Uninvited guest

When the doorbell rang, both Laila and Maria looked at each other with confused stares. Each of them asking the other if they were expecting anything or anyone but both of them answering the question in the same way, with a no. Then Laila figures that it might be Noah or Steve, who have forgotten something. But before she gets up out of her seat, she recalls that Noah has a key and wouldn't need to ring the doorbell and Steve is with him. So, there would be no need for Steve to ring the doorbell either.

As they were trying to figure out who would be visiting them so early in the day, the doorbell rang again and Garry opened the door for them. The moment he did, they immediately knew who was standing on the other side of the door. They could both recognize his voice out of a thousand others and didn't need to hear much to know it was him. This uninvited guest was indeed no one they were expecting and no one would be welcoming him inside either. Because this guest was none other than Jake.

As soon as the door was opened, Jake asked, "Good morning. Is Laila awake yet. I came here to see her. But although Garry tried to see if he was a welcome guest, before replying to the indirect question about whether or not Laila was home, the guest in question proved too quick for him. Garry did not know Jake and he had never heard of him, much less met him. So, there was no way for him to know that this was a guest that Laila did not care to see, no matter his reasons or the circumstances. Instead he tried to do what he usually did, which was to ask Laila before answering whether she was available or not. But Garry was unfortunately outsmarted by Jake in the brief second he tried to close the door to look away in Laila and Maria's direction.

In that split second, where he looked for clearance on Jake in order to decide what to answer him and report back. In that brief instance, Jake stopped the door from falling in the lock, allowing him to peek his head through the gap that was left behind. That is when he saw a glimpse of Maria and Laila's heads, poking through another gap in the door. But in their case it was the gap of the door that led from the dining room into the hall. Causing them to immediately duck away while Jake cheerfully called out, "Oh Laila. Good morning! I am glad you are awake. There was something I wanted to talk with you about. Can I come in?"

As easily as that their cover was blown and there was no longer an option for Garry to say that they weren't home. Laila mumbled some swear words under her breath as she made her way over to the door with a hidden angry glare. She replaced it with a warm smile for e a brief seconds as she told the apologetic Garry, "It's okay. Don't worry. I'll take it from here". After that she put on a fake smile and spoke to Jake by the door. "Oh Jake. I did not know you were here. What brings you by our house. I don't think that either Noah or myself were expecting you. Especially not after how we left things back in our home town."

Jake's unbreakable smile disappeared for a split second as he was reminded of that painful moment, but he jumper right back and said, "Yeah, that was a bit unpleasant and less than ideal ending to that situation but I haven't given up on us and I think, neither should you. That is actually the main reason why I came here today. I am not much of a fan of Noah. Never have been, never will. I think you know that about me by now. But there was clearly a good reason for that because what I am about to tell you, will probably shock you. I think that after you have heard what I have to say, you will finally start seeing him the way that I see him. You will also see that he isn't the great man you think he is and who you should be with."

Although Laila already knew what he was going to say and she had somewhat anticipated for this to happen, she didn't think that he would be by her doorstep this soon. Knowing that she was going to have to play along until there was a new plan that they could follow, Laila continued to look at Jake with a forced smile and replied by saying, "Oh my. That sounds like quite the story. Well then, tell me. What heinous crime did he commit?"

Jake instantly become more energized and excited. The day where he had caught Noah doing something bad, something that could break his relationship with Laila, had finally come and now he was finally given a chance to put that information to good use...