LAYLA DIDNT KNOW how long she just stared at Ambert, not speaking, not making any movement. She didn’t know even know if she was showing any emotion or expression on her face. Her father had always been successful in inflicting pain on their family before, but she never thought that until now, he would still be able to hurt her with the mere mention of his name.“The detective told me, Sadie’s detective,” Ambert continued, there was a visible uneasiness on him, was obviously forcing his words out of his mouth, like his tongue was just shoving them out, like he would rather bite his tongue and make it bleed than speak, “that your father was about to leave Celine but then the unfortunate incident… which I initiated… happened. At that time, your father was still staying in your house and was successfully hiding the affair. He took pity on the boy… Joel, who was Celine’s son with her first husband. And he also took pity on Celine, who was inconsolable. Apparently, the detective said, Celi
LAYLA HEARD AMBERT calling her as she approached the door of the restaurant but she didn’t stop and continued walking. She didn’t even glance back as she got out of the door. Her steps grew bigger and quicker as she walked to the direction of the road and stopped at the curb to hail a taxicab even though her feet both felt heavy. She didn’t think she had time to call an Uber as her goal at that time was to get away as quickly from Ambert.She waved at the first taxi she saw and it pulled over in front of her. She finally glanced back at the restaurant as she was getting inside the vehicle, and saw Ambert coming out. She went inside the car and closed the door, and told the driver to move. She didn’t dare look at Ambert again. But after just a few hundred meters of journey, she started feeling guilty. Did he deserve what she just did? They were there to talk, and she walked out on him just when their conversation was becoming more interesting. And emotionally hurting. She probably shou
LAYLA CRIED ALL night and barely slept.When dawn broke, she called up Anika to tell her that she wouldn’t be going to the office that day and would just come the next day. Anika just asked if she was sick and said goodbye when she said she wasn’t. She didn’t know if she would be disappointed or relieved that Anika didn’t inquire about the whole brouhaha that was going on—it was impossible that she hadn’t know about it. She was probably just careful not to add insult to injury. Or maybe she wanted to talk to her face-to-face and would just wait for her to come to the office.At breakfast, she announced to her family that she had broken up with Ambert—and Ambert, because he couldn’t do anything about it, accepted it.“I thought he didn’t easily give up,” a visibly disappointed Lillian remarked.“He’s probably guilty,” Layla said softly but enough for everyone in the table to hear.Her mother and brother didn’t seem ready to join the conversation. And were just eating heartily, which wa
“WE TALKED JUST hours ago and he never mentioned anything,” Layla said.“He was waiting for the rings, I guess,” Celine said and smiled. “You can’t propose without a ring.”Makes sense, Layla thought. “Did he specifically mention my name? I mean, did he tell you that the ring was for me?” “Well,” Celine hesitated, like she was trying to remember something. “I can’t recall if he mentioned your name while we’re talking about the ring. You know Ambert, he could sometimes really be a man of few words. But I assumed that that it was for you since you’re his girlfriend.” Well, that’s because you don’t know the whole story, she wanted to tell Celine but stopped herself. The whole story being that Ambert didn’t really love her, that he was just trying to repent and now, with the information about the ring coming out today, that he could be in another secret relationship, and the woman in this secret relationship was the one he really wanted to marry.“If it’s for another girl,” Celine conti
LAYLA NEEDED TO blink twice to see if she wasn’t just imagining things, Celine’s visit made her a bit disoriented, but yes, Ambert stood outside their door, in front of her, holding a bouquet of white roses and was wearing a black suit like he was attending a funeral—their relationship had collapsed and died, didn’t it?—or a wedding. Celine talked about an engagement ring with matching photos, so the topic of a future wedding shouldn’t be far.But she thought Ambert would be sleeping drunk until tomorrow morning so he was the last person she was expecting to see standing outside their door. The first person, of course, would be Celine. Ambert seemed alone; no one was inside his car, which was parked just outside their small, front yard.“The gate was open,” he said, his face apologetic, “so I thought I’d go straight to the door and knocked.”He was wearing a suit which unfortunately had wrinkles and creases like it was worn haphazardly, like he stumbled and fell to the floor numerous
IT WAS A SCENE every man would be furious to watch. A scene where the woman he loved was having passionate sex with another man. The muted fifteen-minute video disgusted Ambert but he couldn’t take his eyes off it. He focused on Layla’s face, trying to see if she was enjoying the act. But why wouldn’t she? She was in love with Allan, the man she was in bed with, the man currently seated in front of him, watching him watch the video. Ambert grimaced when he saw Layla biting her lip and closing her eyes while Allan sucked her nipple. They were both completely naked, and when he saw Allan kissing her downwards to her belly, he shut his eyes hard. Enough! he screamed inwardly. Gritting his teeth, he handed back the cell phone to Allan. It was a good thing Allan wasn’t smiling or grinning at that moment as he was sure he could break his face with his fist if that was the case. Allan’s expression was that of a businessman nervously trying to close a very important deal. “I’m deleting i
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
Layla didn’t answer and looked blankly at her laptop bag while remaining seated—and he didn’t like that reaction—or her lack of reaction. Ten out of ten women he asked to have lunch with him would accept it in a heartbeat. And he wasn’t being a chauvinist here, just stating a fact. He was always respectful of women and they most likely sensed that in him so they always felt safe with him. And what’s a little lunch? They would eat in a public place, where not a few people would probably gawk at them and monitor their every move. He had become some sort of a celebrity after Olivia won as Miss Universe. Some media people even tagged him as Mr. Universe, a moniker he didn’t relish. Certainly, a lunch date between two professionals was no big deal and he had done her a favor by agreeing to this interview so he had no reason to refuse. The interview would certainly help her career. In a civilized society, Layla refusing his innocuous invitation could be considered a terrible offense.She fi