His Rotten Apple

10 ~ Meeting the Davis'

"Hey! I'm Michael!" One of the men in the suits smiled, reaching his hand out to them.

"H-Hi," Zailey took his hand.

Michael shook her hand vigorously before doing the same with Connor. The other man next to him remained quiet, glaring at Zailey.

"Is this your daughter, Lilia?" The other man asked in a serious tone.

"Yes, she is," Lilia answered.

He let out a breathy laugh as he crooked his lips into a haunting smile, "What a beautiful family."

Zailey glared at him, "And you are?"

"Sassy now, aren't we... I'm Ken Marsh. New owner of this bakery."

"What?!" Zailey looked at her parents in confusion.

"We'll talk about this later, Zai... Let's load the truck first," Ron said.

It took two hours to load their appliances and other possessions into the truck. The sun was setting, the sky was getting darker, and the weather was cooling down.

"What happened?" Zailey asked.

Lilia sighed, "We got kicked out of the apartment."

"It's been 6 months since I lost my job. With all of the expenses for the bakery and the bills and food and everything else, the money we make from the bakery just wasn't enough for all five of us. And we needed a way to make up for all our missing payments on the apartment or else they'd sue us," Ron said, wiping off the sweat on his forehead with his arm.

"So, where are we staying now?" Zailey asked.

"Michael is Ken Marsh's assistant. They said they can help us," Lilia said.

"They're taking the bakery away from us... Is that helping?!" Zailey said.

"There's nothing we can do... We can't afford it anymore," Lilia glanced at her beloved bakery.

Michael walked outside and talked to Ron and Lilia, "There's an empty basement in Mr. Marsh's house, I can talk him into letting you settle in there for now..."

"A basement? No way," Connor scoffed. "Why don't you guys just stay at our house for now?"

"Thank you, Connor, but it's too much of a hassle for you... And your family too," Ron said.

"Not at all... You can keep your things in Mr. Marsh's basement, but you guys can't stay in there... It's cold nowadays, what about beds... Food? It's going to be cramped," Connor said.

"Connor, it's fine," Zailey said, "This isn't the first time this kind of thing happened to us."

"Well then, more the reason to not let it happen a second time," Connor gave her a worried look.

Ron opened the passenger door of the truck, but his arm was suddenly gripped by Michael's large hands.

"I'll take care of this... I'm sorry if the basement is all we can give you," Michael smiled at Ron. "Mr. Marsh is all about his... Privacy."

"Oh no, it's fine, it was very nice of you to ask Mr. Marsh to help us," Ron said.

"The basement isn't in very good shape," Michael said, "It might take a while to fix the place up. But the maids can help you if there's anything you need."

"They have maids but no guest rooms?" Zailey muttered under her breath.

Lilia nudged her, "Zai! Be grateful."

Ron walked up to Connor, "How much to stay for a night?"

"Mr. Tsang, do you really think I would make you guys pay?" Connor said.