Landon asked, "Carl, how long have you been back?"
"In my opinion, you don't have to go back to Atlanta, which is so far away. You can work at home, and our family can take care of each other."
I had heard this many times.
In the past, I would always say that my major did could not be needed in this city. Not only could I not find a job in this place, but I would also not get a high salary if I found one. Hence, I still wanted to returned to Atlanta.
But this time, I agreed and said directly, "I think so too. I've had enough worked outside these years and I'm ready to come back."
"I'm going to stay here for a long time, so it's definitely unrealistic for you and Lisa to live in a hotel. Let mother clean my room up for me to live."
2
Landon was stunned for a moment.
Then, Landon said, "Take it. Tell them to take it immediately."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lisa shouted, "Where should we put these stuff? The house is too small to live another person!"
They stood still and did not move.
After a long stalemate, Landon said, "If you don't clean the room for Carl, then I do it."
As Landon spoke, he was about to walk into the house, but my mother grabbed him. "You don't know how to accept it."
I looked at my mother and didn't worry about whether she would clean the room for me.
"It's okay if you don't want to clean the room. Isn't the apartment I bought empty? Give me the key. I'll live over there."
I reached out to my mother, but she didn't respond for a long time.
I looked at my mother, then looked at Landon.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Carl, don't be angry," Landon said. "My wife's brother is living in that apartment now. It's not convenient for you to go there."
"Oh."
"Isn't that another set of apartment? Give me the key to the one in Sunlight Garden."
They remained unmoved. My father, who had been silent for a long time, also spoke up at this time.
"Carl, are you here to ask for a house? Or are you here to show off that you bought these houses?"
I was so angry that I almost laughed.
"Dad, am I that kind of person in your heart?"
"I've asked so many questions here. Where do I live? You didn't say anything, so I have to arrange it myself. Now you say something, you still say that I'm showing off."
"I haven't seen anyone show off that they bought three apartments without a place to stay!"
Their expression darkened, but no one spoke.
I knew that they just wanted to drive me, who had lost my job, away.
I disdained to stay in this room with them, but since they were heartless, don't blame me for being unjust.
Since they wanted to drive me away so much, let's do it thoroughly.
"What do you mean by keeping silent? Are you driving me away?"
My parents and Landon both kept silent and Lisa looked at me with disgust and said. "I haven't seen anyone in their thirties who doesn't get married and still lives in his brother's and sister-in-law's house. It's okay to live there occasionally, but are you going to live here all the time after losing your job? Don't you know yourself was disgusting?"
"It's convenient for you to live alone. Landon and I are married. Is it appropriate for you to live with us?"
I chuckled and said in a displeased tone.
"You don't have the right to speak. I was asking my parents and Landon."
Lisa was scolded, and Landon's face darkened on the spot. He looked back at me and said in a very unhappy tone.
"Carl, we are siblings. You can scold and hit me however you want, but she is my wife. You are not qualified to scold her. Please be polite to her."
I looked at Landon and said with a smile, "I have no objection to her. What about you? Why didn't you speak just now."
"Landon, I bought three apartments. You use one of them for your wedding. One for your brother-in-law. When I was a child, our parents left me to our grandparents. They didn't bring me back until our grandparents passed away. I'm older than you. Haven't I treated you well for so many years? How can you treat me like this?"
"What are you pretending to be considerate for now? If you have the ability, return all three apartments to me. Take your wife and parents out to live."
After I finished speaking, Landon's expression turned extremely ugly.
Before Landon could speak, my dad stood up from the sofa and scolded me harshly, "Carl! How dare you!"
I ignored my father's loud rebuke and said calmly, "I'll ask you again. Do you think I can't afford to stay in any of the three houses?"
"Yes!"
It was from my mother.
I nodded and looked at them.
"So, you want to sever ties with me, don't you?"
They were silent. In a deep voice, I declared, "Fine. Since that is the case, let's sever ties today. From today on, I, Carl Taylor, have no parents, no relatives."
I pulled my suitcase out of the house.
I booked a hotel and checked in first.
I called my lawyer friend for acquisition that I had full payment for the three apartments and could I get them back after the certificate of the title was in other's name?
He asked me if I had a gift agreement, including a verbal one.
I told him that had a set of apartment that I said I would give to my parents for retirement, but the other two set of apartments was not settled by any agreement.
The lawyer said that it might not be easy to get the apartment that you give your parents back completely.
I asked him if I could change my parents name to mine.
The lawyer said that it wouldn't be a problem for getting the property right back.
I told him about my family and hired him as my lawyer. I wanted to get all three apartments back.
After hanging up the phone, I felt sad, as if my heart had been gouged out.
After graduating from high school, I worked part-time and studied hard. After graduating from high school and staying in Atlanta, I worked overtime and saved money, and bought these three apartments.
I used up all my savings.
My plan was to give one of them to my parents for retirement, one for myself to live in, and the other to rent a house to earn some money. In this way, I could retire.
But it's not enough for my parents to monopolize one set. Even if they give Landon the one I gave them, I wouldn't be so angry.
They wanted all three sets of apartments.
And kick me out of the house.
Just because I lost my job.
I took out my phone and looked at balance on my account.
I smiled.
It didn't matter. I still had money. I would never be able to spend it all in my life.
I washed my face and went to the restaurant for dinner. Then I came back and slept.
The next day, I went to the sales office of the villa in Telaria Bay early in the morning.
It was the most expensive villa area in Locaster.
I spent more than 1400 thousand dollars on a set of exquisite decorations.
I moved in with my bag and hired a housekeeper to cook and clean every day.
Half a month passed peacefully like this.
I received a call from my mother. As soon as I answered the phone, I heard her roar.
"Carl, are you crazy? How dare you sue us!"
I sneered.
"Mrs. Lee, who are you? I'm going to sue Landon for occupying three apartments I bought. I paid for them in full."
"Carl, you've grown up. You still want to go to court because of a little conflict. Well, I'll sue you for being unfilial!"
"Do you really think you can break off the relationship with just a few words? Landon said that the law did not allow it. As long as you don't die, you have to support us."
"Okay, then go ahead and sue me. As long as you win, I'll give you as much as you want."
"I heard that a few hundred dollars a month is enough. It's not that I can't afford it."
"By the way, I heard that I can also give you supplies. I'll buy you a rag worth 100 dollars, and the law will approve of it. You can sue me!"
My mother was so angry that she cursed on the phone.
"You are ungrateful son, just you wait. Landon will beat you to death when he comes back and reads the lawyer's letter."
"Ask Landon to come. I'll be waiting for him."
After hanging up the phone, the neighbor came to the door with fruits in his hand. It was a girl who was a little older than him. I thought that I might meet her somewhere before.
"Hello, I'm Irene Gilen, the neighbor next door."
I suddenly realized that she was the host of Locaster's TV station.
"Hello. I'm Carl Taylor. Come in please."
She waved her hand and said, "No, I'm just here to say hello to you. Our class reunion will be at my house. I'm afraid I'll disturb you later. Please forgive me."
I smiled. "It's okay."
She looked at me and smiled. "Hey, you're about the same age as us. Why don't you come over and play with us?"
"At first, I thought there were the elders living here."
I wanted to refuse, but Irene was so enthusiastic that she pulled me away.
The housekeeper was at home, so I didn't care much. I went to change my shoes, and Irene said that she was fine, so I went to her house in slippers.
When I entered, there were already many people sitting in her house. She introduced me as her neighbor. We were all adults and soon chatted and barbecued together.
I didn't expect Irene to be Lisa's classmate.
Lisa came with Landon. When Lisa came in and saw me, she immediately rushed over.
"Carl, how did you find this place?"
I smiled and watched her make threatening gestures.
Irene didn't know about our relationship. She pulled Lisa over and prepared to introduce her to me.
But Lisa was a quick talker. She looked at the crowd and said, "This is what I complained to you about. My husband's elder brother who is unmarried and lost his job to and wants to live by his parents."
"I'm really sorry. I didn't expect him to follow us."
Everyone present knew that I was Irene's neighbor.
Since we were neighbors, I lived in this villa area.
This didn't seem to match what Lisa had described.
Everyone looked at each other in dismay.