Quite suspicious

When Laila grabbed her phone and unlocked the screen, she saw that she had two unread messages. At least one of them she assumed belonged to Noah. When she scanned her finger to actually see the messages, she saw that they were in fact both from Noah. He wrote her, "I'm sorry honey. I am afraid I will be having a few late nights at the office these upcoming few days, including today. I would love to have dinner with you. So, if you don't mind coming all the way out here, this lonely husband won't reject his wife's kind offer." The second message only contained two emoticons, which were of course a heart emoji and a kissy face emoji. Laila chuckled at the sight of both messages. Partly because they were sweet but mostly because it was amusing to her to see the use of such emoticons by a person as awkward as the Noah she remembered.

After she replied to his message with a confirmation and some emoticons allowing him to pick what they would be having for dinner, she finally got up out of the comfy deck chair and made her way to the dining room where the staff was just finishing up with placing everything they had prepared on the long table. Laila imagined that this was the first time that the entire table had been filled from front to back, aside from maybe a party or two that she of course had no memory of. One by one, the people that worked at the mansion finished up their tasks, placed a final plate and took a seat as they waited for everyone else to finish up as well.

When everyone that was present was seated, Laila noticed that there were still a few empty seats. She looked around at who might be missing but even the staff that was usually free today, had come for this lunch. She was just about to ask who those seats had been prepared for, when the doorbell rang. The only one who seemed surprised by this, was she herself. Calmly one of the male employees got up out of his seat and headed towards the door, while Laila questioningly looked over at Giselle who simply returned her look with a big amused smile.

After a few moments of anxious waiting and looking in the direction of the doorway, the in between was opened and five more people stepped into the dining room. These faces were a lot less friendly than the faces she had gotten used to during the short time she had spent in this timeline and she imagined these were the people she had let go over the years, which made her understand that they were feeling less civil than the people who had seen her change for themselves. Especially since even they had trouble believing it to be true.

With simple nods and smiles the final guests to this lunch took their seats as well and the meal, as well as the long awaited talks, could begin. Laila started it off by giving a small opening speech. "Hello everyone,

Thank you for coming today. I am happy to see so many of you here and that you have given me an opportunity to get to know you better and make some amends for past mistakes. I hope that after today, we can move forward on a better note and that the tension, that is between us at the moment, can disappear. For now, I think we should all start eating as I am sure you must be hungry and I will use my chair to join each of you in order to have a short talk as we eat. If anyone wants to have a private conversation elsewhere, that is of course also an option. Just let me know and we will go sit outside for a one-on-one." After finishing her last sentence, Laila gestured to the food and said one final word, "Enjoy" before she too took her seat and started her conversation with the first person on her 'list'.

The first person she started with was one of the chefs. He was an older gentleman who prepared her every meal during most days of the week. He was a hardworking man and despite being given an opportunity to speak now, didn't have much to say about the matter. He could only say that he was happy that Laila had become herself again and that he could tell she was no longer the person that they had to keep their guards around. Laila thanked the man for his kind words and his belief in her, before she went to the person sitting next to him.

Like that, one by one, Laila sat next to each of her staff members of a team that counted around twenty people, including those that had been let go or had left on their own in the past. The talks went surprisingly well and Laila was even more surprised to find out that they wanted nothing as form of compensation. Including the five people that joined them at the very last minute and had every reason to want something or hold a grudge. Instead they settled for a sincere apology and appreciated the offer of returning to work for her and Noah once more. That to them was the biggest proof of her having changed.

Though these were the words that were being said in her face, she couldn't help but feel that one person in particular didn't mean the words they were saying and weren't all that content with how things were being resolved. Maybe they hadn't been able to forgive her yet, which would be totally understandable. Or maybe they did want something as compensation but weren't comfortable admitting that considering no one else wanted anything. Or...Just maybe...They weren't here for the right intentions... Because aside from the upside-down smile, that person had constantly been on her phone underneath the table. That behaviour was quite suspicious to Laila and it seemed she wasn't the only one as even sweet Giselle was keeping her eyes focussed on that person. What could that person possibly want? What could they be hiding?