Chapter 4: I sent her an invitation.

J E R E M Y

"Jer!"

I heard her holler from behind. Her eyes shine bright at the sight of me. She runs forward leaving behind her friend who I can see had a displeased looked on her face.

I wrapped my arms around her as if it will be our last. I can tell she's been drinking coffee by her scent. The strong aroma of the coffee she's drinking lingers on her.

"What brings you here?" she asked as soon as I let go of her.

I pushed back a strand of hair that fell on her face, "I had free time."

Her smile faded into a scowl. Her brows furrowed looking like they will merge into one and her lips pouted in a funny way that I always find funny.

She crossed her arms over her chest before angrily saying, "So you have free time?"

Before I can give her an explanation for not showing up for almost two weeks, we were interrupted by a loud cough that sounds like a man choking.

"Too much PDA in high noon," her bestfriend Clarisse complained making a gagging action.

"Laila, hey," just by the sound of the voice I can feel the heat rising in my body. I felt the animal within me wanting to get out and lash out at something.

I'm a second away from actually killing someone by the way Laila looked at the guy who joined us. She was giving him the same smile she always does around me. I can see the redness of the guy's ears, the effect that Laila always gave around guys.

"I was thinking, we can discuss the project while we go grab lunch. I mean since there's a conflict with our schedule and lunch is our only free time," the guy just kept looking at her as if I wasn't even her.

Laila was about to say something when I put me in between them, blocking his view of Laila. I narrowed my eyes in slit glaring at him.

"Sorry but MY GIRLFRIEND is having lunch with me," I informed him of my status as he had no intention of ever noticing me by Laila's side.

Clarisse made a snorting sound at the same time I can hear Laila suppressing her laughter finding the situation amusing. The guy glared back at me, I can feel my nails digging at my palm as I clenched my fist trying very hard not to rip this guy's head off for the sake of Laila.

"Sorry, I didn't know My Boyfriend will be here. Maybe next time," she offered which gave that guy a huge grin on his face.

"Believe me sweetheart that there will never be a next time for you to meet male species," I snapped at her. "I won't allow any moron to get close to you."

"I think you better leave my sight now before I disintegrate you into pieces," I warned.

"You can just call me if you like. We'll see you around," Clarisse intervened just as I was about to throw a punch at him.

The dude just glared at me asking for a fight he can't win. As I observed he's lacking in body build. It's as if he'll break easily if I punch him without actually putting much effort into it.

"Seriously Jeremy! The guy just wants to discuss the project with Laila," Clarisse snapped at me.

"Jer, you don't have to be that rude to him. We are working on a project for crying out loud!" the high pitch of her tone gave way that Laila was mad at me. She didn't look me in eyes and instead averted her gaze to anything and everything but me.

"That guy was clearly hitting on you," I exasperatedly told her.

She puts a finger at my chest as if wanting me to fall back, her eyes start to swells up and she bit down her lower lips before saying in an annoyed tone, "You always do that! You never listen to what others say and you just assume things. You step down at them without even thinking what they would feel and you act like I'll cheat on you with every guy that looks my way."

"JEREMY!"

Brian snapped me out of my thoughts.

"What got you so distracted this last few weeks?" he inquired.

Laila.

I answered in my head. For the past couple of weeks, I kept thinking about her. She hadn't changed except that she now cut her hair short.

It's been years since I saw her, she suddenly disappeared from my life and even in those years, I haven't forgotten about her. I can still remember everything and seeing her felt like a punch in my gut.

The sound of her voice and the way her eyes spark whenever she's happy which she is even at the smallest of things. How she would crinkle her nose when she is annoyed and the way her lips pout. I missed everything about her.

But she wouldn't even want to see even my shadow. She kept her distance from me not giving any hints about her. For the past years, I'd only heard the news about her.

"I saw Laila the other day," I informed my friend. His reaction didn't change.

"So?" he raised an eyebrow as he answered me in a bored tone.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"I heard you. I always saw her from time to time, so what if you met her?"

If the guy wasn't my bestfriend I might have sent him flying out of his sit. The dude just continued drinking his coffee still raising an eyebrow at me.

"You saw her and didn't even think of telling me when you knew perfectly well how hard I tried to locate her," I can feel my anger rising. I closed my eyes as I count to ten to tame my anger.

Brian leaned back in his chair and scoffed, "I'm sorry but we all signed a contract not to tell a living soul about the project we're working on. I hadn't realised it was her not until they demand that she'll also be the one to write the script of the film. She doesn't even remember me and I guess you can say I'm also surprised. She's not the same as before"

"Yes, you were a mess after she was gone but it was for a moment then you turn back to your old self. Besides she didn't seem like she wanted to know about you. I tried talking but she'll ignore it," he went on.

"Why would you even meet up with her?" I asked him.

He gave me a look as if asking if I just suddenly become dumb.

"Our company owns one of the best studios known to produce the best films. Entertainment Industry? Dude what the hell! How can you forget about all this? I thought you were my bestfriend"

I just rolled my eyes at him before taking a sip of my own coffee.

"Besides, she always travel around before until recently. I guess that could be the reason why you can't reach her and the fact she always used different pen names in her works."

Clearly, how does my best friend just know this stuff about Laila when I don't?

"She wouldn't want to see me anyway," I sigh.

"You just don't have a reason enough to see her," he had this mischievous grin on his face as he suggested it. "What if I tell you that you can see her again without looking like a stalker."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I questioned him.

"There will be an event at one of your hotels. She'll be there."

"How are you sure about that?" my eyes narrowed at him.

"Because she'll make an announcement releasing the trailer for the movie of her book. Honestly Jer, there had been an uproar about her and you hadn't heard anything about it. I thought you'd be the first to welcome her back the moment she returned." there was a hint of disappointment in his voice.