Let The Old Bastard Die

Running out of a taxi cab under a heavy rainstorm, Layla Reynolds ran straight for the door of her boyfriend’s family villa. Her wet, long, curly black hair clung to her face, as she stood waiting for someone to get the door. She squeezed out the water from her drenched gown so she wouldn’t get the villa too messy.

Soon, someone opened the door and her green eyes lit up with joy as she saw her boyfriend, Harrison. 

“Hey babe, sorry I didn’t call before coming,” Lilian said and tried to get in, but Harison didn’t move to let her in, forcing her to take a step back. She looked at him with shock in her eyes. “Haris? Is something wrong?” she asked, confused.

Harison looked at her and sighed. “I… I can’t let you in, my dad is in a meeting with someone in the living room, and they can’t see… this,” he said, looking at her from head to toe.

“What?” Layla looked at herself, confused. “What is wrong with what I am wearing? Is it because I am wet?” she asked.

With a sigh of hesitation, Harrison responded with a simple “hmm” and shrugged subtly. 

Layla was stunned by his response. She didn’t need words to know that there was more to the story than he was willing to admit.

“Haris… what is actually going on?” Layla pressed, trying to get to the bottom of it. “Am I the problem here? You don’t want your dad to see me?” she asked, but Harison remained silent.

“Harison… what is going on out there?” someone called out from the villa.

Layla cocked her head to the side as she heard the voice. She recognized it as a woman’s voice, but in all the time she had been in Harison’s family villa, she had never heard that high pitched voice before.

“Who was that?” Layla asked with suspicious eyes. She was trying not to make any assumptions since he said his father was in a meeting, but it was hard not to assume he had another woman in the house.

“Layla… you really should just go home,” Harison replied, ignoring her question.

Layla frowned and pushed past him angrily. Something smelled fishy and she had to know for herself. 

Harison shut the door and walked after her as she headed straight for the living room. “Layla! Get back here!” he commanded, trying to keep his voice down, but she paid him no attention.

She got to the living room and as she expected, Harison’s father wasn’t there having any meeting. There was no one there except a woman in a fitted, blue spaghetti dress. Layla scrutinized the lady, looking at her from head to toe, and the woman was unintimidated as she returned the inspection.

Both women turned to Harison, “Who is she?” they both asked at the same time.

Harison sighed and massaged his temples already feeling stressed. He walked to the couch where the lady was sitting and looked at Layla. 

“Layla, meet Evelina, my girlfriend. Evelina, meet Layla,” he introduced the two to each other.

“What?” Layla was stunned.

Evelina just looked at Layla with a frown. “So, this is the Layla that you told me about?”

“Yes,” Harison nodded. “She is the ex I told you about.”

“Ex?” Layla exclaimed, shocked. “I didn’t know we had broken up,” she said with a shaky voice, feeling betrayed.

“Come on, Layla, you should have seen this coming,” Harison said and sat next to Evelina. “There was no way I was going to keep seeing you.”

“But…. Why?” she asked, trying hard to suppress her tears.

“Are you really asking me that?” Harison scoffed. “Layla, the relationship became stale, it became boring. I was always doing the calling, always the one taking you out. You never took me out shopping as a surprise. Hell, you never threw me any birthday surprises. It was always me doing and doing and it was fun for a while, made me feel in charge, made my place as a man in our relationship well defined, but then what is the point? It became a chore, a boring loop, nothing new or exciting happened,” he said with a frown. “You became very predictable, always wanted the same things, ALWAYS!” he yelled the last word out of frustration.

“I can’t even say I am sorry at this point Layla; you had this coming,” he shook his head. “I asked you to go with me to Paris and you rejected the offer Layla… it was Paris for God’s sakes, the city of love!”

“But that was not a good time,” Layla couldn’t help her tears. “My family had just gone bankrupt, they needed me here with them.”

“And what did your staying here with them change? It changed absolutely nothing!” Harison yelled, infuriated.

“Calm down babe, don’t stress yourself over her,” Evelina said, gently rubbing his chest to calm him down. 

Harison sighed to calm himself then looked at Layla. “I’m sorry, but I am not sorry. You brought this upon yourself.”

Layla looked around, distraught. She didn’t know what to do, what to say, she was lost.

“Just leave,” Evelina turned to Layla. “He wants nothing to do with you, you aren’t welcome here.”

Harison looked at Layla for a while before sitting up. “Why did you come here in the first place? What did you want?”

Layla looked at him as tears rolled down her eyes, unsure of how to start. “I… I am sorry that I have to ask this of you, and I understand that we are no longer in a relationship, but my grandfather was admitted earlier today, and I need your assistance.”

“Don’t you always need something?” Harison scoffed. “What do you want?”

Layla stood still for a while before speaking up. “I would like to ask you for a loan. A loan of two hundred thousand.”

“Two hundred thousand dollars?” Harison laughed. “And how do you intend to pay back?” 

“I… I will find a way out,” Layla replied. “If it wasn’t urgent, I wouldn’t have asked. Please Haris,” she begged.

Harison scoffed at her pleas. “Your family is bankrupt Layla, you guys are knee deep in debt, everyone knows that. You won’t be able to pay me back, not in time at least,” he said with a cold tone. “Let me give you some advice. Your grandfather is an old man, he has lived a good life. Dying at 75 isn’t a bad deal,” Harison said without considering her feelings. “Just let the bastard die instead of racking up more debts for yourself and your family.”

Layla was shocked by Harison’s response. She couldn’t believe he would say something so cruel to her.

“It is good advice,” Harison got up. “You can take it or leave it, but just leave, you have dripped more than enough of your broke life stench in my house,” he said, taking Evelina by the hand and left for his room.

Layla looked around the house, lost in her thoughts, unsure of what to do. She slowly walked out of the house, walking under the pouring rain, lost in her thoughts. She didn’t notice that someone had been watching the whole conversation and had even followed her out the door. He was standing on the porch, watching her walk shakily under the rain.