XV

LIKE WHAT LAIA EXPECTED, THE ASSHAT WHO SEEMED TO HAVE AN UNLIMITED SUPPLY OF MONEY from his parents and was currently ruining her life just had to live on a huge and expensive-looking condominium complex in the heart of the city.

Laia rolls her eyes at all the extravagance. She might have dreams to be rich like everybody else but she'd rather settle down in a house away from the city's population and occasional disturbances.

And rats.

When Brie was finally able to find a parking spot as a car leaves, Laia then steps out of the car and looks around. Her eyes widened at the huge pool area and a dog park on top of that, where some of the presumed condo owners are, playing with their dogs.

Her friend stretches her arms but doesn't step out of her car. Looks like she won't be accompanying Laia.

"It's really nice here! But I heard it's really expensive," Laia isn't interested. It's not like she has plans to buy a unit anytime soon. Not like she has money, too. "Anyway, Sammy lives on the twentieth floor. The first room on the left,"

"You're not coming with me?" Laia asks, hoping her friend would stay.

Brie shakes her head. "I'm going to go to Jake's house and make him talk to me."

Sure, whatever. Laia rolls her eyes subtly but doesn't voice out her opinion about her friend's plan probably ending up with her boyfriend shutting the door immediately upon seeing her.

"Okay. Thanks."

Brie nods and left. Laia wonders why did her friend even bother parking when she's going to leave immediately after. She dismisses such thoughts and proceeds to the elevator, silently hoping that Shane was already there.

From the silence behind the asshat's unit, Laia deduced that Shane probably didn't bother to come from how the asshat berated the PowerPoint she made because he's petty and arrogant.

Laia rolls her eyes. She knew that the chances of the asshat opening the door for her are low, but she would rather knock at least once to say to the group chat later that she did go to the asshat's condominium unit but he didn't let her in.

She knocks once. Twice. Thrice.

Okay, enough of this absurdity, Laia thinks as she grits her teeth in frustration. She can hear the television from inside and it's pretty obvious that the asshat was ignoring her on purpose.

A grin suddenly appears on the girl's lips as she comes up with an effective plan. She starts to knock again, this time louder than usual. The asshat still didn't open the door and Laia was delighted with that. She goes on to phase two of her plan.

Humiliating the asshat.

"You asshole! You told me you weren't married!" Laia screams out as loudly as she could. She even sobbed. "I'm pregnant you, asshole! You promised to marry me and now you're hiding behind the door?!"

Laia continued sobbing as loud as she could to attract more attention. It's not like anyone in this complex knows her and she's never going back here anyway so she doesn't mind embarrassing herself in the process of humiliating the asshat as well.

One of the asshat's neighbors, a middle-aged woman, opened the door to her unit looking agitated. She was even holding a broom in her hand. Her eyes widened upon seeing Laia's messy hair and (fake) tears rolling across her cheeks. "Let me teach that boy a lesson for you, dearie! I thought he was a kind boy, always helping me with my groceries! Who would have had thought?!"

The girl stepped back when the older woman started knocking aggressively on the asshat's door. The asshat still didn't open the door, and Laia starts her (phony) crying again.

More of the asshat's neighbors came outside of their units, all holding their weapons varying from spoons, forks, and one was even holding a food processor.

Laia might have had not thought her plan through enough.

Finally, the asshat opens the door wearing a towel. His hair was still wet and messy, and he was holding his phone in his hand. His eyes immediately widened at the whole fiasco behind his door, and upon seeing Laia behind all his neighbors, he grimaces.

The middle-aged woman from earlier hits the asshat with the broom she was holding. "You! How could you do leave this woman knowing that she was pregnant?!"

The asshat almost choked. Laia hoped he did. "W-what?"

One of the other neighbors nodded in agreement. He frowns at the asshat. "How are you married when you look like a student?"

"Don't trust men! They might look young but they're already in their thirties!" A woman probably in her twenties screams from beside Laia.

Asshat raises both his hands in the air as if surrendering. "Everyone, there has been a misunderstanding--"

"Definitely not! This young lady right here," An old man points to Laia, who sheepishly grins. "Has been crying in front of your unit for an hour!"

Laia's eyebrows raised in surprise. The old man exaggerated! She had only arrived twenty minutes ago and started honing her acting skills fifteen minutes ago!

The middle-aged woman seemed to agree with Laia's surprise. "No, she hasn't you old fool! She had only been here for twenty minutes," She turns to Laia, smiles, and turns back to the asshat to hit him again with the broom. "Nevertheless, boys like you are the reason why men should not be trusted for their good looks!"

Asshat leans at the door of his unit and grins. "You think I'm handsome, Mrs. Chen?"

Mrs. Chen narrows her eyes at the asshat but does not deny it. The rest of his neighbors seemed to agree as well, much to Laia's chagrin.

The asshat took their silence as his cue to explain. He glares at Laia for a split second and beckons her over. Laia didn't want to, but she knew the misunderstanding had to stop. She didn't know it would end up like this!

"I'm not cheating on my girlfriend," The asshat pulls Laia close to his side. His right hand lightly caresses her shoulder making Laia shiver in disgust. She hopes no one noticed it. "She's just a little clingy and emotional these days, assuming that I'm married after I wore the promise ring she and I bought on our anniversary last year,"

His neighbors nod in understanding. Laia fought the urge to barf at how cheesy the asshat's lines were.

"Nonetheless, I am thankful for you defending her honor despite everything being a misunderstanding," The asshat even bows deeply to his neighbors. "I promise to not leave my girlfriend wait outside my condo unit for more than a minute next time,"

The asshat's neighbors all seemed convinced and left one by one, except for the middle-aged lady who stayed and continued still looking at the asshat and Laia with skepticism on her face. She turns to Laia. "Is he honestly telling the truth, dearie?"

Laia wanted to say no but doing so would only lead to their group report never being done. She relents and nods. "Yes, Mrs. Chen," She smiles at the kind woman. "I apologize for the whole fiasco, it's just the mood swings,"

Might as well go with the flow that she's really pregnant.

The older woman nods and even chuckles. "I remember when I was pregnant with my first child," She seemed to glow with happiness as she reminisced. "I was so moody all the time, I even started getting jealous of our dogs!"

Asshat laughs at Mrs. Chen's revelation. Laia stole a glance at the asshat and realized that he was genuinely laughing.

Mrs. Chen sooner realized that she had to leave, saying that she still had to call her daughter. She waves goodbye to the two.

As soon as the asshat locks the door to his unit, he frowns at the girl in front of him. "What the fuck was all that, Lopez?"

Laia was about to respond when she realizes that the asshat still only had a towel to hide his private parts and she turns away. "Change into some decent clothes first, asshole!"

The asshat was momentarily stunned by the girl's reaction but complies nevertheless. As soon as the asshat walks towards what Laia presumed to be his room, the girl walks towards the living room and sits down on one of the couches, taking in the unit.

It was very huge for a single individual. The living room alone was half as huge as Laia's house, and Laia even whistled at how organized and neat the kitchen looked. The asshat even had his own bar. It's hard to believe that he's probably just eighteen or nineteen.

Laia doesn't know when was the asshat's birthday so she's not sure.

Long story short, Laia concludes that she cannot and will not probably be able to ever afford the asshat's condominium unit.

The asshat returns shortly, wearing a robe. Laia frowns as he was only wearing shorts underneath the robe, but it's better than the asshat walking around with only a towel covering his dingdong.

He sits down on the couch directly in front of Laia and crosses his legs. He looked like he was waiting for an explanation, and Laia, despite not wanting to explain, knew she had to for it was definitely her fault this time around.

"You didn't open the door after I knocked five times," Three times, Laia internally says but doesn't say it out loud. "I decided to act a little bit to make you go out but you still didn't, and that's when Mrs. Chen and the rest of your neighbors helped me--"

"More like made everything worse," The asshat massages his temples. He seemed to be having a headache. Laia wasn't sure if it was because of the earlier fiasco, or because of something else. "Anyway, at least it's over. I'm too tired to argue with you,"

Laia agrees with a nod. "Temporary truce,"

The asshat nods and closes his eyes. He leans his head back, continuing to massage his temples. Laia awkwardly fumbles with her phone to text Shane in the group chat.

However, before she could send a message in the group chat, somebody knocks on the door loudly.

Asshat grumbles in annoyance and didn't seem to have the motivation to open the door. Laia looks at him, waiting for his next action.

It's not like Laia knows how to operate the weird passcode thing beside the door of the asshat's unit, so she can't offer her help. She didn't want to offer help either blindly, for everything inside the asshat's unit seemed to be more expensive than everything Laia owned.

She doesn't want to risk it.

The asshat turns to Laia, his eyes now opened. "Do I really have to open the door?"

Laia fights the urge to laugh. She cannot laugh at any of the asshat's sarcastic remarks! "I guess so unless you want another fiasco to happen. Shane does acting way better than I do,"

Which is true. Shane, who was part of the play, was great at characterizing her character even from the readings. Laia notes to herself that she should get Shane and Jake as her group members if they ever have to performance-task that involves acting.

The asshat groans loudly but makes his way to the door, grumbling all the way there.

Laia lets out a laugh for the first time that day.