It wasn't enough to establish things verbally, so I requested that everything be put down in a contract.

After signing it, Calvin immediately took me to the mall and bought me several outfits. He paid for everything.

Before long, it was New Year's Eve. I went back to his home with him.

After becoming a successful CEO, the first thing Calvin did was to buy a massive villa and have his mom move in.

The two of us stood outside the villa. He took a deep breath before saying, "Prepare yourself, Ms. Sheraton."

As the door opened, the elegant interior I'd imagined was nowhere to be seen. Instead, cardboard boxes and empty plastic bottles were piled everywhere.

A faint but unmistakable stench lingered in the air.

My smile froze on my face.

This old lady was still hoarding trash despite living in a villa. She truly had some unique hobbies.

"Now you know how terrifying my mom can be," Calvin whispered.

"Cal! You're back!" His mother, Anne Thornton, hurried out from deeper inside the villa moments later.

She was dressed very plainly, with a free promotional grocery store apron still hanging around her neck. She looked more like the housekeeper than the owner of a villa.

"Mom, this is my girlfriend, Beryl Sheraton," Calvin said.

I gave her a polite smile. "Hello, Mrs. Hearth. I brought you some gifts."

"Oh, you shouldn't have! An old lady like me has no use for fancy things. Come on in!" Mrs. Hearth led me inside while saying, "I'm sorry the house is such a mess. I hope you don't mind."

It was such a waste for a villa this huge to be used entirely for storing recyclables.

Unable to tolerate it, I went along with what Mrs. Hearth said and shot back, "Yeah, it really is a mess. If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd just walked into a recycling center."

I turned to look at Calvin. "It seems like your family isn't exactly thrilled to have me here. This entire place is filled with junk. Are you trying to humiliate me or something? Don't make me call my dad later."

We'd planned this out. I was posing as the daughter of one of his business partners. That way, his family would take me seriously.

Calvin turned to Mrs. Hearth. "What's going on, Mom? Didn't I already tell you to stop bringing junk into the house?"

"What do you mean by junk? All of this can be sold for money! They're valuable! You young people just don't understand how to save," she muttered, sounding aggrieved.

"Call someone to clean this place up. I'm not spending New Year's in a garbage dump!" I pulled out my phone immediately to book a cleaning service.

"You can't throw these away! That's all money!" Mrs. Hearth rushed over to stop me.

Calvin stopped her and said, "She's Mr. Sheraton's daughter. Her dad could easily bankrupt me if you upset her. We'd have to sell this villa to pay off debts, and then you can spend the rest of your life collecting junk!"

The cleaning crew arrived quickly and even brought a truck. The whole team worked tirelessly, and by the end of the day, every pile of junk in the house was gone.

Mrs. Hearth stood listlessly by the side, staring blankly at the now-empty villa.

I glanced at her and decided to add more fuel to the fire. "I'll let it slide this time, Mrs. Hearth. But please don't bring junk home again. This house needs to stay spotless when I marry into the family in the future. I can't stand clutter."

"I can't believe she's bossing me around before she's even married Calvin," Mrs. Hearth muttered under her breath after shooting me a look.

I pretended not to hear her.

This was only the beginning.

It was soon dinnertime.

Calvin quietly reminded me to only eat the vegetables and avoid everything else.

As I sat at the dining table, I thought the holiday feast actually looked decent. But I noticed a major problem upon closer inspection.

Right in the center of the table sat a massive seafood platter with a whole lobster on display. However, the shell had turned dull and grayish, and the meat looked soft and watery. It was obvious it had gone bad.

Several other dishes looked just as questionable. They seemed to have been reheated so many times that they'd turned into soggy, unrecognizable paste. There was no telling how many days those leftovers had been sitting around.

The holiday ham, usually the centerpiece of a festive dinner, was already carved down to the bone. There was barely any meat left on it. I had no idea why it was even on the table.

Perhaps Mrs. Hearth already realized that I wasn't easy to push around. She spun the lazy Susan and moved all the meat dishes in front of me.

She said, "I've never had the heart to eat this lobster. Since you're here today, you should have it. I'll just eat the leftovers."

"This pot roast is from Christmas, Mom. Why haven't you thrown it out yet? It's probably gone bad. Don't eat it." Calvin tried to take the tray away, but Mrs. Hearth snatched it back.

She retorted, "How could it have gone bad when I kept it in the fridge? If you don't want it, I'll eat it. The two of you can eat the fresh food."

Fresh food? Other than the greens, everything on the table was leftovers.

I rolled my eyes, grabbed Calvin's phone, and ordered a catered holiday feast from one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city.

Then, I stood up, took the tray with the lobster, and dumped it straight into the trash.

"Mrs. Hearth, if you don't like me, just say it to my face. Why serve a lobster that's been dead for over a week? Your son is a successful CEO, and you're serving this to his girlfriend when she comes over for the first time. Aren't you worried about what people will say about him?"

Calvin immediately backed me up. "That's right, Mom. Are you seriously trying to sabotage my relationship? I finally found someone at the age of 30, and you'd rather see me end up alone?"

Mrs. Hearth looked heartbroken. Staring at the lobster in the trash, she reached out as if she wanted to take it back out. "That lobster is expensive! I've kept it carefully frozen all these years. It should still be fine to eat."

If I'd been acting upset earlier, now I was genuinely laughing out of disbelief.

I couldn't believe Mrs. Hearth had actually cooked a lobster that had been frozen for years. It was as if she wanted no one to survive dinner.

I was genuinely furious now. "Oh, wow. You really tried to feed me a lobster that's been sitting around for years? Were you trying to poison me? What exactly are you trying to pull here? I'm really going to break up with you, Calvin!"

Calvin urged, "Mom! Why don't you throw out these leftovers already? Beryl's upset now. How do you think her dad is going to see me after this?"

He grabbed the leftover dishes and started tossing them straight into the trash. I hurried over to help.

I even spat into each plate just to make sure Mrs. Hearth wouldn't try to fish them back out later. That made everything completely unsalvageable.

The luxurious catered holiday feast I ordered arrived not long after.

Mrs. Hearth sighed when she saw the freshly-made spread on the table. "You two go ahead and eat. I'll just have some bread. I'm practically at death's door anyway, I don't need fancy food like this."

I couldn't be bothered to persuade her. I merely replied, "Suit yourself. If we don't finish this food tonight, I'm throwing it all out later anyway."

"What? Food this good and you're going to throw it away?" Mrs. Hearth stared at me, her eyes wide.

"That's how I am at home. I never eat leftovers since it's unhealthy. And if I marry into this family, the house rules are going to change. Everything has to match my standards," I said.

Calvin looked at me affectionately, as if completely smitten. "Okay, I'll do anything you want."

At that, Mrs. Hearth lost interest in her bread. She grabbed her cutlery and started piling food onto her plate. She then stuffed bite after bite into her mouth like she was afraid the trash can would get to it first.

"Have more lobster, Mrs. Hearth. Otherwise I'm tossing it later," I said as I slid the platter toward her. "There's plenty of beef stew here too. Calvin and I definitely can't finish it ourselves."

Mrs. Hearth was used to eating leftovers all the time. Suddenly getting a freshly cooked luxurious meal clearly delighted her. A faint smile even started to creep onto her face.

That night, Calvin gave me a thumbs-up.

He said, "You're incredible, Ms. Sheraton. You actually got my mom under control. This is the first holiday feast I've ever enjoyed this much. Get some sleep. We'll be visiting my dad's grave tomorrow."

Calvin had always been a thoughtful son. His father had originally been buried back in their village, but after Calvin made it big, he moved his father's remains to a prime cemetery plot in the city.

…

We were up before dawn the next morning.

I was wondering why we would need to leave so early when Mrs. Hearth said, "It's a long walk through the hills. We have to start early."

It was only then that I realized she was planning to walk to the cemetery despite having seven or eight cars parked in the garage.

"The soles on my shoes are lambskin, Mrs. Hearth. They'll be ruined if they get wet. I'm not walking. I'll be taking the car," I said.

Calvin chimed in immediately, "That's right, Mom. Beryl grew up with chauffeurs taking her everywhere. You should just ride with us."

Mrs. Hearth shook her head. "Absolutely not. Do you know how expensive gas is? I walked everywhere back in the village. I'm used to it. You young people just don't exercise enough. Sitting in cars all day is ruining your health."

I didn't bother arguing with her. If she wanted to walk, that was her choice. "Alright then, Mrs. Hearth. Go ahead and walk if you want. Calvin and I will drive there and wait for you."

Right before getting into the car, Calvin asked again, "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Mom? The gas costs the same no matter how many people are in the car. You might as well ride with us."

But Mrs. Hearth refused to come no matter what. She waved us off and told us to leave first.

Calvin looked torn, but he closed the car door and drove off at my insistence.

We arrived at the cemetery gate fairly quickly. After killing the engine, we sat in the car and waited for Mrs. Hearth to arrive.

But she didn't show up no matter how long we waited.

At first, I assumed Mrs. Hearth was just slow on her feet. But even as noon approached, she still hadn't appeared.

Even when Calvin called her seven to eight times, she didn't answer.

"She probably didn't charge her phone to save electricity and must have left it at home," he muttered, frustrated.

After a few more attempts, the call finally went through. Someone answered on the other end of the line. "Are you the family of this phone's owner? She fell on the mountain trail and was brought to our hospital. Please get here quickly."

We couldn't be bothered to visit the grave anymore. We jumped into the car and sped down the mountain toward the hospital.

"It's all my fault. She wouldn't have fallen if I'd gone up with her," Calvin said, wallowing in guilt as he sat in the passenger seat. "I should just let her be frugal all she wants. She's my only family. It wasn't easy for her to raise me either."

His anxiety skyrocketed the moment he heard about Mrs. Hearth's fall. He couldn't even be bothered to keep up with his act anymore.

It probably wasn't the first time this had happened. Calvin might've tried to correct her stubborn habit before, but he softened immediately after seeing her hurt.

He said, "Maybe we should just forget about this whole partnership, Ms. Sheraton. I just can't bring myself to be harsh with my mom when she's like this now."