Hugh begged me to bear with his mother's antic and avoid having arguments with her. Finally, I relented to his wishes.

At five in the morning, I was startled awake by the sound of clattering and banging inside the house. Frowning, I went to the living room. There I found my mother-in-law was dragging in piles of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles.

"Did I wake you up? I'm just trying to help lighten my son's burden by earning a little money for him," she said. She did not find it strange to make a lot of noise early in the morning and did not say any regret for waking her up. Instead, her face was beaming with pride as if by collecting trash, she could earn a fortune.

Before I could say anything, Hugh had tugged my hand and pulled me into our room. Meanwhile, his mother’s voice grew even louder and her eyes were gleaming with smug satisfaction.

There was something off about it. I could not put my finger on it, but it left me feeling uneasy.

What was stranger, for me at least, Hugh seemed completely unfazed by the noise outside. In fact, there was a nostalgic look in his eyes. He held my hand and his expression was full of gratitude.

“My father died young and my mom worked hard, saving every bit of money that she earned to put my brother and me through school. She went through so much. I’ve always wanted to repay her.”

His voice broke as tears welled up in his eyes and he looked pointedly at me as if he were waiting for me to say something.

After a moment of silence, I finally realized what he was implying.

I forced a smile while staring at him in disbelief. "You and your brother can repay your mother all you want. However, it has nothing to do with me. You need to make sure she doesn’t make too much noise in the morning. The neighbors will complain.”

Hugh’s face stiffened for a split second. He quickly lowered his head and muttered awkwardly, “Okay.”

The first time I noticed my underwear was missing, I had just come home from work and headed to the balcony to collect the laundry.

As I stared at the empty clothespins, I felt confused. Hadn’t I hung everything here? Why did it seem like some items were missing?

We lived on a high floor, so I peered outside, while wondering if a strong gust of wind had blown my clothes away.

Once or twice could be a coincidence, but when I noticed a whole section of my wardrobe box was empty, I knew something was wrong. I mentioned it to Hugh, but he quickly brushed it off.

“Who would take something like that? Maybe you didn’t clip them tightly enough and the wind blew them away. Don't be too stingy, just buy more.”

I was still trying to figure it out when I caught sight of my mother-in-law in the hallway. She was busy wrapping a small cardboard in tape with her body hunched over it. She was very quick while doing it.

“Mom, what are you doing?” I asked casually.

Before I could step closer, she snatched the box away, while muttering something about mailing a package. Her hands moved deftly as she taped the box shut.

“You’ve really embraced online shopping, huh? You are getting the hang of shipping things too,” I joked.

Gloria gave me a strange smile and her eyes narrowed slightly in my direction. “Oh yes, I can make good money with this.”

It was probably another one of those so-called get-rich-quick schemes. I responded half-heartedly, my attention wandering to the rose bouquet on the dining table.

I wondered who brought this because Hugh had never given me flowers before.

Strange things kept happening one after another. This time, Gloria rushed over to protect the flowers on the table and then claimed that she had picked them up.

Seeing her flushed face, I decided not to say anything,

More of my intimate clothing kept disappearing. It always happened when Hugh and I worked during the day and as I counted the days, I realized the thefts had started right after Gloria moved in with us.

One afternoon, while she was out grocery shopping, I couldn't shake my suspicions. I decided to search the house thoroughly. Everything seemed normal. It seemed none of our valuables were missing. However, as I stood in the living room, my eyes drifted to the one place I hadn’t checked yet.

Why would she take those things? It made no sense.

Even though inwardly I already had my suspicions, the moment I pushed open the door to her room, I couldn't help but feel my heart thumping with nervousness.

I held my breath as I walked in. I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find my missing clothes. The only unusual thing I found was a small collection of boxes.

After thoroughly checking her room, I stood up and sighed, disappointed. Just as I was about to leave, a soft voice came from behind me.

“Yvonne, what are you doing in my room?”

Startled, I stiffened and turned around to face Gloria’s gaze. I forced a smile. “Mom, it's nothing, I came over to see if you have opened the window in your room to ventilate it," I said.

She didn’t respond immediately, only stared at me with those unsettling eyes. The intensity of her gaze made me nervous. After what felt like an eternity, she finally replied with a slow nod and I quickly excused myself from her room.

I had my reasons for suspecting her. During the first year of my marriage to Hugh, I had seen her slip her hand into a relative’s pocket during a family gathering.

It was winter and everyone was wearing thick coats. When that relative realized their money was missing, they assumed it had fallen somewhere along the way. However, I knew the truth that it was Gloria who had taken it.

“We’re all family. My mom would never do something like that,” Hugh had said dismissively when I told him. “Even if she accidentally dipped into their pocket, I’ll cover the missing money. It’s no big deal.”

I had pressed him to talk to her, but I never knew how that conversation ended or even if it happened.

Thinking back on that incident, I shook my head. Maybe I was wrong this time. What would she even want with used clothes? They weren’t worth anything.

It was all just intimate items of mine that had gone missing. That night, I brought up the idea of installing a camera on the balcony to catch the culprit. Unfortunately, the moment I mentioned it, Hugh shot up from the bed with a visibly upset expression.

“We haven’t lost anything valuable! Why do we need surveillance? Are you seriously trying to say we should spy on my mom? Do you even respect her?”

His face turned red with anger as if I had insulted him deeply. Not wanting to escalate the situation, I agreed to drop the idea and let it go.

Unable to reason with him, I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. My mouth felt dry, so in the middle of the night, I quietly got up to get some water.

The living room was pitch black as I groped my way toward the kitchen, using the faint light from my phone screen to guide me. I took a few sips from my glass, but just as the phone screen dimmed, I heard a faint rustling sound behind me. My heart stopped for a beat as my mind raced through every possible terrifying scenario.

A few seconds later, the noise grew louder. I rushed to the wall and flipped on the light.

The sudden brightness stung my eyes, but I immediately turned toward the source of the sound.

There, standing in the bathroom doorway was Gloria, dressed in her nightgown. Her mouth was wide open with eyes filled with panic. She barely had time to hide what was in her hand before I grabbed it. It was a piece of soft fabric.

“Mom, why are you holding my underwear in the middle of the night?” I asked. As soon as I realized what it was, I couldn’t help but gasp. My expression froze in shock.

In the dead of night, she had been sneaking into the laundry basket to take my used underwear.

The whole scene felt disturbingly eerie.

The commotion woke Hugh from his sleep. As soon as he stumbled out of the room while rubbing his eyes, Gloria immediately rushed over to him and wrapped herself around his legs, while wailing dramatically.

"No one wanted me! Even my daughter-in-law scolded me! I'm so pitiful!"

Without a hint of shame, she got ahead of me, complaining as she clung to her son. Then she dropped herself to the floor with a loud thud and her eyes squeezed shut.

I met Hugh's confused eyes and for a split second, I felt a wave of disbelief. My hand shook as I held up the evidence. My face was burning red because of anger and embarrassment.

"Hugh, please ask your mother to explain herself. Why was she sneaking around in the middle of the night with my underwear? If she doesn’t give me a good explanation, this isn’t over!"

Both of them froze at my outburst. From their reactions, I was even more certain that Gloria had something to do with all my other underwear that had gone missing.

Gloria's eyes darted around. Suddenly, it seemed an idea popped into her head. She puffed out her chest and her expression turned casual, as if none of this mattered at all. She opened her mouth and started shouting, her tone full of disdain.

"It’s just a few sets of underwear! They’re nothing special. I’ll give you the money and you can buy new ones."

"Why are you making such a fuss? I’m your elder! Is this how you speak to your elders?"

"Your father didn’t raise you right!"

That last insult was too much for me. How dare she insult my family? Without thinking, I grabbed her collar. My face contorted with rage.

It was late and I was tired of her antics. As I was gripping her clothes, I yanked her up, forced her to look me in the eye and glared down at her.

"Start speaking! Or I’ll throw you out of this house right now. Don’t forget, this house is mine!"

For the first time, I let my temper explode in front of them. Gloria’s smug expression froze, but when she regained her composure, she raised her hand to slap me. Before she could make contact, I dodged out of the way.

Her face turned beet red with frustration because she did not manage to slap me. So, she stood up and tried to strike me again, but I pushed her to the floor with all my strength. Hugh finally reacted and instinctively rushed over to help his mother.

"Oh, heaven help me! What kind of daughter-in-law hits her own mother-in-law? I’ve been cursed with bad luck!"

"And what about a few pieces of underwear, huh? Is there anything I can’t take? Let me tell you, each pair of those panties sells for seventy-five dollars! You can’t even beg for them at that price!"

"They were old anyway! What’s the big deal about selling them for money? Earning a hundred and fifty a day is way better than working!"

The room fell silent. I stood frozen, watching Gloria huddled in Hugh’s arms, ranting nonstop. At that moment, something inside me snapped.

What did she just say?  Seventy-five dollars for a pair of old underwear. Did she say sold? Did she mean she had been stealing my underwear to sell? 

Was this really something that a mother-in-law would do?