All Chapters of The Outcast Son-In-Law: Rise From Ashes: Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
10 chapters
CHAPTER 1: THE LIVE-IN SON-IN-LAW IS ACTUALLY A BIG SHOT
Alexander learned how invisible a man could become while standing at a sink full of dirty dishes.Cold water ran over his hands as he scrubbed plates that did not belong to him in a house that never truly felt like his. Soap bubbles slid down his wrists. Behind him, laughter floated from the living room. The servants were watching television, and no one asked if he needed help.A plate slipped from the counter and shattered near his feet. One of the maids glanced over, then quickly turned away as if she had seen nothing. He crouched and picked up the broken pieces himself.For three years, that was how long he had lived here as Aurelia's husband. Three years as the live-in son-in-law everyone politely greeted and secretly pitied, but he had only five days left now.The agreement would end soon.He rinsed the final plate and placed it neatly beside the others. His reflection stared back at him from the metal sink, an ordinary face, calm eyes, nothing worth remembering. That is exactly
CHAPTER 2: THE WELCOME BANQUET
The Rizmo was the first thing he saw.It sat near the entrance of Stellar Grand Hotel under the streetlights like it owned the pavement. One of only a hundred units ever made anywhere in the world. Money alone couldn't get you one.You needed the right people saying the right things to the right person, and even then it wasn't guaranteed.Alexander had spent three weeks making those calls.He pulled his motorcycle to a stop across the street and looked at the car without moving.He remembered the day it was delivered. Aurelia had walked around it twice before she touched it. Then her fingertips found the hood and traced slowly along the curve of the door, and the smile that came onto her face was the kind that couldn't be performed. Bright, surprised and completely her own.She had believed she got it herself.He had never told her otherwise.He got off the motorcycle and walked toward the entrance.Jake appeared from near the entrance with four others grouped behind him, all of them
CHAPTER 3: FIRST LOVE AND HUSBAND
Aurelia spoke before Nah could say anything."Careful with that." Her voice was soft but had an edge underneath it, the kind that didn't need to be loud to land. She was looking at the waiter, not at Alexander's face. "If you bump into a guest, it won't end well for anyone."Nah glanced at the waiter beside him and gave a small, easy smile. "It's fine, he didn't mean it."Then he looked again. Something shifted in his expression, recognition arriving one beat later than it should have."Alexander?"Aurelia heard the name and went still.She turned slowly. The uniform, the cart. The last place she would have expected to see him. Her eyes moved across his face and something flickered there, surprise first, then something harder to name. Her voice came out softer than she intended."Why are you here?" Almost playful. "Shouldn't you be at home?"Then she noticed the uniform properly.Her expression shifted. She stepped closer and lowered her voice. "If you need money just tell me. I'll gi
CHAPTER 4: A DINNER ALONE, THE BEGINNING OF A BROKEN HEART
Alexander remembered college.Third year. A small cut on his palm from broken glass in the campus cafeteria. Nothing serious.But Aurelia had gone pale the moment she saw it. She grabbed her bag and ran three streets to the nearest pharmacy. She came back with antiseptic, cotton pads, and three different sizes of band-aids."Don't let it touch water for three days," she had told him, wrapping his hand with more focus than the situation deserved.Tonight, glass had torn across his arm from elbow to wrist and soaked through his sleeve.She hadn't looked back once.Now he could be bleeding openly, and it still wouldn't compare to a twisted ankle. The other man's twisted ankle.Alexander limped out of Stellar Grand into the cool night air. The ankle had happened somewhere in the rush to pull Aurelia away from the falling rack. Not serious. Just enough to remind him with every step that it was there.He didn't flag down a cab. He just walked.He almost laughed at himself. Bleeding on an an
CHAPTER 5: THIS DAMN APOLOGY
He had lain on the bed since three in the morning and sleep had not come back.His body felt fine, that was the strange part. No heaviness, no ache. The cuts from the hotel had closed on their own, leaving nothing behind but torn fabric and faint rust-colored stains on his shirt.Only the shirt remembered what had happened.He sat up when the sky outside turned fully gray and didn't bother trying anymore.The bedroom door opened without a knock.Aurelia walked straight in with Vivian right behind her, both of them already dressed and put together. Aurelia stopped at the foot of the bed and looked at him with the particular expression she reserved for things that were wasting her time."I told you yesterday. You need to apologize today. Why aren't you up yet?"Alexander was sitting on the edge of the bed. His pajama top had come slightly open at the collar, and he hadn't fixed it.Both of them were stunned.Aurelia recovered first."What are you doing dressed like that? Who are you try
CHAPTER 6: THE CAFÉ INCIDENT
Alexander reached into his shirt pocket and took out a card. He held it out and waited.The waitress took it slowly. It was black with thin gold edges, simple and heavy in a way that was hard to explain. She turned it over and studied it. Then she laughed."You scared me for a second. I thought you were some big client. Do you even know what kind of place this is?" She handed it back like it meant nothing.Alexander didn't take it back."If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense. Call your manager over. You'll understand once you ask."She rolled her eyes and walked off.The manager arrived quickly. But when he actually looked at the card, something shifted in his face. He was a little irritated but suppressed his anger. The design wasn't familiar. Nothing matched what their café issued."Sir, this card wasn't issued by us. It can't be used here. If you'd like to apply for a membership, call our main line."Alexander's heart sank. He hadn't expected that not a single person here co
CHAPTER 7: LET ME APOLOGIZE? DO YOU EVEN DESERVE IT?
It was a small private room with soft lighting and a window that looked onto a quiet courtyard. One table, no noise from the main floor."After coming here so many times, this is the first time I've known this coffee shop even has an exclusive private room," Vivian said.The manager placed the ordering iPad in front of Alexander."This is a special area for premium VIPs. Only those with an annual transaction flow of ten billion in the Kair Group are eligible to apply for this card.""That doesn't sound so impressive. Then why doesn't Nah have one?" Vivian said.Nah clenched his hand. He was only the second son of the Virel Group, far from being the heir. Even if he could become the heir, his annual transaction flow could never reach ten billion.Market value and actual cash flow are different things.Aurelia comforted Nah. "It's okay, not having it now doesn't mean you won't have it later. You're so outstanding."As she spoke, she placed her hand on his back, gently patting him. The w
CHAPTER 8: A CHANCE ENCOUNTER BROUGHT BY A ROBBERY
Alexander had come in Aurelia's car today. On the way home, not wanting to bother with a taxi, he just walked along the roadside all the way home.The coffee shop sat two blocks from Aurelia's company. He had chosen that location himself, years ago, back when the two of them still made decisions together. Back when Aurelia Cosmetics was just a name on a piece of paper and the core idea kept changing every week until Alexander sat down one evening and said, "Stop. Pick one thing. Be the best at it. Anti-aging. Timeless skin. Women of every age."That idea became the company.He had also found the raw materials for their first flagship products, spending months sourcing ingredients nobody else had thought to look for. He had saved them a fortune before the company even had a real office.Then Aurelia started skipping meals, coming home with her hands shaking. So Alexander had stepped back. Someone needed to keep the small things together so she could focus on the big ones.Three years l
CHAPTER 9: DIVORCE
Maybe it's true that joy brightens one's spirits. The pleasure of helping others had diluted the gloom in his heart.Alexander was considering whether to get a divorce. For Aurelia, he had given up his career for nearly three years. Although he had family assets to inherit, he would rather start a new career of his own.The Stellar Grand Hotel was the core of his private assets, and around it, he had business plans he hadn't yet had time to realize. Now was just the right moment.He had invested one million in Aurelia back then, and now the company's market value was fifty million. He and Aurelia had not signed a prenuptial agreement. After the divorce, he didn't intend to ask for much. He just wanted to take back his original principal.In the evening, Aurelia returned home with a hint of weariness.He heard the door and her heels on the tile. Then the familiar soft sound of her taking them off before she walked further in.She walked into the living room and looked around at the dar
CHAPTER 10: HOTEL ENCOUNTER
Alexander went to the bedroom and gathered his things.A few shirts. Two pairs of trousers. Some basic things from the bathroom.Three years in that house and this was all of it. His belongings didn't even add up to ten items.He had never gotten anything for himself.He had secretly bought things for her, though. The dress from the magazine she had pointed at once and never mentioned again. The Italian handmade kitten heels she had stopped in front of twice on the same street before walking away.She had worn both of them and thanked whoever sent them and never knew it was him.He stood at the bedroom door for a moment and looked at the room. The curtains she had chosen on a Saturday they still went places together. The small lamp on her side of the bed that she always left on when she came home late. The framed photo on the dresser from a company event two years ago — she was laughing at something off-camera, and he was standing just at the edge of the frame, barely visible, looking