A visit

Laila and Noah were close to home and Laila had once again fallen asleep as Noah was driving. The sun on the windshield had caused her to want to close her eyes, which soon caused her to get a bit drowsy and shortly after she found herself taking a little catnap. Though it wasn't as deep as when they were driving back from the airport after seeing Maria, it was enough for Noah not to want to disturb her. However his kind gesture was rendered useless after a short stream of messages on Laila's phone caused her to to be awakened.

With bright red cheeks from the sun and a sluggish look in her eyes, Laila grabbed her phone in a slight daze. As she blinked a few times she rubbed her closed hand in her eyes to fully wake herself up. When she glanced at her phone she saw that the messages were from Maria. She let out a deep sigh for her rude wakeup call, before she straightened her body.

With a half sleepy voice Laila turned to Noah and said, "I'm sorry. I must have dozed off, leaving you without anyone to talk to or keep you company." Noah chuckled. "That's alright. The sun is lovely. I am sure if I wasn't the one driving, I would have fallen asleep myself." "Well good thing you didn't then. That would have been quite a dangerous ride if you did." Laila responded with a grin. She rubbed his arm that was holding onto the gearshift and asked, "How long was I asleep for?" Noah shrugged his shoulders before he said, "I don't know. Twenty minutes or so? I didn't notice until you stopped responding to my questions."

With a laugh in her voice Laila apologized again and responded with, "I hope you weren't too lonely. I assure you that it had nothing to do with your company." This comment of Laila's caused Noah to release his hand from the gearshift and move it towards Laila's side instead in order to tickle her. As he did, he said, "Are we acting smart now. I will have you know that even if it was my company that made you fall asleep, you are still stuck with me for life." Laila was pleading for mercy as she tried to ward off his hand. When Noah was certain she had had enough, he stopped his attack and made a final remark. "You had better not forget that." After Laila had finished letting out some final snickers, she said "I won't and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Noah's focus went back to the road and he asked, "Who were the messages from?"

"They were from Maria." Laila responded as she returned to stroking his arm and was staring at his side profile.

"Oh? What did she say?" Noah asked with a questioning tone.

"I don't know. I didn't read the messages. I just glanced at the screen to see who they were from. Let me check now."

Laila unlocked her phone and read the received messages out loud.

"Hello my princess. I hope you had fun and all is still well. I didn't contact you these past few days as 'someone' told me that I shouldn't disturb your romantic getaway. So, I held myself back and only sent you a message now on the day that you should be coming back."

As she read those words, Laila immediately knew that the 'someone' in the message had been Noah. She chuckled as she shook her head while looking in Noah's direction, who pretended to be innocent. Then she returned to her screen and continued to read the rest of Maria's messages.

"The reason I am messaging you is because I have decided to come pay you a visit. You said you wanted to deal with the whole Olivia thing and I can't have you worrying about that matter for too long as you are carrying my godson. Stress isn't good for the baby and we both know I am not good for Olivia. While we think of something, I will help you give some of that stress and worry to that shrew. For this purpose I have taken up all of my paid leave and I will use it to come spend some time with you. Your trip to my house was not only disturbed by your ex but also by that lump of jealousy you call your husband. So, I will use this as a way to get a do-over and help you with your little problem."

Laila and Noah were both surprised by this news but where Laila was thrilled, Noah had a slightly less enthusiastic reaction. "What? She is coming to visit without consulting you or me? When is she even coming? Your friend has no boundaries do you know that? Tell her we are busy and she can't come. Ché calling me a lump of jealousy. I will show her."

Laila chuckled at hearing Noah's huffing and puffing. Only Maria and Steve were able to push his buttons like that. It was clear that he was only saying these things because Maria had called him jealous. Even if it was an undeniable fact, he still refused to acknowledge it. What Noah hadn't taken into account is that Maria knows him quite well and had anticipated his reaction in advance!