Everything around Benjamin was as if it was disappearing as he entered a daze caused by the immense pain in his arm. As he grasped it and spasmed up, the feeling of his fingernails boring into his skin was actually something that relieved his pain. But he had to ignore it for now as he stood back up and looked at Michael who already managed to regain his consciousness after being hit by Benjamin.
"You... have to leave..." Benjamin muttered out and kneeled in front of Michael on the ground, staring deep into his eyes while the whole party stood behind the old man. And after all that Michael had said, it was indeed as if an entire army was now going against this one person, with not one person on Michael's side.
With extreme anger, Benjamin ground his teeth and released his voice in a tone that he himself didn't recognize, since he hadn't been this angry in a long, long time. "Now." The old man said before Michael seemed to push himself up from the ground in a hurry, making his way over to the street backward as he stared at Benjamin.
"Y-You're the devil...!" He yelled out before quickly turning around and sprinting to his car, while Melody was standing behind her father, holding her hand in front of her face as she began to cry, holding her daughter as she did as she defied her husband for the first time in a long while.
As the blood from Benjamin's arm that appeared because he was grasping it too tightly ran down his arm and dropped onto the well-kept lawn below him, the old man turned around and looked at his guests with a bright smile, showing his pearly white teeth. "Thank you for coming, everyone. Sorry for this inconvenience, please continue to have fun for the rest of the day." He told them before the majority of the guests went back to the tent and continued as they were before, while those that were close to Benjamin stayed with him.
"Christ, Benjamin... I didn't expect you to go that far. How about we go inside? I studied to become a doctor for a year or so, and I know a few tricks on how to relieve pain." Samuel said with a smile as he looked over toward the old man, as Benjamin nodded and followed him inside, walking past the whole party where some of them already began talking about this and that in regards to what just happened.
Back inside, Benjamin's three children and six grandchildren sat next to him in worry while Samuel took a look at his arm. "I disinfected the areas you scraped open, don't use your arm for the rest of the day. You strained it too much, so if you continue using it, it'll just increase the pain far too much." He explained and wrapped the old man's arm in a wet towel that was put into the freezer for a little while just to cool it down.
"And now to you. Sophia, right? You scraped your knee and have a few scratches on your arm, so let me take a look at that." Samuel said before the girl slowly nodded as her mother stood behind her. As Benjamin turned to his one and only daughter,
"Melody, I think we need to talk about this. Do you think like him?" He asked straightforwardly before Melody immediately shook her head. "No, Dad, I don't... I don't, I just... I don't know why I always did what he wanted me to, but now, I won't anymore... I love Sophia how she is, and I can't stand the idea of that man being near her anymore after what just happened." She replied instantly, while still being somewhat reluctant despite her words.
That did make sense, however. Even though an addict knows that the drugs they take are harmful to them, they continue to take them anyway. And Melody was addicted to Michael, so she couldn't possibly change her mind like that in a split second.
"Good. Stay here as long as you need to figure out what to do." Benjamin said before leaning back in his chair, while Melody began to explain everything that happened today to those that didn't know in a way that let her keep it together the easiest.
"Wait, so you kissed Kim in front of him?" Benji asked, taking that out of this conversation in the end, although he also seemed visibly angry at how Michael treated his sister, cousin, and grandfather. Melody deliberately left out the part where Michael called her brother Tony a criminal because she knew that he didn't want his children to know about it, and so the conversation continued after Benji's question.
"Hm..? Oh, right… I did do that…" Sophia muttered out, only now realizing what she actually did back then while overtaken by the temper she inherited from her grandfather, while her face turned a bright shade of red. "In front of everyone… I kissed her… Why the hell did I do that..?" She asked herself while burying her face in her hands in embarrassment.
"Well, maybe you should try to stay calm next time." Benjamin chuckled before everyone looked at him in surprise and expressions that tell him he was the last one that should say it.
"Dad, you knocked Michael out with a slap that nearly ruined your arm. Maybe 'you' should stay calm next time." Tony pointed out before the old man sighed loudly and nodded with a wry smile, not having any choice but to admit that he overdid it.
"Sorry I will be. I just couldn't hold myself back anymore. And otherwise, Michael would have hit Sophia, and I didn't want to let that happen." He explained, and Christie, a policewoman, spoke up.
"I'd say that was for defensive purposes anyway because Michael showed aggressive tendencies and was observed by many people to have prepared to strike Sophia. So you shouldn't have anything to worry about in that sense either." She explained, and Benjamin slowly nodded.
"Thanks, Christie. That's good to know. Well, how about we go back outside? Better not leave the guests hanging." Benjamin suggested, and the rest of the group slowly stood up to make their way out toward the terrace, but Samuel seemed to have something he wanted to talk about,
"Benjamin, stay here for a second." As he said this, Benjamin looked at Samuel in surprise, telling the others to go outside and he would join them later. "Sorry, you had to see all that, Samuel. That's not usually what happens at the parties I throw." The old man apologized before Samuel immediately shook his head.
"Don't worry; I don't mind. But I meant to talk to you about something. We have five reserved spots for the Alpha phase that starts next Monday, but only you, Haruo and Andrew gave us a recommendation. Jasmin said she doesn't know anyone that she would want to give the spot to, and the only person that Nataly wanted to suggest was already in our list of people that were part of the Alpha-Phase. So, we still have some open spots and asked if anyone else wanted to give them out. Haruo and Andrew declined another recommendation, so I wanted to ask you as well if you know anyone else that you would like to play." Samuel explained before Benjamin thought about it for a little while, surprised, before concluding.
"I'd like Sophia to play, yes. I'll need to talk to her and my daughter about it first, though." Benjamin explained, thinking that this may be an excellent way for Sophia to lose some of the stress that she built up for a while before Samuel swiftly nodded. "Of course, it is. Tell me once you do. Ah, you're still coming by for that tour tomorrow, right?"
"Of course! Thanks for that again, by the way." Benjamin said with a smile as the two of them also made their way back into the garden, before the young businessman simply smiled. "Oh, no need to thank me. Ever since we use the capsule technology for time dilation at work, I've got a bunch of free time anyway." Samuel explained as he patted Benjamin on the back, as the old man looked over toward his family that was quietly sitting away from everyone else.
Instead of sitting down with them, Benjamin made his way over to the small lake, or large pond, while the large majority of the guests looked at Benjamin with the eyes that a curious crowd usually had and sat down on a chair on the pier instead. Since nobody else was there, watching the summer sun touch its reflection in the water.
"Hey there, you old fart." A quiet voice muttered behind Benjamin, and it was nobody else other than the one person that may be able to cheer him up. One of his best friends, Alexander.
With a smirk, Benjamin looked back at him. "Old Fart? Did you go senile and forget that you're older than me already?" He chuckled while still holding the cold towel against his arm, then seeing that Alexander had two glasses and the bottle of whiskey that Benjamin wanted to drink with him in his hand before Alexander swiftly ignored his friend's comment and continued. "I went ahead and grabbed this from the kitchen; I hope you don't mind. It seemed like you could use a drink."
Slowly, Benjamin simply nodded and gladly received the glass from his friend, who soon sat down next to him. "Thank you. Here, let me…" Benjamin wanted to say, seeing Alexander's shaky hands as he was trying to pour both of them a drink. "Don't you dare. You've had a tough day, so let me at least pour you some, hm?" Alexander suggested, swatting away Benjamin's hand with the bottle.
Quietly, Benjamin then watched as his friend poured him some of the Whiskey, before pouring some into his glass all the while his hands were intensely shaking. "Thanks." He replied with a smile as he took a light sip from the drink, continuing to stare into the still surface of the water.
For around ten to fifteen minutes, the two of them simply did that, silently sitting there, every once in a while sipping on their glasses. Only after a good bit did Alexander then speak up.
"Just as I thought. Tastes pretty shitty, doesn't it?" He muttered before Benjamin looked over at him with a wry smile. "What are you talking about? This whiskey tastes amazing, and it should be your thing as well."
"Hm? Oh, right. The drink itself is great, yes, but when someone next to me is making such a face, how can it taste good to me? So start smiling like always, will ya? You're ruining our possibly last drink together." Alexander responded before Benjamin couldn't help, but for some reason, start laughing frantically. He had no idea why, but he was. Maybe it was because he was so stressed, or because he somehow found what Alexander just said incredibly funny. Or perhaps it was because he had finally gone mad.
Only after a good while did Benjamin manage to calm himself down, wiping the tears out of the corners of his eyes, unsure whether they were caused by him laughing so much, or because he simply began sobbing.
Either way, he was feeling a lot better now. "You're right, let's not waste our time." He smiled, continuing to look forward solely at the water, and the two of them were quiet for a few moments again, before Benjamin began to speak. And he didn't stop for a while either, he simply kept talking and talking, mainly about what had been happening in the game, the situation with Kirisho standing in the center of the story since it caused him the most stress out of everything that happened lately.