No Looking Back

Chapter 9

Layla's POV:

I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that I was being carried by Faiz.

This dream was so surreal; I remembered the smell of his cologne.

What was going on?

I woke up in Reyna's bed, Reyna snoring softly beside me. We were still in our dresses from Rachel and Sam's wedding last night.

Bits and pieces came back to me from last night. I looked at my bedside table to see my bouquet of flowers. My heels were placed neatly under them on the floor, at the foot of the bedside table.

I groaned in regret that I hadn't changed. Although the dress wasn't tight or uncomfortable in any way, it was just weird sleeping in it.

I got up and went to Reyna's dresser and mirror across the room from the bed. I sat down in the chair and looked into the mirror to see that my make-up had already been removed.

'Reyna' I thought, shaking my head in amusement. One of her pet peeves was, in fact, sleeping with make-up on, so of course, she would manage to remove mine as well before crashing.

I went back to the bed and shook her awake. She grunted in clear annoyance at being woken up.

"Five more minutes!" She groans, turning away from me.

I huff, continuing to shake her.

"Reyna, come one, wake up."

She wakes with a start.

"Lee? What are you- oh," she said, now clearly awake. She smiled brightly and hugged me.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot you guys slept over! But now I remember. I had carried Yusuf to Faiz Bhai's room."

Wait.

"You carried Yusuf to Faiz's room? So then, did he..."

Reyna froze for a second, but then abruptly broke out laughing, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, nodding.

"Yup, Faiz Bhai carried you into my room. You were sleeping like a baby," she smirked.

God, smirks just ran in the family, didn't they?

I groan in embarrassment, feeling my cheeks heat up. Her face turned serious in a flash.

"Layla," she starts, unsure of what to say, "do you, how do I put this? Have a crush on my brother?" She manages, tilting her head, waiting for my reply.

I feel myself about to say "No, Reyna, babe, pfft, of course not! How could I ever have a crush on that clown of a brother of yours?'

But I stop myself.

I hesitate, "I don't really know what I feel anymore, Rey. Most of me feels obligated to wait until I'm comfortable as CEO to even think about marriage, like what I said last night, at the dinner," I start, smoothing out the blanket underneath my hands.

"But then there's that small part of me, that, I don't know, likes Faiz? I hate that part of me with a  passion, but, ugh!" I hold my face in my hands in frustration.

There's a second of silence before she starts squealing.

I take my face out of hiding and put my hands down in confusion.

"Layla!" Reyna starts, out of breath, and smiling like a 6-year-old that was told that she could go Disneyland.

"Layla! This is great! This is absolutely amazing! Two of my favorite people in the world like each other!"