The Hunchback Son-in-law

The old man on the sidewalks

"Wake up!" Emily's shrilled voice resonated inside Logan's head. "Wake up, you lazy cow!"

Emily splashed a full bucket of water on Logan.

Logan sat up with a start. His entire body and bed were thoroughly drenched with water.

Emily stood at the end of his futon, her feet tapping on the floor, her face an ugly mask of disgust and anger.

"Dear, why did you do that?" Logan asked.

Emily hurled the bucket at his face. "You ask too many stupid questions. Can't you see it's already morning? Where's my breakfast?"

Logan glanced at his small phone and checked the time.

"It's only just 4.am," Logan groaned. "It's still way too early to get up."

"You're very mad and stupid," Emily snapped. "You think I'd tolerate laziness from a man who brings literally nothing to the house except cook?"

"I always make you breakfast," Logan said helplessly. "But never this early."

"You just shut up!" Emily threw her slippers at him. "One more word from you and I swear to God I'll slash your face with my fingernails."

Logan covered his mouth.

"Good," Emily approached him like a predator approaches a prey. "I'll be entertaining a very important guest today. Ensure you prepare something nice. Your only use in this house is cooking and cleaning. Might as well make the most of it."

Logan wanted to question who this guest was but he knew better not to ask.

As if Emily read his mind, she spoke, "He's a business associate of my father. You might know him, Thomas Miller."

Thomas Miller was a multi millionaire businessman who deals in diamonds.

"Why is Thomas Miller coming here?" Logan asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Emily cleared her throat. "John spoke to me last night. He told me you wanted to put up the mine for sale. You need money for your stupid surgery, isn't that right?"

Logan was surprised. "John wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"And why shouldn't he?" Emily barked. "I'm your wife. I'm the head of this house. I must know everything. Now, tell me, why do you want a surgery?"

Logan looked away. "I thought maybe, just maybe if I could fix my hunchback, our marriage might —"

"Hold it," Emily interrupted him. "If you're going to waste a huge amount of money to fix your hunchback for my sake then you're wasting your damn precious time. Nothing in this world would ever make me attracted to you."

Those words hurt deeply like a knife wound but Logan showed no reaction.

"It's worth a try," he clenched his fists. "How much is Thomas Miller willing to pay for the mine?"

"That's why I'm meeting with him tonight," she cocked her head to one side, jeering at Logan. "Are you sure you still want to go ahead with this?"

Logan nodded. "I want to change for you, dear. I want you to love me as much as I love you."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Prepare my breakfast and fix a hot bath for me. I leave in an hour."

Emily turned around and began walking away.

She wore a see through dress that showed her hot figure and round buttocks as she rolled her waist.

Logan hadn't as much as touched her.

He had a morning wood but couldn't do anything about it.

After Emily left, he sighed, "I guess I'll masturbate."

* * * *

Logan took the tram train to the Laundromats.

He hated crowds because he immediately attracted attention.

The moment he entered the Laundromats, donning on his worn-out, oversized trench coat and fingerless gloves, everyone's gaze darted to him.

Logan swallowed, hiding his face.

He limped to the laundryman to pick up Emily's clothes.

He overheard the snide remarks thrown at his direction.

"Check it out, it's the hunchback son-in-law," a man whispered to his wife.

"Gosh, he looks so hideous. He reminds me of a vulture."

A mother shielded her children away from Logan as he limped passed them.

Logan was below average due to his pronounced hunchback.

This gave him a stature of a thirteen years old boy when he was in fact just twenty-four.

"I'm here for my wife's laundry," Logan told the laundry man over the counter.

The laundry man, tossed the bag containing Sheila's clothes at Logan's face.

"Take it and get out," the laundry man said sharply. "You're upsetting my customers with your mere presence."

Logan picked up the bag and without as much as giving anyone a glance, he limped his way out of the laundromat.

It took a great deal of effort to hold back his tears.

He only cried when he was alone. If he cried in public, people would taunt and laugh at him.

Logan was passing by an alley when suddenly he saw an elderly man lying helplessly on the sidewalk.

It was a busy sidewalk but nobody stopped to help the man.

Instead, they walked over him like he was garbage.

Logan limped over to the man and squatted down beside him. "Sir, are you alright?"

Logan was startled by the state which he found the man.

The man was beaten black and blue. His eyes and mouth were swollen from multiple blows.

There was a knife wound on his shoulder which and his clothes were tattered and torn.

"H-help me," the man pleaded, his voice tiny and weak. "Robbers....stole....my car...stabbed...me....last.... night."

"You've been here all night and nobody thought to call the police?" Logan gritted his teeth bitterly. "People are so cruel. Don't worry. I'll take you to a nearest hospital."

The man shook his head. "My....chest....I....got stabbed... in my chest. I... can't breathe..."

Logan realized this man's life was hanging on a thin thread. If he tried to move him, the man might die.

Logan looked around him, satisfied no one was paying him nor the man any attention.

"Since it's come to this," Logan licked his dried lips, placing both his hands on the man's wounded chest. "Allow me to administer the sacred QiFlow Recovery technique."

Logan closed his eyes and channeled his life force energy into the dying man's wound.

The man could feel his wounds close up and heal.

The pains and dying breath of the man ceased almost immediately like a miracle.

Logan didn't wait for the man to ask anymore questions.

He stood up and pointed at the nearest phone booth. "You'll be fine in a minute. Use the phone booth and get yourself checked in an hospital."

Then Logan hurried away as fast as he could before the man could recover.

* * * *

When Logan arrived home, he was nearly out of breath.

He ran to avoid anyone finding out about his family's sacred healing technique.

By now, the man he healed would have recovered half of his strength.

"I pray I don't run into him again," Logan said. "I hope he gets to a hospital."

As Logan approached the gates of the Iron Resident, he came to a standstill.

There was a black G-class Mercedes Benz parked outside the mansion.

Logan stared at the car for a long time. "Emily doesn't drive a Mercedes Benz. Does Emily have a visitor?"

Suddenly he looked up and caught a glimpse of Emily's shadow moving in her bedroom.

From her shadow outlined against the curtains, he could make out the points of her nipples and her curvy figure.

Emily was naked.

Logan crept up the front door of the house and slipped in quietly like a ghost.

Then he came to an abrupt standstill.

Laying in a heap on the floor in the living room were Emily's clothes and shoes.

Right next to it were other clothes but they didn't belong to Emily.

"These are mens clothes," Logan whispered quietly, a lump forming in his throat. "What is going on here?"

Slurping sounds suddenly came from the bedroom upstairs.

Logan could hear it loud and clear. It sounded as if someone was drinking soup.

His legs stiff and heavy, Logan moved quietly towards Emily's bedroom.