You Complete Me novel (Skylar and Coralie)
Chapter 109

Meanwhile, Josephine shook her head repeatedly when Coralie mentioned Andrew.

"That's not the case. I would have been doomed if I relied on him," As she spoke, she took out a bracelet from her bag and handed it to Coralie. She continued, "I made this myself but it's not from anything expensive and I hope you don't mind."

Coralie received the beaded bracelet from Josephine. Indeed, as the latter mentioned, the materials were not lavish. However, it had a nice color to it and complemented Coralie's complexion.

Immediately, she put the bracelet on her wrist and dangled it while examining how good it looked on her. She thanked Josephine, "Thank you, it's very beautiful."

On the other hand, Josephine breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted how pleased Coralie was. She replied, "I'm glad you like it. Not long ago, I saw a video online that was a tutorial about making bracelets like this. Following that, I started learning how to make them after I got off work at night and after my child is asleep. Back then, I was just trying it out, so I made some and tried selling them during the weekend at the footbridge near Wandalie. I thought no one would buy it but the business was unexpectedly good. I nearly sold everything in just one night."

In the meantime, Coralie could not help but feel sorry for Josephine even when the latter was beaming.

Josephine needed to work during the day and was no less busy at night as she had to take care of her child, finish house chores and make bracelets. Even during weekends, she could not rest because she had to set up a stall to sell her bracelets.

Everyone was living a hard life but it seemed that the struggles in Josephine's life were kicked up a notch.

"You're selling these but how about Andrew? Did he get a job?" Coralie asked.

Coralie was puzzled. They were husband and wife but why did Josephine do everything on her own?

Immediately, Josephine's joy ebbed away when Andrew was mentioned. Following that, she even tried to put in a good word for him and explained, "Coralie, I know what you're trying to say. Currently, Andrew is working as a game streamer and he's doing okay. Last month, he earned 1,500 dollars and he even gave me 500 dollars from it. Besides, for those bracelets that didn't sell well, I can just take them apart and make a new one with it. I could recycle and it's not that costly too."

In the meantime, Coralie felt extremely sympathetic for Josephine when the latter mentioned that Andrew gave her 500 dollars.

1,500 dollars? The minimum wages for an odd job was paying much better than that. Even if gender equality was practiced in their household, how could the husband rely on the wife as the sole breadwinner? Carolie could tell from Josephine's remarks that the latter had to do the chores, raise the child and provide for the family.

What about Andrew? He was in charge of playing games, live streaming and getting a meager earning every month.

"Josephine, you're spoiling Andrew too much. A man like him..." Coralie wanted to continue by saying that Andrew was a 'good-for-nothing'. However, she recalled what Skylar said previously and she swallowed her words.

It seemed that Skylar was right. Josephine was deaf to other people's advice and she was adamantly willing to live her life the way it was.

If Coralie tried to advise Josephine, the latter would never listen and Andrew would even blame Coralie for it.

Coralie even felt that Howard, who was a jerk, was a better husband after listening to Josephine's descriptions about Andrew.

"Coralie, I know but you see, our lives are slowly getting better, aren't they?" Josephine's face was brimming with hope and she continued, "As long as Andrew loves me and hasn't had a change of heart, I don't mind working hard. Someone has to work hard for the family, right? There are no rules stating that the husband must be the one working hard."

Coralie was speechless but a train of thoughts was racing in her mind. She tried to suppress her urge to roll her eyes and after a while, she finally asked, "Are you sure that he genuinely loves you?" Coralie was curious as to why Josephine was so confident that Andrew still loved her.

Coralie could still recall that Andrew declared that he might not even cast a second glance at Josephine after earning 10,000 dollars a month as a professional streamer.

"Of course." Josephine nodded frantically and continued, "Yes, he told me he loves me."

"Did he say it when he wanted pocket money?" Coralie asked.

"No, he says it on a regular basis," Josephine replied.

Coralie felt like she was an outsider that was meddling with Josephine's marriage when she realized that the latter was confident about it.

After pondering for a while, Coralie realized that Josephine would never give up unless the latter was badly wounded.

"Well, save some money for yourself and don't spend it all on Andrew. Save some money in case someone in the family get sick because I had the experience of not being able to afford medical bills." Following that, Coralie continued to tell Josephine about what happened that year. After the divorce, both her mother and brother were hospitalized and had to undergo a surgery at the same time. In the end, she had no choice but to plead with Skylar for help.

Finally, Josephine agreed with what Coralie said. She nodded and replied, "That's right, I shouldn't hand the extra money to Andrew every month after this and I need to save it. Before this, I spent a lot of money when my baby was hospitalized for pneumonia. Fortunately, the insurance covered some of the costs."

Coralie felt that her effort was not in vain after noticing that Josephine began to agree with her point of view. After Coralie thanked Josephine for the bracelet, both of them went back to their respective homes. After leaving, Josephine sent a website to Coralie along with a message that read, "This is my shop on Amazon. Just tell me a design you like and I'll give it to you."

Coralie checked out the website and she had to admit that Josephine had an undeniable talent in making bracelets because all of the designs were not bad.

After leaving the cafe, Coralie went grocery shopping for Christmas at the market nearby. Following that, she decided to pay a visit back home to see her mother and brother.

Meanwhile, Wayne was staying at home for Christmas break. When Coralie went back home, he was playing games and she asked casually, "Wayne, why aren't you helping mom out? You're still playing games?"

Unexpectedly, Wayne came over to her and revealed mysteriously, "Hey, Coralie, I'm getting paid by playing games on behalf of others. I even made some good money from it."

Coralie could not help but associate it with Andrew when she heard the word "game". She warned Wayne, "It's okay for you to play during the holidays but please don't make this your full-time job in the future." "Yes, I understand. I'll finish this game and help mom clean up the house after this," Wayne replied.

Coralie was not worried about Wayne because he was her younger brother after all.

In the meantime, Coralie asked Skylar for a leave in advance. She told him that she would be staying at her own place and would not be back for the holidays.

After all, Skylar would definitely return to his parents' house during the holidays and she would certainly be unwanted in their home. Therefore, she did not want Skylar to be caught in between a rock and a hard place.

Following that, Coralie gave a helping hand in cleaning the house too. When she was done, she noticed that Wayne was hiding in the corner of the living room and giggling at his mobile phone. Immediately, Carolie spotted his suspicious behavior and walked over. She asked, "Do you have a girlfriend? When are you bringing her home so we can get to know her?"

Wayne immediately explained after being confronted by Coralie. He said, "Of course not. It's just a senior from school and she's better than me in fighting and gaming. How could she be interested in me?" However, Coralie noticed that Wayne was a little flushed when he mentioned his senior.

"She? A senior who is better at fighting than you are? And even play games better than you? I didn't expect you to have such a unique taste." Coralie teased him but could not help but sighed quietly, "Alas, times have changed. Everyone had a penchant for those gentle and lovely female classmates when I was in college."