A cry for help

Maria was resting her heart in the kitchen, before she grabbed her phone and began messaging Laila a cry for help. 'I don't think I can handle living with Steve for another day, let alone see myself surviving for multiple weeks. What should I do?' Laila was just waking up from her slumber and had to chuckle when she read Maria's message. She replied, 'Why? What did that poor man do now?' Still in a frenzy, Maria typed, '"Poor man"? You are supposed to be on my side you know?' Again Laila chuckled, being spotted doing so by Noah who just stepped out of the shower, getting ready for another day of work. With Steve working on his recovery, he was currently the only one leading the ship. So, he needed to be there in time, and get things done while missing Anthony and Rebecca as well. When Noah saw the amused smile on Laila's face he asked, "What has you smiling and giggling so early in the morning?"

Laila happily answered his question, but did so in a cryptic way in order to protect Maria's privacy. "I got a S.O.S. call, but I wonder if I can consider it an emergency. For now the message in itself is quite amusing." After he grabbed himself some underwear and socks from the dresser, Noah walked to Laila's side of the bed as he said, "I see, and who is this particular damsel in distress and what is causing her the distress in the first place." With a cheeky smile on her face Laila turned her eyes up to Noah and said, "Who said it was a damsel?" Noah let out an exhaled laugh before he placed a kiss on Laila's lips and said, "Good morning". A greeting Laila returned before Noah leaned in closer and said with narrowed eyes and an equally cheeky smirk, "We both know that the only person bold enough to message you this early in the morning, is Maria, and the only person that could cause her to want to text you, would be Steve. So, you can drop the act and tell me now, or wait till I return home from work so I can pull it out of you later."

Laila quickly finished her reply to Maria, before throwing her phone to the side and playing along with Noah's game. "Oh my. Is that so. I was planning on telling you, but with such threats on the table, I am not sure I should. Though you make a compelling case, I am not sure if I mind the punishment that comes with the crime." Noah's eyes became even more narrow, and his smirk became more of a clear chuckle that he was trying to fight back as he placed his hand on the pillow behind Laila to get closer, while she slowly leaned further and further back. But what Noah didn't realize, was that Laila had a plan when she decided to poke the bear and was seconds away from executing it. Well not as much of a plan, as knowledge of a fact Noah could not get around.

By the time her head was back on the pillow, and Noah had leaned forward as much as he could without falling on top of Laila, she took a glance at her watch and said, "Well would you look at the time. Here I was trying to let you claim your side of the deal, with the possibility of knowing the remainder of the story, but I guess now you will have to do without either. If only you didn't have a meeting and you weren't the only one in the office who's able to lead it". Noah glanced at her watch and stared at the hands behind the glass before letting out a sigh as he had to accept she was right. He dropped his head on Laila's shoulder, to which she responded by stroking the back of his head and rubbing his loss in. "You can't win 'em all dear. But if you hurry, you can still be in time to win a good deal with your new client."

After a disgruntled sound, Noah sighed once more before he finally got up and got fully dressed. Then he rushed downstairs and left for work, but not before stealing another kiss from Laila and a promise that it wasn't over yet and that he wanted a rematch when he came back home. Laila shrugged her shoulders and didn't give a definitive answer, before she started to chuckle when Noah gave her an over the shoulder glare. She then grabbed her phone back from Noah's side of the bed and looked at what Maria had written about her so called problem. But in the time that Laila was busy messing with Noah, Maria's predicament had become worse. Because apparently her walking away, was by no means something that Steve accepted as an escape.