chiaroscurist

The initial salvo of The Banquet Hall (Mansion) Vol. 1is like watching a feel-good and a horror film at the same time with its comedic twists and turns. 

Our protagonist, Isabella, had a new baby after eighteen years of marriage with Aaron, a business tycoon, and was rumored seen with a man at the Lee’s mansion. The gossip mill rolled until Josh, Isabella’s son, Jan, and Fr. Robert took interest to find out whether the rumor was true. They were surprised with what they discovered in the end. How it came about is a revelation in the next volume of this book.

The Banquet Hall (Mansion) Vol. 1

Aaron wondered why he seemed not to have enough strength to reach the peak of sensation and satisfaction. Isabella was looking at him in the shadows. "Why?" she softly whispered. "I don't know," he, too, whispered. Maybe his job had been physically draining him, or maybe all his job worries were turning into negative stress. The bubble dot com crash brought many big corporations and conglomerates to their knees. The economic crunch was followed by a plague pandemic. People were dying. Companies were shutting down—from food, leisure products, to property. Zion Group suffered from the blows. He had to shut down a number of his own companies as government declared a deep recession.


He felt awful; he stopped, lay down supine, his right arm on his forehead. Again, she whispered, "It's okay."


Aaron had to break the big bad news. "I'm afraid we will have to move to a smaller house."


"Zion is going bankrupt. Many groups are going bankrupt."


So, when Baby Michael was supposed to be welcome news, Aaron had been wondering all along how he came into this world when nothing actually happened between him and Isabella that night. He was Aaron's added cause of anxiety—and suspicion.


28 That night