I placed the two plates of freshly made breakfast on the dining table. Thomas still had a class to teach at 8:30 am. After breakfast, he helped me clear the table and do the dishes before leaving the house.

After that, I turned on the television and sat on the couch. Once I increased the volume to a certain threshold, I started waiting for Mathias and Pamola to leave their room.

When the hour hand of the clock was almost done with its third lap, the door of the silent room was finally opened from the inside.

I raised my head to look at the time. It was almost 10:00 am. It seemed that Mathias didn't plan on going to work again today.

A figure walked past me without even glancing in my way. He made a beeline for the kitchen right away.

Soon, an impatient voice sounded. "Mom, where's my and Pamola's breakfast? Why isn't there any food in the kitchen?"

I didn't even avert my gaze from the television screen as I replied casually, "I thought you two weren't going to have breakfast again, so I didn't prepare anything for you. Otherwise, it'd be too big of a waste."

Mathias and Pamola kept emphasizing that they needed to have breakfast at 7:00 am. But in reality, they only woke up around that time a handful of times.

The breakfast that I had made for them in the past was either thrown into the trash or abandoned by the couple simply because they thought it was left cold for far too long.

In the end, I'd be the one eating the remaining food for lunch while smelling the nice smell of takeout that Matthias and Pamola ordered for their lunch.

Mathias rushed over to my side angrily. He barked out, "Mom, hurry up and fix two more plates of breakfast for me and Pamola! We stayed up till 3:00 am last night playing games! It's been almost 20 hours since we last ate!

"Besides, are you saying that you won't make breakfast for us just because we don't eat it? You still have to take care of us if we collapse from starvation anyway!"

I didn't say anything. My gaze was firmly trained on the television screen.

Mathias realized that I plainly ignored him, so he moved to stand in front of the television. Disgust and disdain were apparent on his face as he glared at me.

It was as though he was glaring at a slave instead of his own mother.

Soon, I turned to look at Mathias. "Are you a big baby? Why must your father and I do everything for you? You could've used the time questioning me to whip up a meal by now!

"Do you know what you look like right now? A sloth who has hands but doesn't know how to use them to make his own food!"

Mathias never expected that I had such a mean side to me. He was already used to me obeying his every whim and command, after all.

He remained rooted to the spot, clearly stunned.

A while later, the room door was opened once again. This time, Pamola walked out of the room.

"Honey, is breakfast not done yet? I'm so hungry!"

She paused for a moment when she noticed how tense things were between me and Mathias.

"Honey, are you and Mom…"

Only then did Mathias register what was going on. He turned around to look at Pamola.

"Honey, let's go out for lunch! I'll take you to the best restaurant in town! Tch! Does she seriously think her cooking's the best? She can just stay at home and eat all that garbage on her own!"

I just shook my head. To think that Mathias even jeered at me.

Idiots would always be idiots. They'd never be able to gain a brain cell, no matter how hard they tried.

When Pamola heard that they'd be dining at the best restaurant in town, she was so delighted that she went off into her own little world.

She didn't even hear the rest of Mathias' words. All she said was, "I'm going to get dressed and put on makeup!" before leaving.

Meanwhile, I thought sardonically, "Go on. Keep eating out a few more times. Right now, you still have money given to you by me and your father. Let's see how you, a lazy bum who doesn't show up for work, and that jobless wife of yours maintain your current level of expenses once you run out of money."

I lowered my gaze after that. Suddenly, I remembered the house Thomas and I had bought for Mathias and Pamola.

Recently, Pamola had given it to her younger brother.

During this period, Mathias still had a grudge against me for scolding him back then. Till now, he refused to talk to me.

Of course, I enjoyed the tranquility that came with his radio silence.

Whenever Mathias came to talk to me, it'd always be about asking me for money. To him, I was just as useful as a free ATM.

Pamola, on the other hand, began appearing around me frequently. I knew what she was doing, but I didn't expose her right away. The sight of her looking so stiff and awkward made me chuckle on the inside.

"Pamola, wash some fruits before serving them on a plate."

"Pamola, this coffee table is too filthy. Come clean it up."

"Pamola, the laundry is done. You should go hang it."

"Mom, I'm a little tired. Why don't you do that yourself? Whenever I'm home, my mom doesn't have the heart to let me do all these chores."

Pamola pretended to be exhausted as she sank on the couch. After that, she didn't move an inch.

I turned to look at her silently. Finally, Pamola's unnatural awkwardness was completely depleted. She revealed her true colors.

"Oh? Is that so? Then did you see how many chores I have to do every day? I'm the one who's been doing chores every day in this house! You think you're the only one who feels tired from doing these chores? Then what about me?

"Pamola, tell me the truth. Ever since you married into this family, have I asked you to do anything else other than these three chores today?"

I chuckled lightly, not believing any of Pamola's lies.

The reason why I was so nice to Pamola after she married Mathias was because of the incident that had happened before their marriage.

Once, I happened to see Pamola's mother taking her and her brother, who was four years younger than her, shopping.

Pamola's brother was half a head taller than both her and their mother. Yet Pamola was the one who was forced to carry all the shopping bags because of her mother's outright biasness toward the brother.

Back then, I had noticed how strong Pamola was. After all, she didn't even bend over despite having to carry that many things.

How was it possible for her to not be able to do any chores after marrying into my family?

"That's different! Now that I've married into this family, that means I'm a part of this family. I'm here to enjoy my life, not to work as a free maid!"

I had to say, I was amused by Pamola's nonsensical reasoning.

"Alright, then. You claim that you're a part of my family now. But your brother, on the other hand, isn't a part of my family, correct?"

"What makes you think you have the right to give the house my husband I bought for you to your brother?

"Not to mention, you keep returning to your parents' home at least once a month. It's bad enough that you've taken a lot of our valuables from this house back to your parents' home.

"But you also bought a lot of supplements for your family as well! Every time, the total price of those supplements is more than 3,000 thousand dollars!"

Pamola didn't know what to say, though her cheeks soon turned scarlet out of embarrassment.

"W-Well… you and Dad bought us that house, after all! Since you gave it to us, then we get to do whatever we want to the house!

"Besides, Mathias never protested against this decision! Mom, you're being overly controlling, aren't you?"

For some reason, Pamola thought her reasoning made sense.

"Then why don't you ask him whose name is the one that's written on the property deed? Whose money are you leeching off right now in order to afford such a nice life?"

As I watched Pamola widen her eyes slowly, I couldn't help but feel relieved that I had made a correct decision in the past.

Thomas and I had bought that house when Mathias was still a minor.

He was a very rebellious teenager back then. Thomas and I were worried that Mathias might sell the house and use the money for other entertainment purposes, so we left our names on the property deeds for the time being.

Back then, we genuinely thought that we only had one son, so our assets would eventually be his.

But now, I'd rather donate all of my money to society than leave these ungrateful and heartless bastards a single cent!

"If your brother doesn't move out of the house by next week, then don't blame me for calling the cops on him."

I opened the social media app that I had never used in my previous life.

Back then, Mathias never liked getting disciplined since the moment he was born. When he grew older, his ego grew exponentially, and he never showed anyone any respect.

Things changed when he became a high school student. After Mathias got severely punished due to his involvement in a rather severe incident at school, Thomas and I sat down and had a long talk about Mathias' behavior.

Since women were naturally observant and maternal, we decided that I'd be the one to quit my job and keep an eye on Mathias' studies in the end.

Once Mathias got married, I planned on returning to my job. But I ended up getting brainwashed by both Mathias and Pamola into taking care of them at home willingly.

In fact, I even had plans to raise my grandchildren once they were born.

Well, no one could force me to give up on my favorite job in this lifetime. After getting in touch with my boss, I finally realized that she had been reserving my position for me. I could return to that position whenever I wanted to.

After all, no one could ever surpass me in the field that I was a master in.

…

I went to the company for my initial handover process. Once I got home, I found out a bag left sitting on the carpet at the front door.

The thing was, it reeked terribly. A puddle of brownish yellow liquid even seeped out from beneath the bag and stained through more than half of the carpet.

I suppressed my anger as I tossed both the bag and the carpet into the trash can downstairs.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew across the area. That was when I saw the things inside the plastic bag. There were a few bunches of grapes that had already split open. Some unknown white organisms could be seen crawling all over the place.

I could feel nausea rising from the pits of my stomach at the sight.

After that, I rushed back home and used the disinfectant spray on the doorknob a few times. Only then did my nausea disappear.

At that moment, a figure walked over to me. It was Pamola.

"Mom, my mom mentioned that she hasn't seen you for a long time. She claims that she misses you a lot, so she's decided to drop by and visit you.

"By the way, she even left you a gift on the doorstep. Mom, my mom is really close to you. I'm so jealous of your relationship!"

Pamola took my hand while I wasn't paying attention to her. She quickly slapped on a delighted expression, as though she was genuinely happy that her mother and I were such good friends.

The nausea that I had just managed to suppress came back twice as fast. I shook Pamola's hand off forcefully.

"Hmph! She missed me, you said? More like she wants me dead! After all, you can just go around vacationing to your hearts' content with my and Thomas' assets once we're dead, right?"

Pamola looked surprised, as though I had read her mind. Her gaze flitted everywhere out of awkwardness as she exclaimed, "That's impossible! You've misunderstood me!"

It turned out that heartless ingrates truly existed in this world. No matter how nice we were to them, they'd backstab us in the most vulnerable point.

I merely brushed past Pamola before heading toward the living room.

Howard Dentworth and Yolanda Myers could be seen slumping on the couch while nibbling on cashew nuts. Fruit peels and nut crumbs could be seen scattering across the coffee table and the floor. Shoes that were tainted with mud were strewn everywhere.

I had just cleaned up this apartment in the morning, yet it was already this filthy.

Mathias sat next to them on a small stool while pouring them glasses of water and offering them more snacks. He had unlimited patience when he was serving them.

It was as though those two were his actual parents.

When Howard and Yolanda noticed me, they quickly got up from the couch and slipped on their muddy shoes.

Yolanda was quick to smear her drool-covered fingers on her pants before attempting to take my hand. I dodged her attempt instantly without caring about her pride.

Seriously, I couldn't pretend to be courteous in front of people who wanted me dead.

"Why are you here this time? Don't tell me you want to visit me because it's been far too long since your last visit. Only idiots will believe such bullshit."

Although Pamola's parents kept claiming that they were here to visit me, they always went home with bags of stuff that they had swiped from us.

Both Howard and Yolanda had their heads lowered and their backs hunched. They swapped glances with each other upon hearing my words. When they looked at me again, they wore looks of aggrievance.

"Our old house keeps leaking whenever it rains because of the lack of repairs. We just discussed this matter with Pamola and Mathias, and they agreed to let us move into this apartment.

"We've already packed our stuff before coming here. It'll make moving into this place much easier. With us being here, things will be even livelier. This apartment won't be that empty anymore. What do you think, Rita?"

Those bastards really were coveting for things that were out of their league! Since these people had officially pissed me off, I decided to kick all of them out of my apartment!