The old woman hurried to get up from the chair, pulled Albina’s arm and asked anxiously:
-What are you going to do?
With her hand on the doorknob, Albina gave her an indolent look and then replied:
-What am I going to do? Of course I’m going to throw up. You’ve made me so disgusted with those shameless words. I wonder how such a shameless person like you could give birth to such a kind and excellent son as my dad.
It took the old woman quite a while to realize that the granddaughter was scolding her.
Instantly, she stopped pretending any longer, stared at Albina in a grim and mean way and cursed:
-Little bitch, don’t be so insensitive. You really don’t want your own house, do you? That building is the hard work of many years of your father and it’s full of memories of your family, do you really not want it anymore?
Albina’s facial expression changed abruptly after hearing his words.
Mrs. Espina smiled a faint mocking smile on her lips. She knew that Albina’s parents were the most vulnerable spot deep in her heart, though she had a sharp tongue.
“Bah, I don’t think you can restrain yourself and give up your parents’ house!”
Albina glared at the old woman, her eyes red with hatred. After a good while, she calmed down, laughed lightly and said:
-Grandmother, are you threatening me? Unfortunately, what I hate most is blackmail.
Then, she let go of the knob, turned around, leaned against the door and continued:
-I will marry Umberto in the future. He is so rich and will be able to buy me any much more comfortable villa if I want. Why should I cling to my parents’ old house?
-But the house represents your father’s hard work during….
-Yes, that house is the one my father won little by little, and the one my mother spent her time carefully decorating -Albina thought of her old home, her eyes full of nostalgia. But the house has been occupied by you for four years. The whole design of it will have been changed and my parents’ items will have been thrown away too, right? It’s already an empty house, with nothing I can memorize. Why do I need a house like this?
After a pause, she added with a distinct chuckle:
-Should I live in the house to remind myself of the shamelessness of your whole family?
The old woman, stunned, opened her mouth and took a long time to dryly throw out a few words:
-Ungrateful, don’t be so foolish!
-Don’t humiliate me like that. I think I’m quite sensible, because at least I know you’re a shameless and pathetic old woman! -Albina lightly uttered these words, infuriating the old woman even more.
Mrs. Espina gently patted her chest to calm herself and, after a long moment of meditation, suddenly said:
-Well. Since you don’t like this house, your uncle and I will sell it. Precisely, there is a person wants to buy this house as a warehouse. We have been hesitating considering that it is your old home. Since you don’t want it anymore, it won’t be a burden for us to put it up for sale.
After saying this, the old woman secretly watched her granddaughter to see what expression she would put on. She didn’t think Albina could really give up this house that her parents had left her.
To her surprise, Albina not only did not get angry, but said with a cheerful tone:
-Then it will be great for me. Before, I was worried that you guys would give me back the house even if I paid you with the money. But if the property right is changed, I can easily get my parents’ house back with money.
Then he looked at the old woman with a proud look and continued:
-You must know that what Umberto does not lack is money.
If the old woman were not in good health, she would have fainted on the spot from anger after hearing Albina’s words. She sat back in the chair, trembling with anger.
It was then that the old woman realized that Albina was very stubborn and indifferent, and that no tactics, whether threatening or pleading, worked on her.
-It’s getting late. You must return home soon so as not to let your ungrateful son and grandson worry,” Albina said in a wry voice after glancing outside through the window.
“I’m afraid Grandma’s arrival has something to do with Ramon and Alex. These two are worse than beasts, how can they possibly have filial piety for the old woman?”
Albina wanted to throw the old woman out, but it was not known whether because she was too angry or because too desperate, the latter sat in the chair as if glued to it without any intention of moving.
– “I will not go unless you promise me what I have said. Your father is gone, and Ramon is the only son I have left. He is now unemployed and has no way to support the family, do you want to see us starve alive?!
Seeing that all kinds of tricks didn’t work, the old woman simply went back to being as irrational as before, crying and screaming at Albina’s door.
By that time of day, many people had already returned home from work, and several families on the same floor opened their doors a little to see what was going on upon hearing the old woman’s miserable screams.
If she were the Albina in the past, she would be startled by her grandmother’s unreasonable behavior, but now, as a person who had “died” once, she had nothing to fear anymore.
With eyes full of coldness, Albina looked at the old woman from above and said:
-You want to threaten me with this trick? But it’s a pity it won’t work for me. I hate your whole family so much that I’d be happier than anyone if they all starved to death.
-And what does it have to do with me if your son is fired from his job? When he did something as scandalous as taking bribes, he should have predicted this outcome today! Now he wants me, a niece who broke ties with him long ago, to pay the price for his own faults? Won’t he be ashamed of himself?
The old woman, unconvinced, stubbornly refuted:
-If you hadn’t exposed your uncle’s stuff on social media, he wouldn’t have fallen into the state he is in today.
-There is no impermeable wall in the world and the wall always hears. Grandma, do you think if I hadn’t exposed your eldest son’s corruption, he would be okay forever? As far as I know, Ramon has offended quite a few people and there are many people who have proof that he has taken bribes and they are all waiting for him to denounce him when he makes a more serious mistake.
At times, it seemed to Albina that the old woman was really naive, and even shocked when it came to her own son’s affairs.
-Now I have denounced him in advance and you can settle this matter with the money this time. If your eldest son were to be denounced after committing an even bigger mistake, I’m afraid the money couldn’t solve it and he would have to spend the rest of his life in jail. Grandmother, you should thank me for saving your son!
Albina stood with her arms crossed over her chest, looking at the old woman, and her pretty face looked a little indifferent and unreachable.
The old woman looked at her with her mouth half open, her lips quivering with rage, she could not even utter a single word to contradict. And her mind was left in a chaotic state.
“It is Albina who has harmed Ramon, but this one now declares herself Ramon’s savior. what is going on?”
However, thinking about the purpose of her visit today, the old woman kept her head down, firmly holding her cane, and mumbled quietly:
-No, I won’t leave until you promise me. Even if I were to die today, I would die on your doorstep.
Albina believed that the old woman, who was already accustomed to leading a comfortable life, could not insist long on waiting outside her apartment.
Thinking so, she turned around with her hand on the doorknob and said smilingly:
-Grandma, you can stay as long as you want, and I won’t bother you anymore.
Just as she was about to turn the knob, she suddenly remembered something out of the blue and turned to the old woman again:
-By the way, I forgot to tell you that this apartment was not bought for me by Umberto and I rented it myself, that’s why I will possibly move somewhere else at any time. You can stay here as you like, but if the landlord throws you out, please don’t mention my name, because I will be very embarrassed.
Having said that, Albina opened the door, walked in quickly and slammed it shut.
As soon as the door was closed, Albina heard her grandmother outside swearing as she banged violently on the door with her cane, to such a degree that she was afraid she would have to pay the landlord for repairs if the door was broken. But after all, the old woman was old and soon tired of banging, so the noise gradually faded away.
Albina sat in the living room, eyes closed, unwinding. After a good while, when it became completely quiet outside, she secretly looked outside through the cat’s eye and discovered that the old woman was no longer there and only one chair remained.
Albina was a little surprised because, according to the old woman’s stingy character, it was quite strange that she had not stolen the stool from her.