With Debbie's assurance, Tabitha nodded in approval.
She liked her daughter-in-law. She was simple, honest but also quite perky when she was with Carlos.
Megan sat next to Carlos with her hands propped against her jaw, wearing her typical sweet smile. "Tabitha is so nice to Aunt Debbie. I'm envious," she said.
Tabitha smiled, "Megan, one day when you get married, your mother-in-law will be nice to you too."
"I'm too young to think about getting married, Tabitha," Megan replied. At that point, a housemaid handed her a cup of tea; she took it and lowered her head to take a sip.
Tabitha smiled and continued to talk with Debbie. "Which year are you in at university? Busy at school?" she asked.
"I'm in my Junior year. We're not so busy," she replied.
"What's your major?" Tabitha asked.
Just then, the housemaid with Jake upstairs ran down, flustered. "Mr. and Mrs. Huo, something's up," she reported nervously.
"What's wrong?" asked Megan.
The housemaid ignored her and looked at Debbie, saying, "The boy… Mrs. Huo, I didn't mean it. I was cleaning. I didn't notice… I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen…"
The housemaid was so scared she was on the verge of crying.
Debbie had an ominous feeling. She stood up and went upstairs.
The others followed at her heels.
There were a few rooms upstairs, but only the door to Debbie's room was open. She walked in, only to find that her tidy room was now a total disaster.
Jake was nowhere to be seen and water could be heard running in the bathroom.
Debbie walled around to examine the room. When she passed by the dressing table, she saw that the lines of cosmetics had been messed up and some products were missing.
Then she pushed open the door of the bathroom, to find that the boy was playing with the missing cosmetics with the faucet on. Standing in front of the mirror, he dabbed cream all over his face until it was completely covered. He put some on his body too, but more of the product was in the sink, being slowly washed into the drain.
Debbie felt her blood rise to her face. Without thinking, she rushed up to the boy and shouted, "What are you doing?!" She turned the faucet off and attempted to snatch the remaining cream away from the boy.
However, it was already too late. On the vanity cupboard lay face cream jars, hydration essence bottles, hydrating toner bottles…all empty.
Debbie's face darkened. The boy got scared at the sight and threw the cream jar at Debbie. "Bad woman! Bad woman!" he yelled.
"Shut up!" Debbie shouted.
The cream jar was smashed against her thigh. It didn't hurt much but the rest of the cream spilled all over her clothes, making her blood boil even more.
The chaos stumped the others in the bathroom. Carlos pulled Debbie into his arms and asked, "What's the matter?"
Debbie's heart ached when she saw the empty cosmetic bottles and jars. At that moment, she was too sad to say a word. The boy ran towards Megan and started wailing. Debbie threw him a glance and gritted her teeth, trying not to explode with rage.
Those cosmetics cost an arm and a leg. Now, they were ruined by a naughty boy before she could use them even once.
Megan held the crying boy in her arms and kept comforting him. "Aunt Debbie, those were just a few bottles of cosmetics. Did you have to be so harsh on a little boy?" she said in a low voice.
'Just a few bottles of cosmetics? They cost tens of thousands of dollars! Also, it was Carlos' money. It was hard-earned money. Why should it be wasted like this?' Debbie thought.
Her eyes reddened. After a deep breath, she said to Megan in a hard voice, "Call his mom."
"What for?" Megan asked.
"Tell her what he did and ask her how she educates her son! Shouldn't she take responsibility? I won't ask them to compensate me for the ruined cosmetics, but shouldn't they apologize?!" Debbie said, unintentionally raising her voice at the last sentence. She completely lost hold of her emotions.
Megan was stunned. "Aunt Debbie, don't you think you are making too much of a deal over a bunch of cosmetics?" she said.
Debbie insisted, "Yes, they were just cosmetics, but your uncle Carlos bought them for me. I didn't even have the heart to use them. Now, look at this mess! They're all ruined. Do you think a little boy is capable of taking the responsibility? Would it be too much to ask his parents to apologize?"
Megan awkwardly looked at Carlos, who remained silent. As if oblivious of her stare, he stood next to Debbie, with no intention of uttering a word.
Standing there, Tabitha watched everything quietly.
Without backup, Megan said weakly, "Aunt Debbie, please don't be mad. It was me who brought Jake here. How about I compensate you for the ruined cosmetics? I can have a new set delivered here very soon. Boys tend to be naughty. Please don't take a little boy's naughtiness to heart."
'I'm the one taking the little boy's naughtiness to heart? Megan, that's quite a tongue you have!' Debbie sneered inwardly. "Don't bother! I only need an apology. Just call his parents," she demanded. Then, she turned to Tabitha, full of guilt. "Sorry, Mom, I will clean up the mess right away."
Tabitha smiled, "Debbie, come out of the bathroom. Leave the cleaning to the housemaids."
Debbie turned her back to the others to wipe her eyes. Carlos pulled her by the arms and said, "Walk with me."
Knowing she wouldn't be able to say no, Debbie followed him out of the bathroom with her head down.
Carlos took her into the walk-in closet and closed the door. Gently, he wiped the tears from her face and soothed her, "Those were just cosmetics. They were not worth your tears."
The more she thought about it, the more she get upset. "I always liked that brand but couldn't afford it. I might never be able to wear that kind of makeup if it were not for the bank card you have me. Now that I finally have them, they were ruined. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent for nothing." she sobbed.
"It's no big deal. Sugar, don't cry. If you like that brand so much, I'll asked them to deliver a few more sets here," he said.
Debbie wiped her eyes and glare at him. "Tens of thousands of dollars is no big deal? You worked hard for that money! Why should it be wasted? You might have stayed up late to earn it or drank with your clients just to make them happy. It's not easy to make money. Besides, that boy was way too rude. Somebody needs to knock some sense into his head," she told him.
It would have been easier for her to let go if that boy hadn't done it on purpose. But he not only refused to apologize but also threw a jar at her.
The old her would have spank him by now.
Carlos realized that Debbie wasn't mad just because of the cosmetics. She was mad partially because of the boy's bad attitude and partly because she felt as if his hard work had been wasted. "Okay, there, there. You know I don't care about that sum of money, so don't get upset. Go get changed. I'll ask Megan to call the boy's parent, all right?" he comfort her.
After wiping away her tears, he kissed her eyes gently.
'Deb, my girl. Do you know how much it pains me when you cry?' he thought. '
