Six months on, and it was a Saturday morning.

Leonard and his lady for the night were fast asleep, having enjoyed the night’s activities as always.

Suddenly, Leonard’s phone rang.

His eyes opened, and he sighed in exasperation. He lazily reached over and picked it from the bedside table, and answered.

“Babe!”

A sleepy Leonard rubbed his eyes as he held the phone to his ear while a naked Japhia continued to snore in the king-sized bed in which they lay. “Yeah?” he responded groggily.

“Babe, a new month is almost upon us. You know what that means, right?”

He squinted his eyes. “Uhhh… I don’t think I do…” he slowly drawled.

“Oh, come on, babe! You know it’s time for my skincare allowance!”

Leonard shook his head as his memory began creeping in. How could he have forgotten the special allowance he had put Abida on?

“Oh yeah, yeah, I remember now, I remember,” he replied. “Ummm… yeah, so I’ll… I’ll get it through to you later. I just got up and-”

“Uh, no, babe. I need it now.”

Leonard looked at the clock on the wall facing him, then gasped. “Ah, but it’s only 6:15 in the morning! Why do you need it now?”

“Coz I need to be the first person to get to the shop! Come on, Leo, send it now!”

Leonard shook his head once again. What a ridiculous reason to demand money for skincare items so early in the morning! Abida could be one unreasonable girl regarding her demands, that was for sure, and he knew if he didn’t send her the funds within the stipulated time, she would refuse to answer his calls and flat out ignore him for a long time.

“Abi, those shops won’t open till about 8 o’clock! I just woke up, for God’s sake. You literally just woke me up. Don’t give me pressure right off the bat. Please.”

“Leo! Just send it now! You know I need it. Quit the clownery and just send it.”

Leo looked at the phone incredulously. Did she just have the audacity to speak to him like that? All because of this?

“No. I’m not sending it.”

Before Abida could respond, Leonard ended the call and tossed the phone aside. “Silly girl,” he muttered. “Who demands money for skincare products at six in the morning? Bollocks!”

She was definitely going to give him the cold shoulder for the next couple of weeks, but he could not give a toss. There were way more pressing issues to worry about than the tantrums of this spoiled brat of a woman.

Like his financial position. Which was now becoming precarious.

Eighteen months of lavish living had been a whole lot of fun, but now issues were rising to the surface, and they weren’t pretty.

All that spending was finally diminishing his money, and once he realized this, he knew trouble was coming. Thankfully, on one of his frolics to the mall, he met a gentleman by name Cynan Plotina, who claimed to have an association that dealt with money doubling. A convincing speech and promises of helping him make the next step to the level of indulgence was enough to get Leonard to start patronising his services.

Three months of business with Cynan’s association was smoother than he thought, and at a point, he was convinced that his money issues had been well and truly solved. But now, rumours were flying around, and they were very uncomfortable to hear.

Word on the street was that Cynan was a high-level scammer who was using his association to swindle unsuspecting people. The belief was that the authorities were gathering evidence against him and would be striking any time soon.

This was a great source of worry for Leonard. Within those three months, the monies he had sent to Cynan had been duly doubled, and his trust had been swiftly obtained as a result. So considering he had gone the full mile and given Cynan everything in his account, these claims were of serious concern.

The last time he had spoken to Cynan, the middle-aged man vehemently denied all the claims, and alleged that it was simply a case of ‘haters trying to bring him down’. But that was about two weeks ago. The most recent attempts to contact him were fruitless; he wasn’t answering his messages, and his phones were switched off.

Leonard was certainly in a hard place. He had some extra funds in another one of his accounts, so no alarm bells were ringing just yet. But he couldn’t stop worrying.

Japhia might have given him a sweet night, but it was just a temporary shot of pleasure. All he needed was to know that his money was safe. He didn’t even need to have any interest on it; he just wanted it safe and sound.

***

Late afternoon, and Leonard was still in his room.

It was very unusual of him to spend the entire day alone in his room. What staff of Elite Star Hotel had gotten used to was him stepping out with one or two of his scantily dressed escorts, or a lot of uncomfortable sounds from the room, indicating the nature of business going on.

This time, though, apart from the sounds of a disappointed Japhia leaving the room after he declined her request for more money to get her nails done, there was very little activity in Room 2608.

Still mulling over his financial position, Leonard had his head in his hands. Ugh, how did I see wisdom in this? he asked himself as his heart continued to beat in trepidation. Oh man, I just hope this Cynan dude isn’t who they say he is…

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his ringtone. He looked at the screen.

It was Allan.

He answered. “Yeah, Allan, hello.”

“What’s up, big guy? I bet you’re doing just fine as always. You know why I’m calling, right?”

Leonard shook his head. Allan’s overly enthusiastic tone of voice wasn’t exactly doing wonders for his mood. “Umm… not really.”

“Seriously? You don’t remember?”

“Uhhh… remember what?”

“Oh, stop it, bro! You mean you’ve forgotten that the one and only DJ Boveen is gonna repping at our base tonight?”

“Oh… oh yeahhhh!”

Club Obsidian had a major party that evening with the DJ in question, and from the moment word came out about it, Leonard and his boys swore they would be there.

At that moment, though, the last thing Leonard wanted to do was to party.

“Uh-huh. So, me and the boys will be coming over ASAP. You know we gotta be there early.”

“Ummmm, Allan, I dunno, I might have to sit this one out…”

“Bruhhhh! You’re kidding me, right?”

“Honestly. Just got some headache and…”

“Pah! Headache? Bro, ain’t nothing a little paracetamol and Poki Punch can’t fix. Come on, Leo, we can’t miss this. We’re coming over. DJ Boveen, remember?”

“Nah, Allan, for real-“

“See you in a few minutes!”

The line went dead before Leonard could resist any further.

He tossed the phone aside and returned to his former position.

He really did not need this.

***

I DON’T CARE! I LOVE IT!

I DON’T CARE! I LOVE IT!

Many times they had hit the dancefloor once this song hit the airwaves, jumping around with extreme enthusiasm.

This time, however, it was only three out of four who happily bellowed those lyrics out. The fourth one looked pretty irritated to be there, and was not enthused by the manner in which the others grabbed him and jumped about with him.

A few seconds later, the DJ switched to another song, and Leonard quickly broke away from them and walked off to his seat as quickly as he could.

“It’s a great party, ain’t it, Leo?” Samuel yelled as he left the dancefloor.

“Wooohoooo! Issa parrtyyyyyyy!” Allan cheered.

“Yo, Leo, I’m gonna need another Poki Sangria,” Sirus added. “I’m getting smashed right now!”

Leonard took his seat and shook his head. If he didn’t know any better, he could swear they were mocking him.

They could see that he was not himself. They knew full well that this was not the Leonard they were used to; his silence and worried looks were enough indicators. Yet, not even an iota of concern came from their mouths. They simply acted as if he was his usual self, dragged his unwilling behind to Club Obsidian and focused only on having a good time.

And in that moment, as Leonard glared in their direction while they continued to dance to the music and hop around and have fun, he could not stand them.

“The damn selfish freeloaders!” he muttered to himself. “Only concerned about their interests. Friends indeed! I just hope I can contact Cynan soon and find out what’s happening. I mean, the app’s still working and all, but some assurances will help. Because honestly, if that money is gone… my life is over. Point blank period.”

Looks like the honeymoon is over for Leonard. Anybody seeing where this is going?