Programmed Wife

Chapter 44

"Ano na teh? Anong balita do'n sa naghahanap sa'yo?" tanong ni Roca sa kaibigan niya na kakabalik lang sa front desk. Nilibot niya ang lobby para hanapin kung sino ang babae na naghahanap sa kan'ya pero wala siyang nakita. She did not find anyone she knew or anyone that wanted to talk to her specifically.

"Hindi ko nga alam eh. Hindi ko naman matanong isa-isa 'tong mga nakaupo lang dito, baka bigla akong magmukhang feeling close," she said giggling. Ngayon ay hinatak siya ni Roca para makaupo sa may likuran ng front desk.

"Dito ka muna, hintayin natin baka bumalik," sabi pa nito. "Dala mo ba phone mo?"

"Nope, bakit?"

"Ha? Bakit hindi? Loka ka, iniwanan mo ba sa desk mo? Paano nalang kung hanapin ka ni Bossing?"

"Oh- well, you're right. Let me just call him with your telephone!"

Roca's jaw immediately fell wide open as Leyla casually dialed the number that connects directly to Rui's line. It took him a while before answering the call.

With a very skeptical tone he asked, "Hello?"

"Hello? I'm in the lobby. I left my phone on my desk okay?" she said without addressing him politely this time. Hindi pa rin talaga makapaniwala si Roca kahit na naririnig na niya na ganito makipag- usap si Leyla sa CEO ng kumpanya.

"Do you want me to get it?" he asked. "Wait, why are you there?"

"No no, you don't have to get it. It's fine. 'Di ko nga alam kung bakit nandito ako, may naghahanap daw sa akin kaso nawala. Hihintayin ko muna siya baka bumalik pa."

"Who the hell is looking for you? It's almost lunch time, come back here," she heard Rui whine. "Bakit ka tumatawa?" tanong pa nito.

"Still got forty minutes! Hahaha! Did you get to order the lunch by the way? I can fix it if you want.""

Rui growled, "I got it, I'm a grown man you know?"

"Yeah, yeah you are, right, right," pagbibiro ng dalaga. "I'll be back in a while okay? I'm with Roca right now, I'll be back after ten minutes."

"Yeah okay. By the way we have a meeting at one."

"But how? You're one pm. is cleared out right?"

"It's for a VIP."

"Hmm," Leyla nodded. "Okay, got it. I'm just gonna wait here for a while. Bye bye!"

As soon as Leyla put the phone down, she turned to look at Roca who's silently sobbing a little right beside her.

"Roca?"

"I feel so f*cking single right now. You guys are so cute. I want to tell the whole office!"

"Shush, 'wag kang magkakamali. Magagalit si Rui sa'yo."

"Huhuhu" Roca sobbed. "How the hell do I keep this juicy story all to myself? How do you expect me to not freak out when you are literally Sir Rui's girl? How long have you kept this as a secret? Kailan pa naging kayo?"

"Not gonna talk about us remember? If you have questions, you better talk to him yourself!"

Roca rolled her eyes with that respond. Aangal pa sana siya pero biglaan silang nilapitan ng isang delivery man.

"Hello po, delivery po for Miss Leyla," sabi nito habang hawak ang isang malaking kahon na puno ng Japanese food.

"Oh God. I should have never let him order," Leyla whispered. "He for sure ordered everything on the menu. What a dummy."

"Did you just call the CEO a dummy?" Roca gasped. "You are insane!"

"Thank you po Sir, I can take it from here," sabi nito matapos tanggapin ang pagkain. "Roca, can you please help me get a trolley?" nahihiya niyang bulong sa kaibigan.

"For sure, I-uhm, wait for me."

Rui gasped as soon as the door opened with Leyla struggling to push a trolley with a huge box on it. He immediately recognized the name of the restaurant.

"Oh no, please don't tell me-"

"Yeah, you ordered a lot. Please remind me to not let you order again. This is my mistake to be honest."

Rui giggled, "I did not expect it to be this much! I ordered two servings of each-"

"Two? Oh gosh, can you please pick it up? I can't even carry it!"

Rui got the box effortlessly and opened it up, "Oh, that's quite a lot. You're right!"natawa pa siya habang isa-isang nilalabas ang mga pagkain.

"Two huge bowls of three different ramens? Sashimi and sushi rolls- oh no, how much did this cost?"

"You know what for this much, it's really cheap. You're going to feel proud of me for sure!"

Leyla sighed, "How much?"

"Eighteen thousand! Such a bargain!"

"What the heck? Ugh! I can't believe you right now. You better not let any of these food go to waste, seriously!"

"You sound like a mom already, perfect."

Hindi narinig ni Leyla ang bulong ng lalaki at nagpatuloy lang ito sa paghihiwalay ng mga pagkain. She grabbed a plate to pick up a bunch of food but in assortment and placed it in front of Rui together with a spoon and fork.

"We should give some away, can we do that?" she asked. Rui nodded immediately.

"Go, give your friend some. And maybe leave two servings more, we can make Shawn eat them once he get here."

"Oh he's coming?"

"Yeah, the one pm slot was with him and... just give Roca some, go ahead."

"Yeah yeah, I'm gonna tell her to come up," sabi ni Leyla na biglaang ginamit ang telepono sa lamesa ni Rui. Hindi naman napigilang itago ni Rui ang kilig na ngayon, malapit na nang tuluyan ang loob ng babae sa kan'ya na hindi na niya kailangan magtanong sa bawat kilos niya.

"Hello Roca, it's me. Can you please come here in Sir Rui's office, go get some of the food here for your lunch-yeah, no problem at all come."

Rui looked up at the girl preparing the food scattered in his table, "She's going in here?"

"Mmhmm, are you not okay with that? I can just bring it out-"

"I'm- you know what, we can try it."

That is the response that Leyla was secretly wanting. In any way, whenever she got a chance, she will try and get Rui to be exposed in a place with other girls. Not really an idea that normal girlfriends would have. But she was dedicated to slowly help him with his trauma.

"Oh, that must be her," Leyla said as they heard the knock at the door. "Roca? Come in."

She was right. It was Roca, but a more high looking version of her. She couldn't breath normally, not even walk straight. Kahit nga kumurap ay 'di niya magawa dahil sa presensya ng lalaki na nanonood sa kanila ni Leyla.

"Com here, what do you want to eat? Take it."

"Ah-Ramen- t-this," she nervously said.

Leyla giggled and checked on Rui. He's not a tiny bit tensed even though Roca is literally taking some food off of his table. Surprisingly, he's doing good.

"Rui, you're making her feel scared. Don't stare like that," pabirong bawal ni Leyla dahil nakita niya na nakasunod ang mata nito sa galaw ng kamay ni Roca.

"Oh- Sorry, please take anything," he said with a faint smile on his face. Ngayon pa lang siya naging ganito kabait sa iba niyang trabahador. Well he really doesn't have a choice when it's Leyla's best friend. "Roca right?" tumango ang dalaga. "Please keep our relationship as a secret for now. Leyla forced me to keep it that way."

Roca immediately gave Leyla an "are you dumb?" look before forcing herself to nod and agree to it.

"Thank you po," mahinang bulong ni Roca bago ito maglakad palabas. "Oh Sir Shawn!"

"Shawn?" Leyla asked. Just as Roca left, Shawn came inside the office and greeted them with a huge smile on his face.

"Hi hi Mr. And Mrs!" pabiro niyang bati sa dalawa kahit na wala pa siyang alam sa relasyon ng mga ito. "Leyla, I am with Aunt Patricia," Shawn grinned as he introduce the beautiful woman behind him.

Leyla checked Rui's expression to be prepared if he ever need this woman out, he was obviously shocked, but he's not in fear. She highly doubt that Shawn would bring in someone that could trigger Rui. And now she faced the woman, to greet her.

"Hello po Ma'am Patricia, I am Sir. Rui's secretary," she greeted. The woman is very classy and insanely beautiful. She may be around fifty to sixty years old but she looks so gorgeous and glowy. Halatang mayaman ito.

"Hello dear," even her voice is classy. "I tried to ask for your secretary earlier Rui. But nobody showed up."

"That was my bad. We were doing something earlier, she got in the lobby to wait for someone to come back but I called her up again," pagsasalba ni Rui sa nobya niya.

"I am very sorry about that Ma'am."

"Oh don't worry about it Darling."

"Food!" biglaang sigaw ni Shawn at lumapit kaagad ito sa lamesa. "Good thing we decided to come a bit earlier than what I originally said."

"A lot more earlier!" Rui grinned his teeth, "You did not tell me anything about it. I haven't told her yet."

Pinanlakihan ng mata ni Rui si Shawn na kitang- kita naman ni Leyla. He for sure is worried about something and he couldn't tell her what it is.

"I will get the table ready," sabi nalang niya ng nakangiti at nagsimulang ayusin ang pagkain sa maliit na lamesa doon sa may pantry side niya.

Patricia followed her every movement. She grabbed a bunch of the take out food to transfer but Rui immediately stopped her to take the stuff himself. Walang pag-uusap na nangyari sa pagitan nilang dalawa. Tahimik lang na inayos ni Leyla ang laylayan ng manggas ni Rui para hindi sumawsaw sa kung anu-anong pagkain.

Shawn sat beside the Madam to whisper, "See what I meant Tita, they're insanely close. It's not normal."

Patricia was in awe. Seeing Rui act this way, she must say it's her first. "A miracle. How can he be this close to his secretary? He's not even having any reactions towards her." Lalo pa siyang napanganga ng makita niya si Rui na inaayos ang buhok ng babae dahil nakaharang ito sa mukha ng dalaga habang nag aayos siya ng mga pinggan.

"Tita, let's eat?" sabi ni Shawn at inalalayan ang babae na nanlalaki pa rin ang mga mata. They sat down to start eating but Leyla is still standing right behind Rui.

"Sit down," he whispered. Leyla did not move.

"Leyla?" Shawn called. "Come on don't pretend you don't eat with us, just sit down and act normally."

Malakas itong napahalakhak dahil kitang- kita niya na nahihiya ang dalaga.

"Darling, sit with us and eat. Come on," sabi ng nakakatanda.

"Ah- yes po," she whispered and sat down beside Rui.

They were eating deliciously in silence. Until Rui decided to take some wasabi. Bago pa makapagsalita si Shawn, nauna na si Leyla.

"Not that much, you're gonna hurt your nose again," bulong nito at kinuha ang halos kalahating kutsarang wasabi na ihahalo sana ni Rui sa toyo. "Here, oh, just a tiny bit."

"You used your chopstick," puto ni Ma'am Patricia sa dalawa.

"Po?"

"The chopstick you used to give him the wasabi, it was you personal one."

Leyla was clueless. After silently blinking for a while she turned to look at Rui then her chopstick. Hindi naman galit ang tono ng ginang, mukhang gulat ito. Kaya naisip ni Leyla na baka concerned lang ito dahil sa lagay ng lalaki.

"Don't worry Tita, kahit yata magpasahan pa ng laway 'yang dalawang 'yan, walang mangyayari kay Rui."

"Yeah nothing happens," Rui confirmed.

After his sudden confirmation, there was a loud thud caused by Shawn hitting the table with his hand. The three watched Rui casually sip the soup of his ramen while they freak out.

"Are you telling me you tried?" sigaw ni Shawn na nababali na ang leeg kakalipat ng lingon sa dalawa.

"Rui? What do you mean by that?" madiin na tanong naman ng dalaga.

"Uhm, Ma'am, wala po 'yon, wala pong ibig sabihin-"

"So naglaplapan na kayo pero walang ibig sabihin?!"

"Oh my God! Is that true Rui? Totoo ba ang sinasabi ni Shawn?!"

Rui rolled his eyes and calmly looked at them, " Come on mom, she's my girlfriend. It's no big deal."