Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness

Jonas was unhappy with the behavior Melinda had shown at the banquet. His lips formed into a thin line as he stared at the
photo. Her beauty was for his eyes only. A lot of people had seen her like that and he didn't like it.
Melinda was still in the middle of a conversation with Leo when he approached her. Apparently, their topic had already shifted to
their alma mater.
A smile was plastered on her face from the nostalgia brought on by Leo's stories. She was recalling the good old days when a
voice suddenly interrupted her from behind.
"Who are you talking to?"
Jonas's cold voice made Melinda shiver. She involuntarily pulled the blanket up closer to her body as he had spoken.
He clenched his jaw, quite displeased with the fact that Melinda was smiling because of another person who was probably a
man. There was a look of bitterness that swept across his face.
"It's none of your business," she answered.
Melinda pointed the remote control towards the TV to switch it off and quickly made her way to the bed. She didn't like to use a
hair dryer so her hair was still a little wet, but she lay herself down anyway.
Her mood suddenly turned sour when Jonas had returned, which was why she suddenly informed Leo that she needed to rest
and ended their conversation.
She then grabbed a towel and started drying her hair while randomly looking for a TV show and started watching again. This
made Jonas sense that Melinda was hiding something from him.
No matter how much he wanted to pry into it, he found himself unable to. The atmosphere around them remained tense since
Melinda was still mad at him because of the incident with Emily.
Jonas had gone to the bathroom before returning only to find that Melinda had already fallen asleep. The room was silent except
for the noise coming from the TV and her slow breathing.
Her head was almost over the edge of the bed and she was still holding the towel that wrapped some part of her hair. He quietly
stared at her for a moment with an expression that looked like he was in deep thought.

It took a while before he finally sighed and carefully took the towel out of her grasp to continue wiping her hair. Since his mother
had returned, a party like the one held this evening was necessary.
It was only the first day and Melinda couldn't stand it anymore. What was the next thing to be done?
The following morning, Melinda went downstairs to find the dining room lively. Even Yulia, who rarely showed up for breakfast,
was also present.
After saying her greetings, she discovered that there were no seats left. She felt embarrassed because of this, but her face
remained passive so as not to reveal her true feelings.
Yulia was silently enjoying the moment. Although she was having breakfast, she secretly stole glances at Melinda.
The idea of Melinda feeling embarrassed thrilled her.
"Nanny," Melinda called.
She took a glance at the servants around her, who all had their heads lowered. Melinda knew that they were also waiting for this
moment. Once again, she suddenly missed the small villa.
Back over there, they did not have much servants. It was only Mary who took care of them most of the time.
"Mrs. Gu," one of the servants answered.
The nanny looked at her without any ounce of respect. Melinda had no place in this family no matter how long she had been part
of it. It was because of Jonas who once ordered the servants to respect her, but both of them weren't even in good terms at
present.
These people acted based on the current situation. This time around, they would not have been kind to Melinda.
"Have you forgotten that mother has returned? Why haven't you prepared enough seats for her?"
The servant flinched and gave her a frightened look before subconsciously glancing over to Queena. Melinda had always been
gentle, but this time around her temper was bad as she yelled at the nanny.
Melinda noticed the look the servant gave Queena, and suddenly it all dawned upon her that this had all been a set up. Come to
think of it, the servants wouldn't dare to do such a thing no matter how much they disliked her.

"Mrs. Gu, I am going to arrange a seat right away."
Queena did not utter a word as Melinda ferociously stood there while the servant hurriedly left to have the situation fixed, terrified
that Melinda's displeasure would get her fired.
After all, it wasn't that easy to acquire such a high paying job at another household.
"Mother, I apologize for not teaching the servants well. I'll make sure to do so in the future."
Melinda turned around to face Queena with a smile, but the truth was that this was her way of silently telling her mother-in-law
that she was aware of who was behind this.
The reason why Melinda had gotten angry was because it would have given Queena an opportunity to treat her cruelly if she
showed some kindness at the moment.
The servant finally returned with a chair and some breakfast, but the food she prepared was less than the usual. Melinda gave
her a look that she could not fathom, resulting for the servant to tremble from where she stood. Melinda hesitated for a while, but
then decided to punish her as a form of warning to the others.
"Gavin, can you hire a new nanny right away? If you can't, just send Mary over here. I don't want to have such a careless person
with me."
Melinda knew that she would have ended up getting bullied by these people if she hadn't gotten angry at them.
The servant had almost knelt down in shock upon hearing Melinda's words. She attempted to open her mouth, eyes widened in
horror as she glanced over to Queena wanting to say something. However, she was stopped by her stern look.
"Come on, don't get mad at her," Queena finally said. "This is all my fault. It has been a long time since I had last been home."
The servant quietly let out a sigh of relief the moment Queena spoke up and secretly thought that she wouldn't repeat such a
thing again no matter how good the benefits she would have gotten.
Melinda remained cold and authoritative. "Since mother said so, she could remain working here then. However, I don't think that
such a careless person should stay in the kitchen. Gavin, please assign her somewhere else."
Melinda wouldn't compromise that easy, or these people would have to rely on Queena to deal with her since she knew they
disliked her.

Since Queena had returned to the Gu's mansion, Melinda's peaceful days were over. Because of this, she needed to start
learning how to be flexible enough and handle everything well.
Even a small mistake could be turned into a big thing.
Even though Mary hadn't said anything when she discovered about how Melinda had been treated, she thought that it was a
shame. Instead, she quietly cooked breakfast for her.
Queena didn't like the special treatment Melinda had received. She was even more convinced that the only reason Melinda liked
Jonas was because of the possessions he owned.
Aside from this, Melinda's actions embarrassed Queena. It was her, after all, who suggested the servant to prepare less bowls
and chopsticks with the intention of not preparing for Melinda at all.
Her plan didn't seem to work since Melinda didn't get irritated. Instead, she found a perfect excuse.
Once was enough. Queena wasn't inclined to repeat something like that another time around, but now the servants were having
doubts about their affairs.
The moment Mary was transferred, she certainly did not allow Melinda to be mistreated especially when it came to meals.
Melinda heaved a sigh of relief. It was only her first day that she had to survive a clashing of swords between her and Queena,
and she was sure that the following days to come would definitely be much livelier.
Even though she was the wife of Jonas, she did not intervene in his family's affairs. She only regarded herself as an outsider in
this mansion.
Thankfully, there wasn't a repeat of the earlier events during lunch time. However, this did not stop Queena from showing her
displeasure towards Melinda.
Even though Yulia was happy about this, she tried to hide it. She didn't want to get in the way with Queena's anger and risk
diverting it towards her.
"Accompany me to the mall to buy some new clothes. It's time to clean up my wardrobe and replace it," Queena said.
She was someone who paid extra attention to her appearance, making sure that she was always up to date with the latest trend.
Melinda was aware of this, but she did not expect that she would be the one asked to accompany her.

She couldn't help but be worried. She had a feeling that this wouldn't end well.
It turned out, however, that Melinda's assumptions were wrong. Queena didn't have any other intention aside from going
shopping. Melinda's dress at the party made her trust her taste when it came to fashion.
Even though she knew about this, she wouldn't admit it out loud. Instead, what she would always say was that Melinda's tastes
were nothing but ordinary since she was born into a common family.
Yulia wanted to join them, but later on decided to stay home. Melinda, for the meantime, took note of the time while Queena was
taking her usual break during noon. She started to first work on her writing for two hours before she took out an outfit and got
changed.
She wore a beige knitted sweater that matched her black leather skirt with a pair of stockings underneath that seemed to
accentuate her long and straight legs. Since she was afraid that she might get cold, she brought a small sleeveless jacket with
her.
It wasn't long after she had arrived at the living room on the first floor that Queena came out of her room. She wore a dress that
made her look aristocratic, matched with high heels and a designer bag in her hand.
On the other hand, Melinda only brought a simple cross body bag and her phone with her.
Gavin was informed that they were going out in the afternoon so he had already arranged a driver for them to go to the best
shopping mall in the city.
Melinda knew that Queena was a very meticulous person, which was why she opted to wear flat shoes for today's trip. She
wanted to be prepared in the event that they would end up spending a long time shopping.
"Let's have a look inside this store," Queena ordered.
Her eyes were glued on a certain dress inside the display wardrobe. Melinda thought that it had a nice style and also perfectly
matched Queena's personality.
Objectively speaking, if she were to cast aside the conflict between them, Queena had a strong personality of an aristocratic
lady.
Her actions often felt like it came straight out of a textbook about etiquette.

There were other times, however, that she would lose her cool. Just like most mother-in-laws, she was the type who would never
be satisfied with her daughter-in-law.
"Do you have a size in medium?" Queena asked politely as she walked up to the counter and pointed over to a dress by the
window.
The attendant, however, did not even bother looking away from her phone while answering, "No."
"Do you have a similar style or perhaps a smaller size?"
Queena's voice sounded impatient this time. She was already displeased with the attendant's behavior.
Melinda started to pick from a row of dresses herself and settled for a medium size. The style wasn't the same as the dress
Queena had wanted earlier, but this one was much more fabulous.
"Mother, why don't you try this one on? It matches you well."
Melinda handed over some of the clothes she picked to Queena. All of them matched her size and style and she seemed to like
all of them.
Queena was a little surprised and it seemed to appease her mood.