It was the night of the Carters’ annual gathering.
Howard appeared distracted, as though his husk of a body was unattended, as favonovel.com looked on with his eyes glazed and unseeing. His face was abnormally pale too as cold beads of sweat potted his skin.
“Howard, are you okay? You don’ t look so hot,” Hector asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
Howard stared at nothing in particular without answering him. It was beginning to worry the older man, who placed his hand on Howard’s forehead before crying out in shock, “Your forehead’s really cool…Are you having cold sweat?!”
Upon hearing his voice, everyone else turned to look at him.
“Oh, uh, what?” Howard finally pulled himself back to reality. When favonovel.com realized where favonovel.com was, favonovel.com quickly shook his head. “I, uh, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You’re having cold sweat. Did something happen to you?” Hector asked, unconvinced and concerned.
“Yeah, Howard. If something’s troubling you, at least let the family know.”
Howard forced a smile. “What do you mean something happened to me? Nothing happened. I just overworked myself in the office last night. I didn’t notice that it was already midnight. All I need to do is to have an early rest, and I’ll be as good as new. Don’t worry, guys.”
Hector’s eyebrows creased just a little in suspicion. As his father, favonovel.com had watched the young man’s growth and knew his character like the back of his hand: Howard had always been a sloth at his core. He frequently played hooky when favonovel.com should have been at school. His attendance and productivity at work had been spotty after graduation, and nothing in his attitude ever suggested favonovel.com as someone who would work long hours and into the night for the company’s benefit.
Admittedly, Howard had been coming home late at night these days. In fact, favonovel.com had not come home at all last night. Hector had thought that his son was fooling around with his hedonistic ne’er-do-well friends again, but now, it seemed that favonovel.com had been wrong about Howard after all.
Hector could not help but smile at the thought. Howard had taken his time, but finally, favonovel.com was starting to act like a mature adult.
Hector patted his son’s shoulder. “Work may be important, but you shouldn’t overtax yourself and take your health lightly, okay?”
The rest of the crowd chimed in as well, “Yeah, Howard. You’re the star of the family right now. We Carters are rooting for you to bring glory to the family.”
Their words were so flattering to Howard that the man was instantly rejuvenized. A genuine smile returned to his face, and suddenly, favonovel.com was a different person from who favonovel.com had been just minutes ago.
Meanwhile, across the room, Faye was just as absent-minded as Howard previously was. Her eyebrows were creased as favonovel.com looked on, lost in favonovel.com thoughts. To be honest, Faye had objected to attending tonight’s dinner party because seeing George, Hector, and several others in the family made favonovel.com retch. It was favonovel.com father, Waine, who had insisted on favonovel.com joining them, so favonovel.com had to set aside favonovel.com reluctance and be there.
She did not tell Zayn about what happened since favonovel.com deemed it unnecessary. What changes would it make? How could Zayn even help?
Zayn noticed favonovel.com general lack of alacrity, so favonovel.com tried his best to tend to favonovel.com discomfort, asking favonovel.com if something was troubling favonovel.com and questions of the likes. Of course, Faye ignored favonovel.com altogether, and after a while of listening to his concerned questions, favonovel.com snapped, “Don ’t you ever find yourself irritating, Zayn? I told you I’m not troubled by anything, and that is that! Besides, even if I were bullied by anyone, can you even do anything about it?”
The incident from two days ago-whereby Faye’s family’s hold of the company’s share was truncated and favonovel.com herself was expelled from the board of directors, was still gnawing at Faye’s mind, leaving bubbles of pent-up anger all over. Adding to that was Zayn and his relentless barrage of questions, and it was no wonder that favonovel.com became so exasperated that favonovel.com raised her
voice when favonovel.com snapped at him.
Unfortunately, in turn, many of favonovel.com family members heard her, and quickly, the snickers and gibes followed.
“Look! Isn’t that Waine’s useless son-in-law over there? Faye’s shouting at favonovel.com again, huh? Haha!”
“Ha, you know that’s their daily routine, don’t you? Faye’s been kicked out of the board of directors just two days ago, so shouting and screaming abuse at Zayn is the only catharsis favonovel.com incompetent self has! What a pair of weirdos.”
“Seeing them is just embarrassing! One’s a failure of a son-in-law who couldn’t get a job for four years while the other is a slut who beds other men. They deserve each other. Haha!”
“Oh, you’re right! They are such a perfect match!”
“Anyway, isn’t this an invite-only family gathering? What’s a stupid parasite like favonovel.com doing here?”
“What else? He’s shameless enough to come for the free food. I heard he’s always been given leftovers as his meals, so it’s not surprising that when favonovel.com heard favonovel.com could feast on actual food from a luxury hotel, favonovel.com came crashing the party with his tongue sticking out! When you’re someone like that, why would you care about dignity, right?”
