The Apple of My Eye
Chapter 355 The Weirdo Relatives

Aron turned to Fiona, holding his temper. "Did you have to sound so cynical talking to my grandparents? I will say it again: I bought the house myself and they had nothing to do with it." He was helping Albert's family take their luggage out of the car.

"You bought the house yourself?!" Fiona scoffed. "Well aren't you the boastful one!" Unable to stop herself, she continued further. "You would never have earned so much if your grandparents did not let you rur the company! You should think about Colin, and not just make money for yourself."

Aron resigned himself to his aunt's ranting so he just kept quiet. After taking out the bags, he said, "It's already late. You can stay here if you wish, but tomorrow... You will have to leave. You can't stay here. Now that you're back, you need to replace a house of your own. We don't run a shelter here," he told Albert's family.

"How can you say such things?!" Colin exclaimed. He grabbed Aron by the collar and growled, "Let me tell you something... I have every right to whatever you are enjoying now. That had better be clear to you."

Still holding the collar of Aron's shirt, he spat, "If not for me, you would not be rich and live a comfortable life! Don't think you're so great just because you have been the company's general manager for several years. Just to warn you, I am going with you to work tomorrow. And sooner or later, I'm going to prove myself better than you!"

Aron smirked at Colin. "Anytime, my cousin." He brushed off Colin's hand and declared, "I'm ready for the challenge. But, you still have to move out tomorrow."

Albert, Fiona, and Colin listened to him in disbelief. "What is wrong with you?" Fiona demanded. "Why should we listen to you and move out?" Waving her arms in exasperation, she said, "We are you uncle and aunt, your elders. What gives you the right to kick us out?"

"The house is under my name and that gives me the right." There was a steely edge to Aron's voice, even as he held his temper.

He could not remember how many times he chose to swallow the insults and humiliating words from these people because he refused to embarrass his grandparents. But enough was enough. "Did you hear what your nephew said, Albert?" Fiona fumed. "How dare he speak to me in this manner! Are you not going to do anything... teach him a lesson?"

Voice raised, Albert berated Aron. "You ungrateful bastard! How could you talk to your aunt like that?" The man grabbed a broom resting by the door, slightly raised it as if to hit Aron while saying, "If I had known you would turn out to be an ungrateful bastard, I would never have taken pity on you, and brought you home to raise you!"

Blood rushing to his ears, Aron snatched the broom from Albert and stared at him with eyes so fierce his uncle shuddered in fear. "If you don't want to drag your suitcase to a hotel in the middle of the night, you better behave yourself," he said in a low voice, every word given emphasis. Taking a deep breath, Aron continued, "You never raised me a day in your life, so don't act like you sacrificed anything for me. As for my grandparents, I care about them with all my heart. But you? You're nothing but just relatives to me!" Albert had never seen such look on Aron's face and it unnerved him a little. Fiona, too, backed down a bit and began whispering to Albert how Aron may soon be robbing their son of his share of the family fortune. She also reminded her husband about the considerable dowry presented by Aron's mother when they got married, and the young man was now staking his claim on the family's riches.

And this was the reason why Albert never regarded Aron as his nephew... or as a family. Rather, he thought of him as an enemy.

Growing up, Aron was always polite in front of Albert, which led his uncle to believe it was easy to fool and bully him. But Aron was anything but a fool or a weakling. How could he be when he had been hustling in the business world for many years? In business circles, he was well-known as an action man.

Because of this confrontation, Albert now regretted more than ever his decision to allow Aron to be part of their family.

Much of his misfortune, however, was because he had a useless son. Colin may have been born to wealth, but all he was good at was eating, drinking and gambling. And he knew next to nothing about running the company, which became an advantage for Aron.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Fiona asked her nephew. "Why can your grandparents live here but we can't?"

Albert's family always lived extravagantly, spending freely and never saving up for the future. They lived on company dividends but also relied on his parents for additional finances. Their primary reason for coming back was because of fear that Aron would take over the entire company and they would be cut off from any gains.

Still, Albert believed that his parents would never abandon him because he was their son.

And since they could not afford to buy a house, and would need to save what little they had, the best option was to live in Aron's house.

Aron, however, stood his ground. "They can live here because they raised me. You didn't," he answered Fiona. Turning to his grandparents, Aron gently said, "Grandma, grandpa, it's very late. You really need to go to sleep. I will take care of this."

Mike and Joanna looked at each other helplessly. While they were not in favor of Albert's family staying in Aron's house, they did not know how to help them.

"Aron, how about..." Mike started to speak.

But Aron quickly cut him off. "Don't even think about it." He knew the two elders would be sympathetic to Albert's family, but he had to put his foot down. "I will never let them move in, "Aron said with finality. Colin decided to get in the act. "Grandpa, grandma..." Mike and Joanna usually doted on Colin as he was good at giving sweet talk. And he took advantage of this, coming closer to the two, pleading, "We just got back. Where do you want us to stay?" Throwing a glance at Aron, he declared, "This is your house. If you say so, he cannot refuse to let us stay."

But the two simply shook their head in embarrassment, with Mike admitting, "It's Aron's house. And it is his decision. We can't do anything about it." Realizing that Colin was useless in bargaining, Fiona stepped in and offered, "We could move out."

She paused, then went on, "But we have a condition."

Mike and Joanna heaved a sigh of relief. "What condition?" As long as they could negotiate, everything would turn out well, or so they thought.

"We're new here and don't know anyone. If you want us to move out, you must replace a house for us. That's quite simple, right?" Fiona said. Sneering, she added, "Since Aron has a house here, it's only right that Colin has one, too."

Fiona continued, "The house would be under Colin's name, and you will buy it for your grandson. You're not going to say no, will you?"

Aron had run out of patience. His uncle's family did not seem to understand the financial situation of his grandparents. Controlling himself to keep from screaming, he explained, "Grandpa and grandma have been retired for many years. Instead of you giving them money, you did everything to take money from them. Have you no shame, depriving old people of resources?"

Colin went from stunned to angry. "What did you just say?! What?! Why should I be ashamed to ask them to buy a house for me, when they did exactly that for you?" he exclaimed, facing his cousin.