The first thing Leonica noticed as she walked towards the entrance of her Villa, was dropping temperature at night as winter was quickly approaching.
The second thing being Arvan's serious face as she stood in front of him, hands tucked into the pocket of the over coat Grace had insisted she wore before stepping out.
"You sure chose to best tto show up," She joked, taking note of how her breath seemed to take a misty form before disappearing. "What is it you need, Arvan?" "I wanted to drop this off," Reaching into the pocket of his coat, Arvan pulled out a small brown envelope and handed it to her. "It's the final document to reinstate the cooperation between our companies." "That's quite thoughtful of you," Leonica said as she examined the envelope. "But, is that really the only thing you call the way to my house for, Arvan?" The man stared at her, as If he was contemplating whether to speak his mind or not.
"I saw the articles, Leonica," He said at last, watching as she slowly nodded her head, silently mouthing the word 'Oh'.
"Surprised, weren't you?" Leonica chuckled. "Who would have thought your ex wife would turn out to be my half sister." Now that she said it out loud, it sounded more ironic to her. Her life really sounded like a yarn ball, constantly unraveling with something new.
"Leonica," Arvan called out softly, drawing her attention away from her thoughts and for the first tsince knowing him, Leonica saw Arvan looking truly hesitant. "I know this might be bad timing considering all that's going on around you, but I just want you to know, my feelings for you, wasn't prompted because of the resemblance between you and Irene. You two may look alike, but I learnt that you're completely different persons and-" "Arvan," Leonica cut him off, smiling at how he had rambled on. "You've explained this before, haven't you?" She reminded, stepping forward and taking his hands on hers to assure him that she truly understood. "It never really bothered me." "So you were okay with the fact that I might have fallen in love with you because of your sister's face?" "But you didn't," Leonica flashed him a smile that damn nearly had his heart jumping out of his chest. "And from the looks of it, those sweet feelings are gone now, aren't they?" She gently shook his hand, waiting for his answer.
Of course they weren't. He couldn't just erase the feelings he had for her in three months.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHe was more fond of her than he was of that one gold fish he had back in college, and even that took him almost a year to get over when his girlfriend took it after their breakup.
But of course he wasn't going to tell her that. As much as he wishes his feelings would be reciprocated and that he'd be the one beside her rather than that blondie idol, he cherished their friendship and wouldn't dare to let things becawkward between them. "Of course they are," He lied, mirroring her smile.
Weirdly enough, Leonica felt a sense of relief. She had feared than when Arvan spoke about his feelings, things would eventually end up like they did with Gabriel a couple hours prior.
But it turned out to be totally different. In fact, she felt more at ease around him.
So much so, that she wanted to hug him and thank him for not pushing his feelings on her and quietly sorting it out, much unlike Gabriel, but decided against it, thinking how it was far too late to do so.
Instead, she offered him a soft squeeze on his shoulder, a silent message that she was grateful for their friendship.
Arvan could only but smile, hoping that with time, his feelings would indeed die out, especially now that she was engaged.
"Now then," Stepping back, she held up the envelope that he had given her. "I'll have this processed by Monday, so expect a call from Kennedy." Arvan managed a thin smile. "Alright." "Then, I'll be heading back inside," Leonica began walking back when suddenly, side movement caught her attention. But the moment she turned her head in its direction, the movement steeled. Strange, something had definitely just moved now? "Leonica?" "Ah," She looked back at Arvan, offering him a smile. "Good night, Arvan." "Good night," She walked away, her smile fading and her eyes searching, trying to spot the movement she had seen, but it was to no avail.
I definitely wasn't seeing things, she thought as she slipped into her house, shrugged off her coat and made a beeline for the camera room adjacent her bedroom.
It didn't take long for her to pull up the footage for she and Arvan speaking, fast forwarding to the moment where she had seen movement.
"There!" She whispered in surprise, pressing the rewind button, going frby fruntil the figure was clearly visible.
It was a person dressed In a dark outfit, their face concealed by a mask, and holding what seemed a camera. "Jamil, you sick bastard," She concluded, chuckling darkly as she shook her head.
He sent a spy to watch her.
Well, that was one way to keep tabs on her, a move every enemy needed against their opponent.
"How stupid of him to think I'd have something for him to use against me." She smirked.
Perhaps she should give him something to use against her. You know, something to truly flush out his intentions before his ghit the long run.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe tapped her finger against the table, thinking. What exactly could that be. She wasn't sure what his true goal was yet, so throwing just anything out there could not work and potentially turn out to harm her.
All it took was a few solid minutes of thinking before she cup with a side plan, adding it her already effective master plan and her puppet was none other than Irene.
If Irene and Jamil had a plan, then all Leonica needed was to find a way to get under their skin and drive a wedge between the two, that way, their plan would be easily foiled and their partnership would end.
And what better way to do it that using the publics voice.
"Let's just hope that this works." She mused, standing up and walking back to her bedroom.
"I seem to have a lot to lose if it doesn't,"
"I really don't see what you see in Leonica," Irene huffed as she completed her skin care routine before picking up hèk phone and facing Jamil who she had video called. "She just an average bitch who talks a lot of smack that she can't even back up." "She's far from an Average bitch, Irene. I'm sure she proved that to you tonight." "Pft, so what? She's got a smart mouth and daddy's power. Big deal."
"Big deal indeed. Now, if you want that to be you, I suggest you watch your behavior in front of the Romero family. We're trying to make them adore you, not abhor you. Bug that aside, Jamil paused and clapped twice, loudly. "Congrats on making successor's list in such short period." "Heh," Irene chuckled arrogantly. "Of course, what did you expect from someone like me." "I'd have expected nothing less, Irene. But remember, our cooperation and hard work isn't over riches and fame. There's a bigger picture here that you dare not forget, else I'd have not choice but to crop you out of our picture." Irene rolled her eyes. "You don't have UT
to remindclearly remember the gplan; gain their Romero family's affection and trust, getting enough backing and then ruin Leonica to a plump, then I'd get 11 reward." Jamil nodded his head to her words. "But now that I think about it, your only goal here is to ruin Leonica, do you really care how it's done?" "Yes. It has to be done the way I've planned, else Leonica would always find a way to stand back up." As he spoke, Irene's phone dinged with a message from the person she had called earlier. "Do not deviate from the plan, Irene, else I'd have to do it my way and I'd hate to get rid of a useful ally." "Yeah yeah." Irene merely swatted his words away like a fly, clicking on the message she had gotten. It was a video and as she watched it play out, she couldn't help the smirk that spread across her lips. "What's with that look on your face?" Jamil asked.
"Nothing," CIrene's answer, "I just thought of a brilliant method to ruin Leonica faster."