Chapter 2 — One Sentence Scares Away the Whole In-Law Family

The chat application on my phone was flooded with endless messages from Hang.

“Quy, where did you go?”

“Why did you take Luo Luo with you?!”

“My mother is about to lose her mind with worry!”

“Pick up your phone!!”

“What on earth are you trying to achieve? This is kidnapping!”

The final message had arrived half an hour ago.

“Su Quy, I am warning you, get your ass back here this instant!”

I let out a cold laugh and opened the voice messages sent by Thuy Lien. The first was a full sixty seconds long, bursting with her shrill, piercing curses the moment I pressed play.

“Su Quy, you wretched bitch! Where on earth have you taken our Chu family’s granddaughter? Let me tell you, if you dare so much as lay a finger on a single strand of Luo Luo’s hair, I will fight you to the death!”

The Chu family’s granddaughter? Since when had she ever acknowledged Luo Luo as part of their family? The second message was another sixty-second rant.

“Did you empty out the household savings and run away? Shameless harlot! Back then, if you hadn’t shamelessly clung to our Hang, would you have ever amounted to anything? Ungrateful wretch!”

In the third recording, her voice was laced with sobs, no doubt putting on a theatrical performance for Hang to watch.

“My poor, pitiful Luo Luo, where has that cruel mother of yours dragged you off to? Grandma misses you so much…”

I listened to each voice message with absolute detachment, as though I were listening to an absurd story about strangers. Luo Luo had already changed into her swimsuit and came running over to tug at my hand.

“Mommy, can we go to the beach now?”

“Of course we can.”

I tucked my phone away, and the lingering gloom vanished instantly. Taking Luo Luo by the hand, I walked toward the vast expanse of blue. We built castles out of the damp sand and chased the gentle froth of the receding waves. Luo Luo’s laughter chimed like silver bells, crisp and delightfully sweet. As twilight descended, we sat together on the shore, watching the sunset paint the sky in brilliant hues of fiery orange and deep red. My phone vibrated in my palm, and another call came in from Hang. I declined it and opened the messaging app instead. I ignored every single one of Hang’s frantic messages and turned a blind eye to all of Thuy Lien’s venomous curses. I simply navigated to Thuy Lien’s chat window, typed out a single sentence, and pressed send. One sentence. Nothing more. After that, I blocked both of them. The world fell into profound, absolute silence.

The night in Phuket was so tranquil that the gentle murmur of the ocean waves was the only sound left in the world. Luo Luo slept soundly beside me, her steady, rhythmic breathing serving as the most soothing lullaby on earth. The screen of my phone remained illuminated, resting on the blocked contacts interface. The world was quiet now, but I knew this was merely the brief calm before a violent storm. The message I had sent to Thuy Lien was remarkably simple, completely devoid of profanity. Mrs. Truong, apartment 1201, building 3, the Cam Tu Hoa Dinh complex where you are currently residing is registered under my name and was my sole pre-marital asset. You and your family are required to vacate the premises within forty-eight hours. Failure to do so will result in my attorney bringing court bailiffs to enforce an eviction. That message was a key. A key capable of unlocking the very gates of hell. Sure enough, an unfamiliar local number soon flashed across my screen. I answered. From the other end came Hang’s voice, tightly reining in a fury so intense it had distorted his tone.

“Su Quy! What the hell is the meaning of this!”

“Precisely what the words convey.”

My voice was remarkably calm, so serene that even I found it slightly chilling.

“That is our home! How can you possibly kick my mother out! She is elderly, where on earth is she supposed to go!”

He bellowed through the receiver.

“First of all, that is not ‘our’ home, it is my property. When we married, you claimed your mother had lived a hard life and begged to let her live somewhere more comfortable, and I agreed. I let your family live in my house while Luo Luo and I moved into a modest rented apartment outside. I once foolishly believed my concessions would earn me a shred of respect.”

I paused momentarily, letting a freezing edge creep into my tone.

“Secondly, where she goes is not a matter for me to ponder. She has a daughter and a son. She is hardly an orphan.”

“You’ve lost your mind! You are completely insane!”

On the other end of the line, Hang paced back and forth, the heavy sound of his ragged breathing echoing in my ear.

“Over such a trivial matter! Just because Dao Dao acted a little thoughtless, you are willing to tear this family apart?”

“A trivial matter?”

I let out a soft chuckle, light yet laced with a biting, razor-sharp chill.

“Hang, do you call Dao Dao smashing my late father’s cherished keepsake a trivial matter? Do you call your mother pointing in my face and cursing my father’s legacy as ‘trash left behind by a dead man’ a trivial matter? Do you call my own daughter being unable to keep a single shrimp in her bowl inside her own home, only to be scolded for being ‘selfish,’ a trivial matter?”

My voice remained subdued, yet every single syllable struck like a bullet. Silence stretched from the other end of the line.

“…Quy.”

His tone suddenly softened, shifting to a manipulative, emotional appeal.

“Don’t be like this, let’s talk things through reasonably. Won’t you come back home? As for my mother, I will speak with her myself and make her apologize to the two of you.”

“It’s too late.”

I replied flatly.

“Forty-eight hours. The clock is already ticking.”

“Su Quy!”

His fury flared up once more.