Chapter 3

“What I said yesterday came from the heart. You’re an adult now, and you’re also your mom’s son. From now on, you don’t need to worry about my affairs.”

Kevin Miller trembled with rage, his fists clenching audibly.

“Enough! What ‘lover’?! What ‘lover’?!”

“Hasn’t David done enough for you? After you divorced my mom, to spare your feelings, David hasn’t even agreed to marry Mom yet!”

“Just for that, what’s wrong with me supporting him in his retirement?!”

I nodded, not arguing further, simply politely pushing the luggage towards him, then ‘escorting’ him out.

The moment the door closed, I immediately contacted a locksmith.

See?

How could I entrust my golden years to an ungrateful wretch who couldn't tell right from wrong?

On my first day of work at my employer's house, I received a call from my dad.

“Mark, Kevin just called me. What’s going on? Did you really go and become a house manager?”

“And don’t be so harsh with the boy. Kevin was really hurt by you this time; his voice sounded hoarse on the phone.”

Hearing that, a pang of sadness hit me.

“Dad.”

“Was I wrong?”

“Yes, I admit that right after Sarah and I divorced, David, as his uncle, did help look after Kevin for a few days.”

“But David stole my wife! Kevin was a victim too!”

“How could he turn around and forget me, the father who raised him from diapers, and go support the man who broke up my family in his retirement?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. “…What?”

“Didn’t Kevin tell you? I scrimped and saved to put him through college, helped him find a job.”

“Now that he’s received his bonus, the first thing he does is arrange retirement for Sarah and David, and then he turns around and calls me petty!”

“Now their ‘happy little family of three’ is doing just fine. What am I supposed to do?”

“I only have a few thousand dollars in my account, and social security keeps sending reminders. If I don’t renew it this year, am I really supposed to rely on that ungrateful wretch?”

Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably, yet I laughed aloud.

“I’m earning money with my own hands to secure my own future. What’s wrong with that? Now, just because he finds it embarrassing, I have to back down?”

“Do you think that’s fair?”

After a long time, there was a deep sigh from the phone.

“Mark, I know the boy didn’t act honorably, but no matter what…”

“Kevin is still your only son, after all…”

Before he could finish, I interrupted him directly.

“Dad!”

“I don’t have the same good fortune as you and Mom. I know my own son; I can’t rely on him in the future.”

“So, starting today, I have to plan for myself.”

Hanging up the phone, I stood in the small room assigned to me at my employer’s house, a jumble of conflicting emotions swirling inside me.

Even though everyone said this line of work, “serving people,” wasn’t respectable.

But this employer offered a very good salary – twelve thousand a month, with food and accommodation included.

It wasn't until now that I fully understood.

The idea that children are your retirement plan.

Sometimes, your own flesh and blood can be less reliable than the actual balance in your bank account!

My own son, just to save a few grand, declared social security a scam.

But the salary my employer provides, if I save it for a year, I can fill that entire retirement fund shortfall!

I thought my attitude had made everything clear, and the matter would be over and done with.

To my surprise, a month into my job, David Stone showed up at my employer's house with Kevin Miller.

Seeing me, Kevin Miller’s frown was so deep, you could almost see him crushing something between his brows.

“Dad! How long are you going to keep this temper tantrum up? That’s enough!”

David Stone looked around the staff room, his face still wearing that phony look of apology.

“Mark! No matter how angry you are, you can’t embarrass Kevin and Sarah like this!”

“Ignoring your own son to come serve strangers, doing this kind of work—what were you thinking?”

“Just to spite us?”