A surprise to come

"Ah, if this isn't the young master!" one of the housekeepers exclaimed upon seeing Irvyn entering the house. "Must be my good luck, to see such a rare sight."

"Indeed, Mrs. Bertha. Seems like the owner of this place can't be coming here that often, thanks to outsiders claiming their intrusion in it," Irvyn responded, while keeping a calm look on him. Clearly, his words weren't nice to listen, so for obvious reasons, the woman didn't like it. But the fact that the woman didn't even try to hide her displeasure in front of him surprised Yvette.

"And who this lady might be?" The women stole a glance at Yvette, looking up and down, sizing her up.

"Ah, she is…" Irvyn stopped in the middle of his words. Something played on his mind all of a sudden, and after a pause, he spoke up again. "You know what? Call everyone. Let them know that Irvyn has come with his wife."

"Okay… wait, WIFE?" the woman shouted so loud, everyone working around the house heard her loud and clear. And for obvious reasons, everyone's face turned pale in shock.

"Let's take a rest while everyone comes down," Irvyn turned at Yvette, signaling her towards the big living room ahead of them. Even though he maintained his usual straight face all the time, Yvette somehow felt like she could detect the amused look on him.

– – – – – –

It didn't take long for everyone in this house to come down. Not long after they both took a seat on one of the couches, the first one to come down rushing was a middle aged woman.

"Irvyn?" Both Irvyn and Yvette looked behind them, and found her coming down the stairs. She had an awfully glossy attire on her, and the awkward orangish color of it was quite the eyesore for them, especially for Yvette, who is overly sensitive to attire and appearances. Either the woman is too careless to think about what suits her age and what not, or there is only one option left. She must be too boastful, and loves to show off her wealth by wearing them all over her. And judging by the heavy shiny stones she had on her, Yvette was sure it was the latter.

"What's with this sudden intrusion in the house without any prior notice?" the woman spoke up in a quite high pitched voice, which sounded a bit rude and unwelcoming to Yvette.

"Ah, well, even though I know I am totally not liked by any of the people present in this house, I don't think I need to make an appointment to come to my birth house, dear mother."

Yvette let out a small gasp from her mouth, immediately closing her mouth with her palm. The lady with this rubbish sense of style, is his mother, the infamous Mrs. Stella Collins! She couldn't believe her ears or her eyes right now. She looked really different from the magazine photos, Yvette confirmed her eyes once more by looking at her all over again. Nope, her eyes weren't deceiving her, she indeed looks different.

"Sarcastic as ever, humph," Irvyn's mother, Stella, sneered at her son. "And what is this commotion I am hearing about? Who is this girl?" Stella gave a side look towards Yvette, looking skeptically at her.

Noticing Stella's judging gaze on her, Yvette hurriedly walked a few steps forward before introducing herself. "Good evening, Mrs. Collins. I am Yvette, lawfully wedded wife of Mr. Irvyn Collins."

"Heh, lawfully wedded. What drug did you use to seduce Irvyn into your bed, huh?" Stella scoffed at Yvette's words, flipping the hair resting on her shoulders. She slowly walked closer towards her, and lifted her face up harshly by grabbing her chin. "You look so young, are you even legal to sell your body like that? Don't tell me my family name's going to get tarnished by something this messy?" She shaked off the hands of her face, looking away. "You don't even have anything that special in you to seduce even an old man."

"Figures why an oldie like your son of someone with an equally horrible taste got hooked up," Yvette muttered in a low voice, but not low enough not to be able to be heard by any one of them present in the living room.

"What did you say?" Stella snapped at her, clearly triggered by the critical blow on her taste.

"Shall I help you recall what YOU said just now, oh dear mother in law?" Yvette brought out a mocking edge in her tone, raising her voice surprisingly higher, even shocking Irvyn. "You just accused someone of selling her body to seduce someone like him? This man? Cold as ice, not budging with anything, and devoid of any emotions, this guy? You must think so highly of your son here, don't you? And here I was wondering, you must be totally hating his guts, hah." Yvette let out a disappointed sigh, shaking her head side by side. "How foolish of me. And here I was, prepared to act all polite, show all courtesy, and greet you. Sheeesh, you missed big time, dear mother in law."

"Oh my goodness, what is this insolent behavior?" Stella screamed out in shock by every words Yvette spoke. In her entire lifetime, she had never heard anyone speak in such a sharp tone and disrespectful manner. "Irvyn! You brought this uncouth girl home as your wife? You want to tarnish our name that badly now? Look how uncultured her words are? How filthy her thinking is!"

"I don't think it's her whose thinking, way of talking is filthy, dear mother," Irvyn spoke up, with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Rather, not a single word in her speech was something weird, or as you said, filthy. Unlike someone who blatantly used words like selling their bodies to other men to a young girl who was just married into a so-called prestigious family. More reasons to hate the Collins in my name now."

Irvyn turned at his side, facing Yvette now. She had a proud look on her, that one after winning a fight of wit. He wouldn't lie, when Stella started to insult her with those filthy remarks, Irvyn was almost there to defend her. But the way she quickly cut in between, and the way she just slapped those replies in her face, it was too entertaining to watch, and too hard not to laugh out loud.

"Surely, she is so interesting," once again, Irvyn got proof of his initial thoughts about her.