Leila patted the wooden surface twice, thanked the receptionist and left for the hotel's diner. Lily asked her to meet them there, they would go to her room after having breakfast. Leila pulled out her phone to check the time. Some minutes past ten.
The two were already seated when she arrived. They waved at her and she marched to them. She pulled out a seat and dumped her bag on another chair. Left to her, she wanted to be in the room with Kelvin.
Kelvin would order breakfast, they would eat and try to get to know each other but it would raise brows. Lily already asked her twice about her relationship with Amara. She couldn't remember what she said.
Susie was quiet as Leila took her seat. That was odd but she didn't comment on it. The less the woman talked, the lower the chances of Leila fumbling.
"We are having scrambled eggs and some toast," Lily said. She slid the menu to Leila. "We didn't order for you because we didn't know what you might like."
There were different items on the menu. Too many options for her to choose. In the end, she settled for the same thing as the two other ladies but for the drink, she chose strawberry yogurt instead. She waved a waitress to their table and gave out her meal orders.
"What?" she barked at Lily. Her friend had been openly ogling her like she was an item on the menu.
Lily shrugged. "Did she give you that?"
Leila's brows furrowed as she looked behind her to the tall windows. The diner was almost empty, save for the three of them. For once, Leila wished Susie wasn't silent. "Who? What?"
"Your new roommate. Did she give that to you?" Lily plucked the flower from her ear and Leila made a dash for it. "Woah, woah. Slow down. I just wanted to show you what I was talking about." Lily raised her hands in surrender. Laughing, she nudged Susie with her elbow. "Told you she was sketchy. She gave it to you?"
If she told them the truth, she would have to explain where she got it from. She chose the easier way out.
Leila slipped the flower back to its original spot. She would wear Kelvin's gift like a badge of honour. "Yes."
"She likes women?" Susie asked this time.
"No." A second later, she said, "Her name is Amara and she's the boss's assistant." Their eyes grew wide with fear. Leila hoped this would stop their questions. "She found them in the hotel garden this morning."
"The hotel doesn't have a garden," Lily interrupted.
Yes, it did. That was where Kelvin found the flower.
"Says who?" she asked. Lily rolled her eyes and Leila's heart dipped. She looked to Susie for confirmation and the lady nodded in agreement. The hotel was quite big, they might have missed the garden. Leila couldn't resist asking, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Susie replied. She lowered her phone to the table and leaned forward. "We hung out last night. Had a tour of the whole place. No gardens." Leila's hands grew slightly moist, her heart threatened to break free from her chest. They were not lying. "There's a pool though."
The pool Mike invited her to.
Kelvin lied to her.
The thought was like a knife cutting through her heart. A sound escaped her and she cleared her throat when her friends lifted their brows.
"Guess who I saw this morning?" Her voice was overly cheerful and it drew the attention of her friends away from her pained expression. She tried to focus on the faces in front of her instead of Kelvin's words but they continued to echo in her head. "You will never guess."
Her husband lied to her and over something so silly.
"Who?" they chorused.
"Samantha." At their straight faces, her excitement faded. "She checked out of the hotel this morning."
Her heart hurt a little, she wanted them to take over the conversation so she had a distraction. But all she got in response were blank faces. Her mind spun stories about the real location of the flower. Some of the petals were missing but she assumed it had to do with it staying overnight. What if someone had given it to him? And he used Leila as a means to dispose of them?
Lily laughed. "Didn't you hear?" Hear what? This was why she wanted to stay with her colleague. To be updated. She looked to Susie, then back at Lily. If the information wasn't in Tech Valley group chat or sent via an email, most times, Leila wouldn't bother about it. "Sam is fired."
"What?" She didn't like that lady one bit but she was good at her job. One of the best. "What happened?"
"Heard she got into a fight with another staff," Susie chipped in. Leila shrunk when Lily's gaze centred on her. "No one would say who."
Leila relaxed slightly in her chair, grateful to the waitress who appeared at that moment with their food. If Sam was fired for fighting, what about her? Who reported them?
"What about Mike? Have you seen him this morning?"
Not that she cared about him. But he was the only one present during the fight. He wouldn't snitch on her, right? Leila had hoped her warning or a mention of a boyfriend would have discouraged him but he seemed to have taken that as a challenge. She would have to make up a better excuse or simply tell him the truth.
Susie nibbled on the side of her toast. Leila hadn't touched her food yet. She was hungry but she had no appetite. She wanted to be back in the room with her husband. But that thought vanished as soon as it came. Her husband lied to her. She didn't want to be around him. She didn't want to be around anyone at this point.
"Who's Mike?" Lily piqued. Her toast was almost gone. Leila dug into her meal before she was called out. She chewed slowly to avoid answering but Lily said, "Leila, who is Mike?"
Her cheeks warmed. Mike was his middle name. Not a lot of people knew that. "I meant Kelvin." A look of interest crawled into Lily's eyes. Leila didn't want to imagine the woman's thoughts but she corrected any notion she might have by saying, "I haven't seen him all day. He was supposed to help with my phone screen."
"You haven't fixed it yet?" Lily asked.
On one of the weekends at Freya's place, they had stopped by at a phone store to replace the screen. Also gotten a bowl of ice-cream and chocolate cakes and pretended to toast to the newly married Leila.
"No."
"Oh well, he left."
He left. Leila knew before she asked that it had something to do with her husband but she had to confirm. She needed to confirm.
"Why did he leave?" she asked.
Lily finished the rest of her scrambled eggs before replying. It annoyed Leila more than she would willingly admit. She wanted the woman talking now.
"Dunno," Lily replied through a mouthful of eggs. "He was supposed to have breakfast with us but he left."
"Saw him talking to the boss," Susie mentioned. She wiped her hands on the napkin. "Do you think he is fired too?"
The question was directed at Lily but Leila couldn't help feeling responsible for this new development. Her husband saw them talking at the reception. And he kept to his words. Just great. Lily shrugged.
"That's fucked if he is," Susie murmured. "Kelvin was teaching me how to swim."
So Susie only cared about her swimming lessons? For all she knew, Susie might know how to swim but she wanted an excuse to be in close contact with the man.
"Yeah, it is fucked," Leila said to fill in the silence.
Her phone vibrated, she pulled it out of her purse. There was a text from Kelvin. If she hadn't been dumped with the news of Mike's departure and the truth about the flower, she would have smiled at his show of concern. He was almost acting like a real husband, she would have played along but she knew better than to do that. Her mouth turned down in a frown.
Kev: Having fun?
What was his business? Another text came in.
Kev: Stepping out for a bit.
The urge to type up a strongly worded message knotted her joints but she shook it off. He was still her boss. If she wasn't careful, she would be the second or third fired staff member this week. As much as she wanted to, Leila didn't reply. If she asked about his whereabouts, he might come up with a lie.
How many things did he lie about?
Leila ate the rest of her breakfast without fully tasting it. Everything and everyone annoyed her for no reason. She wanted to be back home at her apartment, not Kelvin's. For the first time since the marriage, she wished she had refused his proposal.