Secret Meetings

Layla wasn’t surprised by his outburst, she had known something like that would happen, but she was expecting he would have been enraged because she answered his call. In Her head, she was going to make him regret his decision to order everyone to not loan her money. He was supposed to beg for her forgiveness, then she would take her bag and leave, leaving him to regret his actions and hate himself.

In the end, she took her bag and stormed out of the house, just as she had planned, but he was the one that asked to leave. 

As she left the house, she began to rethink what had just happened and slowly dropped her pace as it dawned on her that she might have made a mistake.

She quickly called Luke and narrated what happened to him, asking him for his opinion.

“He was right though,” Luke said hesitantly. “Your family had been taking loans from everyone to maintain their lifestyles, your sister, your brother, even your aunts. If they had continued, you would have been in much more debt than we are in right now,” Luke explained from a more neutral point of view. “Sure, he could have handled it differently instead of being all self righteous about it, but… you could have handled it better too.

“My reaction was wrong wasn’t it?” Layla bit her nails in regret.

“Not wrong.” Luke tried to make her not feel dumb. “More like impulsive. I mean for one, the information came from Denise, she is trying to cause a fight, get you two separated, so the information wouldn’t be accurate.”

“But she wasn’t lying, he didn’t deny it.”

“She wasn’t lying, true, but was she telling the complete truth?” Luke asked rhetorically. “She told you the truth from a your perspective, but from what you said Ryan said, he was acting not to stop YOU from getting loans, it was to stop the family from taking more unnecessary loans cause in the end it is you that would suffer the consequences, you would be the one to pay off their debts.”

“I guess you are right,” Layla massaged her forehead.

“You really shouldn’t have poured the juice on him. You should have just left angrily after he got all self-righteous. If he is smart, he would have come to apologize eventually,” Luke said,

“So now I need to apologize?” she asked.

“Yes, but not now. Let things settle a bit, choose your moment.”

Layla sighed. “You are a really good friend Luke,” she sighed. 

“I know right,” Luke said, sounding smug. “I just might be your chief bride’s maid if Vivian doesn’t come out of hiding for your wedding,” he joked to lighten the mood.

“Thanks Luke, I owe you,” Layla smiled.

“I will collect,” he chuckled. “Get home safe,” he said and ended the call.

Layla sighed and was about to hail down a cab when a call came in.

“Hello?” she answered, not knowing who it was, it was an unsaved number.

“Layla, can you come to the Grandeur Gardens Club tomorrow night? I heard about your grandfather and I would like to help,” the caller said with much familiarity.

“Um… o-okay,” she stuttered. The voice sounded familiar, but she was having trouble placing it.

“Eight pm, please don’t be late, I’ll text you the private room number to meet me when I get there,” the man said and ended the call.

Layla sighed, still unable to place the voice. But with Ryan mad at her, she was going to need all the financial assistance she could get just in case he asked Fesser Bank to collect her debts before allowing her grandfather to continue getting treated.

~.~.~

Layla arrived at the Grandeur Gardens Club. It was a place for the upper class to come relax and have fun away from the rest of the public. They had almost everything, pools, lounges, golf, tennis, virtually every exotic sport one could think of, and they also had a club for those who wanted to party.

She was not a stranger here, she knew her way around and had friends who worked here. She used to be a member of the club, but her membership had just expired a month ago. 

She got to the entrance at about fifteen minutes to eight. She knew she didn’t have a valid membership card, so she came early in case things didn’t go as smoothly as she was hoping.

At the entrance to the clubhouse, the security guard asked to see her card.

“Ma’am, your card is expired,” the guard said and returned her card. 

“What?” she feigned a shocked expression and checked it. The club renewed membership after every six months, and every new renewal had a new color. At a glance, one would know that a card was expired since the color would be different.

“Oh my God, it has been six months already?” she groaned. “Good Lord, I didn’t know. But hey, can I just go in? I just need to see someone. I will be out of your hair in no time and I will renew my membership by tomorrow, I promise,” she said.

“I’m bald ma’am, I don’t have hair for you to get out of,” the security guard frowned.

“No… I meant that as a figure of speech,” Layla apologized.

“I know what you meant, but I love my job, I am sorry,” he remained firm on his word.

“Hey, what’s going on up there?” a man came from behind the line.

“I am sorry for the hold up sir. Her membership card has expired. I was just asking her to leave,” the guard explained.

Layla was about to leave when the man cocked his head like he noticed her. “Hey, I know you… aren’t you my friend’s girl? I didn’t know you were back from Canada,” he said and pulled her in for a hug. “Hey buddy, this is my man Lenny’s girl. She’s been in Canada for a while. I am surprised she still has her card. Let her in. She probably came to surprise Lenny.”

The guard looked at the man for a while, then at Layla. He sighed and let them through. “If I lose my job, it’s one you man,” he muttered as they passed.

As she got in, Layla looked at the man. “I am not Lenny’s girlfriend.”

“Oh, I know,” he laughed. “Enjoy you stay lady,” he said and walked away, vanishing into the crowd.

Layla shook her head and found her way to the bar, waiting for the man to text her.

Ryan was sitting in the distance, looking all moody. Denise had invited him to meet up at the club after confirming that he had a fight with Layla. As he looked around, he noticed Layla at the bar and the whole fight came flooding back to his memory, and he remembered one little detail he had forgotten, who had caused the fight.

“Ryan,” Denise caressed his arm. “What are you looking at?”

“You caused it didn’t you?” Ryan turned to her with a frown.

“What?” She was taken aback by his sudden change of mood.

“I will only warn you once, stop meddling with Layla and I,” he said and got up, leaving Denise to her confusion.

He found another spot and sat, a bottle of wine in his hand. 

“What is she doing here? Who is she waiting for?” he asked himself, trying to figure out if he was going to have to punch someone today.