The phone call completely ruined her good mood. After getting out of the bath tub, Lila lay on the bed, uncertain of what to do next. She couldn’t live like this forever. The White family had indeed given her lots of money, but no matter how much money she had, she’d use them all up someday. It was clear to her that with her current lifestyle, she’d burn through all her money up sooner or later.
“I have to find a job.” She got up from the bed, determined to go through with her decision. Truthfully, she didn’t like to work, but she couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.
Without the White family’s support, she had neither background nor resources. She thought about her situation carefully. She was already in her twenties, but she didn’t have any savings to support herself and she didn’t even have something she could call her strength.
Even when she was in the White Group before, she seldom did any real job. All she did was chat with the other employees or play video games inside her office. Because she was the daughter of the White family, nobody was bold enough to speak ill of her. But now, she had lost her identity as the White family’s daughter. Nobody would even want her for an interview. Aside from that, the Whites bought her diploma for her because she didn’t study one day back when she was in college. The more she thought about her situation, the more it annoyed her. Thereafter, she rolled on the bed and sighed.
“Forget it! I still have some money left. I’ll just enjoy myself for a little while longer before I think of how to make some more money,” she muttered to herself.
*******
After the phone call, Jeff stood up from the sofa and asked, “What did she say? Is she coming home?”
“She said that the money was hers and told us to leave her alone,” Eva replied impatiently.
“She’s staying at an expensive hotel. Doesn’t she have any idea how we’re doing here?” Jeff scratched his sunken cheek and grunted, “Since she doesn’t want to come home, I’ll move there. Mom, call her and ask her to get me a room, too.” Hesitantly, Eva replied, “She’s not easy to get along with. She doesn’t even listen to me, for God’s sake! Just drop it. As long as she can take care of herself.”
Jeff pursed his lips, sat back down on the sofa, and rubbed his chin while contemplating. His sister must be very rich. He had heard that the White family was very rich.
Even though Lila didn’t tell them how much money she had, he believed that the Whites had given her tons of money before kicking her out. In addition to that, he had been following Lila around these past few days. She was staying at a five-star hotel, eating at high-end restaurants, and shopping like crazy in luxury brand stores.
Jeff felt envious. What a selfish bitch! She had so much money, and yet she didn’t want to give them a single penny. He rolled his eyes and shouted at Eva while the latter was cooking in the kitchen, “Mom, I’m going out to eat with my friend. Don’t wait up.”
Eva didn’t stop him. She had only this one son and she had always spoiled him.
*******
By the time Jeff got home, it was already midnight. Upon hearing the noise coming from the front door, Evan got up and turned on the light to get a good look at him.
“Why didn’t you even call to let us know that you’d be coming home this late?” she complained.
The smells of cigarettes and alcohol were apparent on Jeff, and his eyes were bloodshot. He didn’t act as arrogantly as before, and panic could be seen on his face. He grabbed his hair and desperately stammered, “M-mom, what should I do?”
The look on his face frightened Eva. She embraced him and asked, “What happened, honey?”
Jeff looked up at her and spoke in a choked voice.
“I… I owe a huge debt of one million, and I have to pay it right away. The creditors said that if I can’t pay them back in three days, they’ll kill me!”
Eva was so shocked that she felt as if a bolt of lightning had flown out of the heavens and hit her squarely in the chest. One million? They couldn‘t afford so much money!
“You bastard! Did you gamble at the casino again?” Glenn had also heard these words. He came out of the room with a pipe in his hand. His face turned scarlet with fury. He landed two hard blows to Jeff‘s head and said, “You‘ bastard! How could I raise such a failure like you?”
Eva rushed to Jeff to protect him. “Why hit him so hard? We only have one son!” Glenn clenched the pipe in his hand and said,
“Well, now that he has landed himself in such serious debt, what are we going to do?”
Eva wiped her tears away and complained, “You like drinking and gambling yourself. You are no better than him!”
“The point is that we don‘t have so much money now. You two might as well take my life to pay them!” Glenn was exasperated and his face darkened. One million was indeed a huge sum of money for them. Holding Eva desperately, Jeff said, “Mom, we can go to Lila! She definitely has the money!”
*******
Lila was busy playing games quite late that night, when she received a call from the hotel receptionist informing her that her parents and her brother were making a scene in the hotel lobby.
Initially, Lila didn‘t even want to give them any thought or consideration, but in the end, she decided to go downstairs. She didn‘t want to be embarrassed by them.
As soon as Eva saw Lila, she fell to her knees before her with Jeff.
“Lila, your brother gambled away a huge sum of money and now he owes the creditor one million. Can you give us some money to pay them? We will pay you back when your father‘s shop starts to make a profit!” Eva pleaded, cutting to the chase.
Lila‘s first reaction was to turn around and run away from this mortifying situation. It was so humiliating. She wanted to dig a hole to bury herself in it. She had no desire to give them even one penny. The money she received from the White family was for her to live her life. Lila had never cared about this so–call brother of hers after all. His life or death had nothing to do with her.
“Lila, please! Jeff is your brother!” Glenn sighed and almost knelt down to beg her as well. Fortunately, it was very late at night and there were very few guests in the reception area.
Lila glanced around and found that all the hotel staff were staring at her expectantly. waiting to see what she would say. Lila was so frustrated that she had no choice but to agree.
“I will only help you this one time. And you have to pay me my money back!”
The White family had given her a total amount of three million dollars. After these days she had spent at the hotel, she had roughly two million dollars left. If she gave Jeff one million to pay the debts, she would still have one million for herself.
After weighing the pros and cons, Lila wrote a check and handed it to Jeff. She hoped the money could drive them away forever and she could be free of them. Now that he had the money in his hand, Jeff stopped crying immediately and even burst into laughter. At last, he left happily with his parents.
*******
Lila had thought it was over. But a few days later, Jeff came to her again with Eva.
“Interest has accrued, the debt collector said we need to pay him more money than just the principal sum of one million.”
Jeff knelt down in front of Lila pitifully. He didn‘t seem to find begging on his knees humiliating or degrading in the least bit. In fact, he didn‘t owe any debts at all. He had taken one million and spent it on sleeping with hookers and on purchasing himself a few luxury items.
In a matter of just a few days, he had spent all the money Lila had given him. He knew that Lila still had money, so he had even hired some friends to play debt collectors and come and threaten them at home. As a result, Glenn and Eva were so scared that they didn‘t dare to go out at all. Under the persuasion of Jeff, they came to borrow money from Lila again.
“No way! You haven‘t paid me back the one million you have borrowed yet!” Lila was so livid that she wanted to curse. She felt that she was really unlucky. Why did she have such a brother and parents? They were like a gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe that she couldn‘t get rid of at all. Eva loved her son so much that she would even die for him.
“Are you going to lend us money or not? Lila, if they kill Jeff, I won‘t be able to go on living. How pathetic is my state! My daughter doesn‘t care about me or her brother at all!”
As she rushed to the pillar of the hotel, Eva shouted, “I might as well die!” Lila was startled by her. She had never met someone like Eva before, so she had to compromise.
“Fine! I will give you the money! Stop making a scene here!” She gritted her teeth and wrote him a check for another million. Now she didn‘t have much money left. Plus, she had been staying in the presidential suite of the hotel for the entire month. The cost was very high, so she couldn‘t stay here anymore.
She had to go back to the Gillian family‘s shabby apartment. It was a good news for Jeff, because he didn‘t have to go to the hotel to ask Lila for money anymore.
“You need more money? I have given you two million dollars! Isn‘t it enough to pay off your debts?” Lila was impatient. She really had no money left now.
“How would I know? The creditor said I owe him three million dollars in total. Lila, write me another check. I need to pay him as soon as possible!” Jeff said.
