Almost ten long minutes later, Russell stood from the sofa and picked up the plate that had four chocolate biscuits, specially made by Jennifer.

He went upstairs and knocked on a door.

“Come in,” a deep voice came from inside.

Russell entered the room, and his dad had just come from his bath. Arnold had the habit of bathing three times a day unless his schedule was really busy. He believed bathing multiple times a day was the key to maintaining his good health. His phone rang, and it was Fredrick calling.

Even though Russell tried to talk, Arnold made him wait until he finished the call. “I’ll take care of it. You don’t worry.” He hung up.

“Mom told me to give you these,” Russell put the plate down on the bed. Though Jennifer hadn’t actually said that, she generally used to say ‘if you don’t want to eat, at least give them to your dad, and he’ll eat them.’

Russell picked up one biscuit. “One is enough for me. You can have the rest.” Russell also grabbed a biscuit and took a bite. As he slowly chewed, Arnold looked at him, “You didn’t come here just to give me biscuits, did you?”

“Regarding marriage…” Russell’s stomach was boiling, and he could feel the chocolate biscuit melting in his stomach as he spoke, “when were you going to tell me that Kyra is pregnant?”

Arnold was visibly surprised. He sat straight at once. “Who told you?” he asked in a sharp voice, demanding an answer. “Is it Jennifer?”

“It’s Kyra,” Russell’s reply startled him. “She told me about her pregnancy herself.”

“K-Kyra?” Arnold was left perplexed.

“She didn’t need to tell me anything, but she came all this way to give me such important information,” Russell added. “I respect her very much for that.”

“Great. So you have no problem marrying her then and saying to the world that her child is yours.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Russell quickly said, raising his voice. “Wait…” his frown deepened. “What did you just say? I should tell the world that her child is mine?”

“S-She didn’t tell you that?” Arnold felt a little stupid for slipping out such sensitive information at this moment.

Russell’s intestines knotted together. He thought Kyra was decent, but even she couldn’t reveal the whole truth. Russell felt like he was being played by everyone at this moment. It brought all kinds of emotions into his face, making him look miserable. Remembering his mother, he took a breath and calmed himself. “Dad, I respect you. You know that. Tell me to eat grass, and I’ll do it for you without questioning. But if you want me to say that someone else’s baby is mine…” he shakes his head dejectedly. His throat felt heavy. “I’m a man, Dad, not a fucking eununch.”

Arnold’s eyes filled with a substantial amount of surprise as this was probably the first time his son used the F-word before him.

“You can threaten me all you want, but I’m not marrying Kyra,” Russell’s voice was still sad rather than angry. “I’m sorry.” He walked away.

“Wait!” Arnold called for him, but his son didn’t stop. “Dammit.” Arnold squeezed the half-eaten biscuit in his hand and crushed it to pieces. A lot of his hopes were riding on this marriage, so he just couldn’t let it go because Russell wished so. He went out of his way to go outside and get to his son’s room.

Russell was packing his bags.

“What are you doing?” Arnold came up to him and pulled the clothes out of the bag. “Just do this one thing for us.”

“You mean… FOR YOU?”

Arnold forced out a laugh. “Yeah. I’m fine if you think of it that way. Just do this one thing for me, and I promise you… you’ll thank me afterward.”

Russell couldn’t believe what his father was saying. “Dad… I love Natasha, not Kyra! And there’s a limit I can’t cross. I can’t call someone else’s kid my own!”

“Aren’t you calling Jennifer your mom right now?” Arnold hit him with what he believed was a logical question.

“That’s different. You’re telling me to lie to the whole world about something so serious.”

“What’s the big deal?” Arnold reasoned, shrugging his shoulders. “If you marry her, the world will automatically think her child is yours.”

“The world isn’t that stupid, Dad, but all this doesn’t matter.  Let’s say I agreed to marry Kyra now, and six months after marriage…” Russell’s eyes reddened, “Kyra will give birth to a child. What will Natasha then think of me? That I’ve screwed Kyra while I was dating her!”

“Tsk,” Arnold hissed, “don’t be stupid. Why would you care what happens to Natasha, or what she thinks of you after you married Kyra? Besides, didn’t Natasha refuse to marry you?”

Russell frowned. “Sorry. I can’t do it. Please give Kyra my apologies.”

Arnold slapped Russell, but Russell wasn’t shocked.

“Kill me if you want, but you can’t make me marry Kyra.”

“You little…” Arnold slapped Russell with the second hand so hard this time Russell fell on the bed.

Russell looked for a stick. He couldn’t find it, but then Jennifer walked in and gave him a long stick, which was the Dog Beating Staff Natasha had gifted to Russell on Halloween because Russell was a big fan of Wuxia novels.

“You seemed to have forgotten the old memories, but it’s okay. I'll bring them all back,” Arnold started beating Russell left and right with the Dog Beating Staff, but Russell made little to no noise.

Jennifer just amusedly watched while crunching on an apple.

By the time Arnold finished, Russell was bruised everywhere except his head, and he was bleeding from his arms and legs.

Arnold threw the stick aside. It took a few seconds to bring his breath back under control. “Take all his electronic gadgets and lock him up in this room,” he told Jennifer and walked out. “Don’t let him out until I say so.”

“Yes, darling,” Jennifer slowly walked over to the bed and looked at Russell who was doing his best to not show any pain in his face. “I don’t get it. The Lynn family can provide the best treatment for your mother. They can pave a much brighter future for you than Natasha’s family ever can. Just think about it.” She spat the apple seeds on his bed. “You wouldn’t need to experience this humiliation if you marry such a big family.” She then took his mobile, laptop, and all the electronic devices before locking the door from outside.

After she left, Russell hissed and cringed in pain. He pressed his shoulders and shins, where his dad had targeted the most.

Thinking how Natasha had rejected his proposal, he felt even more miserable. Even his own family wasn’t supporting his decisions. He fought back against his tears, but they won against him this time.

After crying and crying, he ran out of tears, but his heart was aching a lot more than before. He got up from the bed and went to the bathroom, grabbed a small bottle from the shelf and returned to his bed. He opened the box and looked inside. There were more than thirty sleeping pills.

If he were to still refuse to marry Kyra, Arnold might just kill him. Why give that burden to Arnold or Jennifer, he thought.

He poured batches of sleeping pills into his mouth and drank alcohol to make the process smoother. They tasted like metal and didn’t make it any easier to swallow them. Nevertheless, in a couple of minutes, he emptied the whole box and tossed it away before downing the remaining alcohol in the bottle.

“I’m sorry, Kyra. I’m sure you’ll find someone better than me.

“I’m sorry, my fans. I won’t be able to make new vlog videos for you all.”

Tears melted in his eyes like never before.

“I’m sorry, Mom. This is the end of the road for your son.”