given his personality, do you think you can control him? You can’t even handle him when he was young, much less now.”
From a young age, Matthew was stubborn and always wanted to do things his way. No one could stop him.
For the things he wanted, he would do everything to get them,
Needless to say, he had not changed much. He managed to build up Tyson Corporation single-handedly and successfully expanded it into what it is today. Given his abilities and personality, who could control or stop him?
“Even so, don’t you realise that Matthew’s marriage will impact you in some way? Matthias, don’t you think Sienna would suit him better? Why don’t you persuade him?” Margaret tried her luck.
Matthias did not reply. Meanwhile, Ellie, who could not stand it any longer, step in to defend her Uncle Matthew. “Grandma, you are forcing Uncle Matt to marry a wife you like. What is the difference between that and an arranged marriage? He doesn’t like Sienna, yet you want him to keep a woman like that around him for life. Isn’t that a torture? That doesn’t show your love for him. In contrast, it seems like you hate him so much to deny him of happiness.”
“Nonsense!”
Margaret quickly retorted, “If Sienna is not his cup of tea, why don’t he try others? I don’t believe I can’t find someone else he likes. No matter what, I will never approve of Clarissa.”
“Why not?”
Ellie could not wrap her head around it. “Grandma, didn’t you like her in the past?”
“I did because I thought she had no ill intentions. Who knew that she wanted to seduce Matthew all along?”
“Seduce? Grandma, you are so biased. Please take a good look at Uncle Matt. No matter how sly or flirtatious a woman is in front of him, he would not even look at them. He has high standards for women. How bad can his choice be?”
“I don’t care. She is too young and did not grow up in a proper family. Didn’t you say that her father died young while her mother remarried? She lives with her grandma, right?”
Ellie sighed. “Grandma, you dislike her family after all.”
Stubbornly, Margaret explained, “Her upbringing is important. You don’t understand how important it is to marry a family of the same status. Given the Tysons’s reputation, if we allowed that marriage to take place, others would surely laugh at us.”
“How you live your life is up to you, but you are afraid of being mocked? Grandma, I have to say that you’re just being stubborn. You have said that Clare is strong and capable as she managed to support her family. You used to praise that she saying that she is smart. Although Clarissa is a good girl who even gets along with you, you are now rejecting her because of her family background? Furthermore, how can you say that she is from a bad family? Why is she not good enough when her family members are all clean?”
As Ellie could not get her point across, her tone seemed harsher this time.
Yuliana hurriedly shut her up. “Ellie! Keep quiet! Don’t be so rude towards your elders. You have no say in this matter, and I haven’t even talked about how you let that vixen into our family. In the future, I want you to cut all contact with that woman. Do you understand?”
Her daughter protested. “What is the basis for that? Clare is my best friend, and you have no power to make such an unreasonable demand!”
With that, she stormed out.
In view of the situation, Matthias sighed.
“Mom, I have something on, so I will make a move first.”
Finally, only Margaret and Yuliana were left in the room, still disturbed by the issue.
No one in the family supported them. To them, Clarissa did not qualify to be part of their family.
The two shared the same thoughts. They did not think they were at fault, and naturally, they felt unhappy that no one else took their side.
In particular, it was tougher for Yuliana because she had to console Margaret while defending her daughter. After all, Ellie brought Clarissa over and kept her relationship with Matthew under wraps, deceiving everyone else in the family.
She could not provide an explanation to the Grandes.
At this stage, Yuliana was placed in the spot. There was a ball of fire in her heart that she had not shared with others about. Seeing that her husband did not seem to care much, she was even more frustrated and angrier than Margaret was.
“Yuliana, what should we do? I want to separate them, but with Matthew’s support, Clarissa will definitely not leave. What else can we do?”
Yuliana frowned. “Mom, for now, they are still in their honeymoon phase. If we try to separate them now, Matthew will be against it. In addition, although he wants to marry her, it won’t be anytime soon. We can afford to wait for a while, and perhaps, things may not work out for them once the passion between them dies out. After Matthew gets tired of her, he will look for a new target, and we will not even have to persuade him.”
“That makes sense. However, we can’t sit back like that. We have to find some dirt on Clarissa so that we can stop the marriage if Matthew does not change his mind in future.”
“I understand. Anyway, you are still our mom. If you fervently reject it, Matthew can’t stubbornly go through with the marriage either. Without his parent’s acknowledgment, how can he get married? So, you don’t have to worry.”
As they discussed their long-term plans, Clarissa was at home feeling stifled.
Coincidentally, Hilary phoned her to ask her out. Without much thought, Clarissa agreed.
When she saw her mother, Clarissa felt somewhat resentful, and something came to her mind.
She was ridiculed and looked down upon, and now, she could not be together with Matthew. With so many things going on in her life, she could not share them with her family. She did not want to make her grandma worry while her mother, Hilary, was clueless about what was bothering her daughter.
Back then, Clarissa only had her grandma to rely on because of Hilary’s selfishness. After so many years, she did not want to recall the hardships they had to face as she could not even fathom how they managed to get through it.
With that thought, Clarissa’s gaze turned icy cold, but Hilary did not realize it.
“Clary, I asked you out for your help on something.”
“What is it?” Clarissa did not sound friendly.
“I really like Shermaine. Could you ask around to see if any of your classmates know her? Could you let me meet her in person?”
Recently, Hilary had been anxiously collecting information about Shermaine every day.
Her family thought she was obsessed with the celebrity and was amused that she was still acting as a fan at her age. Despite so, only Hilary knew what she was up to.
Regardless, she could not let Zach find out. After she read about the news between Shermaine and Matthew, she saw how Shermaine seemed to be wronged. Her heart ached for the woman, and she stayed up all night thinking of Shermaine. She wanted to meet her, talk to her and show her affection.
Puzzled, Clarissa raised her eyebrow. “Mom, since when were you such a huge fan of Shermaine?”
“Haha…” Hilary laughed awkwardly. “Well, I like her. The other day, I read about how a scumbag abandoned her, and it made me feel for her. She is such a good girl, yet she met a man who did not know how to cherish her. I think he hooked up with some other woman who seduced him, and he wanted to protect his mistress. How can there be a person as shameless as that mistress?”
