MY UNKNOWN HUSBAND, VOLUME 3 - Season 9 Episode 17

But the next day was a Friday; Michelle had to go to work. How on earth would she have the time to take pictures of Leon?

Michelle’s initial excitement started to subside when this thought crossed her mind.

Even from the other side of the call, Leon seemed to be able to read her mind. “Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll find a way. Eat and rest well when you get home. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Okay.” Michelle heaved a sigh of relief.

“Have a safe trip home.”

“Okay.”

That short call was enough to lift Michelle’s spirits. The corners of her lips tugged upwards in a smile she couldn’t seem to suppress.

Michelle clutched her phone tightly and scrolled through their chat record. She didn’t tear her gaze away from her phone until her mother’s gentle voice sounded.

“We’re home, Mimi.”

“Oh! Thanks for taking me home, Mom.” Michelle leaned over to the driver’s side of the car and hugged her mother. She was rubbing her cheek against Elaine’s affectionately when an idea suddenly crossed her mind. “If I get a driver’s license, you won’t have to go through the trouble of driving me around. Mom, how about I try getting a license?”

People usually got their driver’s licenses while they were still in college. This was probably because there was a student discount. Back then, the discount had tantalized Michelle, but she never got around to it because she was too scared.

In fact, she didn’t know why she was offering to get one now. Driving still scared her to bits. She feared that, even if she decided to give it a shot, she’d either lose control of the steering wheel or forget which pedal was the brake.

What if her short legs couldn’t even reach the pedals?

The past few years, she never needed a driver’s license; she never needed one. There were always other means of transportation, like the subway.

If she got rich, she would’ve taken taxis all the time.

But she could never afford such a lifestyle. A taxi ride in the city cost around eighty dollars or more.

Since her family had a car, getting a driver’s license made sense.

Elaine asked her to get a driver’s license next year, saying she liked driving her daughter to work and picking her up in the afternoon. It felt reminiscent of the times when Michelle was a kid and she depended on her mother to take care of her.

But, alas, her daughter was grown up now. Michelle no longer clung to her, but to someone else.

Elaine sighed softly.

When they got inside, Adams was already home and was just about to wear an apron and go to the kitchen. When he saw the two women arrive, he quickly threw the apron at them instead.

“You’re back! You can cook now. I’ve already started cooking rice in the rice cooker.”

Elaine caught the apron and pretended to pout. “And here I was, thinking I’d finally be able to taste your food tonight.”

“I don’t know how to cook, and you know that.” Adams’s eye twinkled. “My dishes are bound to be bitter, and I’d rather die before letting my beloved family taste bitterness!”

“You’re all talk!” Elaine donned her apron with flourish and went to the kitchen.

Michelle followed after her. “Mom, let me help.”
Elaine rolled up her sleeves and nodded.

“Michelle, take out garlic sprouts from the fridge and wash them while I take care of the bacon. Adams, check if Tim is home. Let’s have him over for dinner.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Adams went to their neighbor’s door obediently.

“Mom, why are you inviting Tim?” Michelle asked as she started chopping the garlic sprouts.

“Why not?” Elaine responded. “Isn’t he your friend? Moreover, he’s our neighbor and he gave us some gifts the other day. He’s a fine young man.”

“Eh?” Michelle grunted, obviously taken aback. “Didn’t you say he was an austere man of few words? You also said that he didn’t know how to take care of others, was difficult to get along with, and wasn’t very kind to others.”

Elaine, who had indeed said these words, was speechless.

At that time, she had mistakenly thought there was something going on between her daughter and Tim.

She didn’t like the idea of Tim being her future son-in-law back then.

But between Tim and Leon, she would prefer Tim to be with Michelle.

Why?

Perhaps it was because of his family background. Or perhaps the distance between Lexingport City and C Island was too great. And perhaps it was because of what had happened to Crystal.

It just went to show that there were many reasons why Leon and Michelle couldn’t be together.

Her worst fear was Michelle getting hurt. Although Leon seemed like a decent man who would take care of his significant other, no one could guarantee he would love Michelle until the end of time.

Moreover, Elaine was worried Michelle would be wronged after marrying Leon.

Leon was in a completely different echelon of society. If their secret relationship got out, Michelle would become the focus of the public eye.

While Elaine was confident her daughter was a good girl, she wasn’t a goddess and others would gossip about her to no end.

Michelle didn’t come from a prestigious family, which was more than enough grounds to set tongues wagging in C Island.

Words were powerful; rumors and gossip could destroy a person—especially a person as fragile as Michelle.

Ever since the night Elaine found out about her daughter’s relationship with Leon, she had tossed and turned many a night and lost sleep over it.

As these thoughts ran through her mind, Elaine accidentally cut her finger. She jerked back her hand and yelped in pain.

The knife fell to the floor with a loud clanging noise that echoed across the kitchen.

“Mom!” Michelle immediately dropped whatever she was doing and rushed to her mother’s side. “I’m going to grab a Band-Aid.”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Elaine said reassuringly. She hurriedly grabbed a kitchen towel and wrapped it around her finger to stop the bleeding.

The cut was not small. Scarlet blood gushed out and quickly dampened the towel.

She frowned and sighed heavily. “This can’t be a good omen.”

Just then, Michelle came bounding back with a Band-Aid in hand. She gently blew on the wound to relieve the pain and carefully stuck the Band-Aid on.

“It’s okay. I can take care of it.”

“Mom, I’ll take care of dinner. You can wait with Dad.” Michelle pushed the protesting Elaine out of the kitchen and closed the door.

Just then, Adams came back with Tim following closely behind.

“Done so soon?” he asked, surprised to see his wife standing outside the kitchen.

Elaine shook her head and held up her bandaged finger. “Michelle kicked me out. How about you go to the kitchen and help her, Tim?”
Tim nodded and did as he was told.

When he disappeared behind the kitchen door, Elaine let out a sigh. “Tim’s a good man, and he seems to like our daughter.”

“But our daughter doesn’t like him.” Adams was good at reading people. He took his wife’s hand and guided her to the sofa. “Sit down and let me look at your finger.”

Like a mindless sheep, Elaine let him lead her without a single protest. When the two were seated, Adams noticed the absentminded look on her face.

“What’s wrong with you lately? You seem to have a lot of things on your mind, I can tell. I chose not to ask you about it because I figured I’d wait for you to tell me.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now.” Elaine looked up at him with a certain sense of dejection. “Who do you think Michelle’s in love with?”

Slightly stunned, Adams scratched the back of his head for a moment before answering, “I might’ve guessed…”

“So? What should we do?”

“I don’t know.” Adams, who was a whiz at problem solving, was at a loss.

Like Elaine, he didn’t want to get in the way of their daughter’s happiness.

But he also had a bad feeling about Michelle’s relationship with Leon.

When their daughter was growing up, the two of them often wondered what kind of man she would fall in love with. They didn’t dare about his appearance, height or family background.

The only thing that mattered was that he was a kind-hearted man, had the desire to advance and treated her well.

Those were their only conditions.

Fortunately, the man their daughter found met all those conditions, and more. Leon was as dazzling as the sun in the sky.

Only the moon could match the sun. But their daughter was not like the moon.