The Turning Point

Ryan was busy cleaning the centre table in the living room when Alicia emerged from her bedroom. He was in an apron and could be seen sweating profusely despite the full blast of the air conditioner.

Alicia frowned her face when she saw him in the living room

"Where is my sister?'' She asked angrily

''Oh you mean my wife, she has...''

''Don't you ever ever regard her as your wife'' Alicia cut him short even before he could complete his response

''I'm sorry ma'am, your sister has gone out with her friends." Ryan hung his head low and mumbled.

Now, are you done cooking lunch?" Alicia asked, still angry.

"It will be ready in a few minutes, I will serve it as soon as it's ready," Ryan replied in a shaky voice, wiping a drip of sweat off his forehead with his thumb.

"Better hurry up," Alicia said arrogantly as she climbed the stairs back to her bedroom.

Ryan stared at her back view and wondered when he was going to get out of this mess. He doesn't even know his origin.

.......

Ryan was a contract son in law for the Williams. He didn't know much about himself. He grew up in the house of Williams. All he knew about himself as he was told is that he was from an orphanage after they saw him near the beach when he was a few months old. He had been living all his life in the mansion of the Williams

As a contracted son in law for the family, he was married to Adriana, the last born of the family and the apple of her father's eye.

Nobody knew why Mr Edward Williams, the father of Adriana, did that.

Nobody knew the answer, and Mr Edward had passed on, so Ryan remained in the house.

The mother of the siblings had little or no say in the affairs in the house as she was old and was always in her room.

.....

He snapped out of his thoughts and left the living room to the kitchen to check the food he was cooking.

Just when he was about to enter the kitchen, he heard a car honk. He immediately recognized the car to be that of

Geraldine, Adriana's sister.

He hurriedly took the remote for the gate and headed out.

He pressed the remote on reaching the compound, and the gate opened automatically. The black land cruiser drove in and parked in the garage.

Ryan hurried to go help her with her bag. She signalled him rudely, not to dare.

He went back inside to continue with his chores.

After he was done cooking, he served the food in the dining room and went back to the kitchen to eat his own food.

Although he was legally a member of the family, the William sisters banned him from using the dining room. According to them, he was a cheap orphaned son in law who was not even worthy to step foot in the family garden and less of their dining room.

A few hours later, he was in his room contemplating on his life when Adriana came into his room with a piece of paper in her hand, she threw it to Ryan with the words "Read it and do what it says".

Ryan was surprised, not with the paper or her words but with her attitude.

He stared at the piece of paper in his hands, Adriana always expressed her words to him on note whenever he wanted to talk to him, but she always did it very calmly.

For the reason she just threw this paper at him in a mean way, he could not tell.

He opened the paper and read aloud

"Go and wash the clothes in the laundry, clean the house and prepare, I will be having a visitor in the next three days, make sure the whole place is clean and don't make any mistakes".

"Visitor," he murmured

"Adriana is having a visitor? Who could it be? Why was she so rude to me? I know the Williams sisters don't like me, but Adriana is not like that, or did I do anything wrong?"

As he sat down thinking of what just transpired and the words on the paper, he heard his name being screamed from the living room.

As he neared the living room, he strained his ears to listen to what was going on, but he only heard a group of ladies laughing. He peeped to catch a glimpse, but his name was immediately screamed again from the living room, this time louder than the first.

He quickly descended the stairs and went to the living room.

There were about nine ladies there.

He politely greeted them, but the greeting was ignored.

He quickly screened the ladies, the three Williams sisters and six of their friends, two of whom were more like family friends.

Ryan recognized them immediately but still didn't understand what was going on. As he stood there in thoughts, Alicia barked his name, bringing him back to life.

"Johnson Ryan, what are you staring at, or are you now deaf and dumb?" She thundered, Geraldine giggled, and the rest of them burst into a hilarious laughter, Ryan came to his senses.

"I'm sorry ma'am ", he quickly apologized

"Sorry for yourself " She fired

Now I hope Adriana has told you what to do,she asked.

Ryan nodded in affirmative.

"Now get us wine from the fridge and bring nine glasses for us" Ryan nodded and left the living room to the kitchen.

He heard a comment from one, a giggle from another and laughter in the living room. He ignored the comments and remarks. After all, he heard bad comments and stupid remarks every day from the Williams sisters.

He removed the drink from the fridge, got the wine glasses, placed them on a serving tray and headed to the living room. While he was headed to the living room he heard the voices of the ladies once again.

CHAPTER 2

He stopped to listen to what the ladies were saying. He hoped to get a clue of what was going on and, if possible, know who Adriana was expecting.

"He is such a handsome man. Why will he sign up to be a househelp? " one of the ladies commented.

" come off it girl, he is just a wretched poor orphan who my father adopted, now he is the contract son in law to the family, I don't know what came over my father to take such a decision, anyways he also pass for an obedient househelp as well" Geraldine replied and the group burst into a hilarious laughter again.

...

Ryan had had enough of the mockery, and he came out from the kitchen, Adriana immediately changed the topic upon seeing Ryan enter the living room.

Ryan left the serving tray in the centre table and turned to leave

" Come on, Ryan, at least you have some manners. Why don't you serve us and our guests" Alicia said mockingly.

Ryan turned around with an expressionless face. He poured the wine into the glasses, raised the tray for each of the ladies to take a glass, put the tray down, and immediately left the living room for the kitchen.

He went to the kitchen because he wanted to listen to the conversation the girls were having and to know the visitor Adriana talked about.

... ...

When the ladies noticed that Ryan had left, they continued with their previous conversation about him

"I don't know how and why my father got him to be a contract son in law, and to my dear Adriana. I know we will just have to let him sign off the contract and disappear from the house but I don't know where my father kept the contract papers, he refused to tell anyone of us before he died. I have already spoken to his lawyer, and he said he will be here in three days ``. Alicia explained.

... ..

Ryan smiled " So this visitor is Mr Edwards lawyer, and he will be here to convince me to sign out of the contract " he thought

But he remembered the old man's last words to him.

*********.

" Johnson, my son, please do not move out from this house or sign off the contract marriage until my daughter Adriana is thirty-five years old. Please promise me that''

The dying man pleaded in a weak voice.

" I promise you that sir" Ryan assured him

**********

Ryan came out of his thoughts after a laughter popped up from the group of ladies who were obviously enjoying the conversation

" Adriana is twenty-nine years, if only she was thirty-five, I would have just signed off the contract and moved out of this God forsaken house and left this miserable life behind, but now I can't let Mr Edward down". He thought

... .

" The lawyer will be here to read my late father's will and to let Ryan out of this house". Alicia continued. " You know he said his will should be read two years after his death and tomorrow marks exactly one year, it's weird though but I can't wait to get my share of my father's property, me being the first born means I get the most" she concluded excitedly.

Ryan had heard what he wanted, so he left the kitchen to his bedroom to take his bath.

***********

Ryan was about 5 feet and 6 inches tall, with a natural chocolate colour, blue eyes with a pointed nose, and an oval shaped face.

His curly hair was dark charcoal. His moustache and beard were overgrown and had taken up a major part of his face.

He didn't really get the time to shave, and that has made him look so ugly and fearful

Despite all this, he looked extraordinarily handsome and the dream man of most women.

He was 33 years, a year older than Alicia, the firstborn of the Williams sisters.

Despite his age, he was so humble and calm with a soft voice

Ryan had stayed with the Williams all his life

He was enrolled in school by Mr Edward Williams, and he completed the university as an engineer at the age of 27

He has since then been staying as he was forbidden to work.

Mr Williams told him not to go look for a job as it is part of the contract that he is not supposed to work until he leaves the house.

Therefore, Mr Williams put him on a monthly allowance where he was paid every month. But since the death of Mr Williams, his life had taken a massive turnaround.

He had been literally transformed into a househelp .

He never gave up on himself.

He had a special liking for cars. He was always trying to learn new things about cars. Although he never had the chance to repair a broken car, he believed he could do it with all the knowledge he had .

He wished one day he could leave the miserable life behind and have a good life.

He had tried to find his biological parents, but he had no clue where to start from, and all efforts proved futile.

He had wanted to leave the house, but he was keen on honouring the promise he made to Mr Williams. Therefore, he had planned to remain in the house until Adriana turned thirty-five years.

***********

Ryan emerged from his bathroom with his towel firmly bound on his waist.

He sat on his bed and began to reminisce about what had happened a while ago.

He was thinking about what he was going to do when the lawyers asked him to sign off the contract.

He knew he was not going to get any share of the property from Mr Williams as he was not a member of the family .

But what he was thinking about was the explanation he was going to give the lawyer and the Williams sisters for refusing to sign off from being the contract son in law.

CHAPTER 3

He was thinking about the answers he was going to give the lawyer and the Williams sisters if he refused to sign off the contract marriage.

He sat down in deep thoughts for about ten minutes, and he could not think of any explanation. He heaved a heavy sigh and stood up to get dressed.

As he walked towards the dressing mirror, his phone beeped. He checked the notification, and it was from his online teacher.

... .

Ryan had been taking an online course on how to repair cars and some pretty good skills about cars. Although he could drive, he wanted more than that. He took online classes on theories and practicals on how to repair cars

He had video games he always played on the phone anytime he was less busy.

Now, he believed he could fix a car, although he had not had the chance to do so.

... .

The message read "Hello Ryan, we will be having class by 9pm, the Lamborghini Aventador has been launched, and we will be learning about it. See you"

He smiled. And dropped the phone on his bed

"Something new tonight." He exclaimed.

He hurriedly dressed up and went to complete his chores. He worked happily and very fast in order not to miss his class.

At 9pm he hurriedly switched on his laptop and quickly connected to class via zoom, all went well in the class except that his tutor texted him a private message inquiring about why had not sent his tuition fees for the month.

Ryan was the first to pay his tuition fees whenever the month began.

Thanks to the monthly allowance he was receiving.

But now the Williams sisters had slashed his

salary, he was now receiving only a quarter of what he was supposed to receive.

This has had a huge effect on him as he had begun spending his savings..

He replied to his tutor with the text " I'm sorry ma'am, I will do that very soon"

After he sent the text, he delved into his savings account and sent $10,000 to his tutor

He had only a few months more to finish his course, and he was glad because the constant spending of his savings had taken a toll on him.

He retired very late at night after thinking very hard about his situation and how he was going to deal with it

On his bed, he was deep in thoughts.

"What if I found my parents?What if I sign off the contract?What if I left this house?I could start a new life and do better for myself rather than being ridiculed by these Williams sisters " he thought until he fell into a deep slumber.

Ryan woke up the next morning upon the ring of his alarm. He stood and went to wash his face.

He headed downstairs to the kitchen to start his chores. He had a lot of work to do that day because he had to clean up the whole house as said by Adriana in her letter.

Around 10 am in the morning, he heard the footsteps of someone walking towards the entrance of the house. He peeped from the kitchen and saw that Adriana was on her way out.

She was dressed in a blue short gown and had a blue handbag.

She shouted a goodbye to her sisters upstairs and headed out.

Ryan headed out to open the gate for her, but to his surprise, Adriana did not go out with her car. She simply headed out.

He wondered why Adriana did not go out with her car, afterall all the three Williams sisters had their own cars.

" Maybe her car has a fault " so he thought

But it struck him about five minutes later why she had taken any of her sisters' car out

He shrugged and carried on with his work

" She is old enough to take care of herself"

He said aloud

" Who is old enough to take care of herself‽"

A voice asked from behind him.

He turned around to see Geraldine looking at him with a straight face

" Erm.... I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something " he fumbled, looking away

Geraldine did not reply. She just hissed and walked past him. She went to take a bottle of juice from the fridge and got a glass from the rack and left

Ryan heaved a sigh of relief and continued with his work.

Around 2pm. in the afternoon, the doorbell rang. Ryan got out to see who it was.

On his way out, he noticed that Alicia's car was not parked in the garage. He thought she must have gone out .

He opened the door to see the car of the company that usually delivers groceries for the house.

He went to the attendant for the groceries, but he noticed the groceries were two times more than what they usually order for the week.

Ryan asked the delivery attendant if he had not made a mistake. But the attendant told him the order was in the name of Ms Alicia Williams.

Ryan nodded, signed, and went back inside. He was wondering why Alicia had ordered more groceries than usual

He thought about it, but nothing was coming forth, so he just shrugged and went to put the groceries in the fridge.

While he was going back to his room, a car honked at the door at the gate.

The sound was not familiar, so he couldn't tell who it was. He opened the gate, and an unregistered brand new Lamborghini Aventador drove in and parked at the spot Alicia parks her car.

Ryan was surprised, "How did the person know right where to park, could it be that Alicia had bought a brand new car?, is it the much awaited visitor?, Or is it Mr Edward's lawyer" Ryan asked himself.

Well, whoever the person was, he was going to find out. He went close to the car to speak to whoever was inside.