Alex's Gambling

"He's going through a tough time lately. Why don't we let it be?"

Mom could not bear to trouble Mr. Warner.

As soon as she said that, Dad slapped her across the face.

He pinned her against the ground and kicked her a few times. Still, he was furious. He grabbed a steel pole from the corner of the room and began hitting her with it.

"shameless! You used my money to support another man! How dare you tell me to forget about it! Do you have a death wish?"

Mom was beaten black and blue, even missing two of her teeth. Finally, she caved in.

"I'll go! I'll go right now."

That was when Dad stopped.

He decided to go with her to prevent her from pulling any tricks.

As soon as they left, Alex, my brother, started cursing our mother out.

"Serves her right!"

He was another scumbag as well.

Still, there was no rush. I could take my time.

I will make them suffer the pain I suffered a hundredfold!

Half an hour later, they came back.

"Well? Did you get the money?" Alex hurriedly asked.

"No!"

Dad was pissed. "That coward ran off!"

Our neighbor wasn't a good man. In my last life, he took the money from Mom around this time with the excuse of starting a business when he actually went to a prostitute.

It just so happened that a police raid caught him. He was imprisoned for quite a few months.

Of course, they could not find him now.

The more Dad spoke, the angrier he got. Eventually, he dragged Mom into a corner and began to beat her up once more.

I did not plan to clear the air and stood in a corner with my face hidden from view as I was afraid of being seen grinning.

From that day onward, Mom never had a good day.

Dad spent every day in anger over the missing money and would beat her up every time he was reminded of that. He even forced her to sleep in the store room.

He claimed that a lowlife like Mom had no right to sleep in the same room as him.

That made life easier for me.

One evening, I sneaked into Dad's room with 2,000 in hand while everyone was in their rooms.

"This is all I have left. Take it," I said.

His eyes lit up with glee, and he eagerly counted the money.

"You're a good kid."

I gave him a shy smile. "It's my duty."

As I said that, I focused on a thought.

'The household is going through tough times, yet Alex has started gambling again. What do I do? Should I tell Dad?'

Alex was used to slacking off all the time. He used to gamble so much that he owed over 100,000 in debt.

That debt was just fully repaid.

For that, Alex suffered a terrible beating. A while ago, he told the family that he had found a job and was back to being a proper member of society.

With my thought, the glee on Dad's face instantly vanished.

'Forget it. Maybe I'm mistaken.'

In the end, I said nothing and just kept thinking about it.

Alex had work the next day. As usual, he left the home, claiming it was for work.

Dad secretly followed him.

After a while, Dad realized Alex was not going to work at all. Instead, Alex had made his way into a cardroom.

Dad flew into a fit of rage. He rushed in and punched Alex without saying a single word.

"Dad? Why are you here?" Alex was shocked.

"I told you to focus on your work, yet you dare to gamble again! Do you think I'm dead?"

In his fury, Dad ignored every word Alex said and just kept beating Alex up.

However, Alex was not our mother. After a few punches, Alex started to fight back.

The moment Alex fought back, Dad grew even angrier. He grabbed Alex's head and slammed it against the table.

Caught off guard, Alex hit his head on the corner of the table. Blood splattered everywhere.

The staff were terrified.

"Call the police! Now!"

Wendy, the Girlfriend

Dad stared down at his bloody hands. Finally, he snapped out of his rage and frantically got Alex to the hospital.

The wound on Alex's head needed a few dozen stitches.

With the police's help, the cardroom staff were able to get a few hundred thousand in compensation out of Dad and Alex. It was only then that the incident was done.

Dad wanted to weasel his way out of paying, but the police warned him to pay up or go to jail. Hence, he caved in.

After Dad reluctantly paid the cardroom staff, he went back to lecturing and reprimanding Alex.

"Look at what you've done! We finally get some breathing room, and now you've gambled it all away!"

"Who told you I went gambling?" Alex angrily retorted.

"If you weren't gambling, were you working at the cardroom?" Dad scoffed.

"I... I only took the day off to spend time with my girlfriend!"

Dad could not be bothered to listen to Alex.

"I don't care what you were doing there. Anyway, you'll find a job as soon as you're better!

"If I find you there again, you're dead meat!"

As Alex was in the wrong, he did not continue to argue back.

Only I knew that he was not lying.

It was true he did not have a job, but he was only at the cardroom because his girlfriend was meeting up with her friends to play a few games. He was there to spend time with her.

I bumped into him doing that by chance in my last life.

After Alex was discharged from the hospital, he was able to hide at home to recover from his wound without anyone saying anything.

One night, I brought him a plate of cut fruit and asked the question in my mind.

"I haven't seen your girlfriend before. Why don't you invite her over for a meal this weekend? I just so happen to have a gift for her."

'I've actually been seeing Dad chatting to a girl for the past few days whose profile picture looks exactly like Alex's girlfriend's.'

'Also, I think Dad was at the cardroom to cause a scene because he knew Alex was on a date.'

'I have to help Alex check if Dad actually has any improper motives.'

Alex's face went stiff as he let out a soft curse.

"That shameless old coot!"

I pretended to be frightened. "What's with you?"

'Wait. I didn't say that out loud, right?'

That made Alex believe even more in what I was thinking.

"Nothing. I'll ask her," he coldly stated.

That weekend, Alex's girlfriend came over for dinner.

Not long after she walked in, Dad rushed over to greet her.

"Wendy, you've come a long way. Are you tired?

"You're so beautiful. My son is so lucky to have you as his girlfriend!"

He asked about her family, her health, and everything. It was like he was throwing himself at her.

The longer Alex watched his behavior, the angrier Alex got. He dragged Wendy over to his side so that she was far away from Dad.

"Can't you just speak in a nice and civil manner? Why are you getting so close to her?"

Dad unhappily clicked his tongue.

"She looks like a good kid, so I want to be friendly. What's wrong with that? Who cares if we sit close together? We'll be family anyway!"

He stood up and moved to sit beside Wendy in a self-righteous manner.

Alex could hold his rage in no more and immediately flipped the table on its side before swinging a fist at Dad.

"I'm going to kill you, you shameless old coot!"

"Are you mad? How dare you attack your dad!"

Dad was staring in shock as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

"What about it, you beast?" Alex scoffed and sent another punch flying at Dad.

"You ungrateful brat! You must have a death wish!"

Dad flew into a fit of rage as well and started punching back.

The two men were soon wrestling in the middle of the living room, punching and being punched.

Alex was a lanky and smaller man, so he could not win against Dad.

After the second time he fell to the ground, he grabbed the fruit knife from the floor and aimed it at Dad.

Stabbed

Dad's eyes were red with fury.

"What? Do you want to kill me? Alright! Come at me! Stab me right here!"

Wendy was scared stiff and stood there with a pale look on her face. She did not even dare to de-escalate the fight.

I made the first move, going over to her and pulling her away into a safe corner while I gently comforted her.

"Did we scare you? This is just how our family is. Both Dad and Alex are rather violent. I think the doctor called it Jacob's syndrome or something like that… Still, it doesn't matter. Once you marry into the family, you'll get used to it after a while."

Wendy spun around to stare at me. "W-What did you say?

"They've always been like this? They have Jacob's syndrome?"

"Yes," I nonchalantly nodded.

"Who cares what the syndrome is called? Dad says men like that will sire kids with stronger wills to live. He just clashes a lot with Alex due to their personalities. If they ever get so angry that they hit you… Don't get mad. Just bear with it, and it'll pass."

She was dumbfounded.

"I..."

She stuttered and stammered for a long time before pulling away from me and running out of our home.

"I have something to do. Excuse me."

As I watched her frantically run away, I internally let out a sigh of relief.

I was doing it for her sake.

It was better to be shocked and traumatized by today's events than to suffer forever after being lured into marriage by Alex, that jerk.

I waited until she had gone far away before stopping the fight.

"Dad, stop fighting! You scared Wendy. She said she wanted to break up with Alex after she saw just how violent you two are."

Alex was still holding the knife. As he was still in his rational mind, he did not actually dare to attack Dad with it.

However, he lost all patience and stabbed the knife straight into Dad's stomach after hearing what I just said.

Blood splattered all over his hands before flowing down the hilt of the blade and dripping onto the floor.

Dad glared at Alex in agony and disbelief.

"Y-You..."

"I didn't mean to do it!"

Alex was panicking as well. He hastily let the knife go and stumbled backward.

"It's all your fault! You were being shameless and lusting after my girlfriend! I just wanted to teach you a lesson! It's all your fault!" Alex was shouting so loud that the neighbors were lured over. They instantly called the police.

Dad was sent to the hospital, where they rushed to save his life for the whole night while Alex was remanded.

Two days later, Dad finally woke up.

The police arrived at his hospital room to question him about what happened that day.

Due to his pained state and anger at Alex, Dad did not hesitate at all.

"That darned brat tried to kill me! You..."

I knew he was likely going to tell the police to just arrest and imprison Alex.

I began to focus my thoughts as I deliberately stood in the corner, making myself seem small.

'Looks like Dad is really mad.'

'Still, Alex is the only boy in the household. If he's imprisoned, what will the family do?'

My thoughts successfully calmed Dad down.

"Why did you stop?"

The police were confused by his abrupt silence.

"N-Nothing..."

Dad suppressed his rage and changed his mind.

"What happened that day was just an accident. I got into a fight with my son and tripped, falling onto the knife."

"Is that so?" The police were visibly suspicious.

Dad gave a firm nod. "I was careless. It's not his fault."

Despite the police's doubts, Dad's testimony eventually led to Alex's release from police custody as a free man.

I stopped worrying then.

A few years in jail for attempted murder would be going easy on them.

I wanted to watch them descend into hell with my own eyes.