The husband was speechless. Not a word. He only tried to discreetly block the view of the mistress behind him.

But the mother-in-law had already lifted her gaze. She saw the girl. She saw the suitcase. It took her three seconds to understand everything.

“And she… who is she?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“She’s… a colleague. Yes, a colleague. We… uh… are working on a project…” the husband started to mumble.

“A colleague?” the mother-in-law repeated, leaning forward slowly as if examining prey. “Interesting. And why is your ‘colleague’ arriving with luggage? On the very day my daughter flies to another country?”