Chapter 123 - Her Version

On the other side of the city, in the Ming family house.

Renee sat on the bed and was squealing happily while hugging the pillow. 

She was excited when she heard it from Reuben's mouth that he had finally lost his virginity.

Though it was not with Talia, at least it was with some other girl. It did not matter who the woman was as long as he was happy with her.

Felix was sitting beside her and was listening to their conversation in silence. 

When he saw how happy she was, he looked at his wife and shook his head. Then taking a notepad, he wrote something down and showed it to her.

*Don't be so happy, remember what Talia told us about that woman!!*

Reading those words, Renee's earlier joy of meeting her grandkids sooner than she had expected turned into intense fury.

She remembered how Talia had cried because of that woman's wicked deeds.

---

When Talia had arrived with her mother for lunch, she looked sad and aggrieved. 

Upon inquiring what had caused her mood to sour, she confessed about how she had tried to sleep with Reuben.

She sincerely apologized for the method she had used but justified her reason for using drugs by saying that she just wanted to get closer to her brother Reuben.

While Felix did not approve the usage of such devious means, he too hoped that Talia would become his future daughter-in-law so he did not rebuke her too much.

Renee on the other hand was ecstatic. 

She knew that Reuben was not in the least bit serious about getting married and having a family of his own. So she was now desperate enough to not blame Talia for her mistakes.

When Renee had questioned whether she had succeeded in her task, Talia broke down into a fit of tears.

They spent a long amount of time trying to calm her. After some cajoling and coaxing, she revealed the reason for her immense distress.

"Aunt, when I was talking to Val about my plan, I think someone had overheard our conversation." She spoke between sobs.

"We weren't aware that there was someone else there so we discussed our entire plan and when Val left me and went away, I went to Brother Reuben's room and waited for him but he never arrived." Her body trembled as she cried to show how miserable her experience was.

"What happened, Talia baby?" Eve Zheng was also worried.

"I waited the entire night, Mum. But there was no sign of him anywhere!" She clenched her fists when she remembered how desolate she felt when she waited and waited but all in vain.

"I don't know what happened but I suddenly felt weird and fell asleep. I only woke up the next morning." She wiped her tears and continued.

The reason for this was the entire bottle of wine that she had guzzled but she did not bother to point it out.

Eve and Renee were afraid that something had happened to Talia and looked at her anxiously.

"No. Thank God that nothing happened to me. But…" She stopped and looked hesitant.

"But what?" Eve, Renee and Felix all asked at the same time.

"The next morning I heard brother Reuben's voice outside the room and rushed out to see if he was okay. He had not noticed my presence and I somehow overheard Brother Reuben talking to his assistant in the hallway." She whispered.

'Mathew was there but he did not inform me about this!' Renee was angry that he had not given her such juicy gossip.

"He was worried that people might find out about what happened last night. He asked Mathew to handle everything carefully." She continued her version of the story.

"At first I was confused about what he meant by that when nothing happened between us." She recalled her confusion at that moment.

"But later on, a strange woman emerged from one of the rooms. Brother was shocked to see her, then I don't know what happened, he suddenly started acting weird." Her brows furrowed when she recalled how they stuck together like glue.

"What exactly happened?" Felix questioned.

"She hugged his waist and even stuck close to him! I'm sure she did something to Brother Reuben. They even rubbed it in my face that they slept together!" She wailed pitifully.

Lina's smug face emerged in her mind which caused her to weep bitterly.

Eve's heart ached for her daughter and she glared at the Ming couple accusingly.

"Is this what you have taught your child!?" She spoke through gritted teeth.

"This entire thing happened because your daughter decided to drug my son!" Felix voiced out his dissatisfaction when he heard her accusation.

Renee was just glad that he slept with someone at the end of the day. Even if it was not Talia.

"Please don't fight! Brother Reuben is also the victim here!" Her words stopped the adults from fighting and they looked at her in confusion.

"I witnessed how uneasy he looked and how his expression was rigid. Do you know what that means?" She looked at everyone and they shook their heads.

"I think she is blackmailing him. That is why he is so scared that people will find out about it." She enjoyed the look of anger that emerged on their faces.

"I even think that she might have some proof against him which is the reason why Brother Reuben introduced that wicked woman as his girlfriend when he met me." Tears welled up in her eyes once again.

She made them believe that Lina was now threatening Reuben with pictures of their intimate time together.

Talia lowered her head and smirked when she saw how furious the elders looked.

'Let's see how smug you are when you face Aunt Renee's anger! Once she gets angry no one can stop her!' She sneered and looked up again with a pitiful face.

---

So when Felix reminded her about their conversation with Talia, her earlier happiness faded.

Though she did not mind the status of the woman who Reuben chose to spend his life with, she would definitely not tolerate some vicious woman who would jeopardize their family's peace.

'There's already one person in this family to disturb our peace, we do not need another.' Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

When she heard the stifled laugh come from the other side of the phone, she quickly made a decision.

To teach the woman who had tried to mess with her son, a lesson that she would never forget!

She turned on the voice recorder on her phone and tried to get proof that she was blackmailing Reuben.

She acted as if she was excited to meet this woman and then she would make Lina confess about her crimes.

All she needed to do was make Lina spill that she had blackmailed him after sleeping with him, then she could hand the blackmailer over to the police with the evidence.

Thus she spoke viciously to Lina and even mocked her for being a greedy woman.

But as it turns out her assumptions were all wrong.

When she heard Reuben's version of the story, she understood what might have actually transpired. 

The beep sound of the call ending woke her up and she realized that they had misunderstood the situation all along.

How could Lina blackmail her son when they did not even sleep together?

Moreover, everything that Talia had told them about Lina was completely false and she was the one who had saved her son from such a big disaster whose culprit was Talia herself.

Felix was aware of his son's personality. He would never lie to save someone else, so he was sure that everything Reuben just said was nothing but the truth.

Renee felt guilty that she had fallen for Talia's tricks. She was not sure whether they were intentional or unintentional.

But what she was sure of, is that she had just hurt the feelings of her son's savior.

Looking at the blank screen on her phone, she turned towards her husband and pouted.

"What should I do now? I just humiliated the person who saved our son's life." She leaned on his chest and asked in a soft voice.

"We did make a mistake by blindly believing everything that Talia had said. We must apologize for our rude behavior." He did not put the blame on her but took an equal share in the mistake.

"Try calling him back." He rubbed her back and encouraged her.

The phone rang for a long time but no one answered. So she dialed his number once again.

Finally, when she heard the call connect, her son's deep voice was heard.

"What!" He questioned.

His voice was hoarse and it seemed like he was breathing hard.

His parents were curious about what he was doing that was making his breath so ragged.

"Son, can I talk to the young lady?" She softly whispered.

"Heh! I'll be surprised if she agrees to speak to me after all this!" He scowled at his mother.

"But-" She was cut off by the sound of something crashing to the floor.

"Mom, I'm busy! I'll call you later!" He hung up once again.

Renee and Felix glanced at each other and wondered what exactly he was doing right now.