Benjamin entered the villa through the main door while chewing on a pizza slice. This was the same pizza he had wanted to give to the chief driver, though he ended up lying about forgetting to bring it. He took the rest of the pizza to the children’s room.
His in-law’s children, there were four of them. All crazy, selfish, and self-absorbed in their own ways, just like their parents. Two of them talked too much, while the other two rarely ever talked.
When Benjamin walked in, they were all playing games or chatting with their friends in their own mobiles. Their mobiles looked stylish and up-to-date compared to the crappy old mobile Benjamin had.
“Hey, kids. I brought pizza,” Benjamin put excitement into his voice.
“Put it on the table and leave,” the oldest of the four, Lisa, replied without even looking. Even though she looked cute with her pigtails and all, her words were always cold and indifferent, even more so than Rebecca.
Benjamin did as she said and was leaving. (Not one of them looked at me. They eat the pizzas I bring, but they don’t even call me uncle. None of my friends were this self-centered when we were young. It just shows how poorly these kids were raised, or should I say they weren’t cared for properly?)
“Ah, Benjamin, wait,” the second oldest among them, Roshan, called out for him.
Benjamin stopped and turned around.
“It's Sunday, so don’t forget to polish our shoes before tomorrow morning,” Roshan said, sparing a glance at Benjamin. The best thing about Roshan was his hair, which didn’t need combing. It was like that of Justin Bieber in his Baby song. However, his character was a thousand times more questionable.
“Sure thing,” Benjamin forced out a smile. Roshan was only fourteen years old, two years younger than Lisa, yet he was the one who made Benjamin iron their school uniforms and clothes almost every single day, as told by his grandmother. For a fourteen-year-old, he probably had a heart full of hatred because he listened to Rebecca’s mother way too much.
Benjamin was walking out silently with a little bit of a heavy heart.
“Wait, bring me a slice,” Roshan called for him.
Benjamin stood there for a second before turning back with a hot smile on his face. He delivered a slice to Roshan and walked out while licking the sauce stuck to his finger.
“Shameless,” a feminine voice almost hurt his ears. It was Veronica, the short-haired younger sister of Rebecca, who was wearing a see-through dress that revealed her bra and panties. She was eating noodles.
“You don’t need to describe yourself,” replied Benjamin before he was able to control his tongue.
Veronica’s eyes and mouth widened for a second. “What did you just say?”
(Ah, crap…) Benjamin already knew where this was going.
Veronica immediately tossed the cup of noodles at him. He swiftly dodged to the side, but then she threw the fork with even greater force. Thanks to his lightning-quick reaction, the fork was caught between his forefinger and middle finger an inch away from his left eye. (That was dangerous.)
“Mom! Dad!” Veronica began crying out loud as she stamped her feet up the stairs. “Your useless son-in-law just called me shameless!”
The first one to walk out of their rooms was none other than Rebecca.
Veronica’s tearless eyes tried so hard to get wet. “Sis,” she ran over to her elder sister with a crying face. “Your good-for-nothing husband said I’m shameless! You should punish him!”
“Why did he call you shameless?” Rebecca queried.
“Because I wore this dress,” Veronica replied in haste. “You should punish him. Make him clean the dishes today. No, for this whole week!”
Rebecca cast a cold glance at Benjamin. “What’s wrong with my sister wearing this dress in this house? Why did you have to call her shameless? Are you trying to get back at me through her?”
“Y-You’ve got it wrong, darling,” he said, but then a glare from her made him say, “I mean, Rebecca.”
“Who’s got it wrong?” a tall lady entered the scene, her chin slightly tilted up, but her gaze looking down on Benjamin throughout. She had not a single white hair even though she was Rebecca’s mother, Selena, and was fifty seven years old. After all, she was an A-list actress who needed to keep appearances. “My daughter who earns over a million dollars per month as a top fashion designer, or a trash who toils on the streets every day of the week and barely makes mere five figures per year?”
“Of course, it’s the trash who’s got it wrong,” Veronica backed her mother like she always would. “As he always does. And he just stole my noodle cup from me!”
“To think you’d steal food from your sister-in-law,” Selena’s gaze was filled with disappointment, with a mix of anger as she peered at her son-in-law. She shifted her gaze to her daughter, “It seems there’s really no limit to how low he can stoop.”
“What’s with the ruckus?” Jacob, a burly man in a black suit, stopped right behind Rebecca’s mother. He was taller than her and sturdier as well like one of those hairy guys in vintage videos. Despite his old age, his muscles showed out through the suit. He took a couple whiffs from his smoking pipe before speaking, “Why are you three wasting your time with this guy?” he shook his head and walked past Benjamin. “Time is money. Don’t waste it on someone who eats more than he earns.”
Jacob’s words brought distasteful smiles on Veronica and her mother’s faces. Rebecca seemed as indifferent as ever to negative remarks about him.
Benjamin’s heart grew heavy, and he lowered his head and walked away. Jacob’s words weren’t completely wrong. The menu made for breakfast and dinner in this villa would cost a lot if he were to eat the same food in a restaurant. A pizza-delivery guy couldn’t possibly hope to afford to eat such meals monthly, let alone daily. Nevertheless, hearing such unpleasant words stung Benjamin’s heart.
“Don’t forget to clean the dishes after dinner tonight,” Veronica blurted vehemently.
“Hold on, Trashmin,” Selena walked forth and put her hands in Benjamin’s pocket, which didn’t startle her daughters at all. She pulled out an envelope full of cash. This was Benjamin’s earnings for the week. She slid it in her costly handbag with a shameless smile on her face. “If you need any money, you can ask my daughter.” She then walked away.
Veronica was now snickering plainly. This wasn’t the first time she saw Selena snatch Benjamin’s earnings, though she mostly did it behind the scenes when Rebecca wasn’t watching. Nevertheless, she was thoroughly entertained. She came up to him and spoke in a low, mocking voice, “You can’t even buy a pizza now. You need to ask my sister even if you want to recharge your shitty mobile. That’s what you get for stealing my sister’s priceless purity! You will pay for that sin for the rest of your life, roaming in this house like a dog, keke!” With an amused expression, she left the scene, flaunting her see-through dress.
Only Benjamin and Rebecca were left standing there by the inner balcony with a view of the ground floor and upper floors.
Benjamin could have left, but he stood there, hoping his wife, who looked wonderfully cute in pajamas, would say at least one comforting word.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Rebecca asked, her hands folded as though she was guarding herself against this man’s intentions. “You brought this upon yourself, so suck it up.” Saying that she went back to her room.
Suck it up. Yeah. She was spot on, he thought. That was exactly what he had been doing for many months. But, like with any other human being, he, too, had his limit, and his self-control would also be broken one day. However, he hoped such a day would never come, for he really wanted to set things right with his one and only wife.
Suddenly, something flew past his head, and his hand reacted in response. A fork flew out of his hand and struck the thing that had just whooshed past him. He looked to his right. A butterfly was pinned to the pillar by the fork, which had pierced its wings. He squeezed his lips together and walked over to the pillar. He gently pulled out the fork and separated the butterfly. It flew off his palm, but it couldn’t fly for long because of the holes in its wings, and it began to fall. He stretched forth his hand and made sure it landed on his palm. Seeing it struggle to fly reminded him of his current self. “I know. It's my fault that you're like this, but never lose hope, my friend. Luckily, only two of your wings got hit. The other two are just fine. You can still do it if you try.” He gently blew the butterfly off his hand, and the little push he gave helped the butterfly, and it persevered like it was born for this. And it paid off.
The butterfly flew as Benjamin believed.
And he was genuinely happy for it. His phone rang. He flicked it open. The word ‘King’ popped up on the screen. He stared at the screen for a while before bringing the mobile closer to his ear and answering with a press of the button.
Silence on both ends, but one could hear the breath of the other.
“Your breathing rhythm tells me your heart is weighing you down,” a mature and manly voice spoke from the other side. “But I want to hear it from your own mouth….” his voice turned a tad bit caring, “So, how are you doing, my son?”
Hearing his father’s voice, Benjamin’s eyes turned a little teary, but he couldn’t reply.
“I’m not angry at you, so why don’t you come home?” he asked.
“I already told Alfred I’ll be coming home,” Benjamin’s voice grew somewhat heavy. “Didn’t he tell you?”
“He did, but I wanted to hear it from you directly,” he said. “And I’m glad you are planning to return. I’ll be waiting for you.”
‘See you soon… Dad.”
The call ended. Benjamin drew in an audible breath and exhaled the same. “Now that they found me, I hope they won’t cause any trouble to the Sterlings.”
At night.Almost everyone from the family gathered at the dining table and began eating, all except one who was still standing and serving food for others.He was the only son-in-law of the Sterling family, yet taunts and mockings were flung at him every other minute. Even the children took part in it enthusiastically.Sunday was a cheat day, so Selena was gorging on everything her hands could get hold of. While everyone sitting ate their fill to the point of burping twice or thrice, nobody offered Benjamin food or told him to sit and eat, not even his wife.He was hungry, but he was fed their trivial talk peppered with lies. He had to listen to them exchanging lies to one another. For instance, the children lied the most by hiding things they were doing. Lisa was chatting with her boyfriend since afternoon, but she lied about that. Roshan was watching exclusive stripping videos since evening, yet he acted like he was doing his homework. The other two children, who were much younger,
If there was anyone more shameless than pigs, it was Shawn’s wife, Elizabeth. Shamelessness ran in her blood was what Benjamin believed.Her family would spend around 100 days every year in the Sterling family, and the rest of the days, Elizabeth would regularly travel to and fro using Sterling’s money. She didn’t have any job, not that she tried to get one in the first place.She was so dependent on her husband for her lavish lifestyle of attending yacht shows and tennis tournaments all around the world. Still, she had no respect for Selena even though Shawn loved his mother more than anything else. Maybe, that was exactly why she couldn’t bring herself to respect Selena because she wanted Shawn to respect and love her the most first.She would always try to put fights between Veronica and her mother and would enjoy the show from the side. However, she received the most entertainment from a single person. And that was the only son-in-law of the Sterling family.“Benjamin! Where are y
Rebecca dropped him at the Rye’s Pizzas, a cluster of vintage pizza huts, and left without saying at least a cursory bye. Only Benjamin waved his hand, expecting her to look back. Though she didn’t look back, she did notice his efforts through the mirror and faintly smiled.“I wish I knew fashion designing as well,” Benjamin thought. “Then I would have joined her company.” He sighed and got to work.Right after entering the cluster of huts, Benjamin had to take out all of his possessions and put them in the employee’s storage box before getting into the blue uniform. Rings, lockets, and bracelets especially were not allowed inside the food center after all.Normal deliveries must be made within 30 minutes to any part of the city, and the customers would give anywhere from 1 to 5 stars of rating.Express deliveries must be made within 15 minutes only, and the customers would give anywhere from 1 to seven stars.Benjamin’s average rating now reached 4.8 after over 12,000 successful deli
In the evening, Rebecca took Benjamin to her personal physician, one different from their family doctor, who gave him some medication to improve his hunger. No tablets. Only some syrup. However, the doctor took 300 dollars for providing less than ten minutes of her time, which was much more than what Benjamin earned that day from tips working from 10 to 4 on that day.As they were heading home, Rebecca was silent as usual. She was a woman of few words, as though something always ran through her mind.“Rebecca…” Benjamin started a conversation. It was better than being silent, after all. “Today,” he was fiddling with his wedding ring, “one of my coworkers started rubbing my elbow.”Rebecca was startled out of her thoughts, but she put on a poker face.“I told her I’m married, of course,” Benjamin continued. “How can I look at another woman when I have you, right?” he looked into the mirror and could see her pretty doll-like face. He wanted to plant a kiss on her cute cheeks, but he cou
Things in life rarely ever go as they planned, wouldn’t they?Benjamin so badly wanted to spend some time with his wife alone at a dinner table in a beautiful restaurant, but Elizabeth ordered him to cook for tonight. She actually liked Benjamin’s cooking, but her pride came in the way of confessing the truth, so she was also the same person who criticized his cooking the most.Though Benjamin didn’t say it out loud, he was hoping for the day when she would leave the home on a trip. Elizabeth would often go for foreign trips with her family, mostly for watching tennis tournaments, using Sterling family’s money, of course.Jacob was the highest earner of the family, being the movie producer that he was. Selena earned the second highest. And then it was Rebecca.As usual, Benjamin served tonight’s dinner as well. While Benjamin was downstairs with others, Oliver snuck into Rebecca’s room and searched for Benjamin’s mobile. It was placed on the bed itself, so it didn’t take him long to s
The next day.Benjamin found his mobile on the dining table, and he initially thought he might have forgotten to take it last night. However, when he sniffed the mobile once, his expression changed as though he knew what might have actually happened.However, his wife was waiting outside, so he rushed out, but he was spell-bounded after seeing Rebecca in her indo-western attire with a full-sleeved cream top and a stylized black salwar bottoms. His mouth stayed open for a good number of seconds. He couldn’t blink let alone take his eyes off his wife.Rebecca raised her brows. “Seriously?” she snapped her fingers. “You look like you’re going to eat me here and now.”“D-Did I?” Benjamin came back to this world. “B-But you look really beautiful in this dress.”“I know,” Rebecca sounded a little arrogant.“Did you make this design?”“Of course, but let’s go.”“Okay.” He jumped into her car, startling her.(He’s really active today.) She thought as she got in.“It’s only 9 o’clock. Why are
Rebecca was driving the car. Benjamin was in the back, slightly shaking his head.“Are you still thinking about the gift?” she asked.“Ah, yeah.”“It’s understandable. I haven’t seen such a gift before, either. 25 kilos of pure gold in the form of coins. It’s worth more than 3 million dollars. The coins seem stylized, so they might sell for more if they auction it. That would not only cover the wedding expenses but would also help the couple start a beautiful journey together,” she sounded like she envied a little. She didn’t care about the money, but would she also have received such a surprising gift if she had held a wedding? Would anyone in the world care enough for her or family to send her 25 kilos worth of gold? She could only wonder.“A beautiful journey, huh…” Benjamin wasn’t so sure about that.After dropping him off at work, Rebecca left.And Benjamin experienced one of the worst job days since he started working at Rye’s Pizzas. Not a single customer gave him a tip today,
Later that night.Benjamin had dinner and was waiting in his room. The newly appointed maid with chocolate looks was cleaning the room, but her eyes were on Benjamin. “Can you tell me how you managed to trap, I mean, make Rebecca fall for you?”Benjamin almost smiled hysterically. “So that’s the first thing you could ask.” He shook his head. “My in-laws think just like you. Everyone in this villa treats me like I’m their enemy even though I’m only trying to be their friend.”Rebecca came home late at nine o’clock, looking tired. The maid quickly walked out.“Should I prepare the bath?” Benjamin asked.“I can do it myself,” she said. “Wait, Jane came to pick you up, right?”“Yeah, she did.”“She didn’t do anything funny, did she?”“No, she didn’t.”“Mm,” Rebecca entered the showver and walked out twenty minutes later, fully clothed. She always put her clothes on in the bathroom itself, so he never even got a chance to peek at her beauty. She jumped onto her bed in her pajamas.“You are
THANK YOU::Savvy Son-in-law… It took nearly two and half years to finish this book. In all honesty, I was planning to end it for 600 chapters or so, but I ended up taking this long to finish it.A big thanks to all the readers who followed the character of Benjamin from the start to finish.Special thanks to Cranston Richmond for his long support through votes. I hope reading this novel impacts your life in a positive way.I also thank all the other readers who voted for this novel. There are so many names to list, so I’m not going to spam here.CHARACTERS::I hope you can take away some memorable characters from this novel, whether they be good or bad.My personal favorite would be George. Just kidding, lol.It is Benjamin.His character wasn’t easy to write because he’s predictably unpredictable. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying to do the right thing, and that’s what matters to him.What about you? Who inspired, or impressed you?LOOSE ENDS::What about Veronica and Akash? Well, V
Some days later.Sofia Myers ordered pizza from an apartment she had recently bought.And to her surprise, it was Benjamin who delivered it.“It’s you?” Sofia remembered him. “Aren’t you Rebecca’s husband? You both are having an official wedding soon, right? Why are you still working as a pizza-delivery guy?”“I have my reasons,” Benjamin replied. “And it’s more of a part-time job now.”“Okay, come on in,” Sofia told him.When he entered the apartment, there were over a dozen females there, smoking and drinking.“This guy is Benjamin, a mighty pizza-delivery guy who married a bald woman,” Sofia started making fun of him to make her friends laugh.Benjamin quickly countered her, saying, “It seems your husband has left you to your pleasures. I’m not surprised, though I might not have done the same thing.”Sofia gritted her teeth and threw her mobile at him.Benjamin caught it with ease. “A woman who easily gets angry will have a hard time obtaining a place in any man’s heart.”“Get the
Samuel Sehla and Kathy started dating.And Amber began to work for the Sehla family now, acting as a spy for Kathy.Samuel’s wife, Kismet, got sent divorce papers. Half of her face was still paralyzed.She tore the divorce papers into pieces. “How could you do this to me, Samuel! I will not let you get what you want!” she screamed madly. “Never!”Andrew Sehla, on the other hand, was busy dealing with all the new troubles and terror he was facing ever since he tried to do some good after getting forced by Benjamin a few weeks back.“I don’t have much longer to live anyway,” Andrew thought. “So I’ll live it in a way that it doesn’t leave any regrets.”Knowing that his time was short, he started passing some groundbreaking laws in the country.In the Sterling villa.George was begging his mother Dorothy to let him be the driver of the Sterling family.Dorothy didn’t know that George knew about Shawn killing Nolan beforehand.So she told him that he could work as a driver, but then Elizab
“Why can’t I meet him once?” Lisa yelled at her mom. “If you’re not going to let him see me, then I’ll leave this house!”“You think I’ll come running after you?” Elizabeth yelled back. “Leave the house if you want! No one is stopping you!”Lisa then angrily left the house and walked away on her bare feet, crying and shedding tears.It had been weeks since she had seen her dad, and she just wanted to talk to him once more and know how he was doing, but her mother was not even letting her contact her dad.Lisa didn’t know for how long she walked, but her stomach started growling.It was twelve in the afternoon, and she hadn’t eaten anything. So, she was really hungry now.She looked across the street. There was a bakery.Lisa touched her pockets and frowned as she didn’t have any money.She put her hand on her abdomen and rubbed it for a few seconds and was then walking away.“Lisa, what are you doing here?” Benjamin who was traveling in a truck had just made the driver stop the vehicl
In Sciocidad also known as the Sky City.“So she asked for more time…” Ryan sighed.He became the temporary ruler of the Wolfe clan.“Both Benjamin and Rye have left this seat, which is something that never happened before,” Ryan’s voice was gritty yet sad. “This doesn’t set a good example for the coming generations, especially given that we’re living in the end times.”“Don’t tell me, you’re planning on making someone else the sovereign?” Uzza quickly asked.“No, not yet,” Ryan replied. “We’ve lost a lot already. We can’t be wasting our people’s time or give them false hope. It is better to pick a new ruler, but I will wait a little longer.”Even though Ryan didn’t say it, Uzza felt that the time limit would probably be six months.“Come back soon, Rye,” Uzza wished in her heart.Elsewhere in the same city, in a dark dungeon.“With a friend like you around, what’s the need for enemies?” Benyamin was hissing at Dahlia as she poured her spiritual energy into Benyamin’s spine relentles
Rye’s POV:My first and only love has truly left me.After cutting my heart into pieces without making me bleed… That’s how he left me.My tears won’t fall.I can’t feel anything.Neither sadness nor regret.Nothing.Even though my one and only love has abandoned me, I can’t even shed tears.Just what kind of a person am I?What kind of a woman have I become?I keep cutting onions in one the huts of Rye’s Pizzas, but even the raw onions are not able to bring me to tears.“How long are you going to keep doing this?” A voice washed my back.Without turning, I knew that it was my mom Uzza.“Choose someone else as the sovereign,” I said, continuing to cut the chillies, hoping at least the chillies would elevate my anger.“You’re making the same mistake that Benjamin did,” my mom sighed. “Everyone is waiting for you, so please come back.”“I have no intention of returning any time soon,” I replied.My mom’s hand touched my shoulder. She slowly turned me around.Our eyes locked each other.
A few days later.At six in the morning.Rebecca woke up and found Benjamin resting with his head at her legs. “Benjamin, why are you sleeping the other way? You’re not a cat. Sleep next to me!”Benjamin rolled over to her side and lay next to her, sharing the same pillow. “Last night, I woke up for water, and then I saw the mole on your thigh, and I wanted to sleep next to it.”Rebecca’s face flushed very much. “Stop it, you are talking like a child!”“Aren’t we both still children in our relationship?” Benjamin gently touched her chin and planted a kiss on her cheek.Rebecca’s face gained some more blood. The same could be said for Benjamin. Both of them were fair and were in the prime of their age, so they appeared a thousand times more attractive when blood rushed to their faces.After Benjamin kissed her, Rebecca felt her emotions stirring up again. She pulled the blanket up and covered both of them and hugged him tightly and showered kisses on him.“I think it’s time for breakfa
The moment blood gushed out of Rebecca’s neck, while her eyes were staring at him, Benjamin immediately snapped.“BENYAMIN~~!!”His roar reverberated through the hearts of all the people there, shaking their very souls.Benjamin’s suit was ripped to pieces as he grew into a mighty silver werewolf and leaped forth.In a flash, Benjamin’s claws cut through Benyamin’s shoulder and snatched Rebecca.Benjamin vanished from people’s sight and landed on the rooftop.Dahlia and Uzza took Benyamin and also vanished from there.Rye stood frozen, and so did Selena and everyone from the Sterling family. The guests were also thrown into chaos as a man had turned into a monster right before their eyes.Louis and Bella were quick to act. They cast a wide spell together, which swiftly erased the recent memory of this wedding itself.However, they did not remove the memories of those from the Sterling family.Almost every guest collapsed on the floor afterward, but Selena and others were still standin
The wedding night has arrived on time just like the full moon in all of its splendor.Rebecca did not look happy because Selena did not send invitations to most of the people she should have.Selena didn’t want this wedding news to be spread around the world, either, so she tried her best to suppress it from behind the scenes.Jacob also played his part in doing what his wife wanted him to.Shawn entered the villa, wearing a disguise, as he wanted to see his sister’s marriage and also see his wife and kids once.The wedding was taking place in the front yard.Benjamin was standing in the distance, far from the crowd.Jane and Veronica brought Rye out of the villa. Dressed in dazzling white, she looked like the walking moon.Benjamin didn’t even look in her direction as his back faced the villa.Holding a bouquet of white roses and lilies, she waited for the groom.Moments later, Benyamin also walked out of the villa, as escorted by none but himself. With a hand in his pocket, he walke