The Wife is a Superstar 1

Chapter 139 - Aunt And Niece

Jihoon and his wife were tense as Jennie finally started interacting with Jia. They knew how Jennie hated her father's third wife and how she repeatedly rejected Jia's attempts to have a cordial relationship with her.

Jennie caught Jia's almost unnoticeable change in expression. She tilted her head to side, wondering what could be the reason. She didn't think that she said anything hurtful to the older woman just now. Since she had no idea, she decided to ask directly.

"Did I say something to make you unhappy, Madam?"

Jia's smile stiffened and quickly shook her head. "No, no. I'm very happy that you're here with us today, Jennie. Please don't think that I'm unhappy with you."

Jennie continued to observe Jia's expression, making the older woman almost squirm. Jihoon and his wife were beginning to feel nervous, fearing that Jennie might start raging again like before. Unknown to them, Jennie was just pondering whether she made a mistake interpreting Jia's earlier change in expression.

The young woman beside Jia couldn't take the strained atmosphere any longer. She stepped forward and blurted out, "My aunt is just upset that you're calling her 'Madam'. She wants you to call her 'Aunt Jia'."

"Alice!" Jia pulled the young woman back. Then she looked nervously at Jennie. "Don't listen to my niece. You can call me however you want, Jennie."

"Auntie, was what I said wrong? I heard you tell Uncle Jihoon before that you're hoping for Jennie to treat you like family and call you 'Aunt'. I know what I heard."

"You!" Jia's face was red. She almost couldn't look at Jennie anymore.

"Hmm...Is that all?" Jennie's calm voice interrupted them. "Why didn't you say so? Aunt Jia, you just had to ask me. There's no need to feel so shy."

Both Jia and Jihoon looked stupefied.

The young woman also looked surprised at first but then beamed.

"W-what did you just call me?" Jia stammered.

"Hm?" Jennie was confused. Why were they reacting so weirdly over such a simple matter? "Aunt Jia?"

Tears escaped from Jia's eyes, but she quickly wiped them and smiled widely at Jennie.

Jennie became even more confused. Why was she crying? She turned to the young woman, silently asking her.

The young woman giggled. "Don't worry. Auntie is just happy that you finally called her 'Aunt'."

"Oh, okay." Jennie turned to Jia again and handed the other present to her. "This is for you, Aunt Jia."

"Oh. You didn't have to bring me anything, Jennie." Jia's attempt of rejecting the present was weak. It was obvious that she was excited and emotional.

Jennie didn't reply, firmly pushing the present to the older woman.

Jia sniffed. Her eyes were still watery but her smile lit up her face, making her pretty in a special way that couldn't be explained by mere outer appearance alone. "Thank you, Jennie. Do you mind if I open it now?"

"No. Go head, Aunt."

Jia's hands trembled a little as she carefully tore the wrapping paper. A beautiful carved box was revealed. She opened it and the faint smell of dried tea leaves wafted in her nose. There was a handwritten note from a tea farmer indicating that the box contained Da Hong Pao tea.

Jennie was able to get her hands on the tea through her connection with Mingyu.

The young woman beside her peered at the box. "Uwah! It's Da Hong Pao! Auntie, I want some too! Oh, I know! Let's use that for tea today."

Jia hugged the box closer to her body and moved it away from her niece, like a kid hiding her favourite toy from a playmate. She closed the box and murmured, "Next time, next time." Then she turned to Jennie. "Thank you very much, Jennie. I love it."

Jennie nodded.

Jia beamed.

"Stingy," the young woman pouted seeing her aunt's actions.

Jennie turned to her, curious as to who this young woman was. She tried searching from the original Jennie's memories but to no avail.

"Jennie, this girl here is my niece," Jia introduced.

"Hello. My name is Alice. My father and Auntie are siblings. I'm an orphan, that's why Auntie and Uncle Jihoon took me in about...hmm...more than a year ago, I guess."

"Nice to meet you, Alice. I'm Jennie. And I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. I miss my parents but I believe that they're in a much better place now. Uncle has been really good to me. He and Auntie treat me like their own daughter, so I'm very thankful."

Jihoon cleared his throat. Jia looked anxious again. They worried that Alice's words would make Jennie feel resentful that her father was treating another child like a daughter when their own relationship was not close.

"I see. That's good to hear." Jennie's voice was calm. "My apologies. I didn't know about you before this, so I didn't bring anything for you."

"That's okay," Alice said, waving away the apology. Then she stared at Jennie. "You know, I heard that you're a b*tchy, spoiled brat but you're actually pretty nice. I also heard that you were very rude to Auntie before so I was already ready to hate you, but I'm actually liking you right now. Were those fake news or were you really b*tchy before?"

"Alice! What are you saying?!" Jia was horrified. "Jennie, please excuse this girl's bad manners. Ignore what she says."

"Indeed, I was rude to her before." Jennie looked at Jia. "Aunt Jia, I'm sorry for all the hurtful words I said to you before. I hope that you'll forgive me."

Jia froze, completely caught unawares at Jennie's sudden apology. Then huge drops of tears dropped from her eyes, quickly turning into a steady stream of tears. "Oh, oh. Jennie..." she sobbed. "Yes, o-of course. Thank you..."