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Layla has always been known as the 'bitchy' friend. She doesn't just wear the 'bitchy' title; she embraces it, there's an unabashed glint in her eyes conveying that she doesn't give a fuck about judgments. She's bitchy for a reason. It's a no-nonsense approach that's been ingrained into her since she was a kid.
No child envisions a life with divorced parents. Most grow up thinking their parents are meant to be, their love eternal, their bond unbreakable. That notion of everlasting love felt absolute when she was younger, until the day they sat her down and gave her the speech about how they still loved her, but sometimes, parents grow apart.
At first, she believed it. She believed her parents loved her unconditionally, and that their separation was somehow a part of that love. But then her mother remarried and moved away, leaving Layla with a gnawing sense of abandonment and isolation. Her mother's departure shattered the illusion she clung to, the one that promised her parents' love would remain the same despite the physical separation.
Caleb Rose, Layla's father, assumed full custody of her without much resistance from her mother. He was a man of success in his career, but in her life, he embodied a stern and unyielding presence. His expectations towered impossibly high, casting a perpetual shadow over Layla's life. She felt the weight of those expectations in every aspect, from her academic performance to her social circle; nothing she did ever seemed to measure up.
Her heart's desire was simple: to be deemed "good enough" for her father.
In her pursuit to meet his expectations, she chose to major in law, a decision that her father ardently supported. Caleb insisted that a legal career was the only route to a secure future, declaring that any other choice would be "foolish" and "pointless." As he shattered her dreams of studying English, he would dismiss her aspirations with the phrase that had come to haunt her: "I know what's best for you."
These experiences had forged Layla into a fiercely opinionated individual. She had learned early on that life wasn't always fair, and the world was rarely a forgiving place. In this environment of high expectations and demanding scrutiny, Layla developed a resolve to be heard and understood.
While she was called 'bitchy' for her outspokenness, it was a trait she welcomed, but primarily when interacting with her peers and in her social life. It was her way of asserting herself in a world that constantly judged her worth. However, when it came to her father, a different dynamic existed. Layla had learned that openly challenging her father was akin to pushing a boulder up an endless hill; it was an exhausting and ultimately futile endeavour. So, she reserved her opinions and her no-nonsense attitude for situations where she could maintain control over the conversation. With Caleb, silence became her armour, her way of minimizing conflict, as she recognized the impossibility of changing his unwavering opinions.
