Chapter 188: Mom’s Tough Love
Ellis felt like she’d hit her spending limit on rent. If Easton managed to sneak in again, she swore she’d bag him up in a sack and beat him so his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.
After setting up her new place, Ellis lay on the couch like a spineless creature, utterly exhausted. She had no desire to move, yet her phone kept buzzing. A colleague stuck at the office bombarded her with questions about the preparations for tomorrow’s launching ceremony, making it impossible for her to relax. Finally, she decided to head back to the office herself to preemptively address any potential oversights.
As she was about to lose herself in work again, her phone rang. It was Morty. She swiped to answer. “What’s up?”
Morty asked, “It’s Sunday; aren’t you coming to Petal Estates?”
Ellis raised her eyebrows in silence. Her visits to Petal Estates were regular—usually every Wednesday and Sunday. It wasn’t strange that Morty noticed the pattern, but his calling specifically to ask was mildly annoying.
“Dude. I’m busy with tomorrow’s launching ceremony; I don’t have time to go there today,” she replied irritably. “And don’t ask me to walk your dog; I can’t today.”
She knew Morty well enough to guess why he was calling. Walking the dog paid well, but it wasn’t as important as her work! Work had to come first, no matter what.
“See you tomorrow, then, bye.” With that, Morty hung up.
She put the phone back down just as a WhatsApp notification popped up. Thinking it was Maya, Ellis automatically opened it, only to find that it was Morty asking if she had time to join him and Maya for a walk that evening. He hadn’t even waited for her to respond to the message before calling; she was impressed by his persistence.
In the garden, Sophia was leisurely humming a tune while pruning her plants. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a familiar figure passing by. Reflexively, she looked up to see her son walking towards the house, unaware of her presence nearby.
“Blind as a bat, aren’t you? Didn’t you see me here?” she called out.
Hearing his mother’s voice, Easton stopped and looked around for her. Spotting her standing among the flowers, her expression filled with displeasure, he approached her and said, “Mom.”
“You remember I’m your mom? Do you even see me as your mother?” Sophia scoffed sarcastically.
The sound of his mother’s mocking laugh made Easton uncomfortable. He tugged at his tic, turning his face away slightly and said in a subdued tone, “Mom. Ellis and I are divorced. You don’t have to give me that look. I suggest you face reality and accept it.”
“Who told you I haven’t accepted reality?” Sophia turned her back on him and continued pruning the bushes she hadn’t finished earlier. “I’m not going to meddle in your affairs with Ellis anymore. You make your bed, you lie in it. I want to see what you make of it.”
“Mom, do you remember I’m your own son, and Ellis isn’t related to you by blood?”
“You’re asking the wrong questions. I don’t have any children; I don’t remember ever having any.”
Easton’s lips pressed into a thin line, leaving him speechless. After finishing pruning the bush in front of her and noticing her son’s long shadow on the ground, Sophia unexpectedly turned around. Her son stood with his hands in his pockets, his face shadowed, staring straight ahead without moving.
The autumn sun wasn’t harsh, but unlike herself, who wore a hat to shield from the glaring sun, Easton did not. She frowned and asked, “Why aren’t you coming inside instead of standing out here in the sun with me?”
A mother knows her son, and Sophia could tell he wasn’t just standing there for the sake of it. She put down her shears, took off her hat, and motioned for him to come inside.
The servant brought two cups of hot tea. Sophia leisurely handed one to her son and scrutinized him from head to toe, catching a rare hint of gloom on his face.
“What’s bothering you! Trouble at Hudson Group?”
“My company is fine.” Easton wasn’t intentionally ignoring his mother’s first question; he genuinely couldn’t pinpoint his own unease. He had been unable to focus at work today and had decided to visit his mother instead.
“So, what’s bothering you? Are you feeling unwell?” Sophia looked at him, puzzled and suspicious.
“Actually, I am a bit unwell,” Easton rubbed his temples, which throbbed painfully. “I’ve been having severe insomnia lately, and it’s affecting my health.”
The night before last, he had slept deeply beside Ellis, but last night he suffered from insomnia again, his mind a mess, almost staying awake until dawn.
Hearing her son’s health was impacted by insomnia, Sophia became concerned. “Increase your exercise, adjust your diet, eat more sleep-inducing foods, and try to think less about things that hinder your sleep.”
“I’ve tried all that; they don’t really help.”