Greg leisurely walked away from blocking Laura. He felt so disgusted concerning what was going on. He wished he could yell at her and push her into Mr. Ban's arms, but he was not interested in communicating with her at all. He hated her.
''I said, get into the car,'' Mr. Ban yelled.
Laura trembled and hurried into the car, waiting for Mr. Ban to finish with Leo and dole out whatever punishment he had for her for disobeying him. But Mr. Ban would not be Mr. Ban if he did not gloat in front of Greg.
''You still miss your little miss pretty thing?'' He asked Greg with mockery obvious in his voice.
Greg didn't respond, nor did he show off any facial expression other than the one Mr. Ban met him there, with.
''I thought I made it clear boy, you should not be anywhere close to her. She's mine now, as you can see,'' Mr. Ban continued to say to Greg with a wicked grin.
Greg's thought was that Mr. Ban really owned Laura now, in all senses of the word, owned. Look at the way he commanded her to get into the car as if she was a slave. Greg couldn't even compare Laura to a kid because kids would demand respect one way or the other. Mr. Ban ordered her as if she was his dog.
''I can see you have a new house, right? You have rented one of those shabby buildings to hide your miserable self in. Well, I assure you that I would equally give you issues there if I as little as see you around her again,'' Mr. Ban told Greg with a hostile voice. He inched very close to Greg as he spoke, and Greg could perceive the tobacco and alcohol from his breath.
Greg held his breath, preventing himself from breathing the same dense air as a pig, like Mr. Ban.
Mr. Ban glared at Greg for a while and seeing that Greg was not going to respond, no matter what he said to him, briskly turned around to leave.
Laura pasted her face on the window, looking at Greg from inside the car, though he could not see her because the windows were tinted. She wished that something in Greg would move him to want to make trouble with Mr. Ban, and part of that trouble would be to make sure that Laura didn't go back with Mr. Ban. After all, she was obviously being beaten daily.
As soon as Mr. Ban entered the car and saw Laura staring at Greg through the window, he pulled her hair from behind and brought her to him.
''Ah,'' Laura yelped. She was not expecting Mr. Ban to do that at all, as she was engrossed with wishing that Greg would save her.
''Come here, tramp,'' Mr. Ban muttered as he held Laura's hair back and made her look into his eyes. He was tugging at her hair so much that he could see her getting injured. Her face turned red instantly.
''Too late, whore. You can't have him anymore. You are stuck with me. I thought you wanted riches and fame, well, don't you have access to all the money you want now?'' Mr. Ban said to Laura in a mocking tone, and let out a shrill laughter that drove Laura's pulse high.
Greg left them there and continued to walk to the grocery store as if nothing had happened.
''That would be 12.50$, sir,'' the sales man told Greg when he finished shopping and brought his grocery to the counter.
''Damn,'' Greg muttered. He only had 10$ on him. How embarrassing.
''Hold on, I'll just pick up a few more things first,'' Greg lied, and turned around in a bid to escape from the store quickly, when he bumped into Lucy.
Lucy was an old classmate of his.
He recognised Lucy's angular and pretty face first.
''Lucy Malon?'' Greg asked and kept a fine distance from her while he stared at her obnoxiously. He couldn't be so sure that she could still remember him.
Lucy darted her eyes towards Greg and squinted.
''You look crazy familiar,'' she said as she pointed at Greg distinctively.
''Greg. Pedro's friend,'' Greg replied, smiling at Lucy sheepishly.
''My goodness,'' Lucy yelped when she remembered Greg clearly.
''Oh my days, come here,'' she said and inched towards Greg for a hug. They exchanged a cozy hug and then broke free from each other soon enough.
The salesman kept on eyeing Greg as he hugged a beautiful lady like Lucy. Such a poverty stricken man should have nothing to do with such a pretty lady. With years of experience, the salesman knew that Greg did not have enough money to pay for his grocery, and was making a run in the guise of going to take more grocery.
''You were going to pay for your grocery, right?'' Lucy asked, looking at Greg awkwardly. She was right behind him when he made the move to go back and collect more grocery.
''Err...'' Greg hummed.
Lucy raised an eyebrow. She heard the salesman say the bill was 12.50$, so how come Greg could not afford such a small amount. Besides, he was looking a bit off.
''You know what? Just add it to my bill,'' Lucy told the salesman, ignoring Greg and handed her credit card to the salesman.
Greg bit his lip in frustration, and the salesman gave him a nasty look as well, that made Greg want to enter the ground.
As soon as Lucy paid for the grocery, Greg carried all of them out, including Lucy's own.
''I would have to take that from you now, thanks,'' Lucy said when they got to a fancy Porsche Cayenne. Greg watched with dread, wondering whether Lucy was going to have access to the fancy, luxurious car that was in front of them, and before he knew what was happening, Lucy opened the door and tossed her grocery into the car.
Greg was shocked beyond words as he stared at Lucy's car, wondering if she hit a jackpot recently.
''Lucy,'' Greg muttered, although, she didn't hear him.Lucy arranged the grocery in the backseat of her car and then stood up to see that Greg was staring at her in disbelief.''Is everything okay?'' She asked him.''Are you seriously asking me that? Lucy. Who's car is this?'' Greg asked.''Oh,'' Lucy said in realization and laughed. ''Of course, it's mine. Whose would it be? It's with me, right?'' She replied.''Of course? I don't know. It could belong to a boyfriend or husband of yours for all I could care to think of,'' Greg replied.Lucy rolled her eyes.''I don't have a boyfriend, and I definitely do not have a husband,'' she replied, flashing her ring finger at Greg to indicate that it was bare.''Okay. A girlfriend then? Maybe?'' Greg asked mischievously.''What? No, Greg,'' Lucy replied and laughed heartily.There was a brief silence between them as Greg looked at her, expecting her to give him details on how she was able to afford this sort of luxury for herself. ''I have a
Lucy stopped in front of Greg's house and looked at him. Her eyes showed off how much pity she felt for Greg, she could only imagine what he was going through at this time. Recuperating from spending time in jail was not easy. ''Thanks, Lucy. I have to go and sort out these groceries now. I just moved in here today,'' Greg said as he tried to step out of the car. Lucy pulled him back ''Why are you acting as if everything is alright with you? Don't you need help?'' She asked him. ''Help? What sort of help?'' Greg asked her back. He maintained his pride as a man. Ordinarily, if not for what happened to him, Lucy would not have been so much more successful than him. It would only be by a small margin if she were more successful than him. So he tried to make sure that he maintained his dignity. ''Greg. You just left jail. You definitely have been cut off from society for three years. Where do you intend to start picking your life back up from?'' Lucy asked. ''I just got a job, rig
'Dude, what have you been doing with your life? Lucy is rich as fuck. She drives a Porsche,'' Greg said to Pedro with excitement. Pedro sat up from bed abruptly. ''A what?'' He asked Greg. ''A Porsche, bro. She just left my house from dropping my poverty-stricken ass off after grocery shopping,'' Greg replied with humor. Ayra sat up as well, wondering what made Pedro suddenly so excited. ''Is everything okay?'' She whispered to Pedro, but at the moment, Pedro could not think of anything else, other than the fact that he had just confirmed how much of a wuss he had been for the past ten years. He drove a Volkswagen, an old model for that matter, and he was hearing that a girl that used to be his classmate back in college had started to swim in luxury. ''What club are you people going to?'' He asked as he nodded at Ayra to tell her that there was no serious issue and that he was just having a conversation. ''How the fuck would I know? She said she was coming by later to pi
Lucy laughed. ''I don't know where my uncle got these bouncers. They are so wild. You won't believe it that the first time I came to this club after it was opened, they sent me out,'' Lucy said as she stood up, urging Greg to follow her to the entrance to save his friend. Greg looked at her with shock in his expression.''How? Where you not rich yet as at then?'' He asked. Lucy giggled. ''I was. But they were in their element, and I didn't come with one of their usual mafia gangsta bosses, so they were upset, I guess. Most of the females here are usually whores so seeing me on my own upset them,'' Lucy explained.Greg shook his head. ''You don't even know your job. How can you ask just anybody you see to leave? I can pay for everything here,'' Pedro exclaimed at the bouncers and threw a wad of low denomination cash at them. Before Pedro showed up at that club, he withdrew more than half of his entire savings from a nearby ATM, just in case he was met with this sort of embarrassm
Greg's ears twitched, and he glanced at Brian nervously.He didn't know that news of him being in jail had spread that far. Brian was an ex-classmate, but he was a distant acquaintance, so how did he find out about Greg being in jail? "Brian, you shouldn't talk like that. How insensitive," Lucy queried Brian and shook her head aggressively."Lucy, what are you doing with an ex-convict? I bet your uncle won't be happy to see you with this kind of guy. I mean, he looks so off. Have you seen every other person in here? Nobody looks as haggard as him," Brian ranted, while the rest of the crew that was with him, contributed to laughing at Greg. "Okay great then, why don't you go somewhere else where you have your likes there? Hmm? Go over there, look, there are several people as wealthy as you in the room. Leave Greg alone," Lucy said. Meanwhile, Greg was nervously hoping that Brian won't trigger him into making a wild scene in the club. He already felt very uncomfortable being there, h
Brian sneered at Greg after the gangstas left. "Lucy, I maintain my stand that you should do better than this hoodlum. Look at how that worthless gangsta disgraced you just because you are hanging out with this..." Brian whispered aggressively to Lucy."You have made your point Brian, I think you should leave now. I have heard you. Besides, he is no longer in jail, and he was arrested for something unfair. So get lost before you attract another gang this way," Lucy replied to Brian impatiently. Brian glanced at Greg one last time and turned to leave. "Where's Pedro?" Lucy asked when the entire coast became clear."Right here, Lucy Ban," Pedro replied from right behind Lucy. Lucy and Greg turned around hastily to look in the direction from where Pedro's voice sounded. "Pedro, I thought you left, where did you show up from?" Greg asked with surprise. Pedro shook his head gently. "I bet you didn't think that I will hang around all that violence that was brewing? I went away so tha
Greg gave Pedro a salty look and entered the car.''You think I am like you that considers every female that comes close to me as an item for sex and relationships? She's just my friend and has promised to help me, so? That's where it's likely going to remain. Helping me and being friends with me. Just friends,'' Greg said to Pedro.''Pfft. Typical boring Greg. Why can't you ever read the signs? That lady is already stuck on you, but you can be my guest and act as if you don't care,'' Pedro said as he pulled the car out of the driveway of the club. Meanwhile, at the Vanity place for grown kids, Mr. Ban hurried to his club when he heard what had happened.''I heard there was a tussle in my club? How many times have I told you never to let street hooligans enter my place of business and cause trouble?'' Mr. Ban showed up at the club after Lucy and Greg had left and asked. He received the news of the fight that almost broke out between Greg and the gangsta from Don Black's gang, so he
In the morning the following day, Greg woke up with a splitting headache. The blazing sun split through the window and cast a shadow across Greg's face as he yawned to welcome the new day. For some reason, he woke up feeling not so energetic. ''Fuck,'' he muttered and started to look for his handy bag. There, he had all sorts of tea for different reasons in that bag, and he was about to drink some tea for the sake of the headache he had. It was not until he started to look for his handy bag, that he realized that he had not actually unpacked his luggage. Eventually, he found the tea and quickly made himself a fix and in the next twenty minutes, his head was clear. It didn't take long before his phone rang. It was Lucy. "Sleep well?" She asked as soon as Greg picked up the call. "Hi. Good morning, Lucy. Did you sleep well?" Greg asked her back. Lucy smiled. "I did. I'm calling to give you a heads-up that I am about to tell my uncle about you. So, you should get ready