Chapter 2 Two

"Tell him I'll want to see him now!"

I heard a voice downstairs. I had just woken up from bed. Jordan was still fast asleep. We went to bed after our wedding party with our clothes and shoes on. I took off his shoes this morning when I woke up.

"Yes, ma'am." It was Anna, the househelp.

I peeped to see the owner of the voice.

My mother-in-law! It dawned on me that I had not been properly introduced to my husband's family. Especially his mother!

Anna came up to me, where I had been standing. I didn't think of waking Jordan. I just stood there, still trying to process what I would tell his mother. She had been away for some time. She came in for the wedding a few days back, but we did not meet until the wedding day. I mean, we never even spoke for once. I only saw a picture of her. The ones Jordan showed me. I've not thought of her reaction after Penelope's drama at the wedding.

"The boss's mother is here, ma'am. She asked to see him." Anna told me. I heard her approaching earlier, so I immediately pretended like I didn't hear anything.

"I would speak to him. Go and make sure she has something to eat. We'll come down shortly." I told her. At this point, my heart was pounding fast.

I was about to go in when I heard her voice again. She had a loud voice. Too loud for an elderly woman like her. She was on a phone call.

"Your mother wants to see you." I woke him up.

"Why? Where is she?" He asked, as if I were her personal assistant.

"Well, I don't know why she would want to see you. She's your mother."

He stood up and walked out. I called out to him to take off his clothes from yesterday, but he said nothing.

I went back to where I was standing earlier to listen to their conversation. I just wanted to know something.

"There you are, coming at any time you like. Where is that wife of yours?" I heard her ask him. I was waiting for the worst.

"Mum, you have no business with my wife. Tell me why you're at my house this early. It's unlike you."

How is he able to speak to his mother like that? Before the wedding ceremony, she congratulated us. But something was weird about it. It was like she was talking more to her son and not to me. She did not ask me any questions. I wondered if she wasn't curious about knowing who her son was getting married to. But then, I did not want any further complications. I ignored it too and moved with the flow. I'm sure everything must have escalated now. All thanks to Penelope.

"Why are you still in these heavy clothes? Did you sleep in them?" She asked him.

"Do not start acting like you care, mum. Why are you here?"

I was kind of surprised. I never knew Jordan could speak like that to anyone, not to mention his own mother. What was this sudden tension all about?

"You have not learnt to respect me. Well, that's none of my business. I..."

"Nothing is ever your business. It cannot begin now. Say what you want to say, let's get done with this." Jordan interrupted and sat heavily on the couch. He still had hangovers.

"I see. Have you seen the news?"

"What about it?"

"Look at this, Jordan." She opened her phone for him to see. "Everyone is talking. What is this I hear about you marrying someone else? I thought this was the woman you told me about? Who was the other lady at your wedding?" She asked.

We were trending online. Some said Penelope was jealous. Others said I snatched him and many other things. I never thought I could see myself one day on posts and blogs. The joy of marrying a rich man. Though we were trending in a bad way, low-key I was glad the world would now have a chance to see me. It was something.

"The Internet is never silent. They would always talk. It will soon die down." Jordan said.

"It doesn't look that way to me. You're on every blog for God's sake! Doesn't it bother you? What does that say about you? Your reputation! This is not good. You'd better look for ways to salvage this."

"Just say it. You're here because this affects you and whatever business you have going on. It has nothing to do with me."

"Is that what you'll say to me? Well, yes. It doesn't affect you alone. It affects me! It affects your sister! It affects every other person involved in the business. The partners and all. So yes, Jordan. It's not all about you. Nobody should suffer because of your terrible decision."

"I've told you not to bother. It's my problem and I'll sort it out. Besides, you don't care about me or Racheal. And I don't see how this affects you. Last I checked, you withdrew from the family business to start up another that no one knows about."

She was silent for a while after he said that.

"And where's your wife? I want to see her." She said after some minutes. My heart was beating fast.

I didn't know when Anna came up to where I was standing. I turned sharply.

"What are you doing here!" I was startled, and annoyed at the same time, that she had to see me eavesdropping.

"Sorry, ma, I came to clean." She said. I was sure she was surprised that I was listening to their conversation.

"Leave. You'll do it later." I told her, feeling slightly ashamed.

"Alright." She said and tried to leave in a hurry.

"And hey," I called her back. "You did not see anything."

"Noted, ma," She said. I watched her leave until she was out of sight.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" Jordan's mother asked again.

"I've told you, you have no business with her."

"I will be back, Jordan. This isn't over. You have a lot of explaining to do." She grabbed her handbag and left. I heaved a sigh of relief.

I quickly went back to the room so that Jordan would not know I had been eavesdropping.

"How'd it go with your mum?" I asked as soon as he walked him. I was pretending to arrange the clothes in the cabinet.

"Never mind," he said, and relaxed on the bed.

"I know, right, online trolls."

"You did not come down to greet her." He said, ignoring my statement. I was wondering. Was I supposed to? Maybe I would have, if I wasn't eavesdropping.

"I thought she wanted to speak to you about something important. I didn't want to interfere." I said, unsure if I lied correctly.

"She's your mother-in-law. You should have come down to say something."

"Why will I do that? You don't even respect her yourself. How would I have approached her when her own son despises her? Why didn't you introduce me to her? What could I have done? It was you she wanted to see, not me!" I felt the urge to say all this to him, but I kept it buried in my head.

"I'm sorry, Jordan." I said finally after some minutes of silence."

"Never mind. I wouldn't even want you to."

"You just said I was supposed to," I said, pretending to get annoyed.

"Don't mind me. It's nothing. Just pulling your legs." He said and invited me to the bed. He began kissing and caressing me softly.

Pulling my legs! That was the tip of the iceberg. With what I saw there, I knew a lot would come my way. There would be so much to deal with. The woman I saw, my mother-in-law, looked like trouble. Trouble was written all over her. When I first saw her on the morning of the wedding, I was scared that I might not be enough. Even though I had this confidence within me, I was still scared that she might not like me. Now it was all confirmed.

It's too late to back out now. I should have probably left my sister with her baggage.