The Revenge of The Worthless son in law

02. Changes.

It was a bright Monday morning, the sky shone a clear, blue color. There wasn't much clouds, probably due to the sun's harsh rays. It was only nine Am, but the sun shone like it was late afternoon.

Anyone who had a job was at work, either in an office or their personal business. Even Lauren had gone out, leaving Jason all alone in the house. Just like every other day. It was almost like he was the wife and she was the husband.

He sipped his coffee, watching the morning news but his mind was elsewhere. He couldn't stop thinking about his wife's advice.

"Since you've tried a white-collar job severally and it didn't work out, why don't you go for other options?"

Other options, meaning menial jobs. The fact the she could suggest such a thing annoyed Jason, but on the other hand, he could understand where she was coming from. It wasn't easy taking care of their every need all by herself.

He wanted more than anything to be able to take care of his wife, and having a low-status job wasn't going to help. But then again, half is better than none.

He gulped down the rest of his coffee and went in to change his clothes. Low-status or not, he was going to get himself a job.

~•~><~•~

"Lauren my darling, it's good to see you again."

"Good to see you too, Phil."

"How long has it been? Two years?"

"I believe so." Phil was Lauren's course mate back in college. The two dated for a while Phil went overseas with his family. "So, are you back fully or just here to visit?"

"Oh I am back, one hundred percent back. I missed you Lauren."

"Same, what are you doing here anyway?" Lauren had gone to pay her mother a visit and was surprised to find her ex boyfriend in her living room.

"Funny story, I ran into her at the airport a week ago and she invited me over. I would have stopped by sooner but I was a little busy."

"Oh okay. Um where is my mother?"

"She stepped out not too long ago, but she said she wouldn't be long."

Of course she did. She must have left the house intentionally, leaving the two of them together with the hope that something would happen.

"So, what do you do?" Phil asked, a glass of wine in his hands.

"Well, I work with mother at the company."

"That's nice. I manage my father's business now. The old man retired, leaving me his multi-million dollars worth empire." The pride was unmasked in his voice and Lauren couldn't fight back the tinge of jealously she felt.

She wished Jason was that rich.

"How's your love life?" He returned the emptied out glass to the table, turning so he could face Lauren directly.

"Uh…I'm…" she wanted to say it proudly that she was married to the man of her dreams. The man she had been with after Phil had left and the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with…but another part of her wanted to deny it all completely.

"Oh I see you're married." Phil pointed out, looking at her hand.

"What?" Apparently she had been fondling with her wedding ring, the ring that held a high sentimental value. The ring that had no monetary value. "No, I'm not." She replied, removing the ring. She took one last look at the little circle jewel before keeping it in her bag.

"That's great! I'm also unmarried." Phil commented excitedly.

"Oh okay." She felt bad for lying like that, but at the same time she didn't blame herself. She was the only one carrying the burden that was meant for two people, and having someone like Phil to help her out would be an advantage to both her and Jason.

So in a way, she was doing him a favour.

The two talked about varieties of things but somehow their conversations always made their way back to Phil and how successful he was.

Lauren waited two whole hours but her mother was still a no show, so she decided to head back home.

~•~><~•~

"Honey, I'm home." She announced as she let herself in but there was no reply. "Jason?" She checked every room in the house but he wasn't there. "Where could he be? It's not like he has anywhere to go." She tried calling his number but it was switched off.

Normally, she would have been worried about him but this time, she felt pissed.

She marched straight to the door and locked it, then she turned off her cellphone.

Not more than thirty minutes after, she heard movements at the door. Jason put his key in, trying to unlock the door but it wouldn't open. After a few tries, he began to knock but his wife ignored him.

"Lauren? Lauren it's me, Jason. Could you please open the door?" He called her a couple more times but she still refused to let him in.

He knocked once again, then stopped and Lauren could hear his steps moving away from the door. She quickly made her way to the exit and unlocked the door, throwing it open. "Where do you think you're going?"

Jason stared at her, looking somewhat confused. "I've been knocking for a while but it seemed like you were asleep so I was heading to the park for a while."

"To do what?"

"I didn't want to bother you because I thought you might be tired, so I was just going to wait for a while at the park. Then maybe find a place to charge my phone."

"Of course I was tired!. That's usually what happens when you work all day." She shot at him, her voice icy and harsh.

Jason didn't understand the reason behind his wife's hostility towards him. Lauren was never the one to take out her anger on someone else. "Is everything okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know, you seem…frustrated."

As if she noticed that she had been out of line, she cleared her throat and smiled. "I'm okay, it's just stress from work."

"You sure?"

"Of course. I'm sorry I raised my voice. It's just that I was really stressed at work and then I came home and you weren't here, and I couldn't reach you on the phone, I…I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I understand." Jason replied with a slight smile, even though he didn't understand. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"What? Oh yes, right…I was sleeping. No, it's fine. I would never intentionally lock you out of the house." She kept waving her hands as she spoke and Jason's gaze fell on her left hand and he noticed she wasn't wearing her wedding ring. The first time he would see her without it.

"Of course, I know you wouldn't." As they entered the living room, Jason noticed a cup of tea that still has smoke emiting from it. Meaning she wasn't sleeping, she intentionally locked him out, made herself a cup of tea and listened to him knock and call out to her.

What the hell was happening?