THE ICY COLD BROTHER-IN LAW

FOUR. THE NAIVE SISTER-IN LAW

He seemed to be in a hurry to leave his walk-in closet to open the door. The black tie still hanging from his shirt collar. Elyseen looked very handsome in black mourning clothes. His copper hair was neatly combed and tamed with hair gel. Brynlee admitted that her sister's husband was very handsome. Unfortunately, his attitude was not as handsome as his face. Elyseen didn't even look like a grieving husband. His expression was too flat, while Brynlee expected to see Elyseen crying and sad over Lillah's death.

“I want to borrow Lillah's clothes. She cannot attend Lillah's funeral in dirty, blood-stained clothes."

Elyseen's gaze shifted to Brynlee. He looked at her with a scornful look. Brynlee looked out of place at Lillah's funeral with the wounds all over her body and dirty clothes. The blood stains on her white blouse certainly horrified those who saw it.

“Those are Lillah's clothes. She probably won’t like it if her sister wearing her clothes."

“Elyseen, don't make ridiculous excuses like that," his mother glared at him.

"Her sister has the right to wear your late wife's clothes. Move aside. Let me get Lillah's clothes from her wardrobe."

"Daddy, aunt Brynlee's blouse is dirty."

Levi's eyes filled with tears. He looked at his father, who just stared at him coldly. Elyseen then stepped aside to give them the way to his room.

"Don't make her closet messy. She always kept it tidy.”

"We won't do it," his mother answered quickly, and walked to Lillah's wardrobe.

Meanwhile, Brynlee just stood by the door, observing her sister's room in silence. She lowered her head slightly, but her eyes actively moved around the interior of her sister's room, which was dominated by white and light gray. It wasn't Lillah's color. All she knew was that Lillah liked bright pink, orange or yellow. The room was too gloomy for Lillah's very cheerful personality. There was a king-sized bed in the middle of the room which was covered with gray bedsheets with a checkered pattern. The blanket was pitch black and contrasted sharply with the sheets. There were two ivory white wardrobes on the right side of the bed. One of them was opened by Elyseen's mother. She took one of Lillah's clothes while thinking whether it would suit Brynlee or not.

"Observing my room?"

Elyseen's cold voice startled her. She looked up reflexively and her eyes met with Elyseen's very cold green eyes.

“I think this room is too gloomy for Lillah. She likes bright colors.”

"I'm the one who handles everything in this house, including the interior of this room. Your sister agreed to whatever I thought was good.”

"Sounds like it's not Lillah."

Elyseen heard Brynlee's muttering, and he threw her a sharp gaze.

"You've been out of her life for a long time. You can't compare Lillah's condition before she married me and after she married me."

Brynlee was silent. Her eyes were fixed on one place. Elyseen looked down to see what Brynlee was looking at.

"Your tie isn't tied properly."

Brynlee reflexively stretched out her hand to touch Elyseen's tie, but Elyseen suddenly grabbed her wrist tightly.

“I can do it myself. I don't need your help."

After throwing Brynlee's hand away, Elyseen backed away and walked out of his bedroom with his jaw tightened. He looked very angry and didn't like his sister-in-law very much.

Brynlee sighed softly at Elyseen's rudeness. She had no idea why Elyseen disliked her so much. What's wrong with him? Brynlee asked herself. If it was because she had never contacted Lillah all this time, it seemed too much. Elyseen's hatred seemed greater than he should have shown towards Brynlee.

"Well, I've found clothes that suit you."

Cassandra's voice broke Brynlee's thoughts about Elyseen. She immediately turned to Cassandra and smiled gently at her kindness.

"Thanks for helping me get the right outfit."

"Never mind. You have the right to wear Lillah's clothes. Come on, Levi, let's go out. Let your aunt change clothes in the bathroom."

Levi got off his parents' bed and held his grandma's hand tightly.

"I'll be waiting for you downstairs, aunty."

"Okay, honey. I won't be long."

After Brynlee rubbed the top of Levi's head, Cassandra walked out and closed the door behind her.

Brynlee was completely alone in the room and was uncomfortable with the strange aura the room gave off. Instead of feeling Lillah's warmth there, Brynlee felt cold because of Elyseen's intense, intimidating aura in the room.

Brynlee tried to shake off all the bad thoughts she had about Elyseen. She walked over to the nightstand on the right side of Lillah's bed and lifted the photo frame with pictures of Lillah, Elyseen and Levi as babies.

Lillah was smiling widely in the photo while holding Levi, who was probably only six months old. Lillah clung to Elyseen with a sparkling face, while Elyseen just stood stiffly holding Lillah's shoulder. They didn't look like a happy family. Brynlee frowned in surprise at the portrait of Lillah's family. Besides, the room didn't have many photos or wall decorations. The room was left plain. The only photo was the one on the nightstand.

As far as Brynlee remembered, Lillah used to really like to put up photos on her bedroom wall. She was very sentimental about the memories she made. The walls of her bedroom used to be full of photos. Brynlee used to call it a hall of fame because of the many photos on Lillah's bedroom walls.

But now, she couldn't find a single photo on the wall of the room. All the walls were plain and very clean. Brynlee was really surprised and curious about Lillah's married life. Everything looked strange in her eyes and, unlike the Lillah she knew. Had the years she had gone without Lillah changed Lillah that much? She doubted that Lillah would change so quickly after she married Elyseen.

Brynlee put the photo back in its place, and she walked into the only door in the corner of the room she thought was the bathroom. She opened the door and found a very masculine bathroom. No Lillah scent there. Everything was Elyseen's scent like the one she smelled when the man stood right in front of her.

Brynlee's eyes spun around the bathroom. Everything was well organized. A large black granite bathtub was in the middle of the large bathroom. The shower cubicle was on the right with frosted glass as a divider between the shower cubicle and the toilet. The sink was also made of gray ceramic and looked expensive.

When Brynlee looked at her reflection in the mirror, Brynlee could barely recognize her hideous face. No wonder Cassandra asked her to change clothes and wash her face. There were a lot of blood stains on her white blouse. Almost all parts of her blouse had brown blood stains. She then brought her face closer to the mirror to examine the bandage on her head which also had traces of blood. She didn't realize that her blood was seeping through the surface of the gauze.

She turned on the tap and washed her face several times until she was absolutely sure that her face was clean. She rubbed all parts of her face, so that no dust stuck on the surface of her face. She wanted to look clean and decent on the day of her sister's funeral.

She took off all her dirty clothes quickly and changed into Lillah's knee-length dress that flared from the waist to the knees. She saw that the dress fit her perfectly. Living apart from Lillah in New York apparently made her body grow even more without her knowing it. She used to be petite, and her dress size was always three numbers smaller than Lillah. Because she was too thin, her mother always told her to eat four to five times a day to gain weight. Sometimes her father mocked her and said that she could have been blown away by the wind for being too thin. Lillah also called her stick-girl because her body looked like an ice cream stick.

Now, all the banter was just a memory. How she missed them all and longed to hear those irritating words from their lips again.

Brynlee wiped the tears roughly from her cheeks. She washed her face once more and dried her face with the towel she found in the cupboard above the sink. The towel smelled like Elyseen, very masculine. But she liked this scent more than Lillah's sweet scent. She always didn't like Lillah's perfume because the scent was too strong for her nose.

As she was combing her hair with her fingers, the bathroom door suddenly opened. She and the door opener were both surprised and stared at each other. She was really careless because she didn't lock the door because she thought she would be alone in the room.

"I thought there was no one here."

“Sorry, it was my fault. I didn't lock the door."

Brynlee immediately lowered her gaze and walked away from the mirror.

"I am done. I'm going out now."

Slipped out between Elyseen's broad body and the door frame, Brynlee quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. She felt her chest as soon as she got outside Elyseen's room and was a little surprised that her heart was pounding very hard.