Programmed Wife

Chapter 45

Leyla and Rui sat in the middle of lunch in complete silence. She couldn’t even raise her head and look the two people with them staring in awe. Nobody cared to tell her that the woman in front of her is actually her boyfriend’s mother. And this is their first ever official meeting. Hindi man lang siya nakapagbigay galang o nakapagmano man lang. Ngayon nagsisisi siya kung bakit hindi niya kaagad na napansin, itsura palang nito at galaw, hatala na may koneksyon sa nobyo. Pero hindi niya kaagad na nakita kaya naman nagulat siya sa rebelasyon.

Shawn wiggled his brows sending Rui some nasty looks that certainly means something that he knows. It shows in Rui’s face that he understood all of it. Wala pa ngang sinasabi ang bunganga ng maingay na kaibigan ay naiintindihan na niya kung ano ang tinutukoy nito. He’s even giggling while having this very naughty eye to eye talk with Shawn.

Patricia, his mother on the other hand couldn’t even blink. She’s not processing all the things that was presented to her in a matter of literally a day! She got back from her trip to Guam, so ready to surprise her son in his company. There are even chocolates in her purse since she knew that he would love them. But once she called Shawn for a pick up, it all goes south. Suddenly she was bombarded with the news of Rui having a girl secretary. And based on how Shawn described her, he was spot on. From her having a very beautiful face, a nice attitude and very nice soothing voice. Pati ang paraan kung paano niya tratuhin ni Rui at kung paano umakto si Rui habang inaalalayan siya, lahat ‘yon ay tumugma.

They staged a false meeting for Patricia and Leyla to meet earlier. Kaya lang nagkataon na wala si Roca sa position niya at hindi natawag si Leyla. Kung hindi sana ay mas nakilatis pa niya ang dalaga. ‘Yon lang naman ang gusto nilang subukan ni Shawn, kung magiging maayos ba bilang daughter- in -law ang babae. Ngayon na nakikita na niya at nakikilatis ito ng malapitan, she passed, very easily, with flying colors too! But she still couldn’t believe it.

“Mom, if you keep on staring at Leyla like that, she wont be able to eat. Kailangan niya pa na bumalik sa trabaho pagkatapos,” binasag ni Rui ang katahimikan. Nabigla ang Ginang sa biglaang pagtawag sa kan’ya ng anak.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry dear!” she apologized. She smiled very cutely while picking up a piece of her own favorite sushi and put it on Leyla’s plate, “Darling please, this one’s my favorite, try it!”

Leyla shyly nodded and tried it, “I like this one too Ma’am Patricia, we order it all the time.” Nakangiti pa siyang lumingon kay Rui na napapatulala habang pinapanood niya ang dalawang importanteng babae sa buhay niya na nag- uusap.

“Please call me Tita,” sabi niya sa dalaga. “Rui easts this? He hates raw salmon though, he loves tuna, no?” tanong ng Ginang.

Leyla turned to look at Rui who no avoided her gaze, he’s surely shy about something. She checked the platter of tuna beside Rui, currently still untouched, “I think that’s because of you tita, because you like salmon so much, he picks tuna on platters,” she giggled as soon as Rui pulled her and wrapped his hand around her to cover her mouth.

“Oh my gosh is that true?” Patricia softly asked, touched with what she just heard. And looking at Rui’s shy look on his face, she got the answer.

“Ah! Come on mom, just eat your freaking salmon fishies, don’t listen to her. She likes voicing out her finding and sh*t,” nahihiyang sabi ni Rui habang pinanlalakihan ng mata si Leyla na hindi napigilang matawa sa pamumula ng pisngi ng nobyo.

“That’s so sweet,” Patricia whispered. Trying to stop herself from crying. Mabuti nalang at nandoon si Shawn para magpatawa, isang simpleng halakhak lang ay natawa na rin silang lahat.

“So,” panimula ni Shawn, “Since when did you two started dating?”

Rui immediately started choking on his food, luckily Leyla was quick to give him his glass of water.

“Oh gosh, just tell me if you don’t want to talk about it. Don’t die choking on food,” biro naman sa kan’ya ni Shawn.

“Ikaw talaga, ‘wag mong asarin si Rui. Alam mo naman na mahiyain ‘yan,” hinampas pa siya ng bahagya ng ginang.

“Tita alam mo ba, hindi na mahiyain ‘yang anak nin’yo ngayon. Nakikipagharutan pa ‘yan ng harapan-”

“Ehem- ehem-” it was Leyla’s turn to interrupt by faking a cough.

“Wow, shuta what a perfect match,” Shawn rolled his eyes and decided to just continue eating. “Hala teka may naalala ako!”

Napalingon ang tatlo sa kan’ya nang biglaang siyang napasigaw.

“So, noong sinabi nin’yo na may relasyon kayo sa harapan ni Arturo pati ni Anje, totoo ‘yon?”

“In front of who?” halos mapasigaw si Patricia sa narinig. She did hear about her husband contacting Rui again. But meeting them in person, Rui did not tell her anything about that. In fact, he actually did not plan to do so.

“Mom, don’t worry about it. Nothing happened. It’s all good now mom, I swear.”

“You did not plan to let me know about it? What happened?”

“Don’t worry about it-”

“Leyla knows it all tita!”

“Leyla tell me everything about it!”

“Uhm, tita,” ilang na nagpalingon -lingon si Leyla sa pagitan ni Rui at ng Ginang. “We tried to eat out and somehow we were followed all the way to that restaurant. They tried to give him a terrifying deal to try and tie him down even more.”

“Babe don’t tell her, it’s fine,” bulong ni Rui sa tabi niya.

“Shut up Rui! Don’t intervene, I want to know everything!”

Leyla could tell just by the tone on her breaking voice, his Mom is very scared right now. She is trying so hard to keep it in and act tough, but just talking about Rui’s father, it gives her so much stress and an anxiety that she would never acknowledge.

“Tita, it’s okay,” Leyla talked to her in a soft voice. It’s the same calm and reassuring tone that she uses to calm Rui down, “ We got over it. There’s no problem Tita, I promise. Hindi na nila matatakot si Rui, and look at your son,” nakangiti siya ng malaki habang tinitignan si Rui. “He’s capable enough to protect you, I will tell you everything about it, but please don’t stress about it because it’s already solved.”

Shawn gasped in shock as if he just witness a goddess’ work right in front of him. Pareho ng kung ano ang nakita niyang nangyari kay Rui, ganoon din ang nangyayari kay Patricia. Unti- unti siyang nakakalma at dahan-dahan na naniniwala sa mga sinasabi ng babae.

Hindi inaasahan ni Rui ang pag abot ng mama niya sa kamay ni Leyla para hawakan ito ng mahigpit, “Leya sweetie, I understand. But can you please tell tita everything now?” she asked in a low voice.

“It’s actually very satisfying tita,” she bubbly started to tell. “They got there to tell Rui that he has to marry a girl that they chose or you have to live together with Arturo and his new family,” she even followed the way of how they address the mean guy. “I know everything about Rui and his condition. I understand that they are trying to use it against him and threaten him with it, but luckily Rui has no reaction against me, like, look!” she pinched Rui’s cheeks as his mother giggle and Rui rolled his eyes.

“Yes, that’s actually a blessing,” sagot ni Patricia.

“So yeah Tita, I threw them off and pretended to be Rui’s girl. I got really close with him, really touchy and clingy, basically making them see that he’s not getting triggered by women anymore. They now think that he’s fully over it and now they can’t hold anything against him.”

Patricia covered her face with her hand. And with how her shoulders moved up and down, she’s clearly crying.

“Mom, please don’t cry,” Rui said. “There’s nothing sad about it. You can finally push on with your annulment and you can forget about all his threats, you keep all your money, you don’t have to lie that he doesn’t black mail you to get more.”

“Shut up,” she said sobbing.

“It’s really a great scene, too bad I can’t watch it! I can only imagine how shocked they look realizing that they can’t stomp all over you,” kumento naman ni Shawn sa may gilid.

“They even tried to test him with a waitress, buti nalang nakakaya na ni Rui na kalmahin ang sarili niya,” Leyla proudly told them.

“What?” Rui asked. He meaningfully turned to look at Leyla and placed his right hand on top of her thigh under the table, “I don’t think I calmed down myself, I think there’s something else, don’t you think?” maloko niyang nginitian si Leyla habang nararamdaman niya ang mahinang pagtapik ng babae sa kamay niya.

“I- I don’t remember,” she whispered, looking at him with a threatening gaze.

“Ohh, you don’t?” Rui raised his brow and nodded sarcastically while lightly grabbing her thigh.

“You two are like, flirting so hard right now, I lowkey hate it. Respeto naman kay tita oh? Sinisipon pa siya dito sa gilid!”

“We’re not,” said Rui and laughed it off.

“Do you really think he can’t get us now?” Patricia asked hopefully.

“Yes mom, it’s better now. Kahit anong mangyari hindi ka na babalik do’n sa lalaking ‘yon. Go and file for annulment, you can chill with aunt Jen and aunt Stephanie abroad, Shawn and I got you!”

“Oh yes tita, don’t even worry about it. Just go anywhere with my mom and Aunt Steph,” segunda ni Shawn.

“You two are so sweet, pauwi pa lang nga ‘yong mga ‘yon ngayon dahil nauna lang ako. Dito muna siguro kami bago kami tumuloy sa France.”

Patricia smiled and gave Leyla a very sweet tap on the hand, “Leyla, you are so sweet. Thank you so much for being there for my son. He’s been alone for too long. Please stay with him, okay?”

“Don’t worry about it tita, I will always be there for him.”

Naiilang na napailing si Rui dahil sa naririnig niyang usapan ng dalawa habang si Shawn naman ay nasusuka na dahil sa tuloy-tuloy na kiligan nitong dalawa. Hindi pala niya gusto na nakikita ang mukha ni Rui na ganitong nahihiya at namumula dahil sa kilig.

“Yeah right, kahit sa condo magkalapit lang kayo ng unit. Kahit umuwi kayo hindi pa rin kayo nagkakalayo,” Shawn rolled his eyes in frustration, seeing the two love birds act all lovey dovey.

Rui sipped his cola, sat back and showed a meaningful grin,“Who said she’s allowed to leave my unit?”

“Wha-Wait, What? What the f*ck? Guys?!”