Chapter 129

"Nina and my mom went to the grocery store. Why don't you come in and wait?" Raymond stepped aside, inviting her in.

Isabella ignored him, took out her phone, and dialed Nina's number.

The call was quickly answered, and Nina's voice came through. "Bella?"

"Nina, where are you?"

"I'm at the market." Nina's end was a bit noisy. "What's up?"

"I have nothing to do today, so I came to see you."

"I'll make lunch for you," Nina said, then remembered something. "Oh, by the way, Charlie's mom and brother are in Lakina and I haven't had a chance to tell you. I'm at the grocery store with his mom right now, and his brother Raymond is at home. If you run into him, don't be scared."

Isabella glanced at Raymond, thinking to herself, 'I've already run into him.'

But she didn't say that to Nina, she just said, "Got it."

After hanging up, Raymond asked, "So, did you confirm that I'm not a bad guy?"

Isabella frowned and still ignored him.

She had a prejudice against Charlie, so her first impression of Charlie's brother Raymond wasn't great either.

Isabella put the broom back in its place.

Raymond said, "Come in and wait. I'll get you some tea."

With that, he turned and went into the kitchen to pour some water.

Isabella hesitated for a moment, thinking it didn't look good to wait in the hallway, so she reluctantly stepped inside.

There were several more pairs of shoes on the shoe cabinet, including a pair with muddy soles.

Although the mud had long dried, moving the shoes would cause the dried mud to fall off easily, making a mess of the shoe cabinet.

Isabella searched for a while but couldn't find the pair of plush slippers she had worn before.

At this moment, Raymond came out with the water, asking, "Are you looking for shoes?"

Isabella stood up straight and said, "Yes."

"What kind of shoes? I'll find them for you," Raymond offered eagerly.

Isabella said, "A pair of pink and white plush slippers."

When she moved out, she took everything except for those slippers.

She remembered that last time when she came back, Nina had washed them clean and put them in the shoe cabinet.

Raymond thought for a moment and said, "I know where they are. I'll get them for you."

With that, Raymond went into the guest room.

After a while, he came out with a pair of slippers and placed them by Isabella's feet. "Is it this pair?"

Isabella looked down at the slippers, her delicate eyebrows slowly knitting together.

These slippers were originally rabbit-shaped, with two bunny ears on them.

But now, the bunny ears were gone.

Seeing her expression, Raymond explained, "My mom thought the ears were in the way, so she cut them off."

He handed her the glass of water. " Drink some water?"

Isabella didn't take the glass. She changed into the slippers and neatly placed her sneakers to the side.

The living room was a mess, especially the sofa.

A pillow was haphazardly placed on the sofa, a thin blanket half on the sofa and half on the floor.

In addition, Raymond's jacket and jeans were also on the sofa.

Even worse, a pair of his blue boxer shorts was hanging on the armrest.

At the sight of this, Isabella's brows were deeply furrowed.

Raymond quickly ran past her, stuffing the shorts and jeans into the thin blanket. He rolled up the blanket and tucked it into the corner of the sofa, then threw the pillow on top.

After doing all this, Raymond turned and smiled at Isabella. "Sorry, I was sleeping earlier and didn't have time to tidy up. Have a seat."

Isabella was speechless about his behaviour.

Meanwhile, at the grocery store a thousand feet away from Green Valley Community, Nina hung up the phone and bought two fish and some vegetables.

She was about to buy some strawberries.

But her mother-in-law Deborah grabbed her. "Why are you buying this?"

Deborah glanced at the price, her eyes nearly popping out. She said, " Nobody eats this where we come from, and here it's selling for $80 per pound. It's daylight robbery!"

Nina said, "Mom, strawberries are this price in this season. It's the same everywhere."

Saying that, she took a bag to pick strawberries.

Deborah pulled the bag open and said, "Even if you buy such expensive stuff, it won't give you superpowers. If you want fruit, I saw apples at the store entrance, $10 for 1.35 pounds, much more cost-effective than these strawberries."

Nina took another bag. "It's not for me."

"Is it for Charlie?" Deborah's expression softened a bit. "Then just buy a few to try. Don't buy too much. Making money isn't easy."

Nina wanted to say it wasn't for Charlie.

It was for Isabella.

Isabella loved strawberries.

Every year when strawberries were in season, Nina would secretly buy some.

This was her first time buying them this year.

But seeing Deborah's expression, Nina knew if she told the truth, Deborah would nag endlessly.

So Nina swallowed her words.

As Nina picked big red strawberries and put them in the bag, Deborah took out the large ones and replaced them with small, ugly ones.

In the end, it totaled $35.

Seeing the few strawberries in the bag, Deborah almost argued with the shop owner.

Nina had to pull her out.

All the way, Deborah kept complaining, saying if it weren't for Nina insisting on buying strawberries, she wouldn't have had to argue with the shop owner.

And Deborah complained that Nina insisted on buying expensive stuff.

But Nina let her talk, not taking Deborah's words to heart.

At the doorstep, Deborah walked in without changing her shoes, still grumbling about Nina's various faults.

Sitting at the dining table, Isabella came face to face with Deborah.

Deborah finally stopped talking, her eyes scanning Isabella up and down. She said, "who is she?"

Nina changed her shoes and said to Isabella, "Bella, this is Charlie's mom."

Isabella stood up and said lightly, "Auntie."

"Oh my!" Deborah immediately grabbed her hand with a smile on her face,, her eyes gleaming. "My goodness, Nina, your sister looks nothing like you. She's much prettier!"

Deborah's hand was warm and she had an indescribable smell. She held Isabella's hand tightly, leaning in so close that Isabella felt uncomfortable all over.

Isabella pulled her hand back and walked to Nina.

Deborah wanted to step forward, but Nina stopped her. "Mom, have a seat. I'll take Bella to the kitchen to wash some fruit."

With that, Nina led Isabella into the kitchen and closed the glass door.

The sink quickly filled with water, Nina handed a clean strawberry to Isabella.

"The fruit here isn't great. So I bought a few for you to try. Next time, I'll get better ones."

Isabella took a bite of the strawberry. Althought it was sweet, she just couldn't bring herself to be happy.

"Nina, when did Charlie's mom and brother arrive?" she asked gloomily.