Sweet Sorrow

"Being a mistress is not the most pathetic. What is the most pathetic is being a mistress who is abandoned." Nicole raised her
head and looked at the straight road with a bitter smile.
It was almost noon when Nicole returned home.
As soon as she entered home, Jim, who had been squinting at her, whispered to her, "sister, don't worry. Mother didn't know you
went out."
Nicole was suffering a lot. Seeing her brother defending her like this, she felt even more bitter.
"Come on, go to mom's room and show up." Jim put the apron on her quickly and pushed her into mom's bedroom.
Mrs. Judy was reading a pile of leaflets on the bed, with a pen in her hand, and drawing.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Nicole took a deep breath and went to her mother.
Mrs. Judy smiled, pointed at the leaflets and said to Nicole, "the supermarket on the West Street is doing a sales promotion. I'll
pick out the things we need. Go with Jim when you are free and buy all the things we need back."
Nicole cast a glance at the leaflets. The products chosen by her mother were all cheap tissues and vegetables.
"Mom, don't worry about that. It won't save you much money. You have only recovered a little. Don't read too much. It may do
harm to your eyes."
"You don't know it, it can be much cheaper, I have remembered the discount time of the supermarket around. Take it seriously
and it will help us save a lot of money a year."
Seeing the serious look on her mother's face, Nicole was a little sorrowful.
Her mother had been leading such a hard life all the time. Even if she married to Austin, her family was not getting better.
She had sworn not to let her mother suffer, but in the end, she failed.
"You don't need to buy this mop. I'll ask Jim to find some old clothes tomorrow. After cutting these clothes, I'll make some mops
for us. It's not different from what we bought in the supermarket." Mrs. Judy was still reading the leaflets.

Nicole didn't want to see that. She took the leaflets from Mrs. Judy's hand and looked at her seriously, "Mom, don't worry about
these trifles. Let me worry about them."
Mrs. Judy seemed to know what was in Nicole's mind. She sighed and put her hand on Nicole's. "Nicole, don't take it as an
insult. We've been leading a poor life for so many years. Now we owe someone money, not to mention waste any money. I don't
want you to be in debt at such a young age."
"No, I..."
"No matter how rich your friend is, if we borrow money from him, we should return the money to him, right?"
Hearing her mother's words, Nicole couldn't refute anymore.
she had to lie to her mother that she had borrowed money from her classmate in college for the surgery. If she said too much at
the moment, the secret would be discovered.
Nicole went to the kitchen with mixed feelings while Jim was listening to their conversation and lost in thought.
At lunch time, Mrs. Judy put these leaflets in front of Nicole. Her intention was very clear.
In order to meet her mother's wishes, Nicole finished the meal, went out with Jim, and bought four big bags of things which were
listed out by her mother.
It would be enough for a few months.
Mrs. Judy was so happy to see them carrying the bags into the house.
"These bags are enough for several months." She said proudly.
She didn't know whether it was good or bad for her mother to save money. Her mother asked Nicole not to cook soup for her
every day, saying that the meat was too expensive and she ate too much every day. On the other hand, she worked hard to
recover as the doctor told her, fearing that she would waste the money they had spent.
Such a contradiction made Nicole speechless.
But her mother had been getting better and better, so Nicole felt relieved.
As for Jacob, he seemed to disappear and had never been in touch with her.

And so did Austin.
Nicole was happy to have so much free time to take care of her mother. She would only stare blankly at the ceiling at night when
she was lying in bed, thinking of someone who made her sleepless.
But when she thought that person might be flirting with others, she couldn't think about it any more.
Some time later, another event happened in Nicole's house.
Her younger brother, Jim, didn't go to school after the new semester began.
However, Nicole didn't notice this. Every morning, when Jim had breakfast, he would leave home on time; when the night came,
he would come back home on time and go to sleep after dinner.
Nicole thought her brother was too tired after school, so she doubled the food she cooked for him.
Until the head teacher of Jim came.
"Jim has a good academic performance. We are going to train him well to let him enter a key high school. Why do you want to
transfer him to another school? What's the reason?"
Holding a cup of hot tea, the head teacher looked at Nicole and Mrs. Judy in confusion.
They looked at each other, and both of them were at a loss.
"Don't you... know it? " The head teacher asked tentatively as he felt something wrong.
Nicole gave an awkward smile before her mother. She said, "yes, maybe there is some misunderstanding. Don't worry. I will ask
Jim when he comes back."
The head teacher nodded and said earnestly, "Jim Du is now in a rebellious period. As family, you should pay more attention to
communicate with him and understand more about him. Don't make him take a wrong path."
"I see. Thank you so much for coming."
The head teacher left with a friendly smile. After Nicole sent the head teacher away and closed the door, Mrs. Judy, who had
been silent all this time, slapped hard on the table.

"Nonsense! Why doesn't he go to school? "
Nicole saw that her mother was out of breath, she hurried to help her, "mother, don't be so angry. Jim is a good boy and won't do
anything bad. I guess he has something difficult to do, so he didn't go to school. We know nothing about it. Don't jump to the
conclusion so soon."
Mrs. Judy gasped for breath, "make sure to ask him when he comes back!"
Tonight, Mrs. Judy didn't go to bed. She stubbornly sat on the sofa, holding her arms and waiting for Jim.
Seeing her mother stay up late, Nicole was distressed. She put the sleeping pills into the water and coaxed her to drink them.
Mrs. Judy was not in good health, so she dozed off soon. Nicole softly carried her to bed.
At half past ten, Jim entered the house on time.
"Sister, I'm starving. What are we going to eat tonight?" Jim threw his schoolbag on the sofa and went straight to the kitchen.
Without saying a word, Nicole went straight to the sofa, grabbed his schoolbag and began to look through it.
"Sis, why did you rummage through my schoolbag?"