Layla

I head into work. As a barista at my family-owned coffee shop. I am saving up to get a place for my sister and I. Away from our abusive husbands. I am also in medical school working to become a Medical Doctor. It is 5 pm. We close in an hour.

"Layla, are you alright?" my sis, Aria, asks. I nod and smile. "Yeah. Just waiting for closing time. You?" I say. "Yeah. Ooh, look who's here! The royal princes! They are coming into the coffee shop!" she squeals out in excitement. "Girl, calm down. They don't care about regular people like us," I say. I head to the register to get their orders. "Excuse me, ma'am. Our princes would like to book and reserve this coffee shop for this evening. After hours, presumably," one of their guards says. "Oh? For what reason? We don't do that here," I say.

"They would like to have a small gathering with their colleagues. 5- 10 people maximum. They'd stay until 11 pm, no later," they said. "Alright, fine. They may use our space. Only until 11 pm," I say. The guard reaches out to give me a check of $5k and I shake my head No. "No, it's on the house. Just let us know what their orders are," I say. "Oh. Excuse me, allow me to get them ready for you," he said. I nod my head and head to get myself a glass of water when I hear a guy clearing his throat.

I place my glass down. I turned to see Prince Joshua standing at the register. "Hello, how may I help you? Do you have your orders ready yet?" I asked. "Not yet. We're still waiting for a few more people right now. Why didn't you accept the money? Was it not enough?" he asked. "Alright. I just didn't want too. Didn't need the check," I say. I begin to excuse myself, but he grabs ahold of my wrist gently. I flinched in reflex. I looked and see a purple bruise beginning to form. It's from earlier today.

I quickly snatch my hand and put it behind my back. I take a deep breath. "It's really okay. Do not worry about the payment, okay?" I said, smiling through a tear. "Does someone hit you?" he asked. "No. Don't concern yourself about that," I say. Next thing, he ended up coming around the counter. "What do you think you're doing back here? You're not allowed to be back here," I say.

He moved closer to me and takes my hand gently. He slowly pulls my sleeve up and sees the bruise forming. "Someone is hitting you. Who is he?" he said. He is glaring now! "I need to get back to work. Excuse me please," I say, taking my hand back from him. I quickly head into the back to calm myself down. "Why does he care? It's all to get into my pants," I say to myself. "It has to be, Layla. No one would want your abused self," I hear Rachyl say behind me. She is an evil coworker of mine. I sighed.

"Rachyl? What did I even do to you?" I asked, fed up of her attitude. "Because you always have men wanting you and you're not that special, in my opinion," she says. I feel my eyes well up with tears, but I don't let them fall. She sees this. Something in her expression changed. It looked sad. But I pay her no mind. I push past her and she tries to say, 'Wait. I didn't mean to --' but I slammed the door behind me as I head back to the front.

I see the prince from earlier with his guests he had been waiting on. He's laughing and talking. I get back to work. "Miss? What is good on this menu?" a guy asked. A guy I knew from back in college. Lamin. "Lamin?! Is that you? What are you doing here?" I asked, in shock. "Just moved back to town. How have you been? Missed you," he says. "Missed you too. Been managing. How's your girlfriend doing?" I asked.

"We broke up after I moved away. She hated the long distance and even decided to cheat on me," he said. I gasped. "Oh my. That's awful. Sorry for that," I say. "Are you still with that abuser? Eze?" he asked. I sighed. "Please don't say that out loud. Yes, we're still together," I say. He sighed.

The prince from earlier stood up and heads over to us. "Did you say he's been abusing her for a long time? How long was this?" he asked. I looked at Lamin. I shake my head No for him to not tell him. "Don't tell him. Some odd reason, he's bent on knowing," I say, nonchalantly. Lamin clears his throat. "He has been abusing her and cheating on her ever since they've been together. I had moved out of state and somehow, they are still together. I am back so I will be getting her out of this relationship," he said.

The prince smirked as he sees my shocked facial expression. "You both don't own my life! So do me a favor and stay out of it!" I shouted. I head to serve other customers at the counter. "Layla, why are you being this way? We're just trying to help you be safe. I think anyone would want to do the same as we are," Lamin says. I ignore them and continue working.

"Prince Joshua? Are you ready to go? We have business to attend too," a guy called out. I faced the Prince beside Lamin.

Next, I hear loud yelling and banging. I rush outside to see Eze and Lamin yelling. Eze is throwing things around. "Stop this! This is a place of business! Stop this fighting!" I yelled. Eze turned to face me and glared at me. He begins heading towards me and I stand tall. He gets up in my face and yanks me by my neck and pulls me in closer to him. "Let go of me! Go home! Why are you even here?!" I yelled.

He forcefully pushed me into the wall behind me. "Stop this! Go home! We'll deal with whatever issue you have now then!" I yelled. "Fine. But, be prepared," he said. He punched me in my jaw hard that blood formed. The prince had not fully left yet and so he had witnessed it all. My sis, aria, came over to me. "Girl, you okay? Do you need a place to stay? You can stay with me," she asked.

"Don't worry. You both will be moving in with my family from tonight. For protection," Prince Joshua said as he had come back inside. I shook my head No. "No thank you. We won't be doing that," I say. He asks, "What time are you both off today?" "None of your damn business, so drop it," I say. "At 9 pm. We'll be waiting for you here," Aria says. I jab her in her elbow but she dismisses my action. I sighed in frustration.

Prince Joshua smirked and finally left. Lamin decided to get up. He says, "I'll be seeing you around. Take his offer. He can protect you both, and I'd be more calm knowing you both were protected from harm." I sighed.

"Fine. If you say so," I said. Then, he left.

I look over at Aria. "Why did you tell him? What do you think would happen by him actually helping us out?" I asked. "Because we don't need to go back to those abusive guys as we don't deserve this," she says. I sighed. "I know. But accepting their offer may put us in more trouble thank you may think," I say.

"Let's wait and see then," she said.

~END~