Thank you for your kindness

"My son will definitely not ruin any company!"

"And you shouldn't speak to him in that manner because of your little poverty alleviation scheme!" Penelope, Arthur's mom and Marshall's wife, said as she walked into the house and slammed the door shut.

"What the hell is wrong with you Marshall,"

"Screaming on top of your voice?! I could hear your every word since I stepped out of the car!"

"What is ever that serious!" She asked as she dropped her bag in the chair.

"I see where he got the phrase, poverty alleviation scheme from, I should have known it was from you!" Marshall snapped.

"Yes?! Is it a lie?!"

"He is your son Marshall and you should be on his side always, not siding with a random slum citizen!"

"I loathe the day you met her!"

"You know me too well Penelope! I won't be a party to Arthur's stupid acts!"

"Instead of you to tell him his bad behaviors you keep indulging him!"

"You made him this spoilt Penelope! You're ruining his life!" Marshall growled.

"Don't you ever dare!," Penelope growled as she moved closer to him.

"Don't you dare make that statement to me ever again Marshall!" She growled.

"Hmm!" Isabella sighed deeply as she picked up all her arts materials and headed for her room.

This had sort of like become a tradition in their home, if their parents hadn't argued in a day then their day isn't complete yet.

"Penelope, do you have an idea how hard you're pushing me!" 

"How difficult is it for you to just train these children in the right way!"

"Why push them in the path of strife and hate!" 

"Are you trying to say that I'm a bad mother?!"

"I never said so!"

"But your statements implied it!"

"I knew it was going to come to this," she growled.

"If you're not comfortable with us being your family then you should just say it!"

"If you need someone else to be your wife instead of me, then you should say it!" She growled.

"You just had to bring up this issue again!" Marshall murmured frustratingly as he rubbed his head.

"I was just correcting our son! And you didn't let me,"

"And now you've found a way to bring up past issues!"

"After twenty three years of marriage, you still bring up this issue every single day!"

"You're an insecure woman Penelope, and you're rubbing that off on our son!" He murmured.

"How dare you say that to me!"

"You should deal with your insecurities, only then would we cohabitate peacefully!" He concluded and with that he turned around and headed toward the room.

"No you wouldn't walk out on me Marshal!"

"You keep doing this, walking out on every conversation and now you stand here to call me insecure?!" She growled at his retreating figure but he didn't say anything as he disappeared up the stairs and into the passage.

"Don't listen to anything he says," she whispered turning to Arthur.

"Mom, "

"Listen to me Arthur,"

"You're superior to that low class girl and you should do as you damn well please!"

"She stands no chance against you!"

"Don't listen to your father! He'll teach you to be weak,"

"That's what he's doing to Isabella, and you shouldn't be that !"

"Okay!"

"Yes mom!"

"Good,"

"Thank you for standing up for me son," she whispered as she pulled him into a small hug.

"You did well,"

"You should say goodbye to your sister and head back home,"

"It's getting quite late ," she whispered.

"Yes mom," he whispered, she patted his shoulder one more time and turned to go upstairs.

He arched forward immediately, caught her hand and turned back to him.

"Please be a little calm with him," he whispered and she smiled.

"I'll take that into consideration," she said.

"Stop bothering your self son, your dad and I will be fine,"

"We've always being fine," she whispered before finally walking upstairs.

Arthur exhaled deeply before finally walking up to Isabella's room.

He felt angry that his dad reacted the way he did and his hatred for Eleanor grew, his mom never liked Eleanor and that was always an issue between his parents, exactly the reason he began to dislike Eleanor too.

Next day .....

Wednesday Morning....

5:00 am ....

The loud ringtone of Eleanor's phone drew her out of her thought lane and she turned to look at it before picking it up.

She slowly looked down at it and it was from Arthur,

She exhaled deeply trying to amass all the atom of strength and patience. 

"Good morning Arthur," she answered immediately she picked up the phone.

"Why did it take you so long to answer my call!" He slammed immediately and she exhaled.

"I don't know, maybe because I was trying to sleep!" she gritted out.

"People with purpose don't sleep by this time but obviously you can't relate!" He clapped back.

"Excuse me !"

"You're not excused, I called for a reason!" he snapped back not giving her even a second to breathe.

"I'm giving you the remaining days of the week off, to heal completely and get over your dad's death!"

"I expect that you come back to the office with all vibrancy next week

"And no sluggishness or moodiness when you resume!"

"It would be all work for you Eleanor!" He said.

"Okay,"

"Thank you for your kindness," she whispered lowly but obviously very sarcastically.

"Whatever, I won't be doing any of these if my daddy didn't insist" he whispered and she rolled her eyes.

"Thank you for agreeing," she replied.

"Whatever, just do as I've asked and remember, there's no room for slacking when you resume!"

"It's all work!" 

"I understand that,"

"Good!" He replied and ended the call.

Eleanor exhaled , she gently dropped her phone on the side table, she thought about what Arthur had called her this morning to say and she rolled her eyes annoyed by him.

"Such a mannerless boy!" She murmured.

She looked around and her mom wasn't anywhere in sight.

"You'll be fine El," she whispered as she stood up and walked towards the window.

She stood by the window as she stared out onto the empty silent street.

He mind wandered towards the happy memories she had with her dad and how she has been thrown off balance by his death and she didn't even have the chance to pause and honor him.

Her dad had really been an anchor to her and she loved him shamelessly.

The door slowly opened and she turned to look at who it was, it was her elder brother and mother.

"Aiden," she called as she walked towards them.

"You shouldn't have gotten your boss angry," he said to her immediately and her eye went wide as she stopped in her tracks.

"What?!" She whispered.

"How can you say that to your sister!"

"You should be on our side!" Racheal cautioned immediately.

"Mom told me, he accused you of sleeping with his Dad,"

"Did you?! Because we really can't say"

"Aiden!" Racheal called immediately, Eleanor exhaled deeply as she returned to her bed and sat on it.

"It's fine Mom,"

"I didn't do it Aiden, we weren't brought up that way, I can never do that," she said to him calmly.

"That's better,"

"I had to leave work, to come over and see you after Mom told me what happened, I'm glad you're okay"

"And about dad too, you guys don't have to worry, we'll be fine alright" he whispered

"Group hug," he whispered as he wrapped his hands around Eleanor and stretched out his hands to Racheal.

"We'll be fine," he whispered again as they hugged.

"We should bury dad next Friday, my shift ends then," he said and they nodded slowly.

"Next Friday?! We don't have the money to hold down his body till that time,"

"Can't you just take tommorow off and let's lay him to rest once and for all," Racheal interjected immediately as they disengaged.

"You know how my boss is mom, I can't"

"It can't be that bad Aiden, you can't or you won't,"

"Don't push it Mom, don't worry Eleanor can always pay up for space till that time"

"Aiden! Why are you being so insensitive at a time like this,"

"First of all you leave the house , for months and nothing your father said to you brought you back!"

"Now he is dead you think you can come around and order us around?!"

"Mom it's fine, I can handle the money," Eleanor replied.

"No!" Racheal snapped immediately.

"This Friday it is, and we're not shifting for anyone, instead you should shift your schedule for your dad's funeral!"

"And if you can't, you can go ahead and miss it Aiden!" She snapped.

"Eleanor has been more of a daughter than you have ever been a son to me,"

"Mom," Eleanor called immediately to stop her.

"Really," he whispered.

"This is what you're resorting to,"

"Mom please let's not argue here, now is not the time," Eleanor tried to stop her.

"I think I should go, you never really wanted me here anyway," Aiden said as he retreated and headed for the door. 

"Try to be more like your sister ! And stop frustrating me!" Racheal yelled out after him.