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CHAPTER 31
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Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 32
UNLIKE ANIKA’S OFFER of a bodyguard, Layla didn’t voice out any immediate objections to the prospect of Ambert helping her again. “What would he do?” she asked Anika instead.And Anika seemed delighted that she didn’t immediately reject it. “Just like what he did with Nancy, he’d talk to him.”“Allan’s probably beyond persuasion.”“You also thought of that about Nancy, didn’t you?”She didn’t reply, but yes, she thought of it, that Nancy would never be persuaded to stop trying to harm her, especially when she had agreed to it.“And where’s Nancy now? You aren’t good friends but at least she’s stopped trying to kill you. And Nancy has a legitimate axe to grind on you. You wronged her. Allan has nothing, he’s just pure evil whose sense of entitlement is bigger than Mount Fuji. If this world is fair and just, it’s you who should be bothering him. It’s him who should be running away from you. It’s you who should be doing the humiliating. Someone should make him realize that. And I assure
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 33
AMBERT’S PHONE RANG while he was in car on his way to meet Allan, who according to Anika was a very obnoxious—and quite dangerous—man. He had been harassing not only Layla but also her family, and hearing about it made his blood boil. He looked at his phone and saw an unknown but vaguely familiar number—Layla’s.“Hello,” he answered it.“Hello,” Layla greeted back, and he couldn’t deny that hearing her voice again delighted him. “Sir Ambert?”“Yes, this is Ambert.”“Sir, t-this is Layla,” she replied, stammering a bit.And he already had a guess on why she was calling him. Anika called her an hour ago to tell him that Layla called her in the wee hours of the night to talk about her dream where he was stabbed and apparently killed by Allan. Layla was scared that it would happen in real life—some of her past dreams served as a premonition of bad things to happen— so she wanted him to avoid talking face to face with Allan. A phone call would probably suffice to make a deal with Allan, or
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 34
IT WAS A scene every man would be furious to watch.A scene where the woman Ambert loved was having passionate sex with another man.He wanted to shake his head—did he just say the woman he loved? It should be used to love. He banished that thought from his head and continued watching the video, making sure no one else could see or notice it while he was doing so.The muted fifteen-minute video disgusted him 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 Al
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 35
AMBERT GLANCED AT the side view mirror as they were leaving the parking lot of the restaurant and saw Sadie, still standing beside her car, looking stupefied, but still beautiful with the wind playing gently with her hair. Of course, she should look stumped as was expecting that he’d fall to his knees and obey her and call Allan to get back the check like she had ordered him—and she was surprised that it didn’t happen. They had lots of arguments in the past—some serious, many petty—and the only way these conversations would end was he should acquiesce to her. She only allowed arguments to end if she had won it. CEOs, COOs, VIPs, wealthy, influential people, some of them even crafted government policies that affected millions of people, listened to Ambert, took his advice— but not his girlfriend. He leaned back to his seat and sighed. Looking back, he she seemed to treat her as a subordinate when it came to their relationship.Back at the parking lot, if he was a wily and conniving man
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 36
“LET’S HAVE DINNER tonight,” Ambert told Sadie. “We can talk while we eat. I will explain why I did it. Then, after that, if you still want to make me decide on that, I will.” “Ambert,” Sadie said, sounding exasperated. “You know what your every refusal, your every delay tells me? It tells me that Layla is really important to you.” He heard her sigh. “Admit that you still love her and I will vanish from your life.”“She’s just a friend, Sadie.” No, Layla felt more an acquaintance, in fact. They never really became friends. Friends talked to each other and sometimes hung out with each other. He had never gotten out with Layla and when was the last time they talked before this fuss with Allan? It was too long ago he couldn’t remember now. But he left it at that and didn’t say anything more. The less he talked about Layla, the more the chance he could persuade Sadie to his side. “Liar!” Sadie snapped angrily. Ambert wanted to belie it but then, he was
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 37
LAYLA’S CELL PHONE beeped while she was at her desk, busy chatting on Facebook Messenger on her laptop. She picked up her phone and saw Anika’s text message. Come to my office, she told her. She left the conversation on her laptop and stood up and with her phone in her hand, walked towards her boss’ office.Anika, who was tinkering with her own cell phone, smiled generously at her when she peeked through the slightly-opened door, like her boss was a flower and she the sunlight she needed, and Anika gestured her to come inside. She walked inside and sat at the vacant chair in front of her desk. Anika put the phone down on her desk and asked her, “So I heard you already heard the good news about Allan?”She flashed her a shy smile. ‘Yes, ma’am,” she answered. “Sir Ambert called me up this morning.”“I’m just curious, maybe, you want to show him your gratitude.”Layla had been thinking on how to show her gratefulness to Ambert, and to Anika. “I-I don’t know how,” she said.Anika laughed.
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 38
“FORGET ABOUT ALLAN,” Ambert said when Layla remained speechless. “Forget that I helped you. Instead, ask yourself if you can tolerate me calling you, giving you and your family gifts, sending you flowers, texting you good morning and good night, asking if you’ve eaten or how’s your day, trying to make you and your whole family fall for me. If you can tolerate those and if you can feel a possibility that you’d one day fall for me, then, allow me to court you. Get to know me more. If you can see yourself marrying someone like me in the future,” he said and glanced at her at caught her blushing and then looking away. “Then date me. But if you’re feeling about me pursuing you is still the same before, that day when you rejected me, then, say it, tell me to go away, and I won’t pursue you. I will delete your number from my phone again, so don’t be surprised to receive a who you? when you text me again.” He chuckled and glanced at Layla and saw her with her head slightly bowed down, as
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 39
AMBERT SAW LAYLA closing her eyes as she kissed him before closing his own eyes and letting sweet darkness embrace him. He didn’t need his sight for now; all he needed for now was his sense of taste. And it got stronger when he shut his eyes as he returned his kisses. He had kissed a few pair of lips but he could judge quickly that Layla’s were the sweetest and the softest. He shut his eyes tighter and the sweetness and the softness of her lips intensified, like she was kissing a flower that was currently blooming on his lips and he was sipping all its nectar.He opened his eyes when he felt the hand of Layla on his cheek and saw him staring at him with tear-stained eyes. “I love you,” she said, almost choking with her words. “I love you so much, that’s why I was so scared to be with you because…” She paused and sobbed. “Because I knew that I would die once you found another girl.”He held her hand on his cheek and kissed it. “That would never happen,” he said and looked deeply in her
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Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 50
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
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 49
“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
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 48
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
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 47
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
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 46
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
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 45
AMBERT REGULARLY CALLED Layla at night but it usually at around ten in the evening. It was only twenty past eight, so it was a little early and a bit unusual, so she was sure that he was calling not to have their regular nightly chit-chat—he was calling because he had learned that Sadie visited her tonight and that it wasn’t a friendly visit but something which had the intention to harm and hurt.Layla took a deep breath and picked her cell phone up and answered it. She would be vastly disappointed if Ambert would talk about a different matter. “Am I bothering you?” he asked the moment he heard her voice, and strange, but she could almost see him smiling.It was Sadie who was bothering her, she thought, but he probably already knew that. “No,” she said. “We just finished dinner.” It was what he about to discuss with her, something she was sure would also bother her.She heard him clear his throat. “I received a text message from Sadie,” he said, going straight to the point. “She told
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 44
IT WAS AROUND seven PM when Layla got home and when she entered the house, she saw sitting on the living room couch beside Lillian a woman whose photos she had seen a lot of times on the Internet, specifically on Ambert’s Facebook but never in the flesh—Sadie. The woman was listening keenly to Lillian, and her beauty glowed, like somebody had snatched a star from the skies and dumped it on their sofa, even though she was dressed very casually. She wore a green shirt with floral design and denim jeans and no makeup.Ambert had since deleted all of Sadie’s photos on his Facebook account but Sadie, Layla discovered when she visited her Facebook account and Instagram once, still had Ambert’s photos. If she was just too lazy to delete those photos, or she still wanted to have a glimpse of Ambert whenever he logged on to her social media accounts, Layla didn’t know.And to say that she was shocked to see Sadie inside their house would be a vast understatement.“You’re here,” Lillian stood u
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 43
AMBERT WASN’T SAYING anything but Layla could feel that something was bothering him. Yes, he was obviously happy whenever they got out and roamed and strolled—he was genuinely happy when they went inside the Eiffel Tower, he was obviously happy, too when they got to the city’s other tourist attractions, but every now and then, she would catch him getting lost in thought and would sometimes scowl at nothing whenever he thought she wasn’t looking at him.It all started when his phone rang at their first day here in Paris. It woke her up but she still was so sleepy she didn’t move and open her eyes and tried to sleep again. She felt Ambert climbing out of the bed and walking out of the room. She opened her eyes and didn’t see his cell phone on the night stand. She shut his eyes and fell into sleep again.And after that, something changed in him. The excitement in him seemed to decrease. Who called him? Was there a problem back home? Was it work-related? Or something personal? She didn’t
Night And Shining Armour CHAPTER 42
AMBERT SAW SOME confusion on Layla’s face when he confirmed to her that he was talking about France, the country. And he sort of had an idea why—she remembered his tryst with Sadie in that country. A woman who loved him would not easily forget that and it was for that reason that he wanted her to take to France, to Paris specifically, to have that memory with Sadie erased and replaced with brand new Paris memory with Layla. That every time he would remember France, or Paris, he would remember Layla and not Sadie; that every time he went to Paris, it was Layla he’d remember and his moments with her and not Sadie.And why did he suddenly remember Paris and had a hankering to travel there? Well, while inside Anika’s office, he saw the Eiffel Tower miniature he gifted her, standing proud on top of her desk.“I saw a post on your Facebook where you said you wanted to see the Eiffel Tower up close and personal,” Ambert said.“Yeah, I remember posting that,” she replied and then smiling awkw
