Chapter 128 A Rejected Invitation


    Queena had made the decision not only to mend her rtionship with her daughter-inw, but to


    strengthen it. Melinda shared the same goal, and the next few days saw the two women bonding over


    the littlest things.


    They grew close enough for the older woman to joke once or twice that Melinda had be her sworn


    daughter, with Jonasing a close second to her in terms of Queena’s affection.


    One of the activities they often enjoyed together was shopping, thenter sitting at cafes. Yulia had


    done her best to thwart their mother-daughter outings, but was always shut down by Queena.


    At first she thought the Gu madam was only acting on her feelings towards her husband’s bastard, but


    seeing the way she interacted with Melinda gave Yulia a sense of foreboding. Queena was bing


    Melinda’s ally.


    What started as malicious jealousy on her part became a paranoia that ate at her greedy heart, and


    she soon found herself scrambling to contact Emily so they could do something about it.


    To her disgust, she couldn’t reach the actress’ phone no matter how many times she called.


    This went on for a couple of days, until Yulia finally found a report on the inte saying Emily was off


    to some remote location in the mountains for a shoot.


    She must be in some ce without reception, which was why Yulia’s calls couldn’t get through. She


    threw her phone on the bed and stomped downstairs to cool her head.


    She found Nelson, Melinda, and Queena in the living room as she descended. Her sister-inw was


    holding out a piece of clothing to her grandfather, and Queena said something that made all three of


    themugh. The scene only stoked the fire of envy that burned within Yulia, and she strode over to


    where they stood to join in on their conversation. "You seem to be having fun," she said as she


    approached, and her tone effectively hinted at what she was feeling. "What do you have here?" It was


    a coat with exquisite embroidery.


    In her desperation for attention, coupled with the riot of ugly emotions that ran rampant in her heart,


    Yulia yanked the clothing from Nelson’s hands with more force than necessary.


    The fabric was ripped.


    She stared at the piece of clothing with horror. An awkward silence fell into the room for a couple of


    beats.


    Then the two elders burst into action simultaneously, Nelson abruptly pulling the clothing back to him,


    and Queena turning to Yulia in visible anger.


    "You—"


    Before she could start berating Yulia, however, Melinda hade in between them and put a


    reassuring hand on her mother-inw’s shoulder. Yulia turned away bitterly.


    Nelson was ring at her granddaughter. This coat was supposed to be a present, and he hadn’t even


    had a chance to wear it yet, but this rude, foolish girl just appeared out of nowhere and ruined it.


    "Grandpa," Melinda said, her tone gentle. "I have been looking at embroidery projects recently, but I


    never got to actually doing it.


    Would you mind if I make an experiment of my skills using your coat?"


    She smiled at the old man as she reached for the piece of clothing. He let her take it.


    Once again Melinda was salvaging the situation, and doing it with grace and ss! Although he was


    still feeling sullen, Nelson would never think of ruining her efforts by staying cross.


    "All right, you can do whatever you want with it. But be sure it turns out beautifully, or I will be very


    unhappy."


    He gave her a conniving little smile then, to show her that he knew what she was trying to do.


    Melinda returned the smile and only nodded. Beside them, Queena was sporting a pleased little smile


    herself, feeling rather proud at how her daughter-inw handled the predicament.


    Yulia only hung her head in shame, and nursed her fury in silence.


    It was then that Gavin interrupted them, "Sir, Madam, the post has arrived." He handed various


    envelopes to the two, mostly invitations to parties and some other events.


    A hefty number of them were addressed to Nelson, and the others to Queena. Melinda, as usual,


    received none.


    Nelson only grunted and waved them away. He never liked socializing. "You can take care of those for


    me," he told Gavin. "You know what to do."


    Queena had opened one of the envelopes, and was reading through its contents. It was from Emily, an


    invitation to a party.


    The actress included a postscript saying that she missed Queena and apologized for being so busy


    with her projects that she hadn’te bytely.


    Involuntarily, Queena’s eyes darted towards Melinda. Her daughter-inw still wore a little smile on her


    face as she folded Nelson’s coat in her arms.


    She was the very picture of gentility. Her gaze then drifted to Yulia, who was ring at the stack of


    invitations with obvious avarice. She never received invitations either.


    Once again Queena was reminded how different Melinda was from Yulia and Emily, and felt a sense of


    security that she was making the right choice with her recent change in associations.


    "Gavin, please refuse this invitation for me as well," she instructed, handing the post over to the butler


    with an air of nonchnce.


    Melinda caught sight of the invitation’s sender as it passed hands. She breathed an inward sigh of


    relief.


    She couldn’t deny that she had worried about what might happen if Queena decided to spend some


    time with Emily.


    She had been so easily fooled before, after all. Melinda feared that the past few weeks of her gaining


    her mother-inw’s favor would all go to waste once the actress resumed her maniptions.


    Still, she wasn’t expecting such a ready reaction. And she wasn’t the only one. Yulia had also seen who


    sent the invitation, and could not believe she just witnessed a swift and firm refusal from Queena.


    To think that she had been counting on Emily to end Melinda’s recent days of bliss. She had to talk to


    the actress as soon as possible.


    She finally reached her that night, and both of them were in a very foul mood. It would seem that Emily


    had already received the rejection of her invitation.


    "Why didn’t you warn me you were going to disappear to some godforsaken ce with no reception?"


    Yulia spat over the phone.


    "Don’t you know that all this time that you were gone, that bitch Melinda had been sucking up to


    Queena? And now she’s sessfully gained her favor!"


    Emily rubbed her temples. Why was Yuliaying the me on her? How was she supposed to know


    that things would turn out this way?


    Things were already going south for them and all that brat did wasin. "Are you saying this is all


    my fault?" she said coldly, and Yulia went silent on the other end.


    Good, she should know her ce. Emily heaved a long sigh of frustration. "Tell me everything that


    happened."


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    When their call ended, Emily dialed Queena’s contact number. If she needed to do some damage


    control, she might as well target the concerned party directly.


    "Aunt Queena, it’s been a while!" Her voice was cheerful over the phone, but she made sure to inject a


    quality of sulkiness, alluding to Queena’s refusal to go out with her.


    The older woman’s reply, however, was short and cool. "Emily." There was no mistaking the shift of her


    affections, and Emily felt a small burst of panic.


    "Have you been busytely, Aunt Queena?"


    "Quite."


    Emily bit her thumb as her mind raced. "Aunt Queena, you must tell me when you’ll be free. We haven’t


    seen each other for such a long time. I really miss yourpany.


    I bought you a souvenir from my trip to the mountains. I was there for a shoot. I’m sure you will like my


    gift!"


    She thought she might engage Queena’s curiosity when she mentioned her present, but there was only


    silence from the other end.


    Emily plowed on, grasping at whatever schemeing to her on the spot. "Aunt Queena, I’ve heard


    something really interesting along the grapevine. Can I share it with you?"


    "What is it?" Queena finally spoke, although her tone indicated that she didn’t care much at all.


    "I went to a periodical office a few days ago, and happened upon a little skirmish among the staff.


    Apparently there was someone who was trying to prevent a story from making its way to the press.


    I found out that it was about a couple of writers, a man and a woman, both married. They were


    coborating on a new book, and as such were spending a lot of time with each other.


    At some point they were seen entering a hotel together, and some source said that they were, in fact,


    meeting up in hotels often."


    Queena immediately thought of her daughter-inw. She knew that Melinda was working on a new


    book with Kent, and she was aware that they had been rumored to have been romantically involved in


    the past.


    She cleared her throat. "Is that so? I understand being a writer isn’t such an easy task."


    "Oh, for sure," Emily said earnestly. She had purposely told this story to bring Melinda and Kent to


    Queena’s mind. "I hear that a lot of writers needed first-hand experience on the things they were


    writing, so as to keep the narrative vivid to the readers.


    I suspect such was the case with those two writers. They were no doubt writing a romance. That’s


    probably why they were trying so hard to stop the publishers from running the story. Having an affair


    with another married person is such a huge scandal after all!"


    As soon as she heard the word "affair", a dark cloud descended upon Queena. Various memories from


    her own marriage swam into her vision. It took her a moment to get back to the conversation.


    She pulled her thoughts together. They both knew what Emily was trying to imply. She was


    badmouthing Melinda again, ndering her in front of Queena.


    It was only just urring to the older woman now, but as she looked back to all her interactions with


    Emily, she realized that the actress spoke ill of Melinda quite often.


    "Whatever the case," Queena said, her voice firm. "That is neither your business nor mine. As for the


    other thing that you seem to be overly concerned with, Emily, that’s none of your business either. But


    regardless, I’m telling you now that Mellie is not an adulterous woman."


    She had actually interacted with Kent in person. The man was a bit knowledgeable at calligraphy, and


    was highly intelligent. Queena could see that he adored Melinda, but except for the rumors, there was


    nothing else that indicated to an affair between the young writers.


    A wave of desperation washed over Emily, and she faltered. Queena’s tone made it clear that she


    wouldn’t stand for any furtherments on the matter. The actress was quick tough it off and


    change the topic.


    They chatted some more about worthless matters before she hurriedly ended the call. Then she sat in


    her room, gritting her teeth and digging her nails into her palms in tight fists as she tried to think of


    another n to bring Melinda down.


    After she hung up, Queena made her way downstairs to get some water. She found her daughter-in-


    law warming some milk in the kitchen.


    Melinda turned in mild surprise as she approached. "Oh, Mom, you’re still awake?"


    "Hmm," Queena answered. It was true she should have been in bed by now, but her conversation with


    Emily preyed on her mind. It troubled her enough that she knew she would have difficulty falling asleep


    that night.


    "What about you? Are you up thiste writing?" As she said it out loud, it suddenly urred to Queena


    that Melinda might have been losing her writing time because she was always apanying her. She


    must be making up for it by writingte into the night.


    But her daughter-inw only smiled. "I’m actually on my way to bed now." She removed the pot from


    the stove and poured the milk into a tall ss, and handed it to Queena. Then she went over to the


    fridge to get some more milk for herself, and repeated the process of warming it up.


    Queena looked on, basking in the peaceful quiet and the feeling offort that such a mundane task


    brought about. Melinda really was an ideal wife, gentle and yet incredibly strong.


    She thought back on Emily’s vile words, and could not help bringing the actress up. "You dislike Emily


    very much, don’t you?"


    Melinda paused what she was doing for a beat, but when she spoke, her voice remained gentle and


    calm. "Mom, will you evere to like someone who repeatedly tries to destroy your marriage?"


    A deep frown creased Queena’s brow. She would loathe such a person; her own marriage was broken


    by someone like that.


    But all this time, Emily kept saying that it was Melinda who got between her and Jonas, and that she


    enlisted Nelson to keep them apart.


    "You weren’t there when it all started," Melinda said, breaking through Queena’s thoughts. She could


    see that some heavy emotion clouded the younger woman’s eyes. "There’s so much you don’t know."


    Then Melinda looked straight at her, and above everything else, Queena recognized a deep sadness in


    her expression. She felt her own chest ache at the weight of her daughter-inw’s heartbreak.


    She went over to Melinda and put her arm over her daughter-inw’s shoulders. "It’s all in the past, as


    you said."


    Melinda turned back to the stove and put out the fire. She prepared her own ss of milk, set it on the


    counter, and pulled out a chair. When she sat down, Queena pulled another chair beside her.


    "Then let me tell you about the past."