Mockery and Punishments

 The old lady called her grandson to bring the porcelain, which he reluctantly brought to her. 

Taking up her glasses which hung on her neck, she peered closely at the porcelain, seeing that Greg had been correct the whole time.

She wondered how the man must have known how to differentiate between real and fake and this got her furious.

What got her even more furious was the fact that her grandson, who was her favorite, had been publicly disgraced by Greg.

How could the peasant do this to Damien, she thought. There was no way she was going to admit to such truth if her grandson's dignity was on the line.

Taking off her glasses, she looked at the expectant crowd.

"It is real and Greg is a liar," she blurted out, getting an uproar in the sitting room.

Greg had to move away from the crowd to avoid getting injured for the unruly mob were about to give him the worst beating of his life.

"Don't hit him," the old woman said to her feet. She had something else up her sleeve. 

"I'd prefer he cleans the hallroom where the party would take place as punishment for his lies. So, you all can drink as much as you want and make it as messy as you wish for you all know who would be cleaning it."

"Ma'am," Greg cried out, getting to his knees as he begged the woman to reduce the sentence. 

"Give me anything else. Cleaning the massive hall is too much of a punishment for me. Even ten men would not be able to finish it in four hours let alone me. Please have mercy."

He had been out of the house for days and had not had a night's sleep. It was telling on his body. There had to be something he could do to appease the woman.

"Grandma," Petra joined the man in begging the old woman who raised her brows in surprise. She had clearly not expected her grandchild to do that. "Please have mercy."

"My decision is final child," the old woman snapped. "He told a lie and he should be punished accordingly."

"Don't you think cleaning the hallroom all by himself for telling a meager thing as a lie is a bit too much? Besides, we have cleaners for that."

"Are you undermining my authority?"

The audience stared at Petra waiting for her response with patience as she shook her head.

"No ma'am."

Damien, who had been at a corner watching the couple beg his grandmother, stepped forward with a wide grin on his face. He had clearly won this fight.

Not only had he not been caught, but instead the person who had tried to disgrace him had instead been disgraced. It was an amazing feeling for him and he reveled in it.

"Grandmother," the man cleared his throat pointing to Greg who was still on his knees. 

"What is it, my favorite?" 

"Greg got you a gift."

This piqued the woman's interest, "Where is it?"

The question was directed to Greg who hid his present deeper into his clothes. With the way everyone looked at him, they would laugh at his gift and he was not ready for that.

"I will keep it with the other gifts," he muttered.

"Let me see it at once!" the old woman ordered as he brought out the gift from his pocket.

Taking the little box in her hand, she opened it to give off a loud laugh.

"What is this?!" her face turned into a sneer as she tossed the box and its content aside, slapping Greg with all her might. 

"Grandmother!" Petra gasped in horror.

"Your gift is an insult to who I am as a person," she pointed to the batch of gifts in the corner. "Do you see all of those? That is what they call presents, not this rubbish you've brought to me. What do you expect me to do with this?"

The crowd started to laugh in response, pointing to the man who was still on his knees.

He was mortified beyond words. His gift had been tossed aside because of his current situation. If he had the backing of influence and power he would not be disgraced like that.

There was no need to beg anymore, he was done with that. Standing to his feet, he headed for the cleaner's quarters, ready to get cleaning equipments and supplies for the hall.

***

"Grandmother," Petra called after the old woman who led the whole party to the birthday hall.

Damien who was left alone in the sitting room saw this as an opportunity to taunt Greg. Dropping his present amongst the other gifts, he started for the cleaning quarters.

Seeing Greg drag out the cleaning trolley from the store room got him laughing in a mocking way.

"That backfired quickly," Damien sighed. "You should have stayed in your lane, houseboy."

"What do you want Damien?" Greg was already tired at this point. He wanted to be left alone. "Haven't you done enough already?"

"Oh no, I know I have but it's just not enough."

"I don't have time for this," Greg said, ready to go past Damien who blocked his way.

"You don't get to have the last laugh and think it is over. I will break you Greg. I don't care if you are married to my sister, I will make sure that your stay in this house is a nightmare."

Greg was not fazed by the threats. 

He had taken in worse. Outsiders seeing the threats being given by Damien at face value would think he was terrifying, however if they had followed Damien's threats from day one, they would see that his threats were not threats at all.

"I'll see you at the party," the man went on, dusting his suit before plodding towards the party hall.

Greg gripped harder onto the handle of the trolley as he breathed in deeply to avoid himself from doing anything rash.