“Damn! I finally got to meet you.” Pulling away, she shook her head. “I’ve heard so much about you. It became my prime wish to meet you personally. And I think my wish just got accepted. Thank God! He won’t let me see you.”

I frowned. “Uh, nice to meet you too?”

“Oh, so rude of me! I’m Leyla, Leyla Collins. Achilles’s friend.” She shook my hand.

“T-that’s great. But may I ask, how do you know me? I mean, I haven’t met you before, at least not personally.” My gaze fell on her ring finger. And indeed, there was a diamond ring that screamed married.

“Yeah, we haven’t. But I know everything about you. Achilles and Caleb talk so much about you that I almost feel like I’ve known you for years!” She snorted, rolling her eyes.

My heart skipped. He-he talks about me to her?

“Leyla? Hi!” Tess had a surprised look. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey!” She kissed her cheeks. “Well, why do people come here?”

Tess rolled her eyes, smiling. “I see that you already met Emerald? Em, she is—”

“Oh, she knows. I just introduced myself to her,” Leyla said, cutting Tess off. Then she looked at me from head to toe. “I must admit, she’s way more beautiful than A—”

A nudge at her ribs from Tess halted her mid-sentence. She looked at my sister with confusion, and then her green eyes widened.

“Uh, I meant you’re more beautiful in person than I heard about you from all of them.” Casting a look at Tess, she cleared her throat. “I gotta go now. I’m getting late for a meeting. It was so nice meeting you, Em! I will see you soon.”

“Likewise,” I said, politely.

Once she was out of sight, only then Tess relaxed a bit. When I asked her why Leyla looked so out of place before her exit, she just shrugged and told me she had an urgent meeting to catch.

“Where did you go, anyway?”

She averted her gaze. “To make a phone call. Now, if your interrogation is over, can we continue our shopping? I’ve still got a lot of things to buy.”

Letting out another groan, I strolled behind her as we left the shop and went to look for some jewelry. Though their odd interaction still bothered me. What was Leyla going to say before Tess stopped her?

TEN: PLAYING WITH ME?

I had to crane my neck to look up at the huge skyscraper standing proudly before me. Molded with sleek glass, it reflected the whole city against it. And a huge OC Textiles sign was hung at the top of the building. My new office.