Programmed Wife

Chapter 39

“Why are looking at me like that?” iritableng tanong ni Rui sa matalik na kaibigan habang pinipilit nitong makadaan sa harapan niya para sana komportableng makahiga sa couch na hinaharangan niya.

Shawn still did not move and stood there in front of him in a T pose to block him off. Nakarinig pa siya ng mahinhin na pagtawa mula sa likuran niya pero hindi niya ito ininda at nagpatuloy sa pagsimangot kay Rui.

“Excuse me, do you mind?” tanong nito. Seems like acting sassy like this wont make Rui budge, instead he just brushed it off and moved on quickly to the point that he headed to his desk to start turning on his computer.

“Really Rui? You wont tell me about it? Ano ha? Biglaang marami kang trabaho, kailangan mo na simulan agad at kailangan ko ng umalis?”

“Oh wow, I did not know that you’re a psychic. So what are you waiting for?”

“Are you not telling me because of…” nilingon ni Shawn si Leyla na nag aayos ng mga gamit sa may pantry.

“No, I am not hiding it from her. She witnessed everything to be honest, ” kalmadong sabi ni Rui. “I just feel lazy while thinking about all of the details, I’m not in the mood to tell you the whole story yet.”

“Wait is this real?” naguguluhan pa rin ang lalaki sa mga naririnig niya. “If this is real, there is literally no way that you are so chill siting there and making fun of me. I don’t see any signs of you having an episode. Why do you look happy? Did something else happen? Did he agree with the annulment?” sunod-sunod na tanong nito.

“It did happen Mr. Shawn,” kumpirma ni Leyla. The two heard a little hiss of Rui to make sure they know that he’s getting annoyed.

Shawn was fast. He figured it out so quickly, “Just call me Shawn from now on okay? I still love my job.”

Leyla gave a forced smile and nodded, “Sure Sh-Shawn,” nahihiya pa niyang bigkas. “We met his relatives this morning. Luckily he did not experience anything serious. Mild hyperventilation, nothing else,” she reported.

“Mild hyperventilation? Mild?” pag-uulit pa nito. “Are you sure that it was Anje and not some other girl in there together with you guys? Anje!”

“She introduced herself quite clearly, and I can also feel that she’s disgusting. So yes that confirms it,” mabilis na sagot ni Leyla na halatang ikinagulat ni Shawn.

He looked at Rui as if Leyla just said something that she wasn’t supposed to say or know something that she shouldn’t. Imbis na ang inaasahan niyang gulat sa mukha ni Rui, isang kalmadong tango at walang emosyon na tingin lang ang sagot nito sa pagtataka niya.

“Mr. Rui have informed me about the full situation, I know what happened and yes, it was her,” Leyla cleared up once again. “They were obviously there to threaten Sir Rui. They were too clever to follow us up to the restaurant. Doon lang nila magagawa ang plano nila na walang advantage si Sir Rui.”

“You think they followed you two? From the office? Are they desperate enough to do that?” tanong ni Shawn.

“Maybe?” walang kwenta ang naging sagot ni Rui kaya naman mabilis na hinatak ni Shawn si Leyla paupo sa may couch para mas makakuwentuhan niya ito nang maayos.

“Tell me,” utos niya pa rito.

“I think they have someone closely monitoring Sir Rui. If you think about it, he only stays here in the office, he sleeps here. Tapos kanina papunta sa restaurant, we drove using my car. Imposible na mamalaman nilang nasa sasakyan ko si Sir Rui kung hindi naman nila nakita na pumasok siya ‘di ba? And if they have to threaten him, they can’t do it here in the office. Hindi sila makakapasok. Kung susubukan man nilang abangan na hintayin siyang umuwi sa condo, it still wont work.”

“Oh God! There must be someone that waits for you outside!”

“No worries, they couldn’t hurt me.”

Shawn almost ripped all of his hair with a frustrated forceful tug. Hearing about this makes him paranoid as hell and he’s not even at the c****x of the story yet!

“Man, come on you have to go home. That guy is crazy, at least in the condo I’m closer to you, they’re also banned in there right?”

“I doubt it, they wont come for me there.”

“Why are you so sure about it? Hindi natin alam kung ano ang binabalak nila para sundan ka nang gano’n!”

Nang mapansin ni Leyla ang malalim na usapan ng dalawa, mabilis siyang pumuslit para mangalkal ng maiinom mula sa ref.

“They want money,” said Rui with no hint of emotion in his face. “He wanted to live with my mom if I don’t sign the agreement. An agreement that I have to marry someone they pick or else my mom would have to live with him again. Like a pretend happy family.”

“What?! But he has a new family-”

“I know Shawn! Hindi pa ba halata? Gusto nilang huthutan ako ng pera. Kung papakasalan ko ‘yong babae na pipiliin niya, instantly he has half of my assets. Kung hahayaan ko na may connection siya kay Mama, she will just protect me and give him whatever he wanted. If I try to act smart and break everything off, he will expose my illness.”

Rui explained to whole situation pretty well. He could see the look of anger and disgust in Shawn’s friend. Of all people, Shawn knew the worst parts of his life the best. Siya ang naging unang kakampi nito sa lahat. Kaya naman ang ganito kalaking banta sa kan’ya, nakapatong din sa mga balikat ni Shawn.

“He must be out of his mind! Hindi ka puwedeng magpakasal kung kaninong babae! Baka ‘yon pa ang ikamatay mo!”

“I know. He wont win Shawn, I promise you that. Kung napanood mo lang kung ano ang nangyari kanina, sigurado akong matutuwa ka. I finally knows how it feels to stand up against that old piece of sh*t.”

“What exactly did you do?”

Instead of a loud and clear answer, Rui smirked and turned to look at Leyla who is busy drinking her grape juice. Sa tingin palang naiintindihan na ni Shawn ang ibig sabihin ng kaibigan.

“Leyla did something?”

Tumango si Rui, “Such a great actress I tell you, I almost sign an acting contract for her in the middle of it. It is also thanks to her that nothing happened to me. ”

“Leyla!” tawag niya sa babae na muntikan ng maitapon ang hawak na bote dahil sa gulat. “Gulat ka pa d’yan, come here and tell me the details. I need every part of it. As clear as you can recall!”

Leyla sat down beside Shawn and he’s looking at her with so much anticipation. As if she’s some sort of an eye witness to a top case, “ So?” tanong niya pa.

“This morning I prepared a sandwich for Mr. Rui to eat because I planned to take him out and eat some pasta at his favorite-”

“Not that part Leyla, later than that.”

“Oh! We got in the restaurant and he’s pretty popular among the girls there so I did what you have told me before. I acted really territorial, but I did not bark.”

Napakamot ng noo si Shawn habang natatawa naman si Rui sa may gilid. “Well you told her to be precised and tell you everything,” pang aasar pa ng boss.

“Leyla, start with when the two evil people came!”

“Ah! I wasn’t there when they came.”

“What?!”

“I was in the comfort room, I got out just in time to watch them bully Sir Rui.”

“Excuse me? Who bullied who?” angal ng lalaki.

“Well, they really looked like they bullied you a lot when I got there. So I did my best to intimidate them.”

Nanlaki ang mga mata ni Shawn, “And how did you do that exactly?”

“Aside from acting really mean, I also make them believe something that would ruin their whole plan of tormenting Sir Rui and his mother.”

“And that is?” pagtatanong ni Shawn.

Leyla glanced over to Rui. He’s looking at her, his eyes screaming with adoration. And by the smirk on his face, he’s enjoying this.

“They kept on holding on to the fact that Sir Rui has a condition that gets triggered when he’s facing someone in the opposite gender. At gusto nilang gamitin ‘yon na pang- blackmail. Thinking that to save Sir Rui’s image from the public, he will do anything to cover that up,” huminga ng malalim si Leyla bago magsalita muli. “So I introduced myself as Sir Rui’s girlfriend.”

No one dared to say another word in the middle of Shawn’s mini breakdown. He positioned himself as a fetus on the couch and buried his face in it. Leyla was shocked, she covered her mouth and quickly ran to hide behind Rui who’s sitting on his chair.

“Bakit ka nagtatago?” bulong nito habang hinahawakan siya sa may braso.

“Nagalit yata sa akin si Shawn?”

“No he’s not mad you dummy,” said Rui. He tapped the tip of her cute little nose, “He’s having a mental breakdown, maybe he’s not expecting the plot twist.”

Leyla nodded. Still crouching down beside Rui, she rested her head on his lap. Her cute gesture instantly made Rui feel warm and fuzzy inside.

“Dummy,” he whispered as he softly pat her head.

“So you’re telling me that they now believe that Rui has no weakness?!” biglaang sigaw ni Shawn na sa isang iglap lang ay nakatayo na sa itaas ng couch.

Mabilis pa sa inasinang bulati ang naging kilos ng dalawa. Leyla pushed herself to fall onto the ground and crawl behind Rui as he prentend to keep a straight face even though he wanted to laugh his heart out with how his girlfriend reacted.

“Eh? Nasaan si Leyla?” tanong ng lalaki.

“You scared her,” Rui said then looked at the girl hiding behind her.

“Leyla!” sigaw ni Shawn which made her stand up in an instant with her hand raised above her head.

“Yes po?” tanong niya.

“Now they think that Rui is cured, right?”

Leyla nodded, “I purposely made them believe that. Mabuti nalang at hindi talaga umubra ang pagpapakita ni Anje. Sir Rui is doing so well, I can see him getting better and better.”

Shawn witnessed the sincere soft smile on Rui’s face and decided to attack, “You know it would have been better if the two of you just started dating for real.”

“Ah gagamba!”

“Ehem ehem!”

Sabay na reaksyon ng dalawa. Nagkukunwaring may itinataboy na gagamba si Leyla habang si Rui naman ay biglaang inubo.

“Really? I’m an actor guys, you know?” he sarcastically said. “Hay, okay. At least for now hindi pa makakahanap ng dahilan ‘yong Arturo na ‘yon para patupiin ka.”

“Exactly,” Rui agreed.

“Pero paano kung subukan ka niya bigla? Paano kung may mga tauhan pala siya rito na makukuhanan ng information?”

“Shawn, you don’t have to worry about that. As long as Leyla’s there to keep me calm, it’s all good.”

“I will be there Shawn,” automatic na singit ni Leyla.

He did not expect him to have this huge leap of an improvement with his condition. For the past years, they did everything to find something that would make at least a pea sized difference, but nothing came out of it. Now, with Leyla, everything has changed.

“But I have something to say,” nahihiyang bulong ni Leyla. The two men patiently watched her, waiting for her to say whatever it is that she wanted to say.

“Go ahead,” Rui signaled her.

“I do think that Shawn was right earlier. Having you stay here alone in the office is no way near safe. We all thought that nobody knew you are staying here. Only to find out that we were followed from here, and then there’s the possibility of someone still spying on you.”

Shawn nodded, “Well said girly! Did you hear that Rui boi? ”

Rui looked a little bit worried with the idea. Hindi pa rin nawawala sa isip niya ang hindi magandang nadatnan niya pag-uwi noon.

“We will be worried knowing that you stay here alone,” Leyla said in her sweet low voice. He immediately heard the sincerity and worry carried by it. And every inch of it pains him.

“You want me to go home?”

“I have taken care of your unit. Malinis doon at wala ka ng kailangan pang isipin, just move back home,” pagkukumbinsi sa kan’ya ng babae.

“Rui come on.”

Rui directly looked into Leyla’s eyes, “You want me to go home?” he asked once again.

“Yes, please?” she answered.

“Okay, I will.”