Chapter 66 Domestic Violence
"It was you who asked my sister to quit and to be a housewife, but you stick to go halves with her all the time. And she has to stay at home to take care of Andy. Think about it! Is there any difference for my sister between having you as her husband and having no husband?"
"You always said that my sister didn't do anything at home. But she just didn't do anything today. Oh, no, she did something for you today. She bought the vegetables, washed the rice and poured the water into the rice cooker. You just need to do the rest!"
Patrick opened his mouth and was about to say something, but Teresa didn't give him any chance to speak and continued, "Do you think the house was clean every day because the broom swept the floor on its own? Andy is still a little baby, so he always left his toys all over the floor when playing but didn't tidy them away by himself."
"Do you think the toys tidied themselves away? Besides, what you ate, drank and used was all prepared by my sister. Wasn't it my sister who washed your clothes evey day?"
"Weren't the three meals you had every day made by my sister?"
"How can you always blame her for having no income? If my sister didn't take care of the family at home, would you be able to plunge into your job without worries?"
"The family is jointly supported by you and my sister. You work outside and my sister works inside. You are both paying for the family. You can't say that she doesn't pay for the family because she has no job. In fact, she is more tired than you. You and my sister can exchange your roles. You do the lanudry, cook, take care of Andy and clean up the house at home, and my sister goes to work."
Leila earned more than Patrick did before she got married and quitted.
Patrick didn't know how to retort upon Teresa. After a while, he said, embarrassedly, "Teresa, I just said a little, but you said so much as if I have abused your sister. You are not busy with your bookshop? If you can't run it well and have only a few profits, close it and go to work in a company."
"Does Hubert work at a big group? You can ask him to arrange for you to work at the group. It's better to get thousands of dollars a month than to open a bookshop."
Teresa said coldly, "I don't need you to worry about my bookshop. My income is totally enough for me to live, and there is still a little surplus every month!"
"I... I'm going to cook."
Patrick knew that Teresa was angry, so he didn't want to keep speaking with her and went back to the kitchen.
Teresa took a deep breath. Leila was not ready for divorce yet, so Teresa knew it was no use to retort Patrick again. Teresa vowed in her mind that she would definately blame Patrick as hard as possible if he dared to blame Leila after Leila had a job and was ready for divorce.
She entered the bedroom and saw Leila sitting on the edge of the bed and gently fondling Andy's head. She knew that Leila endured Patrick's blame totally for Andy.
Hearing the sound of opening the door, Leila turned around and saw that it was Teresa. She stood up, walked to Teresa and said softly, "Tess, Patrick don't listen to your words. Don't worry about me. I'll know how to protect myself if I am completely disappointed with him."
"Aren't you going to buy a gift for Hubert. Hurry to go shopping. Never mind. I'm fine."
"Well, I'll go shopping first. Call me if you need me. If he hurt you, tell me. I won't let him go!"
Leila said okay. She used to love Patrick, so she endured all the grievances.
Now she was a little disappointed with Patrick. For Andy's sake, she chose to settle for being with Patrick temporarily. When she was able to bring up Andy by herself, Patrick couldn't threaten her at all.
At the urging of Leila, Teresa left.
When she was about to leave, Patrick finished cooking a dish and walked out of the kitchen with it in his hands. Seeing that Teresa was about to leave, he asked hypocritically, "Teresa, have you had lunch?"
"Yes, I have."
Teresa answered lightly and then left.
After finishing making the dish, Patrick didn't go on cooking. He took a forkful of the dish to taste but immediately spat it out.
It tasted terrible!
It was a little sweet!
Why was it sweet? Did he treat sugar as salt?
He immediately returned to the kitchen and picked up the spice box. Sugar and salt were put in the same box, so he must have regarded sugar as salt.
Before getting married, Patrick had his mother cooking for him at home. After getting married, he had Leila and Teresa cooking for him. He did not know how to cook. It was not strange at all that a man who couldn't distinguish salt from sugar made terrible dishes.
Then he went to see the rice in the rice cooker. Because the water was poured into the cooker by Leila, the rice tasted good.
But Patrick was so picky that he couldn't only eat rice without any other food.
Thinking that he had been working in the company for half a day and had not yet had a hot meal at home, Patrick got annoyed and strided to the bedroom. Seeing Leila sitting on the bed and looking through her mobile phone, he became much angrier.
He quickly walked forward, knocked off Leila's mobile phone with one hand and grabbed her hair with another. Then he dragged her down, and began to punch and kick her. He didn't scold her for fear of waking Andy up.
Without precautions, Leila was seized by him by the hair and was dragged to the floor. When she realized what was happening, she immediately started to resist.
Patrick was a man and took the first chance, so even though Leila resisted, she was still in the inferior position for a while.
Although Patrick hit her so hard that her face was swollen, she still didn't stop resisting. She remembered that a former colleague told her that when a couple first fought, the wife should win anyway, showing her husband that she was not easy to bully.
In that way, her husband could be restrained. If she lost, her husband would hit her again and again.
Domestic violence happened either zero time or countless times between a couple.
When Patrick raised his fist again, Leila caught his fist even though she still felt painful and then bit his arm hard. Patrick screamed in pain. He used the other hand to pull Leila's hair. But the harder he pulled, the harder Leila bit.
"Leila, let go of me! I'll let you go!"
Patrick couldn't stand the pain and shouted.
He let go of the hand holding Leila's hair and began to push her with that hand.
Leila pressed against him with her whole weight as soon as he let go of her hair.
Over the past two years, she had focused on taking care of Andy at home and had never paid attention to her shape, so she weighed thirty to forty pounds more than before she got married. Patrick felt she pressed on him like a big heavy stone.
Leila had the advantage this time. As soon as she let go of Patrick's arm, she reached to slap him in the face hard.
She slapped him as hard as he hit her just now. After finding Patrick was slapped almost to faint and he screemed in pain with his mouth bleeding, Leila felt tired and got up from Patrick.
After taking a few breaths, Leila went to the kitchen and then went out with a knife in her hand.
Patrick got up from the ground and called his parents and sister to tell them that he taught Leila a lesson but Leila retaliated. However, seeing Leila coming out of the kitchen with a knife, he was so scared that he instantly stopped complaining and walked around the house to find an opportunity to run out.