The Ex and Her Riches novel (Gwendolyn and Maverick)

Zendaya mimicked him and whispered, “Uncle Charles, let’s keep Benny company together. It won’t do if you keep

running away, Uncle Charles. If we should apologize, then let’s apologize. One day, Benny will be touched by your

apologies and forgive you!”

Charles’ face paled, but he patted her head and said, “This isn’t something that can be solved with an apology. Let

me think of another way around this.”

Zendaya pouted and pointed out, “Uncle Charles, are you trying to avoid this?”

Charles fell silent.

He simply could not think of a way to face Benedict at the moment.

Whenever he saw the way Benedict weakly lay on the bed, the feelings of guilt and helplessness would threaten to

drown him.

It crushed him.

“Uncle Charles,” Zendaya cried out, swinging Charles’ arm and pestering him. “Come in with me. Sometimes

Mommy ignores Daddy because of his mistakes too. When that happens, Daddy will just keep pestering her. He’ll do

anything to get back into her good books. I’m sure he wants to stomp his foot and start bawling sometimes as

well.”

Then, Zendaya covered her mouth and giggled. “Uncle Charles, have you heard of a fruit called durian? Why don’t

you get some of them? If Benny doesn’t want to forgive you, then you can just kneel on that fruit’s thorny shell. I’m

sure Benny will be moved by that.”

Charles turned speechless.

No godfather ever went on his knees for his godson.

Even if they were not godfather and godson, he, as someone older than Benedict, would technically never kneel

before a child.

Still, he was more curious as to why Zendaya would think of durians. “Zendy, why would you ask me to get durians

and kneel on them? Did your daddy… do this before?”

Zendaya earnestly shook her head. “I don’t know. Mommy keeps the door shut whenever she scolds Daddy, so I

wouldn’t know. The walls in our house are thick too, so even when I tried to eavesdrop, I couldn’t hear anything.”

At that, Charles’ expression darkened.

Closed door and a scolding…

When those two phrases were placed together in a situation involving a couple, he could not help but think about

certain unpleasant thoughts.

Tucking those thoughts away, he asked, “Then why would you think of durians?”

Zendaya beamed, a crafty little look showing on her face. “That’s because durians taste great! I’m craving a little

for some, and Benny likes it too. If you’re going to kneel on its shell, then we can eat the flesh of the fruit. We won’t

waste a single bit of it!”

After a bout of giggling, she gave Charles another suggestion, “If you don’t like durians, we can make do with

pineapples. Pineapples are yummy too!”

The corners of Charles’ lips twitched. “Zendy, you’re… so kind to me.”

While the two were chatting, they woke Benedict.

In an icy voice, Benedict asked, “Who’s outside?”

Zendaya froze with widened eyes. Then, she smacked her hand over her mouth and muttered, “Oh no! Was I too

loud? Did Benny hear me?”

Charles thought, So what if he heard us? It’s not as if we were planning something nefarious.

Ruffling Zendaya’s hair, he sighed and said, “Zendy, go in and keep your brother company. I’ll go and get some

durians and pineapples.”

“Yay!” Zendaya cheered.

After entering the ward, Zendaya merrily launched herself toward Benedict.

“Are you hungry, Benny? We’ll be having fruits in the afternoon—durians and pineapples!”

Benedict’s expression remained neutral as he glanced at her. He then pushed away her approaching head with a

finger.

“Charles sent you here, right? I don’t need you to keep me company. Mommy’s coming back after her half-an-hour

meeting. A quarter of an hour has already gone by, so she’s coming back soon. Go back to Charles.”

Zendaya pouted and whined, “No, I don’t want to! I want to eat durians and pineapples with you! By the way, Uncle

Charles is here to apologize to you. He’s going to be kneeling on durian shells later!”

Zendaya had blurted out to Benedict a plan that Charles had not even agreed to.

Benedict stiffened. “He’s… going to kneel before me? Did he say so himself?”

“Uh-huh,” Zendaya affirmed.

Benedict was doubtful, but he could not help wondering if it was true. Still, it did not dismiss the hatred he had for

Charles.

“Daddy said that karma will get to me and cut my lifespan shorter if someone older kneels before me. Is he trying

to admit his mistake, or is he trying to hurt me even more?”

“I…” Zendaya’s smile froze. She never thought that there was something like that.

After a quiet hum, she said, “To be honest, Uncle Charles has only said that he’s going to buy durians and

pineapples. He never said anything about kneeling, but that doesn’t matter. You’re sick because of Uncle Charles,

and you’re hurting once in a while because of him too. Why don’t you punish him severely today in revenge? Make

him suffer a little!”

Benedict’s lips twitched. “You’re truly one of a kind, Zendaya. Are you a double agent?”

Zendaya tilted her head and flashed him a sweet smile.

“I’m not. I just want you both to be happy. If I have to eat a few more pieces of durian flesh… I mean… If I have to

pay the price to get you both to make up with each other, then so be it.”

Benedict huffed in disdain. “Then you have to mentally prepare yourself for it. I’m going to make him hurt badly as

his punishment.”

Yes, I’m going to punish him until he bleeds! I’m definitely doing this because I want to take revenge on that bad

man Charles and not because I want to eat durians and pineapples.

Dozens of minutes later, Charles came back with a huge durian and a large pineapple.

He had no idea what was going to happen to him soon—that Zendaya had betrayed him.

The sly siblings were planning to give him a great “surprise.”

Charles halted outside of Benedict’s ward and mentally steeled himself before pushing open the door.

In the ward, Benedict had already changed his IV bag. The professor was not going to be coming back for a while.

Zendaya was sitting beside her brother again, massaging his arm. “Benny, are you feeling better? Your left hand is

a little swollen from the IV therapy. Does it still hurt?”

Benedict shook his head before landing his gaze on Charles, who was by the doorway.

Charles smiled and walked over to them, putting the bag of fruits on the table.

In a soft voice, he asked, “Benny, do you want the pineapple first, or the durian first? I’ll prepare them for you.”

Benedict was quiet, but Zendaya said, “Uncle Charles, I was pleading with Benny for a long time earlier, and Benny

said that he’ll forgive you!”

A tinge of emotion finally appeared in Charles’ eyes. “Is that true?”

“Yes,” Benedict uttered, raising his head a little. The pride on his face seemed to not fit a boy his age. “But I have

three requests. If you fulfill them, I’ll forgive you.”

Charles let out a sigh of relief. Without hesitation, he replied, “Sure. I’ll agree to anything besides flying into space

and getting a star for you. As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll do it.”

“Okay. My first request is for you to cut open this durian.”

Charles smiled and quickly grabbed the knife. “Sure. That’s simple.”

When Benedict heard his response, he added, “What I meant was, without any tools—just with your bare hands.”