Programmed Wife

Chapter 33

"Sir," kalmadong iniabot ni Leyla ang isang piraso ng papel sa kan'yang Boss. She took a deep breath and tried for the nth time, "Sir Rui?" Wala pa ring sagot ang lalaki. Tahimik lang itong nakatulala sa kan'yang mukha.

He's carefully tracing her face with his eyes. Examining every inch of her beauty, he couldn't believe it. And now he finally came up with the answer, not a solid one, but plausible enough for him to believe in it.

Rui smirked while slowly shaking his head, leaving Leyla puzzled. She have been trying to give him a copy of his schedule for the day. But he wouldn't take it for some reason.

"What's wrong Sir?" she asked. For a moment, she witnessed his eyes scan her from head to toe. "Oh-Okay... anong meron?"

"Leyla, have you ever heard of me even before you applied to work in here?"

"Out of the blue question, why'd you ask?"

"Just give me an answer, I'm curious."

Leyla scratched her head, thinking pretty deep about the question presented to her, "Not really," she answered.

"Not really?"

"I heard about Phoenix before. I watched a bunch of shows produced by the company. I have heard your name here and there, maybe read it on some credits you know? But I don't know anything else about you," she honestly stated.

"And where are you from exactly?"

Leyla blinked before answering, "From the province, Tarlac."

"You are from Tarlac? Since when did you move here in Manila?"

"Months ago, bago ako lumipat dito para makapagtrabaho."

Napangiti si Rui sa narinig niyang kasagutan, "Leyla, do you know anything about me? Something that you weren't supposed to know but somehow you do?"

Leyla examined the look in his face, "Are you scared? No- you're happy but you are troubled," she mumbled. "What are you worried about? I can help with anything."

"I'm sure you can help, there's no doubt in that. You're really great with everything. Perfect I must say."

Leyla looked deeply in to his eyes, "You're troubled about something about me."

Usually he would be shocked with how she gathers such information with a simple stare, but right now, he wasn't so surprised.

"I want to know if you would stay with me," he asked with courage.

With one look, she could tell that he's not just asking. It sounded silly, a bit off, as if something that he wouldn't asked. At least not at a random moment like this, but she understood that it held a lot of meaning for him.

"Sir, as weird as it may sound to you, I will never leave. Not unless that's your honest order."

And with a few words from her, he knew. His fear, the undying thoughts in his head, everything vanished.

"Just as I thought," he whispered.

"So, what's these all about?" nagtatakang nakaabang sa sagot niya si Leyla. Pero ang biglaan na pagtayo ni Rui lang ang naging kasagutan. He walked straight to the water dispenser.

The towering man started to focus on it with both of his hands inside his pockets.

"Don't get me anything to drink from now on!" seryoso nitong sabi. Hindi siya lumingon at tumuloy ito patungo sa may lababo. "F*ck, don't wash the dishes from now on."

"Sir?" she laughed. "So paano pa ako makakapagluto?"

"Don't cook again! Do you shower? Don't shower!"

"Water, every electronics are not supposed to get wet. With water, she would be easily broken- f*ck why did I never thought of this before? She's too perfect to be real! Of course that's got to be it," isip ni Rui.

"Sir, don't shower?" Rui heard none of that. He got distracted with how her lips moved. "No drink, no washing, shower?"

"Wha-Huh? Oh yeah, Just to be sure-"

"Come on, what am I? A Robot?" she joked.

A robot. Leyla may have known him a little too well. Saktong- sakto sa kung ano ang nasa utak niya. It may have been a year ago, but the recent events have made him believe in it even more.

One year have past since Rui was tempted to pay a weird company selling AI Humanoids. It matched up perfectly, a woman that would solve all of his problems. He got what he wanted in Leyla. And now he's living the life that he always wanted.

"Sir?" she called.

"Do you shower?" tanong niya rito.

"I- I do shower. I'm sorry, what are we talking about?"

"So they're more advanced than I expected," Rui whispered.

"Who?"

"Nothing, you can get back to work Leyla."

Something in his eyes made Leyla smile, "You're not troubled anymore," she acknowledged.

Leyla got out of the office with a couple of questions circling over her head. But she couldn't make out answers for half of it. Kahit na alam niyang marami siyang hindi naiintindihan sa kung ano man ang gumugulo kay Rui kanina, hindi niya rin alam kung bakit isang simpleng ngiti mula sa lalaki ay magiging okay na rin siya.

"Feelings," she whispered. "I should have studied more about feelings, now I couldn't deal with them properly."

"Miss Leyla?" a girl walking past her desk tapped at the table to get her attention.

"Ah, yes Miss Paula?"

"Kanina pa po tumutunod 'yong telephone Miss Leyla."

"Oh-Oh! Sorry! Thank you Miss Paula, " she said, giving her a little bow.

The secretary cleared her throat before answering the phone call.

"Hello this is Attorney Desmond, may I speak with Mr. Rui Andrews?"

"Good morning Attorney Desmond, this is Leyla Cruz speaking, his secretary-"

"I need to talk to him directly Miss Cruz, can you please connect me to him."

"One moment Attorney, let me check for a moment."

Leyla knocked at the door of Rui's office.

"Yes?"

"Sir there's a call from Attorney Desmond can I pass you the call?"

His eyebrows instantly furrowed. But he still nodded to answer the question.

Leyla was quick. She pressed the button to connect the call directly to Rui. And something inside of her kept shouting that she needed to be there.

Hindi na siya nagdalawang isip na pasukin ang kuwarto para lumapit sa lalaki. He was confused, but he couldn't say anything as he was entertaining the phone call.

"I thought this was sorted out?" Rui pulled his hair in frustration. Pero mabilis na nahawi ito ng malambot na kamay ni Leyla.

She was able to pull out a chair and sit beside him. His hand was tightly held by his secretary. And no matter how he wanted to pull her hairs out, he couldn't. Leyla made sure to not let his other hand go while she's sorting out papers in his desk so casually.

"I need to know how that dumb f*ck got his way again. He's not getting anything out of this. Push the annulment, I will be talking to my mother!"

Rui slammed the phone back down after he got heated over a phone call.

"Annulment," she whispered. "I didn't know you're married."

Rui darted his eyes towards hers, "I am not married, you know that."

"Yeah, I know that. I was just curious. I think this is what Roca means, minsan hindi mo maiiwasan na makitsismis."

"Seriously, you've been hanging out with her too much. Ngayon marunong ka na rin na makinig sa tsismis?"

"I know I shouldn't," she whispered. "But it bothers you so much, I wanted to share the trouble."

"Sharing the trouble with you," he whispered. "I guess I could do that, it sounded a little nice to be honest."

"Go ahead Sir. I'm all ears."

Rui begged his own brain to stop him. He wanted to force himself to throw the idea of revealing everything to Leyla. It is the past life that he wanted to escape, a life that he wanted to forget. But whatever he did over the years, nothing helped him.

"I want to tell you everything, and I wish I did not," he said in a low voice. Diverting his gaze everywhere but her concerned eyes, waiting for him to open up.

"If you don't want to say anything, just keep it. I am not forcing you to open up anything just for me. You know that right?"

"I know... as dumb as it sounds, I know but I still want to say it all. I want you to fully know who I am, and I know that me being this close to you may seem crazy for you, but I really treasure it."

"The tone of your voice, why do you sound like you are leaving your last words?" Leyla tried to joke around.

"Dummy," he called her.

"You finally smiled."

"Leyla, I'm only telling you this once. Please listen."

She nodded. A sign for him to continue his story.

"My dad is an abusive alcoholic. Me and my mother have suffered for years because of him. Sure he had money, he was capable to give me anything, but he made sure to kill me still."

He felt a strong grip of soft hands in grab his.

"One night when my father got drunk, I knew he would hurt my mother again. So I planned ahead, called my Aunt to help me save her. But instead of saving her, she assaulted me. I was just a little boy, I don't know what to do- what to think. A woman that I trust so much..."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Luckily Shawn was my neighbor, he saved us," he continued with a weak smile in his face. "And since then, I never trusted women that comes in my life."

Leyla nodded, getting the story that she was thinking of for days. It all made sense with what she assumed.

"My anxiety... it only gets triggered with women. My father knows the whole story. We wanted to break all ties with him, annulment for my parents to take out all our legal connections, but he's holding on real tight. At first he threatened my mother to sue her with false accusations, we were broke before. Kayang kaya kaming baliktarin ng gag*ng 'yon, tiniis nalang ng Mama ko na matali pa rin sa lalaking 'yon para sa akin."

The loud screeching silence felt the entire office room. There is nothing but the ticking of the clock.

"Now that I am more capable than he is, he managed to use my dark past to threaten my mother still. We can fight him face to face, but because of my position, my mom is still legally his wife. She wanted me to live my life peacefully, without the fear of getting my dark past revealed."

"You wanted your mother to be freed, but she wanted you to be safe."

"That's right. A pretty dangerous line to dance at, and as it seems like, he's trying to drain as much money as he could from me. And just for my stupid perfect name to be maintained, I need to do what I have to do."

"What a horrible life," she whispered. "Sorry."

"No need to be sorry, I'm aware of it. Imagine being a weirdo that can't be with girls because of a past trauma then starting a business in the entertainment industry with women rushing to be in a relationship with you for a better shot. What a dumb idea!"

"And you get nothing when you have a contact with me?"

"Yeah, that's why you're special to me."

With his eyes filled with warmth he watched her caress his hand. A sniff of security, a taste of the fantasy that he longed for. Being lost in her deep brown eyes, he finally came around and accepted his reality. A reality where his wishes came true and it is called Leyla.