Unable To Resist My Mother In Law—Proposal 17.

Elena POV—

Yes! I shrieked, jumping into his open arms. Steve laughed loudly as he twirled me in the air. He finally put me down and slipped the ring onto my ring finger before kissing my lips.

"I love you," he muttered.

"I love you too."

A smile painted my lips as I stepped on my tiptoes and planted a light kiss to his lips again.

"Congratulations!" our friends screamed. My best friend, Leah, rushed to me and jumped into my arms.

“I'm so happy for both of you. You deserve to be together.” She laughed as tears of joy gathered in her eyes.

Steve excused us to greet the other guests while I comforted Leah. Once Steve was out of earshot, Leah moved closer to me.

“Elena, are you sure you want to go through with this?” She whispered so only I could hear her. “Remember, his mother doesn't like you.”

My smile slowly turned into a frown as I remembered my fiancée's mother. The woman hated me more than she hated the devil, and I had no idea why. I sighed and shook my head, willing my smile to come back.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, a little harsher than I intended. “She would have no choice but to accept me. Besides, I already have a child with her son.”

Leah nodded.

“How is Daniel, by the way?” she asked.

“He is fine,” I managed to reply. The truth is, I had no idea how my son was doing. I don't remember the last time I had even seen him.

“Anyway, can we talk about something less… depressing?” I pleaded, and Leah sighed before grabbing my hand and pulling me over to where our other friends stood. They welcomed me with greetings and jubilation, while I, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about how I was going to face Steve's mother.

I woke up the next day to see Steve missing from our bedroom.

“Steve,” I called, getting out of bed. I rubbed my eyes and headed out of the room. As I got closer to the living room, I heard Steve on the phone arguing with someone.

I entered the living room, and the moment he saw me coming, he smiled at me and told the person he had to go, then hung up.

“Good morning, darling,” he beamed and moved to hug me, but I pushed him away.

“Who was that?” I questioned.

“Who?” He snorted, trying to hug me again, but I sidestepped.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Steve. Who were you on the phone with?”

Steve swallowed, then folded his arms against his chest.

“Fine, it was my mother,” he replied. “I was telling her about our engagement.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I nodded, trying to act cool. I walked to the counter where a bowl of fruit had been set out.

“And what did she say?”

Steve sighed. “Babe, can we not?”

“Steve, what did she say about it?” I insisted, even though I knew what the answer would be.

Steve ran his fingers through his hair before flopping on the sofa. “She doesn't approve.”

I nodded, already knowing that was going to be the case. I walked to the fridge and brought out some eggs and ingredients for bacon.

“I’m just going to cook breakfast,” was all I said.

Suddenly, hands wrapped around me and a kiss was placed on my cheek.

"I will do my best to make everything better; I promise," Steve assured before placing another kiss to my hair. We both got ready and left for work.

I worked as a secretary at one of Steve's family companies. His mother owned several companies around the world. Some were left to her by Steve's late father, while others belonged personally to her.

It's a surprise that I haven't actually met the woman in person. Everything I knew about her, I heard from Steve.

I knew she hated me because long ago, when I discovered I was pregnant, Steve and I had been extremely reluctant to keep the child. We wanted to have him aborted since we were still very young and had just graduated high school.

Steve's mother had told Steve to tell me not to go through with an abortion. She had agreed to raise the child while I continued my education. So, the moment I gave birth, I had the child sent to her and continued my education.

After that, whenever she called to speak with Steve, she never asked about me. The day Steve tried to give the phone to me, she had hung up. Even when Steve had informed her about wanting to propose to me, she had told him plainly that she would never accept that.

So yeah, those were more than enough to show how she really felt about me.

Later that night, when I got home, Steve had already prepared dinner.

“Babe!” I shouted, entering the dining room. I walked in to see the table prepared as if we were having some kind of feast.

“Are we having a pre-wedding dinner?” I joked, staring at the table in awe. Steve grinned and jogged towards me. He grabbed both my shoulders, pushed me towards the table, pulled out my chair, and made me sit.

“I have news,” he said, still grinning.

“Did you win some kind of lottery?” I chuckled, staring at the various foods in front of me. Steve had a love for cooking, and he was skilled at it too.

His grin widened as he sat in his chair.

“Well, my dear. You could say that again.” He cleared his throat and locked eyes with me. “Guess who just invited us for a holiday at her house?”

My brows furrowed in confusion. Who could have invited us for a holiday at her house?

“Who?” I asked, curious.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Just guess.”

“Umm… your mother?” I said, almost laughing at my own statement. I knew very well she couldn't be the one.

Steve’s grin widened even more.

“Bingo!” he cheered, slamming his palm on the table.

My eyes widened in disbelief. “Wait, really?”

He nodded.

“She wants us to stay a week at her place. She wants to get to know you.”

I sat there frozen, not knowing what to say. All I could think of was whether this was some kind of plot for her to finally kill me.

“When do we leave?” I muttered, still in a daze.

“Tomorrow,” Steve replied, causing my head to snap up.

“What?!”