Vino frowned and leaned in close, whispering, “There are a lot of people here. Don’t say anything. I’ll handle this.”
Then, turning to his mother, he said loudly, “Mom, Misca realizes she was wrong. She’s agreed to buy a house.”
I stared at him, stunned. “What?”
I was so furious I laughed.
Vino—so used to lying—had done it again. So this whole “apology” was a lie. It wasn’t his mother apologizing to me—it was me apologizing to her?
Seeing my face darken, Vino leaned in again and whispered, “Misca, all the relatives are here today. Whatever you want to say, hold it in until they’ve gone.”
“You give me face and I’ll give you results. Let’s respect each other, okay?”
Just then, a curious woman wandered over and asked, “Buying a house? What’s that about?”
With pride in his voice, Vino answered, “My wife is buying five houses for our family—two for my uncles and three for my aunts.”
Gasps echoed around the courtyard.
People murmured in amazement. “Vino really married well! She’s bringing wealth to the entire family!”
A few even turned to his mother and said, “You’re truly blessed.”
Deborah looked pleased, though she pretended to stay modest. “It’s nothing worth bragging about. Our Vino is talented—if she hadn’t been so eager to please us, would we have accepted her?”
The crowd nodded in agreement. “That’s right, that’s right.”
Then Deborah gave me a cold glance and added with deliberate emphasis, “How can you be so clueless? With so many elders present, where’s your greeting gift?”
Before I could even respond, Vino had already snatched my wallet and began handing out all the cash inside to the people nearby.
Some of the relatives who didn’t receive any looked annoyed.
Deborah’s face darkened with shame. She looked me up and down and said sharply, “Once you marry into the Fitzgerald family, you should act appropriately. What’s with all that flashy jewelry?”
Without hesitation, Vino reached over and removed my earrings, passing them out like party favors.
Then he reached for my necklace.
I stepped back, protecting it, my voice trembling. “Vino! That necklace is a keepsake from my grandmother.”
He frowned. “I’ll buy you a better one later. Your gift today wasn’t enough—you should make up for it with something else.”
Some of the relatives seemed uneasy, murmuring, “Isn’t this going a bit too far?”
Vino just shrugged. “It’s fine.”
And with that, he reached forward and snapped my necklace in two.
I lunged to stop him, but he shoved me hard and I fell to the ground.
By the time I got up, he had torn the necklace into several pieces and was handing them out.
“It’s gold,” he announced with a smile. “Misca is giving these as gifts.”
The villagers looked uncomfortable, but none of them returned the gold—they all pocketed the pieces.
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Vino! Do you take me for a fool? You’ve gone too far!”
The courtyard fell silent.
Then came the whispers.
“Vino is the golden phoenix of our village. How could he end up with such a disrespectful woman? Shouting at her husband in front of everyone…”
“An outsider’s wife causing trouble? She deserves a good beating.”
Another person turned to Deborah. “We heard yelling from your house this morning. What’s going on? Is the new daughter-in-law so wild even you can’t control her?”
Those words struck a nerve.
Deborah stood up and slapped me hard across the face.
“What are you screaming for?” she snapped. “You’re just a junior here. Do you think you have the right to speak?”
