The room went a little quiet, but Feran could hear a couple of giggles from the back of the crowd.
"Honestly speaking Feran, don't pick that ill-looking thing you call a bracelet," Mark advised in the most despicable way he could.
"Exactly. Take his advice, dear worthless live-in son-in-law," Mark's new girlfriend who accompanied him added and all laughed again.
She has always been mistaken as sweet and loving by the Miguel family because of her innocent face but who actually is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Feran stared at them with a cold grin. Who are they to dare to talk to him this way? If it wasn’t for his wife who told him to keep it low at the party…
Laura's face tightened as she walked up to Feran and grabbed his hand.
"Come stand in your place, Feran," she whispered to him and pulled him back to the spot they were before.
"Just save yourself the remaining humiliation, okay?" Laura was actually pissed now by everything that was happening and most of all, she felt ashamed of her husband, Feran.
Laura flicked a glare at Feran forcing him to keep quiet.
"Before the worthless being displayed his piece of trash as a gift for our grandmother, I would like to show my present," Mark said and all exclaimed in excitement. The joyful noise heightened a bit, but in a stylish way as they saw their grandmother walking down the huge spiral staircase.
Ma'am Miguel was led down accompanied by two maidservants, each holding her hand gracefully.
It was the pre-family midday celebration of ma'am Miguel's 70th birthday before the banquet would kick off in the night.
Getting down, she sat down on her special well-decorated arm chair as everyone greeted her.
"I'm so happy to see you all here," ma'am Miguel said and all clapped.
"Grandma, happy birthday," Phoenix, Laura's sister who has been quietly enjoying Feran's big humiliation said with a bright smile as she walked up to her ma'am Miguel.
"Grandma, this is a ten karat gold skinny bar necklace. It was specially made by my in-laws' famous jewelry company and it was customized for you. It is worth over three hundred dollars," Phoenix said as she took out the transparent silver box from the fancy bag she held and displayed it to everyone. Everyone applauded as she dropped it on the table.
"I'm sorry my husband wasn't able to make it, Grandma. He's out of town. But my parents-in-law will be coming for the banquet tonight."
"It's alright, dear. I'm glad. Though your husband isn't present, he made sure you brought a unique gift and he's far better than the oldest worthless live-in grandson-in-law of mine," ma'am Miguel said and staring at Feran, everyone giggled.
"Anyways, grandma, happy birthday," Tasha said as she walked majestically to ma'am Miguel with her husband, Damon, arms locked.
"This is a lovely cashmere travel wrap scarf,specially picked by my lovely wife, Tasha," Damon said.
"Grandma, I also had it customised for you. This cosy travel wrap scarf is one in a million grandma. I know you enjoy travelling. It even doubles during flights. It's amazingly soft and warm. It's worth six hundred dollars," Tasha explained and grinned as everyone applauded.
"You're so sweet my dear, ma'am Miguel said and blew a kiss at Tasha before they returned to their spot.
"So now I guess it's my turn," Mark said, taking a step forward.
"Show us what you got, bro!" Damon hollered.
"Yes I would. But, firstly, Feran, you should offer your priceless gift first." he smiled at Feran viciously.
"Oh? What good things could you possibly bring?" Ma'am Miguel questioned as her lips curled into a disdainful smile.
"I bought the best I could afford, grandma. It was an antique necklace. Why don't you have a look…?"
"Stop right there." Ma'am Miguel commanded, stopping Feran from walking up to her. She asked one of the servants to take the gift from his hand.
"Ha, serve you right." Mark growled.
"That’s enough, Mark" Laura said, unable to tolerate her brother's insult. For the first time, she spoke out for her husband.
She actually had mixed feelings for him. Yes, she hated him, but he's still her husband after all.
Mark took the chance to mock her more.
"You are not actually trying to define your loser husband, are you?" Then he pretended to gasp: ”Look at our dear old Laura, falling in love with a loser.” EVeryone roared in laughter.
Laura was speechless and furious but she couldn't find any words to fight back her brother.
She only gnashed her teeth and cringed for she was embarrassed as hell.
"Anyways, this is my gift for our beloved grandmother," Mark proudly said as he snapped his finger and a trolley was pushed into the living room by a male servant.
The servant placed the trolley by the table and left as everyone squinted impatiently at Mark to reveal his gift.
Mark ripped off the wrap of the huge box on top of the trolley and drugged out a vase.
"This is an extraordinary vase. Made of rare gems and glamour crystals. I got it crafted solely for you and it doesn't have a replica. It's actually worth three point seven million dollars," Mark said, boastfully.
"That is…strange," Feran muttered to Laura's hearing, squinting at the vase while everyone was praising the gift..
"Huh? What did you say?" Laura inquired. Feran shook his head.
Staring at the vase, Feran took some close steps forward.
"Hey, move back. You want to break it huh, worthless pig?!" Mark scolded him for fear of him breaking the glass on purpose.
But Feran turned around and exclaimed to the room.
"This vase is FAKE!"
The entire Miguel family fell silent in extreme astonishment.
"What?” Mark hurled the flute glass of wine in his grasp to the floor, startling everyone apart from Feran."What did you say?!" Mark growled."You're damn atrocious and impudent to utter that, Feran," Tasha said."This vase is actually fake. You all need to believe me. Even though my gift was humble, it was still far better than Mark's fake vase." Feran said, staring straight at Mark’s eyes. A chattering sound began to spread through the room. Mark maintain a calm face but he started to sweat."This vase is not only fake but its coating is composed of a toxic substance. If grandmother places this in her room, in a couple of days she might get ill because of it.""Nonsense! You can actually expect us to believe that? Who are you to tell the real or fake of such treasure that you won’t even be able to see it if it won’t for Mark? Just shut your trash hole." Mark’s girlfriend said condescendingly."Pathetic." Feran looked at the pair of them and spat.Mark's heart raced like he was cha
Mark thought his doom would come soon for his grandmother, ma'am Miguel was an expert on this and would tell the difference in a second. He dreaded the thought of being casted out of the family for bringing a cheap fake gift to his grandmother on purpose. If his father knew, he couldn't imagine what he would do to him.Ma'am Miguel stared down at Laura and finally nodded. She stretched out a hand, one of the maidservant standing behind her held onto her hand and stood her up.Everyone held their breath with furrowed eyes to see how this would go.Laura trusted his husband was sure about the vase being fake, or he wouldn’t make such a fuss in front of everyone. She thought that her husband could at least be held in high esteem this time by her grandmother since he had done a great thing for her. If grandmother’s attitude towards him can improve even just a little, their life would be so much easier. But she was a bit angry with herself for not being able to control herself. What if he
Feran stared at everyone waiting for him to obediently apologize. The smirk he saw on Mark's face made him sneer.He glanced at Laura as she walked back to their spot. Observing his hesitation which was starting to irk her."Feran!" Laura bawled as she rushed up to him. She pulled him to face her and slapped him so hard across the face making him stumble back. “Apologize!” she grabbed him then whispered: “please…’’Feran slowly shut his eyes. There was a brief silence."Apologize now, you fool!" Mark ordered, making others giggled.Feran folded his fists and flicked open his eyes, but when he saw Laura obviously trying hard to fight her back her tears, his anger slipped away.He could clearly see Laura was hurt and upset. He understands Laura's feelings. She has always been miserable and ridiculed by her siblings and cousins,even outsiders on some occasions because she’s married to him.She was treated no better than himself since they got married. The last couple of years were not at
Feran stared at her, patiently waiting for her reply. He had formed some kind of attachment to her after these years of marriage and was considering her the only person he might want to change for.Laura forced a smile and nodded hopelessly. She tilted her head and stared at the bed, paying no further attention to the important question he had asked. She thought he was just pulling her legs or day dreaming of rising up to the top in a blink of an eye and changing her fate with a magic wand."Yes, I would very much like that for you, and for me. I truly hope you can change, but it's just a fantasy…Anyway, I'm heading out first," she muttered and left as Feran stood up.Feran stared after her for a while before heaving a sigh and walked out of the room.He arrived at the huge living room and glanced at everyone as they marched to the sitting room puffing with pride and elegance. None of them fail to cast a scornful look as they walked past him.Laura headed last to the dining room, fo
All the members of the Miguel family went from silent to excitement, mostly the granddaughters who were still unmarried.They were overwhelmed just by imagining how wealthy this mysterious guy from the Anderson family would be and everyone of them wished to get married to such a wealthy and powerful man."Grandmother," Kayla, the youngest granddaughter in the Miguel family said, stepping forward."I think I'm the woman the man seeks to be betrothed to." All were stunned by what she said and the other single granddaughters pulled a frown."Shut up, Kayla. You're talking nonsense. The man certainly doesn't know a twerp like you exists," Gigi, another daughter-in-law scoffed."I know him. He has intentionally sent all these gifts to grandmother to seek my hand in marriage in a grand and stupendous manner.""Oh, save us the perry lie, Gigi," Averly, the last of the single granddaughters of the Miguel, cried. "You too don't know him. I've met him and…he's my…my boyfriend," Averly stuttered
"No, mom. I'm not going to divorce Feran," Laura stated firmly as the driver halted in their house and they got out of the car."I thought you were going to consider it. I thought you hate him too," Mitchel said, walking over to her daughter."No, I don’t hate him, just…" Laura said. Though her marriage isn't a bed filled with roses, she'd never thought of opting for a divorce."Listen to me, Laura, you…""Please mom. Don't try to convince me," Laura said and went into the house, Mitchel following behind."Welcome, my dears," Laura and her mother were stunned to hear her dad, Frank's voice.He was seated in the living room, smiling at them when they walked in."You look pissed off. What's wrong?""Everything. Everything is wrong, Frank," Mitchel stated, stamping her foot on the tiled floor."The big problem now is that Laura is unyielding to divorce your worthless piece of trash of a husband, Feran."Mitchel thundered, startling her husband."I'm not talking much about this. Excuse me"
Feran decided to see his mother who he had sent a message to a while ago. She's been staying in a five-star hotel."Feran," his mother called immediately after he knocked on her room door and walked in. She rushed up to him and embraced him."My son, at last. I get to see you."Feran glanced at his mother. He didn't really feel anything about this mother and son reunion. His mother never treated him with kindness before. She never spoke up for him back then. She just let his brother and grandfather casted him without interfering.Now, he knew his father wanted him back. But he wondered why SHE wanted to see him so urgently."What are you doing in Spring Villa?" Feran asked his mom, a bit coldly.She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out of it.If not for Feran's brother who had gone missing for over a month now, abandoning the business, she would never have come here and asked to see her useless second son."I missed you, son. So that's why I came over since you've
"Where have you been for a while, Feran?" Laura asked, the minute Feran walked into their room.”Uh, just around and…"Laura thought he would change, but he didn’t look anything different than before. She sighed, a little annoyed that she actually believed him, again."Laura," he called as he attempted to hold her hand but she took a step back. "I know you just made a useless promise to protect your pride earlier, okay?"Feran's brows creased, bewildered."What do you mean, Laura?""I meant that, I understand why you said what you said earlier when you got home before you wandered off.""No. I actually," Feran paused as she held up her hand and waved it back and forth, looking away from him."Just stop giving me hope. You're hopeless yourself," she said and before he could utter another word, she climbed on the bed with her night robe to sleep.He sighed and dragged his foot to the bathroom to freshen up.Two weeks later, Laura returned earlier from work. She worked as an assistant s