The Freeloader Calls Me the Leech

As my cousin, Rita Pike, brought her boyfriend, Benny Booker, through the door, I was watering the camellias on the balcony.

Benny was dressed to the nines. From the moment he entered, he kept scrutinizing the entire villa, nodding in approval again and again.

It wasn't until he reached the balcony and saw me in my loungewear that he frowned slightly with disdain.

"So, you're the poor cousin who's been mooching off Rita?"

I looked at him, puzzled.

Rita walked over at the sound of his voice, and Benny immediately switched to a smile. "Babe, who's this guy?"

Rita introduced with a smile, "Benny, this is my cousin, Ruben Johnston. We grew up together. He's the closest person to me in all of Elmouth."

Benny crossed his arms and looked me up and down contemptuously. "He looks like a kept man. No wonder he's been mooching off you."

I looked at Rita, and only then did she speak up. "Rita, don't make such rude jokes.“

Benny showed no sign of shutting up. Instead, he wrapped his arm around Rita's waist and said sincerely, "I wasn't joking. Before I came, I heard from your friends how kind you were to take in a cousin who had nowhere else to go.

"I just feel bad for you. You work so hard and still have to take care of someone else. But he's a grown man who's perfectly capable, and yet he's actually fine with mooching off you? Wow, that's a new one."

I interrupted coldly, "Taking me in? Mooching off her? Which friend of Rita's did you hear that from?"

The air in the living room seemed to freeze in that moment.

Rita furrowed her brow. "Benny, who's been feeding you lies? Ruben is an important part of this family. There's no taking him in or anything like that. Don't talk nonsense and upset him."

She was being transparently defensive.

Benny quickly put on an apologetic look, though his eyes kept darting toward me.

"Babe, don't be so serious. Maybe I heard wrong. I can apologize to him if that's what you want. You know, it's just that a lot of people around me have been saying how incredibly kind you are.

"You're out there working your butt off, and on top of that, you're supporting some poor cousin."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over me again. His tone grew more innocent as he continued, "How could I not feel indignant on your behalf after hearing all that gossip?

"I mean, Ruben's healthy and full of energy, yet instead of working, he chooses to mooch off you."

Before I could respond, he grabbed Rita's hand. "Still, it's not like I'm the type of person who can't stand having relatives around. I won't be so quick to believe what others say from now on.

"Ruben, don't overthink it either. Since Rita put it that way, I'll treat you like my own brother. The more the merrier, after all."

Benny was handsome and silver-tongued. In just a few words, he had Rita completely charmed.

But I felt deeply uncomfortable and thoroughly disgusted.

From the moment he walked in, he'd been slinging mud at me. That little speech just now sounded like an explanation and an apology, but really, it just reinforced the whole "freeloader" and "burden" labels all over again.