Chapter 7
774words
At first, some people were still skeptical.
[It’s one-sided; who knows if that’s the truth?]
But when the evidence was revealed, the comments changed.
When the debt note that Lydia and Ben had signed and the six-year worth of bank transaction records were published, the public jumped to their feet.
[Oh my God, they had borrowed so much money, and they didn’t even pay a single cent? On top of that, they still have the nerve to use her retirement fund?]
[My blood pressure rose when I saw that rigged raffle box! They were all ‘in-laws’!]
[The daughter was crying so pitifully during her livestream, and it turns out that she’s the one who didn’t spend the New Year’s with her own mother for ten years?]
Lydia and Ben had not expected the people online to dox them and find out their work details.
They were working in MNCs in the city. Ben was in the middle management, and he was paid fairly well.
It was completely different from the poor image that they had displayed in their livestream.
[So it’s not because they’re poor, they just didn’t want to pay her back!]
[He’s receiving a high salary while using his mother-in-law’s retirement fund. What on earth is this behavior?]
[When she was taking care of her ill husband, her daughter only visited three times? That’s so cold-blooded!]
The change in public opinion had made Lydia and Ben frantic.
They deleted their previous livestream video.
However, nothing ever got fully deleted from the internet. Someone had already saved the video and re-uploaded it.
At the same time, I received an unexpected phone call. It was from Audrey.
Audrey sounded old and frail over the phone.
“Eleanor, can we meet? There is something… that I want to tell you.”
I initially wanted to reject, but Gabby advised me to listen to what she had to say.
“It’s good to understand what they’re doing. We can use that to prepare for our future legal proceedings.”
We agreed to meet at a cafe.
Audrey looked older than when I last saw her. She had eye bags and her fingers were shaking involuntarily.
“Eleanor, I know Lydia and Ben were despicable,” Audrey said directly as she sobbed.
“But they had a reason…”
I calmly stared at her and waited for her to continue.
Audrey started to cry.
“My husband, Richard… He was diagnosed with cancer three years ago.
“The treatment fee is very high, and medical insurance is limited.
“In order to treat him, Lydia and Ben spent almost all of their savings…”
I was stunned. It was totally unexpected.
Audrey wiped her tears.
“They didn’t mean to use your card, but they had no other choice.
“He needs targeted drugs, and the treatments cost twenty grand per month.
“With both of their salaries and our retirement funds, we can only barely cover the medical expenses. But for our daily expenses…”
I stared at her and asked, “So you have been relying on my retirement fund to maintain your lifestyle?”
Audrey nodded. Almost immediately after, she shook her head.
“I know this isn’t right, but Lydia said you’re her mother and you won’t desert her.
“We thought that when Richard gets better, we’ll…”
“What will you do?” I interrupted her.
“Audrey, I’m sorry about Richard, but this isn’t an excuse for you to lie to me and use me.”
Audrey suddenly asked me, “If we told you the truth, would you still help us?”
I remained quiet for a while.
I could not answer that question.
Maybe I would help, but I would definitely not help them like this.
I was kept in the dark and treated as an ATM. I could not even get a single word of truth.
I finally said, “It’s pointless to talk about this now.
“Lydia and Ben were attacking me in the livestream, and it’s caused me serious harm.
“This isn’t something that sympathy can wipe out.”
Audrey looked pale.
“Are you going to sue them?”
I stood up.
“They chose this themselves.
“Help me to tell Lydia that she’s an adult, and she has to be responsible for her own choices.”
When I left the cafe, I did not feel happy.
Richard Smith’s illness was a wild card.
But it was not an excuse for Lydia to lie to me.
If she had told me the truth earlier, we might not have ended up like this.
But those were all up to conjecture.
It was up to God to forgive them.
As for me, I was no saint.
