At Mama Lucy's House
After parking her car, Lucy stood outside the house for a few seconds. She took a deep breath to calm herself.
Then she began walking slowly toward the door.
When she opened it, she noticed the house was completely dark. Only the outside lights were on, casting a faint glow that filtered inside.
In her mind, she assumed that her mother had probably already gone to sleep.
So she removed her high-heeled shoes and held them in her hand so they wouldn't make noise and disturb her mother.
But suddenly the living room light turned on.
Lucy was startled and stopped abruptly.
"My God…"
Her mother, Madam Rani, was sitting on the sofa with her arms crossed over her chest, her face tightened with anger.
Lucy swallowed hard. She knew very well that whenever her mother wore that stern expression, that day would not pass peacefully—not even a little.
"Madam Rani… do you want to kill me with shock?" she said in a pitiful voice.
Madam Rani slowly stood up, staring at her daughter with sharp eyes filled with fury.
"Die?" she began sarcastically.
"That would be even better! Maybe I'd live in peace without someone giving me worries every day!"
Lucy felt completely confused.
Her mother, who was known by the neighbors for her kindness and who was not used to uttering harsh words, how could she say such cruel things?
Before Lucy could ask anything, Madam Rani continued in an even harsher voice.
"Oscar called me. He told me everything!"
Lucy froze.
From those words alone, she immediately understood what had caused Madam Rani to lose her calm and explode like that.
"How could you do something so shameful like that?!" her mother continued.
"Is your heart made of iron?"
Lucy took a slow breath.
"Mom, this has nothing to do with me having a heart of iron or stone," she said calmly, without much emotion.
"Oscar knows very well about our agreement. He's the one who broke it. So… he brought this upon himself."
Those words seemed to completely exhaust Madam Rani's patience.
"You… you…" she said while gently patting her chest to calm herself.
Lucy was startled and quickly moved closer to her.
"Mom, are you okay?"