David stood in front of his parents who were sitting in intimidating positions on the couch while Shībài zhě stood by the stairs so that he can keep an eye on everything.

“I heard you didn’t go to work today.” David’s father said after a while. “Explain.”

“I got distracted,” David answered.

At this, his mother stood up and slapped him so hard that a loud slap sound was heard throughout the entire house.

“How dare you talk back to your father like that.” She screamed at him. “Is this how we raised you? You should only respond with Yes sir and sorry sir!”

No one made any move to stop her as she kept on hitting David. Shībài zhě was the only one who stepped forward to help him but then David screamed, “STOP!”

Everyone froze, and even his mother stopped hitting him.

“What did you say?” His father said as he stood up.

“I said stop,” David answered with utmost anger in his eyes.

“How dare you scream at your mother like that.” He said with disgust.

“Mother? She is not my mother.” David said, with his voice and temper rising with each word. “You left my real mother and only came back to her when I was born. Even then, you took me from her hands and raised me in this hell.”

“Watch your tone, boy.”

“NO! I WON’T! YOU TOOK AWAY HER JOB, HER HOME, AND ALL BECAUSE YOU WERE AFRAID THAT SHE WOULD DESTROY YOUR NAME AND YOUR BUSINESS.”

His father then tried to hit him as well but David blocked it. As soon as he did that, he raised his fist and was ready to hit him back, but he failed as his father’s punch was much faster. So much so that only Shībài zhě could see it. It hit David square in the face, and he was blown back.

“You will go to your room, and we will talk about this in the morning.” He said.

“No,” David answered as he got up. “I won’t spend another second under the same roof as you.”

With that, he went running out the front door. This time, the twins tried to stop him, but he brushed them off and kept on running down the road toward the bus stop. Shībài zhě naturally followed David. When David reached the bus stop, he asked, “Now what?”

“Now,” David answered, “We’re both homeless.”