CHAPTER 3

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 F******k or other social media platforms. In fact, the last time he logged into his F******k account was more than a month ago. So was it just a F******k glitch? And was it a common thing?

Then he noticed something…

The button just below her name and her cover photo, beside the Message button.

Add Friend.

Meaning they weren’t friends on F******k.

Darn!

He knew now why her posts and photos suddenly vanished. They were private posts and would not be seen by people she wasn’t friends with on F******k. Did she unfriend him on her own? Just a few minutes after accepting his friend request? Or again, was it just a glitch? Did a F******k error invalidated her acceptance of his friend request? He went to his own Timeline, then to some of his fiends’ Timeline. He didn’t see anything wrong or suspicious. So there was no glitch? Most likely. What possibly happened here was she accepted his friend request without really recognizing who he was, and when she realized who he was, she rectified her mistake and unfriended her? Or maybe, she recognized who he was and still accepted his request, and then, she started having second thoughts, and then she realized she couldn’t stand future annoyance from him, so she unfriended him.

He felt the urge to send her a friend request again for his peace of mind. If she accepted it and it stayed that way, it probably was a glitch and would forget about it. If she rejected it, then, there was no glitch and she really just made a mistake accepting him. And that would also be the end of it—they would not be F******k friends until the end of time.

He shook his head and talked to himself. Ambert, don’t be stubborn, there was no glitch.

The only glitch there was inside Layla’s mind: she didn’t like him. It was a glitch he could fix if he wanted to, he could pursue her, and eventually melt her heart. But he was offended by the way he reacted to his attempts of trying to know her more. Immediately rejecting his invitation to a lunch after they had talked amicably and amiably for almost an hour, without thinking about it first or taking a rain check? Accepting his friend request then rejecting it? Those kinds of reactions should only be reserved for lascivious men who were harassing the girl. What could a F******k friendship do? If she wanted to, she could still ignore him even if they were friends on F******k or on any social media platforms.

He decided he would make Layla happy: he wouldn’t send her another friend request.

His cell phone rang just as he was logging out of his F******k account.

It was Anika who was calling.

“You’re still in the office?” Anika asked her as soon as he answered the phone.

“I’m just about to go out now,” he said. “To have lunch.”

“Don’t go out just yet,” she said. “I sent Layla back there.”

“Why?”

“I gave her some additional questions to ask you. Tell her you will answer those questions while you’re having lunch.”

“Are those questions necessary?”

“No,” she chuckled. “I mean, yes, so you’ll have a love life again.”

“She will know it’s a setup.”

“She will suspect but she won’t have any proof,” Anika laughed. “Don’t tell her that I called you. Act like you have no idea about the additional questions. And while you two are having lunch, work your charm on her so she wouldn’t have the capability and the power to refuse again once you invite her to dinner.”

“I have no plans of asking her out again.”

“You’re lying,” Anika chuckled. “I know you. I know when you really like a girl. Just wait for her and bon appetit.” Anika disappeared from the other line afterwards.

He leaned back in his chair and wavered on whether he’d wait for Layla or have his revenge and eat his lunch alone and have her secretary drive her away. Anika would be pissed but he had his ways of appeasing her. But it would be ungentlemanly. And he had always been a very patient man. He decided to wait for Layla. Anika was being accurate when he told him that she knew that she really liked Layla. The insult he felt when she immediately unfriended her on F******k chipped at that feeling, but not much. Right now, as he eyed his door, he was starting to get excited on seeing her and talking to her again. He wouldn’t mention that little incident that occurred between them on F******k as he didn’t want to sour their second meeting. He would just add her up again, probably later in the day or tomorrow.

He would tell her that he was about to have lunch when she arrived but he’d gladly answer those extra questions while they were having lunch. But what if she refused to fall into the trap Anika had set up for her and told him that she would just wait for him in the office until he finished his lunch? It wasn’t really far-fetched as she was smart.

Well, he would most likely just send her home and nip in the bud whatever romantic feelings he was starting to blossom in his heart for her if that happened. And yes, he would refuse once Anika offered to continue being a matchmaker between them.

He was certain he wouldn’t have a hard time finding another girl that would make his heart race.

He read some of the documents on his desk while waiting for Layla.

When he looked up from his papers, he realized that thirty minutes had already passed, and his stomach had been complaining for being empty, but she was yet to make an appearance. He is a busy man, every second really counts for him. Why the hell he was wasting it for somebody who seemed very reluctant to waste even a single second for him. She probably changed her mind as she knew it was just a setup and that Anika was just playing Cupid and decided not to obey her even if it would cost it her job. Anyway, she would probably just consider leaving Anika the right decision because Anika was leading her to a wrong path—wrong because it led to him. Apparently, being jobless was more palatable to her than all the food he could offer her when they lunched together.

He stood up, arranged his tie, soothed his bruised ego, and prepared to leave when his cell phone rang.

“Ambert, Layla won’t be able to come,” she said.

He gritted his teeth. “I was kind of expecting that—”

“She met an accident on her way there and she’s now in a hospital.”

What she said unnerved him. “What happened?” he asked.

“A car hit her and ran,” Anika said. “Luckily, somebody helped her and brought her to a hospital.”

“Who informed you?”

“The man who helped her.”

“Is it serious?”

“I don’t know yet,” she answered. “I asked but I haven’t got a reply.”

“I’ll see her,” he said.

He remembered he had to meet some VIPs but he quickly decided that it was more important to see Layla and know her condition. Aside from, his genuine concern for her, there was another reason why he should prioritize her at the moment. She was on her way to see him when she met an accident, so he’d certainly be guilt-stricken if something really serious would befall her. And yes, it would be inevitable that some unreasonable people would blame him for what happened to her.

The hospital wasn’t far from their building, so instead of walking across the street to have his lunch, he asked his driver to bring him there. His stomach could wait, the fact that Layla might need his help could not. They reached the hospital in less than ten minutes. He almost jumped out of the car. Anxious, from the reception area where he got her room number, he rushed to the stairs upon entering the building and was about to climb it before realizing that Layla was in the seventh floor. He turned around and walked towards the elevator, stood outside its doors, and calmed himself down. His heart was acting like a little ball again, bouncing agitatedly everywhere inside his chest.

There was a man standing near the door of her room when he reached it, whom he thought was a relative of Layla.

“I’d like to see Layla, Sir,” he said to the bespectacled man who looked in his fifties, slim, was wearing a white polo shirt and blue pants and was around five inches shorter than him. I just don’t know if she’d like to see me, he wanted to add, but stopped himself just in time from spewing those words.

“Layla? The patient inside?”

“Yes, sir.”

The man glanced towards the slightly-opened door of the room. “I don’t know if she’s awake now,” he said.

“How is she?”

“The doctor said she seems okay, nothing serious.”

“Thank you,” he said, relieved.

He saw the man glancing inside the room again.

“Can you see her?” Ambert asked the man. “Is she awake?”

“She’s still sleeping,” he said.

That was all the information he wanted to know, he took a deep breath and stepped inside the room. There was no way she could drive him out of the room when she was asleep. There was no nurse or doctor in the room. But yes, she seemed all right. There was no cast nor visible bruises or wounds or scratches. He talked to Anika while he was on his way to the hospital and she told him that she already had informed his parents, although she couldn’t tell him what state she was in. Anika, while they were talked, was already preparing to go to the hospital.

The man was still standing near the door when he went out of the room.

“Are you related to Layla, sir?” he asked the man.

 “No, I don’t know her, but it was me who brought her here.”

“Oh, thank you, sir.”

“It’s nothing,” he smiled, then his face turned a bit dark. “I saw what happened.”

He stared at the man but didn’t say anything, just slightly nodded at him, coaxing him to continue with his story.

“The car’s driver, it seemed,” the man continued, “intentionally hit her.”

Ambert tensed up. “Why do you say that?”