Love At The Wrong Table

Emmanuel never thought Mackenzie would agree. After all, it had taken him a

lot of convincing to make her go home with him the last time. Hence, he

figured there was no way she would want to go to Ryder’s house this time.

“Let me check my schedule. Maybe I can take one or two hours out

tomorrow.”

“Huh? I-”

Mackenzie’s reply was so unexpected that Emmanuel was overwhelmed with

surprise.

“What’s wrong? Did you not want me to go?” Mackenzie asked, eyeing him

suspiciously.

“No, no, no! I’m just too happy! Tommy really likes you, you know? He even

said you being in his house will be the greatest gift for him.” The excitement in

Emmanuel’s voice was unmistakable.

“Tch!”

Mackenzie turned away to feign indifference, but a subtle smile formed on

her face while she faced the car window.

This is weird. Why am I feeling happy? This is so weird.

Meanwhile, both Ryder and his son were elated when they learned

Emmanuel was bringing Mackenzie over tomorrow night.

Tommy was so excited that he stayed up all night to wait for Mackenzie’s

arrival.

Abellyn, on the other hand, had been out playing poker through the night.

When she found out her son had not slept because of the visitors who were

coming, she began nagging at Ryder again.

“What are you doing? How could you let Tommy stay up all night? Don’t you

know he’s still growing? Lack of sleep will stunt his growth.”

While listening to her, Ryder packed his things to leave. He was long immune

to the woman’s nagging.

Tommy, too, was putting on his clothes and getting ready to head out with

Ryder to go to school. The truth was, he found Abellyn rather ridiculous. She

was out the whole night playing poker. How dare she scold Daddy when she

wasn’t around either?

“You’re a useless man! You can’t make money, and you can’t even take care

of your son. Ugh! I must’ve been blind to marry someone as useless as you!”

Abellyn nagged for some time and ended with the same words before

heading to the room to get some sleep.

Suddenly, Ryder refuted, “That’s right, I don’t make a lot of money, but at least

have a monthly income of about six thousand. What about you? All you do is

play poker. More importantly, you’re jobless! If you had a stable income every

month, do you think our family would be living so frugally?”

All of a sudden, a switch flipped within Abellyn. “Oh? So you’re putting the

blame on me now? What was all that talk about making money being a

man’s responsibility before we got married? What is this now? Are you

charging your mind now that I’m your wife and have given you a son?”

Ryder’s anger and frustration manifested on his flushed face.

I really shouldn’t have made those stupid promises back then. We still have

so many years to live. No one knows what kind of changes we’ll see in our

lives.

Back then, his family’s finances were still adequate. But now, things were

getting worse each year. Not only was Abellyn jobless, but she was also

neglecting her duties as a mother. Even a man as patient as Ryder would

snap.

“Daddy, stop arguing. I’m going to be late for school.”

Tommy’s words finally broke off the couple’s argument that happened on

daily basis.

“I’m not in the mood to argue with you. Emmanuel and his wife are coming This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

over to celebrate Tommy’s birthday tonight. You’d better stay home to cook

instead of going out to play poker tonight,” Ryder reminded before leaving

the house with Tommy.

In their family, it was a man’s duty to provide for the family. In fact, Abellyn’s

living expenses came from Ryder.

Ryder usually turned a blind eye to Abellyn’s schedule–playing poker all day

and not cooking meals for the family. That day, however, was Tommy’s

birthday. Ryder was going to make sure she prepared everything

accordingly.

Abellyn scoffed and let out a yawn before returning to the room to sleep.

At six in the evening, Ryder arrived home on a motorcycle with his son, only to

be greeted by the darkness. Even worse, the kitchen was in complete silence.

Immediately, Ryder’s insides burned with anger.

“Abellyn Sheppard! Come out this instant! Abellyn!”

The look of fury on Ryder’s face scared Tommy.

He rarely saw his father looking so terrifying. After all, Ryder had always been

patient with Abellyn.