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
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
“SHE WAS CROSSING the street and was about to walk to the curb when the car, which was at the middle lane, suddenly swerved towards her direction and hit her,” Edmond explained. “When she fell, he scooted away and vanished, without attempting to see what happened to her or help her. I wanted to run after the car but I thought she needed my help more so I stopped my car and attended to her. She stood up and tried to walk but I was able to convince her to get into my car. She got disoriented but she was able to give me a number to call.”“Thank you for what you did, Sir.”“It’s nothing, it was just the right thing to do.”“Did you get the plate number of the car?”He shook his head. “Unfortunately, I did not but the make and color of the car, I can tell you.”“Please tell it to the cops, sir.”“I will.”“What’s your name, sir.”“Edmond.“I’m Ambert. Thank you again, sir.”It was at that moment that she saw Anika walking towards them. He politely excused himself from the man and walked t