SOS

ERIC:

“Why did you kiss him?!” Erica flared, vibrating with fury as she paced the room.

“He kissed me!” I fired back, matching her tone.

She had startled me this morning, barging into Leonard’s house unannounced like a storm. I panicked at first, but when she confirmed Leonard had already left for work, earlier than a CEO should, I relaxed.

She hadn’t only come to interrogate me about the kiss, but also to get ready for work.

That alone brought me relief. Because if she had suggested I take over for her at work, too, I might have ended this drama.

Or maybe, I wouldn’t have. I might as well find a way to cope, because after that kiss, after watching Leonard melt into me like I was the only thing grounding him, I felt something. A connection I never expected.

Stupid, I know. But the spark was real.

“You shouldn’t have let him kiss you in front of everyone!” Erica snapped, slipping into her pants. “Now Nathan will think I have fallen for that stiff, cold-hearted Leonard!”

He’s not stiff. He’s just…masculine. Too masculine.

“I thought Nathan was the past?” I asked, folding my arms.

“And now I am back in my past, Eric,” she shot back. “And I still love him.”

Girls and their disastrous feelings. Their tragic taste in men. Sometimes I wonder if most women love themselves as much as they claim, because I need to understand how Erica could still be in love with someone who couldn’t fight for her.

“What are you planning to do?” I asked.

“Going to tell him the kiss meant nothing.”

“Nathan or Leonard?” I asked, needed to know.

Erica paused a little to consider my question. “Both,” she shrugged, reapplying her lipstick.

No! Not Leonard, too. The kiss wasn’t nothing. Not to me.

“And to buy us more time,” she added. “I need more than a week to figure things out. Leonard will have to postpone the wedding again.”

I wanted to ask how I fit into this updated plan… my stand with Leonard.

But she beat me to it.

“I am sorry, Eric,” she said, voice calm now. “You will have to stay with Leonard longer than we planned. I’m asking him to postpone the wedding for three months. I know it’s hard for you to endure a man like Leonard, but we have to do this… if we want to find out about us.”

Hard? It’s starting to feel like a vacation.

Later that morning, in disguise, I followed Erica to the hotel where Lucas was waiting. We needed to finalise our little charade.

First, Lucas would help us find an apartment—one Erica and I would share.

Then, Erica would go to work every morning once I returned from Leonard’s house. At the office, she’d be the real Erica, partly to do her job but mostly to keep tabs on Nathan.

When work ended, she’d hang around until Leonard left the office. Then she’d return to the apartment, I’d switch into her outfit, and go back to Leonard’s house for the night.

We’d rotate like that every day until Erica got the answers we needed.

I, meanwhile, wouldn’t leave the apartment during the day. She needed to freely skip out of the office now and then—to visit her father, his wife, sneak around his office…her bedroom, and dig into the truth.

As for Lucas, once he found us a place, he’d return to Panila. He had a job to keep, after all.

The narrative was smooth and runny.

Soon, they both left—Erica for work and Lucas to meet the agent, and I found myself alone. Of course, my mind drifted straight back to the kiss.

The guilt of kissing my sister’s fiancé crept in like fog. Regardless of the circumstances behind their relationship, I shouldn’t have let it happen.

But Leonard… he was hard to resist. His broad chest had held me like shelter–safe, steady–against those flashes and shutters.

Meeting those reporters with their cameras overwhelmed me. It was nothing like the lights and noise in a club. It was different, deafening and intimidating.

Gladly, Leonard was there to help. He held me on his chest like a knight. Until he looked into my eyes, lowering his lips to mine…he became something other than a knight. A predator. A dangerous one.

Yet I couldn’t flee like every other prey. I didn’t want to. I wanted to be captured.

I kissed him back. Deeper than he expected. And truth, behind the guilt of kissing him, I liked it.

Hours later, Erica returned.

She didn’t look happy. Not exactly sad either, just tired, though she tried to fake energy.

“I will be heading to my Dad’s soon,” she said, tossing her shoes aside.

“Do I have to wait until you come back?”

“No,” she said, undressing. “You don’t have to. You can go to Leonard now.”

“That wasn’t the plan.”

Our number one rule: only one of us in public at a time. Always.

“I know,” she said. “But no one knows about us yet. It is still safe.”

I wasn’t so sure.

Erica was rushing things. Being impulsive. That kind of carelessness ruins plans. But I didn’t argue. She was the planner here. The mastermind.

And as long as it didn’t affect my side of the job, my going to Leonard, I could play along.

I arrived at Leonard’s house, my heart fluttering a bit. And opening the door, I was met by his presence in the living room, swiping at his tablet. He’d showered and changed into casual track pants and a sleeveless top, oozing in all shades of hotness.

He didn’t look up at me. And I didn’t walk away.

I hadn’t seen him all day. Why should I?

“Hi,” I said. My voice came out soft, uncertain.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t look chatty. And Erica didn’t say anything about the conversation with him, placing me in a more shaky position.

“Had a good day?” I tried again.

His head snapped up, and then…I knew I had made another error.

Eric, shut up.

“I mean…did I upset you with the wedding shift?” I fumbled.

Seriously, shut up, Eric!

Leonard closed his tablet, stood, and started up the stairs.

“I can make dinner,” I called after him.

He paused. Slowly, turned.

“I can fix us something to eat?” I said again, more confident this time.

He didn’t speak. Just stared. Trying to stay unreadable. But I saw something. A flicker in his eyes. His cortex betrayed him.

“Interested?” I pushed.

He glanced toward the kitchen. Then back to me. “Good luck with that,” he said and continued up the stairs.

I smiled. I knew it. Leonard isn’t as stiff as he pretends to be. And he has no idea who I am—a prominent lazy chef. I need no luck to feed his stomach.

I walked into his kitchen, buzzing with energy… only to find the space empty. Empty. Not a spoon. Not a pan. Not even salt.

What the hell does this man eat?

And Erica, does she ever cook?

Now I understood his “good luck” comment.

I changed out of Erica’s work clothes. They were squeezing my brain like I was in Zoom meeting. In a soft gown, I grabbed my purse and headed to the nearest mall.

Groceries, utensils, basic kitchen life…check.

I stood at the counter, waiting as the cashier packed my items, when someone tapped my shoulder.

“I knew it was you!” a male voice said “What are you doing here? Buying cooking tools? Since when did you become a house girl?”

SOS! Who is this?

One thing Erica and I never discussed was faces we should recognise. Why didn’t we think to share pictures? Is this how the mighty Lucas ‘professor’ plan ends?

I stared at him, shaking.

Just then, a wildly-dressed woman…hair braided into colourful cornrows, strolled over. “Pedro, I told you to re-pack,” she said, bubble gum in mouth. “Your car’s been towed.”

Pedro? Erica’s stepbrother?

“I’ve gotta go,” he told me, hurrying toward the exit. “Come cook at home sometime!”

Thank goodness!

Items packed and in hand, I dashed out of the mall, flagged down a cab, and headed back to Leonard’s house, heart pounding.

Too close. Way, way too close.