Billionaire's Admirable Bride

Chapter 2

It was a bright Monday morning when Gina woke up in her room. It was the first room given to her before when she got married to Leo. Two months before, he had chased her out to the boys' quarters apartment.

She stretched, yawned, and stared at the wall clock in the room. It was 7 a.m.

Gina carefully sat up on her bed, feeling like the mistress of the house again. She murmured, "How time flies."

She dropped her legs down, adjusted her white nightgown, and stood up from the bed.

Gina was a 39-year-old lady. She walked out of her room and made her way downstairs. She knew that it was the first day of school, and her daughter, Mia, was going back to high school.

Gina carefully descended the stairs to the living room. She paused, looked around, and saw that the living room was already mopped and cleaned. It made her smile in satisfaction.

Just then, Olima Adams, a cute 17-year-old girl, stepped out from the kitchen behind Gina.

Olima greeted her stepmother. "Good morning, Mother."

Gina's blood boiled hot at the mention of the word "mother." Without any warning, she turned to face Olima, who was dressed in a pink nightgown. She rushed up to Olima, grabbed her shoulders, and landed a hot, resounding slap on her left cheek.

[SLAP!!]

"How many times have I warned you never to call me 'mother' again? Or do I resemble your late mother?" Gina yelled, making Olima cry out loud.

Olima quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"Shut up! And keep your apology to yourself. Have you prepared breakfast yet?" Gina inquired, and Olima stuttered in her reply, "Yes, ma'am."

"Hmm." Gina glared at Olima and then looked at her palms, which she had used to hold and slap Olima.

Gina sniffed her palms first, before walking into the kitchen to wash them off Olima's scent, making Olima's brown eyes well up with hot tears.

Mia stepped downstairs into the living room. She was dressed in her uniform for school, as she was in senior class 1.

Mia knew that her mother disliked Olima with a passion. Mia also disliked Olima, even though she never showed it to Olima.

Mia was a dark-skinned girl and resembled her late father, while Olima was fair-skinned and had a striking resemblance to her own late mother.

Mia hated the fact that before her late father had passed away, he had never acknowledged her mother. He had always been more caring towards Olima and Zoe, more than he had ever cared for Mia's mother, Gina.

Mia attended a day school, while Olima was in boarding school.

Olima was the apple of her father's eye, while Mia and her mother were seen as outcasts.

Mia frowned as she walked downstairs towards the dining table, wearing a blue school uniform. She was a 14-year-old girl, while Olima was a 17-year-old young lady.

After Leo and his first wife had passed away, Mia knew that her mother had sent the two previous maids away with the excuse that there was no money to pay their salary.

She then turned Olima into her full-time maid, with Olima's withdrawal from her tutorial classes.

Gina had even torn up Olima's admission form to any university, stating that Olima wasn't going to any university but would remain as her lifetime maid.

Mia looked away from Olima's face, as she knew that Olima had enjoyed all the luxury of their father's wealth, while she and her mother had to live in the boys' quarters building. Besides, her mother had told her the whole story.

-----

However, Olima's eyes flooded with tears as she sobbed from the hot slap.

Gina stepped out of the kitchen, having washed her hands of Olima's fruity scent, because Olima smelled like apples.

Gina glared at Olima, asking her, "What do you stand there doing? Have you prepared breakfast yet, or do you want my precious daughter to be late for school?"

Olima shivered and replied, "I have prepared Mia's noodles, ma'am."

"Then serve it out. Or do you plan on starving my daughter to death? Do you want her to be late for school today?" Gina yelled at Olima.

"No, ma'am," Olima replied.

Gina then snapped, "Then get lost in the kitchen and serve Mia's breakfast quickly, as it's almost 7:30 a.m. "

"Okay, ma'am," Olima replied, and she left for the kitchen.

Gina's black eyes burned with coal behind Olima's back, as she disliked Olima because she looked so much like Zoe. It reminded Gina of her past sins, as she had been the cause of the late Mr. Leo's and Zoe's deaths.

"Mom, it's okay," Mia said with an adorable smile on her face.

Gina stared at her daughter too and groaned. Mia also resembled her late father, but she was still her daughter.

Gina sighed and walked to the dining room to take her seat. "It can never be okay with that stupid witch being in this house with us. Ugh," Gina grimaced as she walked to the golden dining seat to sit. She subtly remembered how her late husband used to sit on the dining chair, directly across from her, and he would feed Zoe to her lips.

Gina's face twisted in irritation at the remembrance.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Mia asked her mother again as she sat on the left seat across from her mother on the dining table.

Gina replied, "Nothing, my dear. What is taking Olima so long to serve up the noodles, or does she want me to storm into that kitchen and break her head?"

Olima quickly walked out of the kitchen, carrying a tray of hot noodles in her hands, with fried eggs placed on top of the noodles.

The delicious aroma made Mia's mouth water. She smiled as she sat up properly and collected the tray of noodles from Olima's hands.

Mia didn't know how to cook, while Olima had been forced to learn how to cook by Gina shortly after Gina took over the white mansion.

"Get out of my sight, or what do you still stand there staring at?" Gina questioned Olima irritably.

Olima shuddered away, knowing that her stepmother had hated her before, but the hatred had grown three times as much, making her feel more guilty for her late parents' dismissal. She wished they had never driven in the same car to her school graduation party to witness her graduation from high school as the best in her science department.

Now, her stepmother had plainly refused her further education, with the excuse that there was no money. Yet, Mia was going back to high school after the long-term holiday. Mia was in the second term already, while Olima was still at home.

Olima walked back towards the dining room and stopped at the kitchen door, thinking to speak to her stepmother again about writing the university entrance examination and applying for a government university instead of a private one.

Olima walked back towards the dining room and stopped while Mia ate the delicious noodles and fried eggs.

Olima stopped with a trembling body and spoke, "Ma..."

Gina turned back and glared at Olima as she met her nervous gaze. She questioned, "What do you want, Olima? I thought I asked you to leave here?"

Gina shifted her dining seat backward and stood up, while Mia continued to eat her meal silently.

Olima spoke in a shaky voice, "Ma... it's about my university entrance examination that I told you about."

Gina curtly replied, "And I told you that you're not going to any university, Olima. Don't you understand simple English? How did you graduate as the best in your class when you don't understand simple English at home? Get out of my sight now!"

Olima quickly ran away to the kitchen door and stopped.