“Ouch!”

Bennin bolted upright as he got disconnected from the game.

“Fuck whoever created the teleport function to cause pain.” He grumbled, standing and brushing himself off before glancing around his room. Everything was in its place - his posters, desk trinkets, wallet - so no one had come in and rifled through his stuff.

“Excellent. Abby!” He yelled, moving to his room door and unlocking it, throwing it open. As if he’d spoken her into existence, the older woman materialized in the hallway.

“You called, young master?”

“Just call me Bennin, Abby. This is what… the millionth time I’ve told you that?”

“I can’t, young master.”

Bennin glared. He wanted to curse her out, but knew it wouldn’t be fair. She was just doing her job. It wasn’t her fault that the man who had hired her, his father, was a man with a power complex. 

“Breakfast is ready, young master. Will you be joining the other young masters and the master for breakfast?”

There it was. The question that inevitably decided the direction of Bennin’s entire day. If he went downstairs to have breakfast with his father and brothers, he’d be dragged into discussions about politics, models, and hell knows what else. But if he took breakfast in his room, or skipped, he’d get a raging lecture about how he could be out ‘upholding the family name’ or ‘climbing the ladder’, as if the money Bennin brought in monthly wasn’t nearly enough to serve as ‘upholding the family name’.

“Screw this.” He muttered, and nodded to Abby. Yarn was trying to change, to make improvements in her life, and if she could, so could he. “I’ll be down shortly.”

The assistant’s face lit up and she scurried away after nodding gratefully to him. He felt pity for her. She wasn’t treated well at the hands of his family, so having Bennin agree to something meant one less time for her to get yelled at.

“This is pathetic…”

“What is?”

“Fuck!” Bennin screamed, and whirled. “Benji! Damn it!”

The twelve-year-old snickered. 

“You’re such a scardey cat, brother!”

Benji Kilomen. The youngest in Bennin’s family, the Kilomen’s, which was comprised of Bennin, Benji, two other brothers, and their father. 

“Knock it off,” Bennin growled and tousled the boy’s hair. Benji squirmed and glared, but Bennin didn’t care. Benji was the only reason Bennin even stayed in the house. He was too young to be left on his own, and if Bennin left the impressionable boy to his own devices among his moldy family, he’d be corrupted, and Bennin didn’t want that. Anything to spare the youngest from the future he knew was coming, although he knew it could already be too late.

“Benji, have you seen the twins this morning?”

“Bryson and Bjorn? No. I DID see Melanie, though.”

“Oh dear… come here, Benji. Quick.”

He grabbed his little brother’s arm, pulling him into his bedroom, and slammed the door closed before clapping his hand over Benji’s mouth. He was just in time as he heard footsteps in the hall and a sickeningly sweet voice.

“Bennin? Benji? Where are you, my dears?”

Bennin held his breath, hoping she’d leave. But he was never that lucky.

“Bennin, honey? Have you seen your brother?”

“Even if I had, I wouldn’t tell you, you witch!” Bennin spat. “Back the fuck off!”

“Now, now, that’s no way to treat your mother.”

“You aren’t our mother, and even if you marry into the family, good luck staying in the wife spot. No one has lasted more than two years - you know that, right? Died, divorced, jailed, runaway… the list goes on. So back the fuck up! I don’t like you and I don’t want anything to do with you!”

Melanie wasn’t the first ‘girlfriend’ his father had had, not by a long shot. Bennin and his brothers all had different mothers as a result. There were times when his father even had multiple partners, and it made the house unbearable. 

It was more bearable for Bennin. The twenty-two-year-old was able to get out of the house more easily than his siblings due to his job. But for the twins and twelve-year-old Benji, the air was stifling, and they had to tiptoe in their own house.

“Bennin?” Benji whispered, pulling on his brother’s shirt. “She’s gone.”

Bennin nodded, ruffling Benji’s hair, and Benji frowned.

“Can I come with you to work today?”

Bennin’s heart ached. 

“I wish you could, buddy. But my boss will be angry.”

Benji made a face.

“I wish you didn’t work as an actor…”

“I know,” Bennin whispered, and crouched so he could see his little brother’s eyes. They might be half-siblings, but Bennin was very attached to Benji. “I’m sorry, Benji. But I’ll bring back some snacks, okay? So don’t worry. And here… in the meantime, you can use my console. How about it?”

The boy’s face lit up, and Bennin breathed a silent sigh of relief. One problem handled. His new problem? Going to work.

I’m so tired…

He moved to his desk, picking up his calendar, and cursed when he saw what his shoot was for the day. He was appearing in an episode of a reality TV show, and worse, it seemed he was appearing as a guest appearance to add spice to what seemed to be a romantic show.

“The title is ooo, hey boy?” He muttered. “Shit. So they’re gonna dress me up and let them wolf-whistle at me, aren’t they?”

“Bennin, what’s wolf-whistling?” Benji asked, from where he was now sitting on Bennin’s bed, and Bennin forced a smile.

“It’s what idiots do when they find someone attractive. It’s stupid and rude, so don’t ever do it.”

“So why are you gonna let them be rude to you?”

“I have no choice,” Bennin replied, with another forced smile, and then flexed. “But don’t worry. Your big brother is strong; he can handle it.”

Benji, however, didn’t seem convinced.

“Promise?”

“I promise. Come on, I’ll help you get the console set up.”