It was already one in the morning, and a slender figure was still busy in a wardroom next to the old master’s.
She closed the curtains so that no one could see what she did in the room as she typed furiously on her keyboard. If one could see the screen, they would realize that it was a proposal. Ten slender and fair fingers rapped on the keyboard. It was late, but Elena did not feel tired.
After some time, her phone suddenly rang. It was so quiet that it gave her a fright when the tone exploded from her phone. Why would anyone call her at such late hours? Elena peeked at the caller ID, and it was Lois.
Elena had been so busy that she was not in constant contact with her friends. Everyone else was also busy. Other than work-related matters, they did not talk about other things.
Elena quivered when she realized that Lois had called her at such late hours. She feared that something might have happened.
“Lois?”
“Elena, Elena…” On the other end of the phone call, Lois was so anxious that she could not speak articulately. Elena felt a chill in her heart. She was so afraid that something had happened that her hands shook.
“Lois, don’t… don’t be like this. Talk slowly.”
Her voice was stiff. She was so scared that she shook all over! Layla was still in the hospital, and Lois had suddenly called her. Was she about to tell her that something terrible had happened to Layla? No! Layla was still young; she was at the prime age of a flower, how could that happen to her?
No, absolutely not!
“Lois…”
“Elena, Layla, she…” Lois sobbed and choked on her own words.
Elena’s vision went dark, and she almost fainted. The phone slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a loud clang. Her world seemed to have collapsed; she could not even breathe!
Lois’s voice echoed from the phone on the ground. “Elena, what happened? Elena, I haven’t finished speaking yet, Elena…”
However, Elena could not hear her! She did not even want to continue to listen to the conversation. She held her face in her hands as she sobbed. Finally, she heard Lois’s voice from the phone. “Elena, are you still listening to me? Layla woke up. Elena, Layla woke up!”
Elena raised her head abruptly. She was in disbelief. Did she hear it correctly? She picked up the phone again in a hurry, and her usual gentle demeanor was completely gone. She bellowed irritably into the mouthpiece!
“Lois, tell me clearly! Did Layla wake up?”
“Yes, Layla woke up, and her situation had improved. She is conscious but a little weak.”
Lois had been so excited that she could not even keep the phone in her hands, let alone speak properly to Elena. Before she could finish her sentences, Elena was so startled that her cell phone flew out of her fingers.
“Lois, you rascal! Can’t you speak properly?”
She almost scared Elena to her death! Elena had to sit on the ground to collect herself; she could not even stand up.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Elena. I didn’t mean it. I was just too excited.”
Lois heard her sobs and immediately felt guilty.
“Don’t worry. The doctor said that Layla’s situation would get better soon. Don’t be sad, Elena. Layla is fine. I went to see her just now. She was conscious, and she said that she has something to tell you. She’s still very weak, so I thought I’ll just contact you later when she can talk properly.”
“Don’t worry. Let her get well first.”
Elena sighed in relief. When she got up from the ground, her whole body was limp. She needed support from a chair to pull herself up. She returned to her laptop as she raised her hand to wipe the sweat off her temples. It was cold sweat. Lois almost scared her to her death.
“I still have something to do here, so I can’t go back at the moment. Please take good care of Layla.”
“Don’t worry, with me around, there will be no problems. Just focus on your matters.”
Even though Lois did not know what had happened to Elena, she could sense that she faced an uphill battle. Elena did not elaborate, and after she hung up the phone, she carried on with her work. Suddenly, her phone rang again.
She picked it up immediately. “Luacs.”
“Layla’s condition…”
“Lois told me. She was not speaking clearly just now, and she almost scared me to my death.”
Elena trembled slightly when she recalled the previous phone call. The fear had lingered. However, she was much relieved then.
“Why are you still up?” He thought that she sounded energetic. It did not seem as if she had been woken up in the middle of the night.
Luacs furrowed his eyebrows. He had not planned to call her, but he could not resist the urge to tell her the good news as soon as possible.
Her line had been busy when he tried to call her earlier, so he knew that someone else must have beaten him to it.
“Lois’s phone call woke me up. I didn’t stay up late.”
She looked at the screen of her laptop. If Luacs knew that she was still working, he would have nagged her for a long time and complained that she did not cherish her body enough. Even though Luacs was a man of few words, he would nag her for days if it had something to do with her health.
Luacs did not say anything else. He merely nodded to himself and said, “Well, now that you know, you should rest easy and go to bed early.”
“Wait.”
“Hmm.” Luacs would wait if Elena told him to do that. “What’s the matter?”
Elena thought for a moment before she said, “Luacs, do you have any relatives in Bentson that you cherished very much and would not leave behind?”
Luacs was a little stunned. “Don’t you know that I am an orphan?”
“I… never mind, just asking.”
Luacs wanted to probe further, but Elena did not give him the opportunity. “It’s late; I really have to rest. I still have to get up early tomorrow in the morning to take care of Grandfather Garcia.”
“You and the Garcia family…” Luacs had wanted to ask about her and Joseph. Was she not with Michael?
However, he could not bring himself to ask her that. As long as she was well, he would not mind who she chose to be with. If Joseph could make her happy, then Joseph would suit her better. After all, Michael was a difficult man to understand.
Elena knew what he wanted to ask, so she smiled and said, “Brother Joseph and I don’t have that kind of relationship. That night… well, something did happen, and the photos on the Internet were taken deliberately to blackmail us.”
“Yeah.” Luacs did not ask any further questions. She said nothing happened, and so, nothing happened. He trusted her.