Alex returned home, very dejected.
The old woman had already almost gone mad because she could not find her grandson anywhere.
Because of the obsession with gambling, Alex had been at the casino for three whole days, without telling the poor old lady anything in advance.
He had not seen sunlight or eaten on time for three days, so he had lost a lot of weight and his face was pale, as if he was suffering from some disease.
When she returned home, before she could speak, she fell straight to the ground, which gave Mrs. Espina a great fright.
Becoming very anxious, the old woman wanted to call the ambulance immediately, but Alex prevented her, shaking his head weakly.
-Grandma, don’t worry too much. I’ll be fine after I sleep for a while and then eat something.
Carrying a huge debt, even if he really fell ill, he would not be able to go to the hospital because now he did not afford even a little extra expense.
The lady felt very pained to see her only grandson is in such a state and hurriedly helped him back to his room. Then she went to the kitchen to prepare something to eat for this one.
Seeing his own grandmother busying herself endlessly in the kitchen, Alex frowned a little, thinking how to make up a lie to fool the old lady, and wondering if the old lady had more money for him.
After a good while, the old woman returned to Alex’s bedroom with a plate of pasta with tomato and said:
-Good boy, eat your pasta first and then take a nice nap. I’m going to the farmer’s market to do some shopping and I’ll prepare your most favorite dishes for you tonight, OK?
The old woman looked at Alex fondly and felt a little strange when she saw that his face was thin and pale, his clothes were wrinkled and he smelled foul of smoke.
She supposed that her grandson had gone to undertake the business and must have worked hard during these three days. Thinking thus, she became very sorry for her grandson.
Noticing his grandmother’s distressed look, Alex pinched his thigh hard, and instantly his eyes turned red and tears slid down his face before he could speak.
-Oh, what’s wrong with you? Alex, don’t cry. Tell me what happened to you and don’t hold it alone.
Alex pretended to show a look of guilt and told her what he had made up in his mind:
-I’m sorry, granny, I lost all the money you gave me. That partner of mine promised me at the beginning that we would make a profit and I believed him, but I didn’t expect the business to go wrong and all the money you gave me was lost….
When the old woman heard about this, she was very distressed.
The money she had saved little by little by working hard for all these years, but now Alex not only couldn’t earn any more money, he had even lost his original capital.
The old woman patted her chest to calm herself. She wanted to complain, but seeing her grandson’s haggard appearance, she kept quiet without saying anything else.
She was very sad deep down, but outwardly still pretended not to care in order to comfort Alex.
-It’s okay, it’s just a? little bit of money. We can earn it back later as long as you’re okay.
Seeing that his grandmother didn’t scold him himself, Alex became very happy.
“Ha ha ha ha… I knew that granny is the person who loves me the most!”
Alex hesitated for a moment and continued:
-Grandma, losses are not just that. As that partner of mine told me that we would succeed with one more effort, I believed him again. Under his direction, I took out a loan and then lost it all without a penny left.
-A loan? -the old woman, apparently surprised, asked in a trembling voice- How much did you borrow?
-Not much, just… -Alex held out five fingers with guilt in his eyes.
The old woman gaped at him and hurried to ask:
-Fifty thousand? How did you borrow so much?
-No, it’s not fifty thousand,” Alex spoke stiffly at her perplexed look. I borrowed five hundred thousand euros.
-Half a million?! -the old woman shouted aloud, looking at Alex in disbelief, “Did you say five million?
Alex nodded and hurried to calm the old woman down:
-Grandma, a half million is not a big number!
-What do you mean, it’s not a big number! -Even if we sold our house, we wouldn’t have half a million! How could you borrow so much and how can we pay off so much debt?
-What five hundred thousand? -a low voice suddenly sounded in the doorway just as the two were speaking.
Both the old woman and Alex looked at the door at the same time and saw Ramon.
-Dad, are you back today! Didn’t you tell me that the trip takes five days or so? -Alex asked anxiously, a forced smile on his face.
His original intention was to talk to his grandmother first and join her in convincing his father after the latter returned from his business trip to go together to ask Albina for help.
However, he did not expect his father to return in anticipation and overhear the conversation between him and his grandmother.
Alex secretly tugged on his grandmother’s sleeve, asking her to speak for him.
But at this moment, Mrs. Espina was also very agitated inside.
To her, half a million was no small amount and she had never seen such a large amount of money in her life.
“This boy has been too bold to borrow so much at once – isn’t he afraid he won’t be able to pay it back!”
-What half a million? Tell me what they were talking about.
Seeing that his son was dodging his gaze, Ramon knew that his son was hiding something from him.
“During my absence, you must have gotten into trouble!”
Mrs. Espina finally recovered from her daze and received signs of help from her grandson. Knowing full well that Ramon would definitely break Alex’s legs if he found out about this thing, she decided to help Alex hide it.
-Nothing, son, you heard wrong!
-Mom! -Ramon frowned and interrupted her, “Don’t hide it anymore for his sake. I heard them clearly at the door mention the figure of five hundred thousand. Alex, you better explain everything clearly to me right now, or if something happens to you, I definitely won’t help you and I won’t care if you live or die!
When Alex heard this, he panicked and didn’t dare hide it anymore.
He stammered for quite a while not daring to tell his father that he had gone to gamble at the casino. Seeing him like this, the old woman stepped forward and said:
-The truth is that Alex was planning to do business with a classmate of his and he put a lot of trust in that guy, so he asked for a loan of five hundred thousand euros as start-up capital and lost it as a result.
Alex quickly nodded his head and added:
-Yes, the reality is like that. Dad, it was my first time in business and I lacked experience, so I lost all the money. I know our family is in a pretty difficult situation, so much so that my mother abandoned us because of that, so I wanted to try to start a business to improve our family’s standard of living. I didn’t expect to fail… Dad, forgive me, I know I was wrong.
Hearing her grandson’s good intention for the family, the old woman was very moved and her eyes turned red, feeling sorry that her grandson was a good boy.
Then the old woman defended him, saying, “It’s not Alex’s fault:
-The fault is not Alex’s. He was also thinking for the good of our family. I think that his partner is entirely to blame. If he is not capable of running a business, why did he ask Alex to cooperate with him?
Ramon grimly grimaced and looked at his son coldly.
The old woman spoiled her grandson too much and believed that everything he did was right, but Ramon was not stupid and was not convinced by Alex’s explanation.
There were too many gaps in what Alex had said.
Ramon suddenly asked his son:
-What is the name of that partner of yours? And what kind of business have you set up with him? Give me his contact and I’ll call him and ask him what happened. In just three days, how could you lose so much money? That’s unlikely.
At his father’s questions, Alex panicked, his face pale and his lips trembling.
-He ran away after losing all the money. I can’t get in touch with him…”.
Ramon let out a satirical chuckle at his excuse and continued to ask:
-Has he run away so quickly? Then why don’t you call the police? Maybe you can still get some of your money back with the help of the police.
-It’s just that the business we do is illegal. Dad, you know that…
Unable to take any more of Alex’s clumsy excuse, Ramon grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him to the floor from the bed with a jerk.
The weak Alex fell to the floor from his father’s sudden tug and the plate containing the pasta fell to the floor, shattering it and spilling the pasta all over the floor.
Nevertheless, Ramon, as if not seeing the mess, dragged Alex out of the room as he spoke:
-Go with me to the police station and we’ll find out what happened…..