“Is this good?” Leila asked as she set a sheet of paper in front of her husband.
The buzz of air-conditioners whirled in the background, mixing with the cologne of the stern looking men in suits crowding the conference room. She was the only female.
Kelvin retrieved the sheet, skimming over it in silence. Someone walked to the podium with a wand and the white screen came to life. Leila slowly backed away. Her job here was done for now.
One look from Kelvin should have made her pause but none of the men present had their assistants with them. She flashed Kelvin a contrite smile and stepped out. He had everything he needed, her phone was also in her purse should he need help with anything.
Leila sat on one of the couches lining the walls in the corridor. She wasn’t alone. There were some men and women dressed as she was. Skirts for the ladies, pant suits for the men. She figured they were all assistants like her.
S
A lump formed in Leila’s throat. She swiped her sweaty palms on her skirt and accepted the phone Kelvin offered her. He could have given her a heads up.“Relax,” Kelvin said while massaging her shoulders. “She doesn’t bite, Leila. She just wants to talk to my better half.”Nodding, she pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello.”“Hi, Leilani,” a cold voice replied.Kelvin gave her a thumbs up, she sat between his legs, lifting her arms so he could pull off her jacket. His fingers worked the knots in her joints, a moan slipped out of her lips and she slapped a hand over her mouth.“Will you be attending?” his mum asked.“Attending?”“Yes. The wedding,” she cut off. Leila spared Kelvin a glance, it didn’t sound like his mum welcomed her into the family. The smile on her husband’s face stopped her from voic
“This is your last chance to change your mind,” Kelvin murmured, sneaking up behind his wife to carry her. “Yes or no?”Leila shrieked with laughter. Her gown bunched at her waist as she tried to get out of her husband’s grip and she shook her head. “Yes, we will go. We are going for the wedding. We will laugh. We will have fun.”Lowering her to her feet with a pout, he said, “Fine.”She turned in his arm and pressed a kiss to his lips, wiping off the red lipstick stain with a wipe. Kelvin did a little spin for her to inspect his outfit.“How do I look?” The charcoal coloured suit clung to his body like it was made on him. His grey eyes were sharper and more beautiful without his glasses. The handkerchief peeking out from his breast pocket matched her pink gown. “You like what you see?”“I love what I see,” Leila replied. Her hand
“What’s your idea of a perfect proposal?” Kelvin asked his pretty wife.They had been throwing silly and fun questions at each other to while away the time. He agreed with his mum he would only be here for four hours. One hour out of those four was gone, he couldn’t wait to leave.He was asking for two reasons, out of curiosity and to plan one for her. If they would have another wedding, then they could have a real proposal too. Leila tore her eyes from the dancing couple, he observed her face for any sign of negative emotions but there was none. She was completely over the bastard.“Something private. No audience. Soft music, wine.”Taking note of that, he brought her hands to his shoulders. Servers were moving around, dishing out foods but he didn’t feel hungry. Well, he was hungry for another type of food but a quickie wouldn’t satisfy him. He smoothed the hair out of her forehead, saying noth
The games were over by the time Kelvin and Leila returned to take their seats. They must have taken too long in the restroom because some of the guests were already leaving.He walked Leila to her seat and kissed her fiercely. The song changed as the MC invited the couple of the day to the floor for their first dance. They danced alone for a while before the MC opened the floor for everyone who wanted to dance.Guests trooped to the dancefloor. This was Kelvin’s chance. He turned to his pretty wife. “Do you want to dance?” Leila shook her head. “I guess I’ll go find Mia for a chat. Will you be okay on your own?”“No. But I’ll try to be until you return.” She threw her arms around his shoulders and whispered, “Don’t be too long. I don’t want to miss you.”Kissing her made him feel better. “I won’t.”A cloud of artificial smok
The house was dead silent as the young couple stormed in. A cloud of anger hovered over them. Kelvin opened the front door for his wife and she got in without a word.Leila quickened her pace and stomped into their bedroom. She locked the door before he could enter and the knocks that came after almost shook the door off its hinges. Her husband knocked persistently for a while.“I’m not opening the door until you call him back to work.” The knocking stopped. But Leila couldn’t be sure he heard her. “He didn’t do anything wrong, Kev. You can’t just fire an innocent man because you are in a bad mood. Call him back and I’ll open the door.”Leila wasn’t sure what she heard. Was it a grunt or a groan? She pressed her ear to the door to pick out any sound but nothing. “Kev, please. Don’t fire him.”“Goodnight, Leila.”His words poured o
Kelvin was nervous. Leila could feel the waves of anxiety rolling off him as he got on the phone with the doctor. She tried to calm him but she was a big ball of nervousness herself. What if she wasn’t pregnant? What if she was? Maybe she got off the pills too soon.They would be seven months old in a few days. But were they really ready for an addition to their family?Her husband dropped to the sofa, he beckoned her with a finger for her to sit beside him but nervousness made her sit opposite him on the single sofa. She wanted his call to end first. Kelvin frowned but didn’t force her to join him. He spoke some more into the phone and sighed.“He wants to know when your period was supposed to come,” Kelvin murmured with a hand over the speaker of his phone. “Has it been up to a week?”“Two weeks,” she confirmed.Kelvin blinked. She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. Allowin
One line. It said one line. Leila wasn’t pregnant.Kelvin snatched the stick from her. “Baby, it says one line.” His confusion should have been cute but she wanted to knock it off. “What does one line mean?”“It means I’m not pregnant,” she spat out and stormed out of the bathroom.Kelvin’s footsteps echoed behind her but she didn’t look back. He tried saying something but she blocked out his voice. Getting out of her clothes, she changed into her nightgown and pulled the cover over her head.The cover was pulled down and Kevin’s worried face came into view. “Hey, don’t let it get to you.” But it had already. “We can try again, Leila. It’s not the end of the world. Plus, you can never tell. The kit might be wrong. You will have to take the test to know for sure.” Deep down in her guts, she knew the test was right but she fo
The test was negative. Leila turned the paper over, willing the word negative written in red ink to fade away. But it didn’t. Kelvin snatched the paper from her to stop her from staring at it. She had been expecting this but it broke her heart even more.Leila searched her husband’s face for a sign. A sign of anger or disappointment but there was none. He placed a kiss on her forehead, said something her brain couldn’t process to the doctor and they left.Inside the car, he didn’t say a word to her. Instead, he pulled her to his laps and kissed her. Tears soaked her cheeks and his tongue stuck out to lick them. Her eyes fluttered to his face, he kissed her nose and she managed a giggle.“I’m sorry,” she muttered.His brows shot up. “For what?”“For giving you false hopes.”Kelvin shook his head. “Don’t do that.” His thumbs wiped the re