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.