The Side Effects of Marriage

Chapter 21

"Good morning, Layla, dear," Loretta said when she walked into the kitchen that morning. The older woman cupped a mug of tea in her hands, clad in jeans and a white linen blouse. "How did you sleep?"

Translation: you look tired. She plastered on a fake smile. "Fine, thanks."

"I hope my grandchildren aren't giving you too much trouble."

Loretta's diction gave Layla an odd sense of violation, as though her mother-in-law were laying claim to something that had always been Layla's own. Someone that had always been her own. "No, no, not at all."

They had kicked a few times in the night. She'd woken up and stared at the back of Hayden's head. Sometimes, they fell asleep facing one another. More often than not these days, it was back to back.

"I'm glad to hear it." Loretta sipped her tea, stirring the ugly china set that she had bought for Layla and Hayden as a wedding gift. "I have a favour to ask you."

Layla picked at her bowl of rice. The only thing she didn't mind about Loretta's presence was that she cooked, though more often than not she made traditional Korean foods that reminded Layla too much of home. Her own mother, despite being Chinese, would often have similar items at the breakfast table at all. "What is it?"

"You know that Haoran and I have decided to get married this weekend," she began, which was spoken in a tone too casual not to make Layla's spine stiffen. "Well, I'd like you to be my maid--my matron of honour, as it were. Do you accept?"

Her mother in law was asking her to be her maid of honour? What Twilight Zone parallel universe had she stepped into? Layla blinked. "I..."

Well, she could hardly refuse, could she? How would a normal married woman act? She would say yes, wouldn't she, to keep the peace with a husband she loved? But Layla had never been particularly good at compromising. She'd grown up as essentially an only child, choosing herself over everyone, choosing her wants over anyone's needs.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "I'd be more than happy to."

"Perfect!" Loretta's smile was so bright it nearly blinded her. It was startling the effect that her fiance had on her. "Don't worry about shopping or anything, I know it's on a late notice. This whole love affair has really been a whirlwind. I do apologize for springing this whole visit on the two of you, Layla. I'm sure you have a lot on your plate as is."

She hadn't noticed Loretta's concern for anyone's convenience but her own, considering she'd made thinly veiled comments about Layla working too much during her pregnancy and how they ought to live closer to her so that Loretta could have time to help with her grandchildren. The idea of her actually holding the twins was like a fever dream.

Now, she was supposed to say that actually, the visit hadn't been a bother at all, that she loved having her here, that she wouldn't mind if she stayed longer at all. But that would be a lie. And Layla may have been selfish, but she was honest at least.

"I'm going to go talk to Hayden," she said suddenly, abandoning her half-eaten bowl of rice with egg. "Enjoy your breakfast."

Layla walked up the stairs to their room. Hayden wasn't where she'd left him—staring groggily at the light coming through the sheer curtains—but in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. This was their typical routine, sans all of the interruptions that had occurred these past few months. Amara's reappearance in her life. Loretta's rude barging-into both of their lives. And now... this wedding.

This small bubble of time, this pocket enclosed and away from the stresses of life, should have been an oasis. She watched him brush his teeth through the crack in the bathroom door. He stared down at his phone in one hand, swiping through emails. Her towel was slung over the rack, crooked next to his neatly folded one. The roll of toilet paper was backwards, Hayden having put it on without a care for the proper order of things. Aside from that? Nothing was out of place or astray in the scenario. It could have been a slice of life, for crying out loud.