Night And Shining Armour

WHEN AMBERT LIFTED his eyes from the documents he was reading on his desk, he saw two women standing beside the door of his office, looking at him.One of these women was Louise, his twenty-six year old secretary. Louise, married for four years now and had two daughters, was beautiful. But the woman standing beside her, who looked in her mid-twenties, was far prettier and more gorgeous. Louise stood at five feet seven inches and looked only an inch taller than the other woman. And he loved what the other woman—why was he calling her the other woman, he almost smiled, she had a name, he was just forgetting it at the moment—was wearing: pink blouse, black slacks, medium-long black hair and silky white skin. She was carrying a laptop bag in one hand and a cell phone in the other.Her lips instantly formed into an enthusiastic smile when their eyes met—and it made his heart bounce a little faster and louder, which was quite unusual. His heart, they said, was made of steel and wasn’t easy

FORTUNATELY, LAYLA ACCEPTED Ambert’s friend request and he immediately went to her account and looked at her photos. He never thought he’d one day be a stalker but here he was, browsing a woman’s social media posts because he was interested with her. He didn’t see a photo of him in her photos or an article about him on her Timeline. Maybe it was buried deep on her account. He also didn’t see any photos or posts that would suggest that she was in a relationship. Or maybe, she just valued her privacy. No, she told him that she was single, so it must be the truth. He still was looking at one of her photos when it suddenly vanished. All of a sudden, her photos were nowhere to be found. He went back to her Timeline and the photos he saw a minute earlier had disappeared magically, too. What happened? He really wasn’t an expert when it came to Facebook or other social media platforms. In fact, the last time he logged into his Facebook account was more than a month ago. So was it just a Face

“BEFORE I ORDER,” Anika, wearing a striped red shirt and pink capri pants and white sneakers, said as she scanned the menu at their table, “let’s be clear on who’s gonna foot the bill. And that it’s you.” Anika only wore formal attire when she was hosting her TV show. She was six years older than her. She was smart, graduated cum laude, and had a doctorate. She came from a well-off family, her father a rich engineer, and her mother, a journalist, who also came from a wealthy family. Ambert laughed. “I will never let a woman, whoever and whatever she is, no matter how rich she is, pay for my food and her food while she’s with me. I won’t even go Dutch with Bill Gates.” “I’m not rich but it’s nice,” Anika grinned. “That is why women like you.” He grinned, but didn’t say anything. “It’s a fact,” she grinned back at him. “All women like you. And now,” she looked back at the menu. “What’s the most expensive food here?” It was just a joke as Anika only ordered lasagna and iced tea. “So

LAYLA STARED AT the red vehicle while her heart was starting to beat erratically. No, she shook her head with a realization, she was just being paranoid. It was obviously a different and bigger car. She still was looking at the car when a woman and a boy—probably mother and child—approached the car. The backseat door opened and the two climbed inside the car. Layla watched the car moved away before she continued walking. She went to the gate, showed her ID and strolled inside. She had been working here, one of the largest TV networks in the country, for more than two years now. The tallest building in the compound had ten floors and on its highest floor, at the north side of the building, you could see the company’s logo: a large GBN, and beside it was a mounted knight charging. Knights are, of course, known for its courage and honor. Well, the company had been acting as her knight in shining armor. A human knight in shining armour would be fine, but she wasn’t really looking for one

THE RINGING STOPPED and Ambert heard a female voice from the other line.“Hello,” he greeted back calmly. “Is this Nancy?”“Yes, this is Nancy,” she said, her voice sounding exuberant and younger than her forty-four years. “Who is this?”“This is Ambert Torres,” he introduced himself.“Ambert Torres?”“Yes, ma’am.”She didn’t speak for a few seconds. “Of the Torres Family?” then she asked, her voice sounding a bit incredulous.“Yes, ma’am.”“No kidding?”“No kidding.”“Oh!” she quipped, which sounded happy. “I will need a proof, first,” she chuckled. “I don’t know Mr. Ambert Torres personally and I’m not expecting a call from him. You might be a scammer or a hacker targeting my fat bank account.” She chuckled again, and then said. “Please speak again.”“I’m not a scammer, ma’am.”“Speak again, please.”“What do you want me to say?”“Nothing substantial, really,” she said, he could picture her smiling widely at that moment. “I just want to hear your voice. But there, I believe you no