“Will just shut up for a moment, Roger!”
Hestia Taylor screamed at Roger in rage, before turning to leave.
If you want to know what happened, let's just go back for an hour.
Tonight was the 78th birthday banquet of James Taylor, The head of the Taylor family, all the branch families around the country had gathered along to celebrate the joyous occasion.
Since the Head of the family, James Taylor is now getting old, it is just a matter of time before he chooses a new head as his successor, so everyone was trying their best good look in front of him and curry his favor.
Many of the political leaders, businessmen, and some of the prominent figures of the country were also there to congratulate him.
His children, grandchildren, and their spouses gathered around him to present their luxurious gifts.
“Grandpa, Happy birthday! I have bought you the newest series of Mercedes Benz, please accept it”
Joseph Moore, one of Hestia’s cousin's fiance said while pointing at the car which was parked just outside the banquet hall.
An S-class Mercedes-Benz decorated with a Happy birthday sign on it was parked in such a way that everyone in the banquet could see it.
“Grandfather, I have bought you the books that you always wanted to read…”
“Grandpa, I heard you love collecting antiques, I personally bought this cloak antique that was worth a hundred thousand dollars from the auction”
As if they would miss the chance, everyone started to present their gifts frantically.
Many of them who were surrounding the Oldman was showering him with gifts and praises. Looking at the nicely wrapped gifts in front of him, James Taylor laughed heartily.
And in the middle of that chaos, somewhere in a corner of the celebration hall stood a man with a glass of red wine in his hand.
With black hair and pitch-black eyes, he was quite a handsome man with a healthy build.
He was standing there alone indulged in his own world, like nothing that was happening there mattered to him! Well…he was, until Joseph decide to spice the things up.
“Roger! I, as a soon-to-be grandson-in-law of Lord Taylor, have bought him an S-class Mercedes, I am waiting to see what the Eldest Son-in-Law of Taylor has bought for Lord Taylor.”
Everyone turned their eyes towards Roger at his remark.
Everyone in the banquet including Joseph knew that Roger was a live-in-son-in-law who had literally nothing to his name, he knew that there is nothing he could buy for the Old Lord, he was intentionally provoking him to look good in the Lord Taylor's eyes.
But, Roger doesn’t give in to the provocation, he put his hand in his pocket taking out a small mutton-fat-colored jade, which was actually carved into a buddha statue.
“Grandpa, I heard you are a Buddhist devotee, I have bought you the jade Buddha, that is carved from a mutton-fat nephrite jade”
The entire Taylor family gapped in extreme shock at his words.
Everyone stared at Roger with bewilderment and surprise.
This live-in grandson-in-law was very atrocious and bold! Not only did he take out a random statue that is carved after some cheap stone but he has the audacity to tell that it was made of mutton-fat nephrite jade, which will cost more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars just for 100 grams.
A year ago, the previous head of the family, who was the paternal grandfather of Hestia, had come home with Roger and insisted on marrying him to their granddaughter, Hestia Taylor. Back then, Roger was as poor and miserable as a beggar.
The previous head met with an unfortunate accident just two days after their marriage. And his brother, James Taylor took his place as a family head, Thanks to that Roger has been known as a Jinx in the family and Ever since then, everyone in the Taylor family had tried to kick Roger out of their family. However, Roger was always ignorant and nonchalant like a statue for their insults and ridicule, and he had been spending his days in the Taylor family leeching off his Wife.
Suddenly, the whole hall broke into laughter looking at Roger.
At this movement, Erza, Hestia's cousin sneered at Roger in disdain, " Hestia, Look at the piece of trash you have married to! Joseph is only my fiance and we have not even married yet but he had gifted grandfather the newest S-class series Mercedes. Look at your good-for-nothing husband, not only is he acting while taking out a random piece of crap but he has the nerve to say that it is made from mutton-fat nephrite jade!"
"You are right! Roger, we are both grandsons-in-law of the Taylor family, but you are such a disgrace!"
The man talking was once again Joseph Moore, Erza's fiance and also the son of a prominent family in the city.
Although Joseph was about to marry Erza, he always had his eyes on Hestia, No matter how good Erza was, she paled in comparison to Hestia in all aspects, be it in beauty or brain!
Hestia Taylor was the famous beauty in White bridge town, but Joseph was frustrated that such a beauty was wasted on a loser like Roger!
"Enough!"
Lord Taylor who was silent all along spoke in a loud tone.
"Roger, no matter how much useless you are, do not stoop so low as to lie about a gift, do not bring shame to the name of Taylors!"
His words were harsh!
It was obvious how everyone was bullying roger, they were judging him even before knowing the gift's authenticity.
"But, Grandpa..!"
Roger was about to say something when he was cut off by someone.
“Enough! Roger!”
It was Hestia, his own wife who shut him up!
"Will you just shut up for a movement", She was fed up with her useless husband and also with her family who was waiting for the slightest chance to pounce on her.
"Hestia, you better divorce this useless scum as soon as possible, you are still in your prime, I will look for a good spouse"
The Old lord said looking towards Hestia in a serious manner!
"Yeah Hestia, he is a disgrace to our family, you better kick him out as soon as possible"
"You know that he is a jinx, right? the old head died as soon as he bought this useless scum home, it's better for you to stay away from him"
Roger clenched his fist tightly as the entire Taylor family was humiliating and ridiculing him. If it wasn't for the sake of his Wife's honor, he would have long left this annoying place.
However, he remembered certain things which tied his feet, Hence he suppressed the fury and humiliation slowly building inside him and said to Lord Taylor, "Grandpa, I have really bought you the real jade sculpture of buddha, you may check it if you want"
Someone in the room snorted loudly!" Mr.Wilson, stop your act, no one here is dumb enough to believe that, It would be better if you leave now, rather than facing more disgrace"
It was Erza's brother, Henry Taylor.
The brother and sister duo always felt an inferiority complex towards Hestia, who was superior to them in all aspects, hence they would attack her at any chance they would get.
"Grandpa, It seems Roger is not in his right mind, please excuse us, We will leave the banquet now"
Though Hestia had some faith in her husband, even she couldn't believe that he bought something that expensive as a gift to the Lord.
"Let's go, Roger!"
Hestia said as she bowed to the Old Lord.
"You want to leave the banquet in the middle just to go with that loser? Remember If you leave now, you are no longer my grand-daughter"
A dark storm cloud instantly hovered beneath Lord Taylor's eyes as he shouted that.
Hestia who was about to move with Roger stopped in her tracks! she stared at her grandfather shocked, She didn't expect to hear such a harsh comment from him.
While she was still shocked looking at her grandfather's face, Roger interjected, "I have something to do outside, you stay here, don't worry about me"
Before Hestia could compose herself and say anything, he hurriedly turned and left.
Joseph who was still not satisfied laughed behind him, "Hey my dear Roger, Don't leave on an empty stomach, are you planning to go back to begging or what? here, I have a dollar go buy a bun or something to eat"
Joseph took out a dollar from his pocket and threw it in front of Roger.
The entire family's thunderous laugh echoed through the house as Roger gritted his teeth in annoyance and left without looking back!
---***---
Walking alone in the middle of a road looking at the crescent moon hanging in the sky, Roger sighed. He was tired of all this humiliation he was going throw. He took out the jade buddha that he had bought for Lord Taylor and looked at it with a slight smile. It was hard to tell if that smile was due to happiness or sadness. Roger had personally visited the auction the previous week and bought the buddha statue for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to gift it to Lord Taylor on his birthday, but he didn't expect the people there to treat him like that! More ṭhan the words of the Taylor family, what hurt him most was that his own wife didn't believe him. Just as he was bemoaning over that, his phone notification rang! Ding! [Pearl: Requesting presence] It was a short message, with two words from someone whom he added as Pearl. Seeing the message, his facial expression changed! He who was walking towards their home, turned around making his way towards a certain back alley. T
“Why is this life so unfair?” A young man standing in the middle of the road under the heavy rain, socked wet, screamed facing the heavens! "I didn’t ask for riches, nor did I ask for assets. All I wanted was the warmth of a family, all I asked you is to be able to laugh like everyone else, was that too much to ask for you damn god?” His shouts echoed in the empty alleys and roads void of any human presence. “Why? Just Why? I just wanted to live like everyone else, so why? Why me? There are so many people out there? So why did you choose me, you bastard of a god?” Even the heavens seemed to be hiding behind the clouds not being able to answer him! He seemed in so much pain but there was no one beside him to console him. The clouds seemed to pity him seeing how they were weeping for him with the loud thunder and flashes of lightning. The agony and the despair of the young man continued in the heavy rain, that day no much how he screamed the gods didn’t respond to him! maybe they
The next morning, after making his own breakfast before anyone in the family was awake, Roger rode his bike to the Emerald group's office. He parked his bike on the side of Emerald's parking lot and made his way inside. Roger directly walked into the elevator, the gaurd noticed roger but it seemed like Merlin has already made the necessary arrangements as he just bowed to Roger. Roger who entered the elevator, pressed the button with the highest number which was the 9th floor, where the chairman's office was located. The door of the elevator closed and in a short time, he found himself in front of the 9th floor. Merlin had already made all the arrangements for him here at Emerald to take over as the Chairman and she personally had selected Pearl for the role of vice-chairman to further look into the business matters. Though she was unknown as Pearl inside the 'BlackStrom' organization, she had another identity in the outside world as Lilly. She had earned her reputation as a re
Just after Roger entered the Emerald company, A Porsche car was slowly parked in a spot beside just where Roger had parked his bike.A young couple got out of the car.The man was wearing a branded suit, looking somewhat handsome and the young lady with him was dressed in a flamboyant style, although not to the extent of Hestia, she was somewhat a beauty.As it turned out, the man was Joseph Moore and the lady was Hestia's cousin, Erza.comming directly inside Emerald's building, they directly went to the reception and asked the lady there if they have an appointment to meet with the chairman.The lady politely asked them to wait while she contacted the executives who work directly under the Chairman.But as it turns out, It seems that the Chairman was in a meeting with a VIP, so she politely asked joseph and Erza to wait and guided them to the waiting room.The Moore family always wanted to be a part of a shareholder in Emerald business but the problem was that the whole assent of th
The announcement that the ownership of the Emerald has been changed and the news about how Emerald has cut all the ties with The Moore family shook the entire White bridge town. When the Taylor family heard about the news, they figured out that the reason that the ties with the Moore family has been cut off was probably that the new owner of the Emerald didn't think much of the Moore family. Rather than that, Lord Taylor was shaking with anger when the news reached his ears. He wanted to call off the marriage of Erza with Joseph at that exact movement but he knew that even if the Moore family had no ties with Emerald, they would still be stronger than the Taylors and without anything to guarantee, he couldn't lose the ties, so he could grit his teeth and bear it with for now. Back to the point, Even after all these changes, one question remains in everyone's mind. Who was the new owner of Emerald? He simply bought the Emerald which was worth more than 10 billion like it was noth
Everyone had a shocked expression on their faces seeing the one who raised their hand because it was none other than the beauty of Taylor who volunteered for the job!! Well...Volunteered would be the wrong word since she had a more shocked expression on her face than everyone else in the conference room currently! It was when she was lost in her own world thinking about different things that everyone suddenly turned towards her with a shocked expression. She didn't know why they were looking at her, so she turned to look at Roger who was seated beside her. But what she saw was her husband holding up something when she saw what exactly he was holding up secretly from under the table, It was actually her own hand! Roger was holding up her hand secretly by supporting it under the table! Hestia was thunderstruck realizing why everyone was looking at her this shocked!! She wanted to pounce on Roger this movement holding his collar to ask 'What the hell are you doing, you mother fuc*e
It was a cemetery. Countless gravestones stood on the land, like swords stuck to the ground and the whole graveyard was surrounded by a board fence. Most of the headstones were no longer even legible. Grass and weeds grew rank over the whole cemetery. And in the middle of such cemetery stood a crowd of people. They were gathered around a burial hole that was dug out with a heap of sand just beside it. There were people crying and wailing on one side of the burial site and the people who were standing ideally, talking about something as if they were busy on the other side. And in the middle of all the wailing and talking was a boy, sitting just in front of the burial site with a corpse in front of him. By his appearance, he seemed to be about 10 or 11 years at most, but his eyes told otherwise. he was watching a corpse of a certain woman, who was covered in whole by white cloths. His eyes were indifferent as he watched the corpse of that woman, his expression was blank as if h
"Huff...huff..." Roger woke up, his back was wet with sweat and his face looked like he just woke up from a nightmare. He was sweating profusely and seemed terrified at something! "Roger! Are you ok, what happened" Only now did he manage to look at the beauty beside him who was looking at him with a worried expression on her face. "Is it the same dream again? why won't you tell me anything about it?" She asked him in a pleading tone, it seemed like she was worried about him. It was just after she came out of the shower that Roger was mumbling something in his dreams, his face looked pale and he was sweating profusely. She was so scared that for a movement she almost screamed out loud. And it wasn't the first time this happened, she didn't exactly know why or what he was going through in his dreams but he often seem to have nightmares about something. No matter how much she asked him about those, he wouldn't say anything, which made her more worried. "I am fine" And just like