My In-Laws Forced the Agreement, So I Cancelled Enrollment

My brother-in-law's son was starting first grade and needed our house for it, and one day my husband shoved a transfer agreement into my hands.

I flipped through it, and on the last page it read: final ownership of the house goes to Kevin Hughes.

I was stunned. I won't sign.

Rufus and his wife flew into a rage right then. "You already promised us long ago, and now the registration deadline is almost here. You're backing out?"

I shot back calmly, "That house is what I'm giving to my son."

My husband wrenched my body around to face him. "Hazel, our son is already dead. Wake up."

...

At the family dinner, my husband handed me a property transfer document.

"Hurry up and sign it. We're going to be counting on our nephew to take care of us in our old age and see us off when we go."

I skimmed through the contents of the transfer agreement and raised a question.

"Why is the transfer period fifteen years? Wasn't it ten before?"

Rufus's wife, Bianca, didn't even lift her eyes. "Kevin has at least twelve years of school ahead of him, elementary through high school. Sign for the full term all at once, so we don't have to trouble you again later."

I kept flipping, and when I reached the last page of the agreement, I gripped it tight.

"Why does final ownership of the house go to Kevin?"

This time it was Rufus who spoke. "In the end, everything you and my brother own goes to Kevin anyway, doesn't it? We're just getting the paperwork done ahead of time."

My mother-in-law, Millicent, and my husband, Cyril, kept pushing me to sign quickly.

I looked at Cyril, chilled to the bone. "That house was meant for Leonard."

"But Leonard is already dead. Didn't you promise to give it to Kevin for school?"

I nodded even as I took out my phone and quickly unsent the registration application.

"Now I've changed my mind."

The moment I finished speaking, every one of their faces turned ugly.

Bianca glared at me hard, then grabbed Rufus's hand, though her eyes were on my mother-in-law. "What does my sister-in-law mean by this?"

Of course Bianca knew exactly what I meant. She was asking a question she already had the answer to.

In an instant, four or five pairs of eyes at the table all swung toward me.

Some resented me, others were aimed at Cyril.

As I pretended not to notice and got up to leave, Cyril grabbed my arm.

"Hazel, what's this about?"

"We settled it ages ago that Kevin would start elementary school this year. You back out now, and what are they supposed to do?"

I shook Cyril's arm off, grabbed my bag, and left.

"If he can't get into the city's top-rated elementary school, doesn't your village have a school too? It's not like he has nowhere to go."

Bianca panicked and shot to her feet.

"Mom, look at her. She clearly promised us long ago. How can she go back on her word like this?"

Millicent's glare at me was the most vicious of all. Even without Bianca egging her on, she was never going to stay quiet.

"Hazel, hurry up and sign this agreement. Kevin is waiting to start school."

Millicent was every bit the wicked mother-in-law of the old stories.

"I won't sign."

I turned my head and met Millicent's eyes, not giving an inch on presence.

The words had barely left my mouth when Cyril yanked me toward him.

He lowered his voice and spoke to me in a warning tone. "Hazel, don't make a scene right now. Getting Kevin into school is a big deal. If we offend Rufus and Bianca, it does us no good."

"He's your nephew. He has nothing to do with me."

And with that, this time I really did turn and walk away.

No matter how they called after me from behind, I didn't look back.

Just as I was about to step out the door, I heard Bianca shouting and shrieking.

"Rufus, didn't you say getting Kevin into school would be easy? Look at Hazel."

"And the rest of you, if Kevin doesn't get into Lincoln Elementary, you can just wait around for him to sit at home like a fool."

Of everyone scrambling to apologize to Bianca, Cyril was the most eager. He must have truly pinned all his hopes for his old age on his nephew Kevin.

Thinking of my son Leonard, my eyes went hot. I decided that no one, whoever they were, was going to take away what belonged to my son.

Originally, I had planned to let Kevin use the house for school; it was something we'd agreed on a year ago.

But I was only lending it to them temporarily, and after seeing that so-called agreement today, I would never agree to give them the house, not if my life depended on it.

I went home, knowing Cyril wouldn't let it go.

But I wasn't afraid. I had already decided to divorce him.

The truth was, I'd looked into divorce matters a long time ago. The year my son Leonard first had his accident, I had a feeling my relationship with Cyril wouldn't last long.

But over the years, Cyril and I had both been so careful, and that was the only reason our marriage had lasted this long.

I felt this was the limit.

I first checked the savings under my name; there was only 500,000 dollars. As for the assets on Cyril's company side, I wasn't too clear about those.

After we got married, we owned two houses. The one we'd argued about today was left to me by my parents.

The year I gave birth to Leonard, we'd planned to save it for his schooling.

But Leonard only lived to be four years old.

The biggest reason I was angry today was that Cyril had forgotten that house was meant for Leonard.

And he'd brought up the fact that Leonard was already dead, right there in front of me.

Every mother who has lost a child carries a heart full of wounds.

Not long after I got home, Cyril came back too.

He walked in with a stern face, deliberately making a sour expression at me.

"Hazel, you really were in the wrong today. You clearly promised long ago to let Kevin use the house for school. You already put his name in for enrollment. How can you go back on your word now?"

Cyril's tone was a little gentler than before, but it still grated on me.

"What are they supposed to do now? Kevin is so young. The moment he heard he couldn't go to Lincoln Elementary, he kept crying and making a fuss."

I didn't want to respond to any of that.

In my heart, Cyril was no longer on my side.

"Did you read that agreement?"

When I asked him that, he paused for a moment before answering. "I read it."

"It's just an agreement. It doesn't change anything. Besides, there's no use in us keeping that house..."

He stopped when I looked at him.

"Cyril, I'm only 34 this year, not 43. If I wanted to have a child, I still could. And you know that house holds all my hopes tied to Leonard."

The moment I mentioned Leonard, my voice choked up again, and Cyril's expression turned bad too.

The truth was, Leonard wasn't only a wound in my heart; he was one in Cyril's as well.

When Leonard was not even two years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia. From the moment he was diagnosed, we did everything we could to cooperate with the treatment, but after more than two years, we still couldn't save his life.

Cyril knew what I was feeling, and he reached out and put his arm around my shoulder.

It wasn't until that moment that I finally cried out loud.

"I understand that you want a child. Haven't we been trying all these years too?"

"But having a child and letting Kevin use the house for school don't conflict. They're only borrowing it."

Cyril was still trying to persuade me.

"Cyril, I'm an actuary. I've seen countless contracts, countless clauses. I know where the loopholes are, and where a single step can drop someone into the abyss."

"It's not that I won't help them. It's that they're too greedy."

I knew saying this might make Cyril uncomfortable; after all, Rufus was his own younger brother.

"When I asked them about those clauses, I already had a clear idea in my head. I trust my instincts. What they wanted wasn't just the right to send Kevin to school."

My words left Cyril silent. He didn't say anything more, just reached out and held me tightly.

Two hearts that grieved for the same child could still, at certain moments, lean against each other.

I never thought Cyril and I would talk so much, so calmly. He didn't get worked up again, and I assumed the matter of Kevin's school was behind us.

But once again, I'd underestimated things.

Cyril let it go, but Millicent didn't. Their family has a group chat, and the very next day Millicent started posting all sorts of messages in it.

One minute she was going on about how the brother and sister in her second uncle's family helped each other in their careers, and the next about how the two sisters in her third aunt's family supported one another.

I knew she was making veiled jabs at me, but I pretended not to get it.

I decided that as long as they didn't come and make a scene, I'd act like nothing had happened.

But I still underestimated their determination to get Kevin into Lincoln Elementary.

Later, Millicent started naming me outright in the family group chat, saying I wouldn't help Rufus.

"What a family we have. The eldest son's household clearly has a house that could get Kevin into Lincoln Elementary, but she flat-out refuses to helpshe even tells us to send Kevin back to the village school."

"I really must not have burned enough incense, which is why my children can't stick together."

The more she posted in the group, the more people gradually started to respond. They didn't come right out and say I was in the wrong, but the accusation ran through everything they said.

After Millicent had been posting in the group for a week, the registration deadline was fast approaching.

Bianca couldn't hold back any longer either, and started chiming in on Millicent's side.

They probably never expected me to keep my composure like this.

I simply stayed quiet, but whenever I saw a comment that could be used against me, I took a screenshot and saved it.

The day before the registration deadline, Bianca and Rufus finally came to find me.

This time their attitude was much better than before.

The moment Bianca saw me, she still had that stubborn, unwilling-to-lose edge, but on the surface she was quite respectful toward me.

"Sister-in-law, we were rude that day. Look, school's about to start, and we're only doing what's best for the child. For Kevin's sake, please give him this chance."

Rufus nodded along quickly.

"This time we won't even make you sign any agreement. Just help us get Kevin registered."

Bianca stressed that point, and seeing them back down like that, my heart wasn't as hard as all that after all.

I told them I'd think about it.

Bianca and Rufus exchanged a glance and looked like they wanted to say more, but seeing my sour expression, they didn't dare.

The truth was, I was planning to go ahead and register him for them.

But a contract I had to look over got the whole thing pushed aside.

When Cyril came back, I still hadn't finished. The second he walked in, he asked me about registering Kevin.

I froze for a moment. "I've been looking at a contract for over an hourI haven't had a chance to submit it yet."

Before I could finish, Cyril turned away impatiently.

He didn't say a word, just went into the kitchen to cook.

Seeing him like that, I actually felt a little guilty.

I still hadn't wrapped up my work when Cyril called me to dinner.

I figured I'd do the registration while we ate.

When I mentioned it to Cyril, he was cool about it, only giving a soft "mm."

He'd made my favorite chicken soup and ladled me out a full bowl.

"Drink up."

I glanced at him and held up my phone, meaning I'd register Kevin right then.

I must have been really hungry, because the bowl of chicken soup was gone in no time.

But once I'd finished it, my head grew heavier and heavier, and before long I fell asleep.

When I woke up again, I was still slumped over the table, and the food on it hadn't been touched.

Suddenly I had a bad feeling. Something was wrong.

I glanced at the clockit was ten at night. I looked around the house, but Cyril wasn't home.

As I was leaving the bedroom, I abruptly turned my head and saw that the cabinet where we usually kept our documents was open, and a bad premonition hit me.

I hurried over and pulled out all the documents inside. The only thing missing was the deed to the house near Lincoln Elementary.

My guess was that Cyril had taken it.

He'd put something in the chicken soup, and after I drank it, everything went hazy.

He'd seized the chance to take the deed and use it to enroll his nephew in school.

I'd thought we'd more or less settled things that day, but I never imagined he would actually do something like this.

Cyril was clever. He figured out that a property deed was needed for enrollment, but what he didn't know was that even with the deed, it was useless without the property owner's verification code.

I opened my phone, and sure enough, I saw a verification code that had come in a few hours earlier.

Except Cyril hadn't dared to ask me for the code.

Some people crave success so badly that it ends up backfiring on them instead.

I still didn't quite believe that Cyril would do something like steal the deed, but the home surveillance footage didn't lie.

Watching the footage, I even tried to convince myself that someone had put Cyril up to it.

I still had a lot of faith in him, and I really wanted to keep our marriage together, but this move of his had taught me a hard lesson.

Unwilling to accept it, I called Cyril. He didn't pick up the first time.

I called a second time, and just as the ringing was about to stop, someone answered.

Anxious, I spoke first. "Cyril, I've already agreed to all your demandswhy would you still"

"Sorry, Manager Hughes is in the shower. Is there something you need? I can pass it along."

My words were cut off, and then my head buzzed.

I'd heard that voice beforeit was Cyril's new secretary. I thought her name was Melody.

For a moment I didn't answer, and Melody prompted me again. "Hello? Is there anything you need?"

I didn't say a word. I just hung up.

Melody didn't know who I was. Either she was pretending, or Cyril really didn't have my number saved in his phone.

But none of that mattered now. Right then I felt an impulse, one urging me to go do something immediately.

First I went through my assets again, and then I found a reasonably reliable lawyer online.

Once all of that was done, I called the police.

"Someone broke into my house, and my property deed is gone."

"Someone is trying to seize my house."