Chapter 4 Collect What I Am Owed

• As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, I heard the sounds of argument and weeping from before the door of my parents' house.
• Even the neighbor living in the unit across could not help but sprawl against the grill of her door, watching the show.
• At that moment, Gemma was sitting on the doorstep of my parents' house, crying while pounding her hands against the ground.
• “Gosh, the family of whoever marries her would be extremely unlucky! She hit her mother-in-law over a dog!”
• My parents invited her into the house to talk, but she refused to get up.
• When she saw that I was back, her wails suddenly went up several decibels.
• “Oh, my life is just so difficult! I worked hard to raise my son, but after he had gotten married, his wife wouldn't even let me in the house and told me to get out!”
• Standing at the doorway, I looked down at her on the ground coldly. I turned on my camcorder and focused it on her.
• “Come on, continue crying. I'll take this to your son's workplace and play it for everyone to hear, informing his superiors and colleagues about what exactly you both have done.”
• Upon hearing that, Gemma immediately scrambled up from the ground.
• Everyone in their village knew that Howard's job was a high-paying one.
• Hence, if her son were to lose his job, she would be left with nothing to boast about when she returned to the village.
• Seeing that she had gotten up from the ground, my mother took the opportunity to coax her into the house.
• “Rosie's Mom, I'm not being unreasonable. Just hear me out. You know what? She kicked me and Howie out today because of a dog, saying that the house was hers.”
• Naturally, my father knew the kind of person I usually was.
• He latched on to the keyword in her complaint. Looking at me, he asked, “What happened to Tutu?”
• Gemma seemingly had not anticipated that my father would not stand up for her immediately but ask after the dog instead.
• She was taken aback for a moment but said nothing.
• Looking into my father's concerned eyes, I finally broke down and burst into tears.
• “Dad, they sold Tutu off while I wasn't home! Howard even lied to me that it ran off. I braved the sun and searched for two hours before I discovered the truth from a neighbor. When I returned home, they even forced me to drink some ridiculous medicine they claimed would ensure that I had a son!”
• With every word I spoke, my father's expression grew a shade darker.
• When he heard that Gemma forced me to drink some medicine of unidentified origin, he finally snapped.
• “Gemma, we entrusted Rosie to Howard so that there would be another person to look after her, not to bear children for your family.”
• Curling her lips, Gemma countered, “Are we supposed to have a daughter-in-law marry into the family only to treat her like some princess instead of having her bear children? Back then, the Zeller family gave a betrothal gift of a hundred thousand.”
• Everything was still relatively fine until that came up. The moment she said that, my mother blew up.
• “How shameless of your family to mention about the betrothal gift of a hundred thousand! Have you ever seen of any family with a betrothal gift taken from the bride's dowry?”
• Indeed, everything went smoothly when our families discussed the matter of the betrothal gift back then.
• In our family, the standard amount was supposed to be two hundred thousand. At the same time, the dowry would not be any lesser.
• The two sums of money would then be a nest egg for the newlywed couple.
• But my parents took into account that Howard's family was not well-off and they valued him as a person far more, so they proposed a betrothal gift of a hundred thousand and a dowry of three hundred thousand.
• It was for no other reason than so we could lead a good life in the future.
• Unexpectedly, his family was very agreeable back then but ended up dragging their feet and taking a hundred thousand from my dowry to use as a betrothal gift.
• At that time, Howard hugged me with guilt written all over his face.
• He went on about how hard his parents had worked to put him through school and his family was strapped for cash at the moment unless his parents were to take on jobs with hazard pay.
• Back then, I was sympathetic when I listened to his sob story, so I convinced my parents that he was merely a victim of his family's circumstances. I insisted all that mattered was his character. Unexpectedly, only now have I come to realize that birds of a different feather don't flock together. But since we're on the topic of money, I suppose it's time for me to collect what I'm owed. Luckily, I took a photo of every IOU and stored them all on my phone out of habit!