Leila forgot how to breathe. She forgot how to be Leila.
Her husband was kissing her. His lips were pressed to hers and his tongue was seeking entry into her lips. She moaned and his tongue slid into her mouth. A sound barrelled out of her lips when he lifted her off the seat to his lap, he swallowed that sound too and continued kissing her.His groan snapped her out of her trance, she palmed his face and kissed him back with a foreign urgency. Her fingers slid into his hair, she tugged on it from the roots, loving and loving the sound of approval he made. He tasted like wine mixed with chocolate. She loved it. His lips were officially her favourite part of him.They broke apart for air and his hand lowered to her back. The pad of his fingers brushed her open skin and she arched her back in response to his touch. Her body ached for more of him. Their foreheads touched, her fingers caressed her swollen lips and he chuckled. His lips were swollen too so it made them eveLeila was a wreck. Kelvin didn’t send her flowers today. He left the house earlier so she ate breakfast alone. Leila didn’t realize until she sat alone at the dining table, a large breakfast in front of her, that this new lifestyle, this routine was one of the best parts of her day. She took only a bite before clearing the table.When lunch time came and Kelvin didn’t invite her to Pacific as he always did, she didn’t call him. She waited, subconsciously glancing at the window that should have been decorated with the flower for today.“Your secret admirer sent nothing today?” someone teased. Someone who sounded eerily familiar to Susie. Only Susie could make silly, audacious jokes like that.Leila didn’t look up to confirm her suspicions. If she paid more attention to her laptop and less to that troublesome woman, she would go away. Her vision blurred as she skimmed through the email Amara sent her.The sponsors of Stars
The first man stepped in, suited up like Kelvin. Leila walked to the door, ushering them to their seats while welcoming them. The files had already been placed in front of them and the potential sponsors flipped through pages in silence. Leila took the slight bobbing of their heads as a sign they loved what they read.After the introductions, Leila walked to the front and opened her laptop. She clapped. “Shall we begin?”The man closest to the empty seat with the ashtray in front of it shook his head. “Not yet. One of us is on his way.” The others hummed in agreement. “He will be here soon.”Amazing.The mail mentioned punctuality and they couldn’t even abide by the rule. If it was Kelvin, she would give him a piece of her mind once they were alone.Five minutes rolled by with Leila cursing the person in her mind. If she was a boss, she would never keep her staff waiting. She would never keep anyone waiting.The
The water was not hot enough. Leila dipped her finger into the tub filled with water, it wasn’t as hot as she wanted it to be. Her skin was red from too much scrubbing but she needed to bathe again. She wanted to wash away Charles’s touch from her body; his smell, his presence, his entire existence.Leila got into the tub, and pushed her head under. Bubbles floated to the top of the water, her eyes blurred and her lungs burned from a lack of oxygen. She pinched her nose, counting the seconds. Twenty seconds was her highest under the water but she was counting thirty now. If she stayed here long enough, she might forget.A knock on the bathroom door had her head shooting out, she gasped for air, mouth wide open as she tried to suck in as much air as she could. New record. Forty seconds.“Leila?” It was Kelvin. “Are you there?”“Yeah.” She coughed out more water. “Yeah.”Leila wrapped a towel around her chest, waited for the sound of his fading footsteps before she ente
Leila raised her hands and Kelvin pulled her shirt over her head. Her nipples puckered in response to the chill air that swept into the room. Using her arms to cover her chest, she averted her gaze at his smile. Leila wasn’t flat-chested but she wasn’t large up there either and right now, she was all too conscious of his eyes on her.Prying her hands from her chest, he sucked on her fingers. “Don’t hide yourself from me.”“But you’re dressed,” she murmured in reply and her cheeks heated up with embarrassment.Kelvin chuckled. He set her down and took off his shirt. “Do you want to help?” he asked when he was down to only his briefs. His bulge was pronounced. She shook her head. She was shy, not confident. “Okay.”It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help but she didn’t trust her hands to function properly. Kelvin got back into the bed with her. He pushed her legs apart with one
The silence from the other end of the phone annoyed Kelvin. He needed to know what happened to his wife. Sparing one last glance at his beautiful sleeping wife, he reluctantly stepped out of their bedroom.Leila had been talking in her sleep. The first time since their marriage. Whatever happened with her yesterday triggered the nightmare and he needed to know what or who triggered her. She was excited until he turned.What did she see?A cry from the room had Kelvin running back inside. He rushed to the side of his wife, she struggled in his grasp like she had done last night. Her reaction to his touch hurt him but he knew it wasn’t because of him. It had to be someone else. Someone he must find. He stroked the side of her face and she froze.His lips met her temple in a chaste kiss. “It’s me, Kev.”“Kev.” Her hand reached out for him and Kelvin drew close enough for her to caress his face. His knees hurt from kneeling on
“How the fuck do you agree to be friends with your husband?” Freya screamed from the other end. Leila chuckled.Sometimes, she wanted to slap her best friend. And this was one of those moments. Telling her friend about the friendship deal with her husband was to convince Freya he was far from gay. Plus, Leila already learned her lesson from her first and only whirlwind romance. Slow but steady always wins the race.“Aren’t you friends with Darren?” Leila bit back.“Yeah, but we were friends before we got married.”Nothing about her marriage with Kelvin was regular so as always, they were doing things their own way and it would work for them. Placing her phone down on the sink, Leila turned on the tap and splashed water on her face. She grinned at herself in the mirror as she dabbed her cheeks with the handkerchief she collected from her naughty husband this morning.Today’s breakfast was the sweetest since thei
A chill ran through Leila. The voice was like ice water poured over her. She wrenched the phone from her ear while Charles was still talking and switched it off.How did he get her number?She changed numbers twice because of him. Her palms moistened, she didn’t realise when she scrambled out of her seat. Her hip rammed into a colleague’s desk, Leila didn’t feel nor notice the pain as she came to a stop in front of the air-conditioner.What did he want from her?Sweat formed under her armpits, her eyes stung. She clenched and unclenched her fists. It wasn’t enough that he was one of the sponsors and she had to tolerate him. Leila wanted to cry.“Leila?” Someone snapped a finger in front of her face. “Are you okay?” It was Lily. Leila turned to see the whole office watching her. Some of them pretended to type something on their laptops but only a few continued staring. Leila patted her hair. She was wearing it d
A small scream escaped Leila when Charles stood. Her chair collapsed to the floor and the sound echoed in the empty restaurant.Where was Amara? Where was her husband?Leila couldn’t count on herself to put a stop to any of Charles’s shenanigans. She held her bag to her chest as if to defend herself. She should have known coming here was a bad idea. Doing her best to remain unaffected by his stance, Leila lowered her handbag and stepped back.“There’s no moving on from me. You love me, Leila.” In the past when she was young and stupid and believed love could change a man. “Remember?”“I’m leaving,” she replied instead.“No. Leila—”She dodged his hand trying to reach for her. Her heart was breaking but she forced a foot in front of the other until his hand dropped to her shoulder from behind. She smelt him before he spoke. Charles smelt like polished wood.“Leila, l