Chapter 49

CHAPTER 49 Benjamin walked out of the church with a slightly less burdened heart than before. As he drove to the Rye’s Pizzas, he noticed Devon entering a casino. “Why’s he going in there?” Benjamin wondered but didn’t bother too much as he was already tight on time.

His first order today was into a bad neighborhood where even the police would think twice before entering. There was little to no traffic in the neighborhood. He reached the destination, an old house that wasn’t being properly cared for. There was a dog tied to a tree in the garden, and it looked malnourished. The rope around its neck had left a deep scar in the flesh, which had begun to rot.

Seeing Benjamin, the dog began barking with the little strength it got. Benjamin ignored the dog and reached the front door. The was no door bell, so he knocked on the door three times. The door opened and Blackbear was standing on the other side of the doorframe, wearing a pleasant smile on his face.

“Sir, your delivery,” Benjamin gave the three pizza parcels. Blackbear gave him a hundred dollar bill and told him to keep the change. Benjamin thanked him in return, but then said, “ Sir, your dog... it’s going to die soon if you leave it like that.” “So?”

Blackbear raised one of his brows and also a corner of his mouth. “You want me to give it a pizza or what?”

Benjamin didn’t know what to say, but then he took out some money and gave it to Blackbear. This amount equaled the tip Benjamin had given him, so Blackbear understood Benjamin’s intentions straight away.

“I’m going to give you one star,” Blackbear said in a rigid tone. “Thank you,” Benjamin said “Hmph,” Blackbear shut the door in his face.

Benjamin turned around, and on his way out, he untied the rope binding the dog’s neck, but it stayed there and didn’t run into the street. Pitying it, he took out a pizza from his next order and left it there. The dog greedily gorged on it. Benjamin also left a bowl of water nearby before heading for his next order. Because he brought one less parcel than the ordered number, he was again given one star. When he returned to the Rye’s Pizzas, Christopher was already sharing the news with other employees. A seven-

star deliverer receiving just a single one-star rating isn’t a small matter, but receiving two one-star ratings in succession went viral among the other deliverers of the company. “What did you do to receive such a poor rating?” Christopher mockingly asked Benjamin. “Did you arrive with messed up parcels or something?”

Benjamin, however, didn’t answer.

“You can escape from me, but you can’t escape from the chairman,” Christopher said. “He’s going to call you before the day ends. Be prepared to give excuses, keke. Despite Christopher’s negative remarks, Benjamin was calm and proceeded to do his job. He successfully delivered the orders till evening and received a total of eight seven stars consecutively.

At the end of his shift, he received a call from Samael. “Hello, this is Samael. You remember me, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir. Please speak,” Benjamin replied politely. “Yeah. I called you because, you know, you received two low ratings, and I wanted to know the reason.”

Without hiding the truth, Benjamin explained what had happened. “You did the right thing is what I want to say,” Samael said, “but don’t repeat this again, Mr. Benjamin. You should put your job before everything else. Even if you see a person suffering from a heart attack, you should prioritize delivering the pizzas in time. That’s what being a seven-star deliverer means, understand?”

Benjamin couldn’t say yes.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Samael asked.

“What if the person suffering from a heart attack is someone from your family?” asked Benjamin.

Samael went silent for a little while. “I see where you’re going, but let’s be practical. If you want to put food on the table, you have to sacrifice some part of your humanity. That’s just the way the world works. If you aren’t selfish, you can’t survive. I bought Rye’s Pizzas because it was successful but not because I liked the pizzas. Do you get what I’m saying, Mr. Benjamin?”

“Yes, sir. I do, but... “No buts. If you want to do charity work, this ain’t the job for you, so think about it.” Saying that, Samael ended the call.

Benjamin sighed. “This guy sounds more selfish than my in-laws. I get that I messed up with one order by failing to deliver the exact number, but I didn’t do anything wrong with the other one. Instead of speaking with the customer regarding the issue, these guys want to discipline me with their hypocritical logic. Is every job like this, or only this delivery job?”

“He’s the one!” a loud voice reached Benjamin’s ears. He turned to his right, and a group of four bulky black men were coming in his direction. One of them was the guy he had knocked out at the club that morning.

“You let this little punk do a number on you?” The other men mocked the guy who lost as they stopped before Benjamin. “Hey, dude, you messed with the wrong guy, you know that?”

Benjamin was still in his pizza-delivery uniform. “I apologize for what happened. It was nothing personal.”

“But we took it personal, bitch.”

“Listen, guys. I can offer you free pizzas if you want. Think of it as my way of reconciling with you.”

One of the guys licked his lips, tempted by the offer, but he changed his mind after receiving a death glare from the one who got kneed in the face that morning. “You think we’ll fall for your pizza tricks?” the guy in the front swung his fist fast. Benjamin swiftly lowered his center of mass and punched his liver. His eyes bulged, and saliva spilled out from his mouth. He collapsed forward like a pig suffering from severe constipation. The jaws of the other three men dropped low. “You might want to take him to a doctor, fellas,” Benjamin said, skipping their heartbeats. As he stepped past the man suffering on the ground, the other three moved to the side and didn’t dare to attack him anymore.