As Shikera was about to step into the elevator, she felt a hand pull her back by her arms and she turned, ready to berate the person.
"Who the f...Leo?"
It turned out to be Leonard, whom she wanted to see actually, but not at this mont.
"Hey, Kera!" Leonard greeted, pulling her away from the elevator doors.
"I’m so sorry, Leo. I need to leave now. Will catch you later!"
"You can’t use the elevator though," he stopped her with his words.
Shikera turned on her heels, saying, "Why? Doesn’t it lead to nominees section?"
Walking towards her, Leonard answered,"Exactly! On a normal day, you can’t go in there as a reporter but today, the security is extra tight. Even VVIP’s aren’t allowed to go there."
Shikera raised her brows, as she felt there was no reason why VVIP’s shouldn’t be allowed in there. The VVIP’s were mainly mbers of the ga families so whose identity did the organisers of the project want to protect for them to do this.
"Is King Reynolds around?" Shikera asked, as that was the only person she could think of who might want to keep his presence a secret, apart from Ethan.
"I don’t think so. Do you think Ethan ca?"
"I know he didn’t. I left him at ho, and he’s probably fuming right now." In spite of herself, Shikera could not restrain from chuckling as she imagined what Ethan’s reaction would be when he found out she tricked him.
Anyway, since she knew she could not approach Krystal now, she might as well ask for Leonard’s help and at the sa ti remind him of his limits when it ca to herself and Ethan.
"That aside, Leonard. I need to talk to you real quick," she said, looking around at the people streaming past them. Taking his hand, she pulled him to a quieter place.
"Why do you look so serious? You’re scaring already," Leonard smiled, but Shikera didn’t reciprocate it as she only stared at him with a frown.
"Leo, you do know you aren’t that older than , right? There’s just a year difference between our ages," she began, watching as the smile fell from Leonard’s face.
"And so?" he asked.
"That only shows that even though you are my friend and like a brother to , it doesn’t an you can interfere with my life under the pretence of protecting . You should trust my judgent over every decision I take on my life."
"Where is this driving towards?"
"The right question should be, why did you have to send Ethan a text ssage because of ? I don’t have to remind you that Ethan is only my contract husband and he has been doing more than enough in taking care of , so why your unnecessary offer?" Shikera questioned, staring straight into his eyes so as to know if he was lying or not.
"Ethan DeLoach is an handso man, incomparable to though. And you have also never lived alone with a man apart from Uncle Anderson and Noah so I can’t trust you to protect yourself against him..." Leonard explained himself, smiling inwardly at the intimidating pose with which Shikera stood before him. Even though they had been friends for a while now, their families’ position had limited their communication so there was always an hint of awkwardness whenever they t. He rejoiced inwardly at the fact that she was comfortable enough in front of him to behave this way.
"And that was why you sent such a ridiculous ssage to him? What kind of an offer was that?"
Leonard shrugged, "Even though he might be heartless at tis, I think he wouldn’t dare to touch you when he knows what would happen if you get pregnant. At the very least, he would not want to be the cause for you to..." He trailed off, unwilling to complete the sentence.
"And did you not know there is sothing like protection?"
"Were you harbouring the thought, Kera? Has he been doing anything to you?!"
Leonard’s voice was loud, attracting the attention of people around. Shikera coughed, as she wondered how their discussion graduated to this point.
"Leonard, lower your voice! I was just trying to point out the loopholes in your foolish plan," she whispered. Seeing from Leonard’s eyes that he wouldn’t let the matter rest, she swiftly changed the topic, "Also, what kind of deal is that where he doesn’t gain anything? You told him to take better care of while you tell him my life story, what does he gain from that?"
"Everything," he stated. Shikera eyed him suspiciously as she sighed,
"What is everything?"
"I found out in the ward that day, why Uncle Anderson let you marry Ethan..."
"Why?" Shikera cut in.
"I won’t benefit anything from telling you so I will just keep my mouth shut. The only thing you should know is that Ethan would kill to know what happened to you in the past."
"What is he saying?" Shikera murmured under her breath, and when Leonard chuckled, she knew he heard her.
"It’s nothing. Excuse , the program is starting in few minutes."
He walked away before Shikera could say anything, and had disappeared into the crowd before she rembered that she wanted to ask him for sothing else.
"Why so stupid, Kera? You just lost your chance of getting even the least coverage!"
Hearing her phone ping, she pulled it out of her back pocket to see that her team leader had sent a ssage. Fuck! How would she tell the woman that they didn’t get anything because they were late?
As she turned to find her way back to where Cyprian and the others were waiting, the large doors were suddenly pushed open and black clothed guards ran in.
They marched in two lines as the space in the middle was left for a man in black, shining suit to pass by. The man in the middle was also wearing a facemask, a black one.
Straining her eyes to see the man’s face and gait, her heart suddenly jolted in familiarity. She knew this person!
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