Chapter 1

Blending families is never easy. Oscar (46) was struggling a lot with making his stepsons, Victor (18) and Ludwig (18) get along with his son, Ben (18) . Apart from being the same age, they had nothing in common, the twins were super into sports, had toned bodies and went out partying constantly, whereas Ben really enjoyed staying inside, playing videogames and snacking, which was never a problem to Oscar, since his son was safe in the comfort of his house.

At least his marriage was fine, they were close but it all felt like a really strong friendship, as if they were feeling more empathy for each other’s grief, since both are widows. Oscar and Gwen (44) met at work, she was the new programmer of his team, so they developed a stable relationship from the beginning. They made sure to take things really slowly, so it wouldn’t be a shock for their children. After a few years of dating, she accidentally got pregnant and the couple finally wed, moved in together and had their son Ronnel a few months ago… And since then, Gwen has really been showing her real personality.

It’s not like she isn’t a good person, but she is absolutely fixated in health and exercising, so much so, Oscar discovered his stepsons interests in sports were more forced by their mother than their real wants. That was okay by him, after all, she knew how to raise her children, and the twins were graduating high school and heading to college in 6 months, so it’s not like it was worth the change… That was, until she started bickering with his son about his habits during dinner:

“Are you sure you want another serving dear? It seems all you do is eat” Gwen’s words were clearly intended to hurt the boy so he would start to change his habits.

”Well, I’m very hungry, we had gym class today… Besides, I’m a growing boy!“ Said Ben with all of his innocence, not catching his stepmother’s hint.

“You definitely are a growing boy. Tell me, fatty… How much exercise have you done this week, apart from gym class? None! You stay all day playing video games! It seems nothing matters to you!!” Gwen started to raise her voice while everyone stared uncomfortably.

“Enough” Screamed Oscar “He is my son and his health only concerns me! I don’t wanna hear you shaming my son again”

“Fine!” Screamed Gwen “We will talk again when he is 400 lbs and desperate to lose weight!”

Both stormed out of the dinner room, Oscar directly to the guest bedroom. Things were not as blissfully happy like they were during their honeymoon and they started to get sour from there. The baby took a toll on their relationship, they were kind of old to take care of him and have a marital life, so all they did was work, take care of an infant and sleep. Although, Gwen always managed to get some time to rudely tell her stepson how desperately he need to get in shape.

Obviously, this didn’t go really well, rather than doing it in a healthy way, Ben just stopped eating in general, he would only get some fruit for dinner. Also, Victor told Oscar he saw Ben vomiting in the bathroom after dinner. As son as Oscar heard this, he knew he needed to stop his wife, but he didn’t know what to do, he constantly asked her to stop, with no success. He realized what he truly needed was revenge… And unfortunately, Victor was in his stepfather’s office along with his twin to discuss something…

Everything was clear to Oscar, he would start to fatten up his twin stepsons to stop his wife… That made complete sense in his mind for some reason, even though it would mean the end of their professional sports career even before it started. He just had one problem, how was he going to do that if his wife was constantly there to stop him from stuffing their faces with fast food… Then, suddenly, a miracle happened during his one of his work conferences with his boss:

“So, Oscar, you know things have been going well for the company, and that is mainly thanks to you” Kevan, the CEO, stated.

“Well, I don’t necessarily think it was entirely my doing, but I’m grateful for the compliment!”

“Hehehe! I’m sure you did a bunch of work to get my fathers business back on track. I’m happy to announce we are opening a new branch in Portland, Oregon!” Kevan sounded extremely excited for some reason” And we need a new manager there, do you have any candidate in your team who can handle the manager position?”

Everything fit into place, Oscar knew exactly who to recommend… His revenge would start sooner than expected.

“I definitely do sir, her name is Gwen McConaughey, she is the best programmer I have ever met!”

“Isn’t she your wife tho? And didn’t you two just had a baby boy? Roger I think”

“Ronnel, and yes sir, but before being a mother and a wife, she is a terrific profession and will do this job seemly. I promise you she will be amazing.”

“Well, I trust your word, Gwen is the new manager if she agrees! I’m getting ready to take my daughter do ballet class and don’t feel like calling her to announce it, take care of it, please. We need her in Portland next week”

“Will do! Goodbye sir, hope you have a wonderful day”

“You two Oscar.”

His devilish grin was hopefully not caught on camera, he called his mother in law and some other people to make some arrangements and was ready to start his plan. At dinner, he simply started to congratulate Gwen for her wonderful career:

“Babe, you are such an incredible programmer. The best one I had in my team since I started working as a manager. I’m so proud of being your husband.”

“Oh thank you dear, that means so much to mean coming from my boss!” Everyone started laughing with this little joke

“With that being said, today Kevan Parker had a conference with me… And he asked me to recommend someone for a managing position in Portland, Oregon.”

“That seems awesome dear, did you recommend Stephanie so I can get her position and get a huge raise?” Asked Gwen super excited

“I think it’s even better than this babe. I recommend you!”

“Hum? Are you serious? Did you forget we have a 3 month infant? How I am going to live in Portland alone with him?” She seemed very upset.

“Don’t worry my beautiful genius! I already made every arrangement for this to be possible. I called your mother, she agreed to live with you to take care of Ronnel during the day and cook, also, I hired a cleaning company called The Soappers to clean your new, huge, penthouse.”

“I… don’t even know what to say, that is so amazing but I don’t think I can….”

“C’mon mom! Look at this opportunity, it will be so amazing for you! Plus I bet with the new raise we can put Ben in a private school, Ronnel too when he is old enough!” Victor interrupted his mom to help Oscar convince her, little did he know that would cost his waistline.

“Well, if everyone is on board I guess I should take it, when do I have to leave?”

“On Friday! Already packed up Ronnel’s clothes and toys! You are gonna be a terrific manager! I love you so much”.

“I love you so much Oscar.”

The couple kissed happily and Gwen went to her room to pack her things, while Oscar started washing the dishes. He was gonna completely destroy his stepsons body, but, he wasn’t feeling guilty or bad, just extremely excited, and for some reason, he got a huge boner.