“My business is none of your business either.”

Upon hearing these terse words, it was Patricia's turn to be stunned.

“Maria! How can you talk to Aunt Patricia like this? Don't you know how to be polite?" Vivian yelled. She could tolerate her father being insulted, but not her beloved Aunt Patricia.

“Does your Aunt Patricia have anything to do with me?"

Maria's tone sharpened as she directed her annoyance at Vivian this time.

"I'm your elder sister. How dare you talk to me Like that? Besides, why are you all questioning me? Do I need to ask your permission to go anywhere? Does the law require it?"

The silence that ensued was tense. The Jenkins family couldn't deny that Maria had a point. Clearing his throat, Bill instead got straight to the point.

“What we're asking is, why did you go meet Mathias? Don't you think you owe us an explanation? You can't just see the Smith family as you Like!"

“Dad is right! If you didn't have ulterior motives, why did you go to see Grandpa secretly? Don't you think you should discuss such an important matter with us first? You're being unreasonable!"

Vivian thought that she had seized the point, and her confidence mounted.

“It's not like I made an elaborate plan to visit the Smith family. I ran into them by chance," Maria replied vaguely.

Her words were the truth, but they refused to buy it.

“Ran into them? Wow, you're so clever. How Long did it take you to come up with this answer?" Vivian said sarcastically, snorting.

"Broome is a Large city with so many people in it. Do you really expect us to believe that you just ran into Grandpa on your first visit there?"

"You don't believe me?"

Maria Laughed.

“In that case, you can ask your Grandpa yourself."

Then the Line went dead, making it clear that Maria didn't want to talk to them anymore.

Hearing the beeping sound on the phone, they all Looked at each other in solemn silence.

Call Mathias?