Chapter 4 Your Husband

• Meanwhile, Heather busied away in the office, swamped with work. When she looked up, her team leader, Stanley Young, came to her. "Heather, how come only you have come to work? Why hasn't Lara shown up?"
• "What? Lara hasn't come to work?"
• Heather was just as clueless. She had been so busy that morning that she didn't notice Lara hadn't come to work.
• "Yeah! It's already so late, yet she's absent! Plus, she hadn't called to ask for a day off either. Could it be that something bad has happened to her?"
• Heather hurriedly pulled her phone out to call Lara upon hearing Stanley's words.
• Alas, Lara never answered any of the calls. Just then, Heather noticed she had an unread message from an unknown number. 'Wait for me at home, Lara.'
• Stumped, she replied, 'Who is this?'
• However, she got no further answers after that.
• Heather couldn't help feeling baffled. Who could the sender be, and why did he call her Lara? Could it be that he had the wrong number?
• The sender hadn't replied the whole morning, and just when she had nearly forgotten about it, her phone beeped. 'Your fiancé,' the message wrote.
• Fiancé?!
• The message left more questions than answers for Heather. Lara has a fiancé? How come I've never heard about it? Could he be someone Lara's family knew?
• Hence, she sent him a friendly reminder. 'Hi, it seems that you have the wrong number. I'm not Lara but her best friend. Her number is 139xxxxxxxx8. The last digit is different from this one.'
• She and Lara registered their phone numbers in school together. Hence, they got a sequential number, with the last digit being different.
• Lara's was '8' while hers was '9'.
• Austin was taken aback by Heather's reply, and he reflexively checked the text his assistant, Calvin, had sent him. '139xxxxxxx9' Yeah, he hadn't gotten it wrong!
• He used Heather's phone to call Calvin the night before, so Calvin's phone would have a record of her number. Could it be that Calvin had mistakenly typed the wrong final digit?
• Just then, the phone number '139xxxxxxx9' sent another text. 'If you can reach Lara, can you please tell her to give me a call? I'm really worried. She didn't come to work, and she also wouldn't answer my calls.'
• 'She has left with my men,' Austin replied. Peter reported that he had picked Lara up and had settled here in Colemar Estate, the eastern suburb of Wrewell.
• Before Heather had a chance to read the sender's reply, Lara's call came. With that, Heather answered with worry, "Lara, how come you didn't come to work? Are you doing okay?"
• However, Lara's voice was monotonous. "I'm fine. Throw in a resignation letter for me, will you? I quit!"
• "Has something happened, Lara?" Heather couldn't help feeling nervous when she heard Lara's frosty tone.
• Lara, on the other hand, still answered coldly, "I'm fine! I've gone back home! By the way, we shouldn't keep in touch anymore! And don't bring me up in your conversations or even tell people you know me! Anyhow, you and I are no longer friends, Heather!"
• "What? Hold on, Lara, what the hell is going on?" Heather was utterly dumbfounded. She had no clue what she had done to Lara that would lead her to break off their friendship!
• However, what she replied to her was a busy tone. Lara ended the call right then, not giving Heather any explanation.
• Heather looked at her phone screen displaying 'call ended' and couldn't help feeling baffled.
• What the heck has gotten into Lara?
• Just then, Stanley came to her again. "So, Heather? Is Lara coming tomorrow?"
• "I think she won't be coming back ever again." Heather shrugged her shoulders.
• With that, Stanley tramped away.
• At last, Heather finally had a chance to read the text. 'She has left with my men.'
• It seems that Lara had really gone home! Could it be that she had gone to secretly get married? I mean, she even has a fiancé now!
• But Heather found her thoughts ridiculous. Had her best friend ended their friendship just so that she could 'get married'? Then again, something didn't feel right.
• After a day of slaving away in the office, Heather returned to her rented apartment. Seeing the door to Lara's room was wide open, she went in to find all of Lara's belongings still in place, only that Lara had gone missing.
• "Lara? Lara?" she cried out a few times to get no response. Hence, she pulled her phone out to call Lara, who finally answered after the line had tried connecting for a long time.
• "Lara, where have you been all day?" Heather was still worried sick. She had forgotten entirely about their breakup that morning when she had been so occupied with work.
• Lara, on the other hand, answered irritatingly, "I thought I made it clear to you? Why are you still calling me?"