Edwin got so tired of me asking him to work that he just started hanging out and playing cards while supposedly working.
His paycheck? It was exactly 1,200 dollars, the same amount I gave his mom for her expenses. Hence, she could not help Mandy anymore.
Mandy was fed up. Her husband was a gambler and offered no help at all, and she was expecting another baby. They really needed the extra 1,050 dollars each month, and without it, they were struggling. When her husband did not win any money, he would take it out on her.
So Mandy, with her little one in tow, moved into my place with tears streaming down her face. She thought she might get some extra help, plus free meals.
Edwin and his mom only talked to me about it after they were already settling in. Watching the six-year-old bouncing on my couch and my sister-in-law using my pajamas and skincare, I just said yes. A family in trouble should stick together, right?
They were surprised I was so easygoing this time, and they started being nicer to me, at least on the outside.
However, I remembered that when I lost my old job and cut down the money for my mother-in-law in my previous life, my sister-in-law wanted to move in too. However, back then, with my mother-in-law looking after Teresa and me working a new job, I was worried her wild child might hurt Teresa, so I said no.
Later, when her husband ran out of gambling money and hurt her so badly she lost the baby, she blamed me. She teamed up with my mother-in-law and Edwin, saying all sorts of mean things behind my back.
After we lost Teresa, she said it was my fault, that I should not have had a child if I could not take care of her. She called me ungrateful.
However, it was my mother-in-law who made a huge fuss back then. She would not let my parents babysit or let me hire a nanny.
Now, my mother-in-law would be the one looking after her kid, and I was curious to see if Mandy would still be thankful when things got tough! Her own mom did not play favorites; she was equally mean to everyone.
