1 Leftovers for Marcel

“Here are the leftovers for you, hurry up and finish them!”

Marcel glanced at the plates filled with scattered rice, chicken bones with a little meat still attached, and vegetable soup with only the soup left.

“Eat on the floor, as usual.”

Marcel lowered his head and looked at his wife, Shirley.

“You have the nerve to tell me to finish your brothers’ leftovers?” Marcel asked in a protesting tone, as he frowned reluctantly at the plates.

“So what?” replied Shirley with one eyebrow raised. “It was the same yesterday, wasn’t it? Just eat, instead of you dying-that would be more trouble than your mum and dad running off without responsibility.”

Marcel clenched his fists. He wanted so badly to resist, but he couldn’t. Because of his parents’ failed research, Marcel was trapped in a marriage bond with Shirley and had to make up for all the losses suffered by the Delvino family by devoting his entire life.

“I don’t want to eat your brothers’ leftovers,” Marcel said flatly, preferring that he starve to death rather than die of poisoning from eating those leftovers again.

“This is still good, and it’s new food!” Shirley scolded as she slammed one of the plates on the table, making an ear-splitting thud.

It also scratched Marcel’s pride as a husband.

“New leftovers you mean?” asked Marcel to clarify. “I’m still not going to eat.”

Shirley glared with her eyes fixed on Marcel.

“Since when can you argue with me?” she retorted. “You’re here to make up for the damage your parents have caused! If it wasn’t for them, my mum and dad wouldn’t have lost so much money on your stupid research!”

Marcel could only remain silent because he had been made to make amends by his parents. He was forbidden to go against the will of the Delvino family, including their children, whose behavior lacked manners.

“You have to eat because I don’t want you to get sick,” Shirley said again. “If you get sick, let alone die, then we will suffer even greater losses.”

Before Marcel could respond, several men entered the kitchen with quick steps.

“What’s this?”

“Why is the dining table still messy?”

Shirley turned to her four older brothers.

“Oh, that idiot hasn’t eaten yet....”

“Wait a minute, Bro!” interrupted Shirley as one of her older brothers, Ronnie, was about to throw Marcel a fat ladle of soup. “I’m trying to persuade him!”

Marcel stood frozen as Ronnie and his other siblings advanced towards the spot where he was with Shirley.

“Eat this!” Ronnie commanded firmly and unapologetically.

“I don’t want to,” Marcel shook his head softly.

“How dare you refuse?” asked Ronnie with a baleful grin. “We don’t want you to get sick, so hurry up and eat and work!”

Marcel stood still.

“You’re already poor, left behind by your parents, and you’re still so arrogant and ignorant!” snapped Shirley’s other brother, Ciko. “Remember that you have to pay for all the damage your mum and dad caused!”

Marcel felt his ears heating up, but he had no power to resist his brother-in-law’s arbitrary behavior.

“Already, just hold him!” ordered Ronnie as he turned to his younger siblings.

“Ronnie, don’t gang up!” prevented Shirley with a tense face.

“What are you doing defending your husband? Are you starting to fall in love with him?” mocked Ciko, who had come forward first to shackle Marcel.

“What do you want?” asked Marcel as Shirley’s four older brothers approached him.

“I told you earlier, you eat!” snapped Shirley. It wasn’t that she was worried about her husband’s condition if he got ganged up on, but rather that they would all be at risk if Marcel got hurt.

“You guys are too much...!” Marcel hadn’t finished speaking, but Ronnie had already slapped him hard on the head. “Ciko, get the rest of the rice on that plate! The others hold him!” Ronnie ordered.

The atmosphere in the Delvino family’s kitchen immediately turned boisterous, especially when Marcel struggled and was successfully suppressed by his brother-in-law’s grip.

Ronnie, who was the eldest child, immediately thrust a spoonful of rice near Marcel’s tightly clenched lips.

“Eat!” Ronnie snapped in an intimidating tone of command.

“I don’t want to, I’m not hungry!” refused Marcel.

“There are a lot of leftovers, you shouldn’t waste your fortune!” scoffed Ciko as he grabbed Marvel’s jaw and forced him to open his mouth.

“Ron, stop that!” prevented Shirley repeatedly. “I can still force him in my own way as usual! If he’s hungry, he’ll eat whether he wants to or not!”

“Damn, contain you!” Ronnie clucked at his youngest sister. “Give him a seat.”

Ciko and the other two immediately dragged Marcel and forcefully sat him on one of the chairs.

Ronnie immediately slammed the plate so that some of the rice splashed onto the surface of the table. This time without using a spoon, he intended to force Marvel to eat all the leftovers from the family meal.

“Eat!” Ronnie brazenly scooped up a fistful of rice with her hand and crammed it into Marcel’s open mouth.

“Swallow it!” ordered Ciko as he gripped Marcel’s jaw tighter.

“Ciko, already, he’ll choke to death!” squeaked Shirley, who couldn’t bear to see her husband being pranked by her siblings in such a way.

“Stay out of it!” snapped Ronnie. “He needs to be fed, so he has energy to work!”

“But... Mum and Dad won’t agree to what you’re doing!” exclaimed Shirley angrily.

Marcel struggled to catch his breath as his chest cavity began to feel tight.

Even if he had to die, he would rather die now than pay off the debts left behind by his parents in this way.

After making sure Marcel was helpless, Ronnie thrust the chicken bones that still had a bit of meat attached and scooped them into his brother-in-law’s mouth.

“Ron, that’s it!” exclaimed Shirley as she stomped her feet, while Ronnie and the others laughed as Marcel struggled to swallow all the leftovers.

In the midst of the chaos, Shirley could only stand resigned because she was unable to stop her brothers’ madness.

Satisfied with Marcel’s torture, Ronnie immediately asked his other siblings to leave the kitchen.

“Next time, tell your husband not to act up again,” Ronnie said with a satisfied face.

“Ask him to know himself a bit, eating and sleeping is still a lot of fun!” Ciko said.

Shirley pressed her lips together but said nothing as one by one her siblings left the kitchen.

“What did I tell you?” scolded Shirley as Marcel crawled on all fours while stifling the urge to vomit. “That’s why when you’re told to eat, you’re so stubborn when you’re told!”

Without any compassion or respect for her husband, Shirley splashed the remaining tea water on Marcel’s back. Then she left the kitchen, which was in a state of disarray.

Marcel felt his stomach churning, the plates scattered on the table bearing witness as he vomited in the open bin.

To Be Continued—