Sara and her siblings watched their father being taken away. Arthur looked around and found others looking over from their gates.
"Let’s get inside."
He said with a frown. Sara snapped out of her daze and looked around, she nodded, pulled her siblings inside and closed the door.
They did not speak, awkwardness filled the air. Arthur opened his mouth to explain himself, but then thought, why would he?
Who was he to them? Or who were they to him?
No one.
Him and Sara just made a deal. As for beating up their father, he did them a favour. Whether or not they will resent them or not is another matter.
Arthur closed his mouth. He looked to his side and found Sara deep in thought, while her two siblings tried to hide behind her.
Both of them were beautiful like her. It’s clear to him that their fathers genes didn’t even fight.
He let them be and turned to the living room. It was fairly clean other than the load of alcohol bottles sitting on the table.
Arthur did not like the smell of alcohol as well. He searched through the kitchen for some plastic bag to throw the bottles away but didn’t find any.
He decided that he would buy them. While he is at it, he will also buy a room freshener.
With that decided, Arthur walked out of the house. Before he went back to the convenience store, he went to a nearby ATM booth to cash out some money. $1000 in cash.
Mainly because having cash is useful, another reason is he didn’t want to show his card. He needed to change that.
But that would require time and he needed to meet requirements he was not aware of. Rich people stuff really.
After cashing out, he went back to the convenience store to buy some trash bags and room freshener.
The clerk was still there, he looked at Arthur with jealousy in his eyes. Arthur paid him no mind.
Just tabbed him as a potential danger he may need to deal with in the future.
On the way back, he bought coke from a vending machine. He returned to find the kids unboxing their new toys with excited expression. But they clearly didn’t dare to jump around in joy since their sister was clearly upset.
They noticed Arthur returning and they didn’t hold previous aversion to him. They looked like they wanted to talk to him but were hesitant.
Arthur didn’t bother humouring them. He wasn’t the type to cuddle with children just because they looked at him or he found them cute. He never liked the chaos children bring. He would tolerate them for a few hours or maybe days but would take full time responsibility.
That is a nightmare.
He tore his gaze from them and walked up to the table to clean it. He unwrapped the room freshener and sprayed it in the living room, he especially sprayed it on the table. He had the urge to unload the whole thing throughout the house but didn’t.
Sara was in the kitchen, preparing dinner.
Her back looked lonely and sad. Her movements slow. Arthur would never understand this kind of attachment.
He won’t try to either. He didn’t grow up in another person’s situation to have their world view. Everyone has a unique way of proving the world. There can be similarities, but never the same which is why one can relate to nother, but never truly understand what the other person is going through.
After finishing up the clean up, he went down stairs to throw away the bottles.
After returning, he sat down on the sofa, the twins playing with their toys on the floor. Their expression was filled with happiness. It seemed this was the first time they had toys like these.
Arthur pulled up the system UI for the first time today.
[Simp System]
[Host: Arthur Gillion]
[Age: 20]
[Bank Balance: $22,502.72]
[Money Spent on Simping: $23,502.72]
[Simp To Unlock More Features!]
Arthur exhaled out slowly. Letting his breath trickle out of his nostrils. Just yesterday, he was at the bottom of the rock bottom, but now, he was sitting with a bank balance he used to earn a year.
It really was a miracle.
But if he learned anything from his experience, it is "Money speaks". He knew that before, but now he felt it.
His situation turned so fast only because of money. He went from homeless to taking care of the finances of someone else because of money.
But this was not enough. Just getting richer and richer isn’t something he wants.
What he wants is the power to do anything he wants. Standing at the summit of influence, the whole world beneath his feet.
That is a grand plan he has no certain way of telling if he can accomplish or not.
And the current him has no business worrying about. Arthur sied, leaned back on the sofa and closed the system.
Arthur sat there for a while before taking off his bag from his shoulders. He didn’t even realise he still had those on. He then realised he hadn’t showered the whole day.
He took out his towel, soap, scrubber and a new set of clothes that he could wear comfortably.
He then went to take a shower. Thoroughly washed himself and came out 20 minutes later.
Sara was still in the kitchen. A sizzling sound rang through the house. The kids have forgotten about their sisters sadness and were lost in their own world. There clamour pushing back the melancholy back a bit.
Arthur sat back on the sofa. He started making plans for tomorrow.
The things he needed to do. First was to research a bit on the requirements for driving licence and gun licence.
Driving licence could wait, but gun licence was a must. He must get his hands on a gun as soon as he can.
His surroundings were not good. To ensure the safety of everyone in this family, carrying a gun is a must.
After that, he found nothing else he could do tomorrow. But looking around the house, it needed deep cleaning. He also needed to buy new clothes.
After a while of thinking, Arthur decided that he will tell Sara to take a day off from work, or leave her job entirely. Why would she be working on such a low paying job for no reason?
Sara will hire a cleaning service to clean his house. Then maybe after he is free, he will take all of them to go shopping the day after tomorrow.
That will be another opportunity for spending.
...That is, if Sara doesn’t kick him out.
Sara was setting up the dinner but was shooting him death glares. She was clearly not pleased with how he handled the situation. He felt the need to explain himself but ultimately decided not to.
He won’t be the one who will lose out from their deal, she will. She will be sacrificing a better life for both her and her siblings for a much worse one. For the sake of her abusive father.
Regardless, after the dinner was set up, all of them sat down to sit. The dinner was simple meat curry with rice.
The taste was neither good nor bad. It was... something. And that something made him realise he needed to cook himself.