When Faaris arrived, he saw the Miss from his own family acting like a crazed dog and Laila, who stood elegantly behind Roy, exuding an air of dominance. The two of them were locked in a standoff, glaring at each other.
"What happened?" he called out to one of the bewildered maids standing nearby.
"It's like this..." The maid quickly explained the recent events to him upon seeing him.
After listening, Faaris gave Laila a cold, disdainful glance. "Director Moran, it's rather unseemly to bully a foreign girl like this, isn't it? Is this how Americans treat their guests?" Even if he knew the fault didn't lie with Laila, he couldn't possibly speak up for her when they were on opposing sides.
Laila, of course, knew who he was, so she responded with a cold smile, "When guests arrive, they should naturally be treated with hospitality. But if a mad dog shows up, a shotgun might come in handy."
She was the one who wanted to insult someone, okay? How could she encounter such a lunatic the moment she arrived here? Her luck seemed to be taking a nosedive. If she had known that this woman would be here, she would have refused her mother's invitation and never set foot in the airport.
"Faaris, this woman! This woman!" Faiza yelled, her anger causing her to lose control of her words. She was about to scream that she would kill Laila or something similar when Faaris, who had prepared for this, signaled to her maids to hold her back and cover her mouth.
He couldn't allow this woman, who was more likely to cause harm than good, to do anything that would disgrace their family. This wasn't Saudi Arabia; in the United States, if she said something that was perceived as a threat, she could be charged. With the means of the Moran family in the United States, they could definitely have Faiza forcefully deported. At that point, it would be the entire family's reputation that would be tarnished.
"Director Moran, everything is fine now. Please leave." He didn't want to get entangled with Laila any longer in this place. He preferred the bloodless business operations to a physical brawl. If he had the choice, he didn't want to be an opponents with the Moran family. But if it was to protect the family's honor, he would do anything for them!
Roy's streetwise sense of danger, honed from his time on the streets, was on high alert as he observed the man in front of him. The man appeared highly dangerous. So, he pulled Laila back and motioned for her to keep her distance from the man.
Laila, too, knew that it wasn't the time to argue. Her ice-cold, nearly merciless, azure eyes swept over the two individuals, and with Roy's protection, she walked into the security channel.
She regretted having her bodyguards take the luggage ahead of time. She had thought she wouldn't encounter any danger here, but she hadn't expected to run into Faiza and the others.
"Laila, who was that woman just now?" Abel, who had been silent until they boarded the plane, finally spoke up. He could tell that she had pretended not to know the woman just to provoke her. However, he didn't know the details of what had transpired between them, and it seemed like there was some deep-seated enmity.
"She's a woman with a mental illness, suffering from delusions." Laila's mood worsened the moment she thought of Faiza. Because of her appearance, she was reminded of another person who gave her a headache. Indeed, she hadn't seen the idiotic prince in a long time. She had been so busy with her filming that she had completely pushed him to the back of her memory.
"It's a good thing Al Nadeem wasn't here; otherwise, I don't know what I would have done to damage my own image." She didn't want to lose her temper and start shouting in front of everyone.
Abel, the little gentleman, looked at her and asked, "Is it the prince from the love triangle?"
Roy couldn't help but burst out laughing. But this time, he didn't hold it back. It seemed that he had taught Abel some rather messy things.
Laila's face darkened, and she glared at him in anger. "What kind of nonsense did you teach Abel?"
"It wasn't me!" Roy quickly defended himself. He seemed rather guilty. During the time of that news incident, he did seem to have said something in front of his younger brother, treating it as a joke. Oh, dear, what had he done back then?
Laila snorted and turned her attention back to Abel. "Listen, there's no love triangle! I have no relationship with that prince whatsoever, understand?"
Abel nodded. "I understand. You're in a romantic relationship with Roy."
Roy couldn't hold back his laughter again. But this time, he secretly gave his younger brother a thumbs-up, appreciating his "wisdom."
Laila rolled her eyes and couldn't be bothered to explain the concept of a fabricated love scandal to a child. She simply said, "Things are not as simple as you imagine. You'll understand when you grow up."
"Alright." Abel didn't probe further into the truth. He was merely curious and didn't want to delve deeper.
Laila was a bit curious about something, though. She asked Abel, "Why do you know about Al Nadeem but not Faiza? When the news was reported, didn't they show their photos together?"
"She only showed her eyes, so I didn't know if it was the same person as the one in the photos I saw," Abel answered honestly.
Well, that was actually a pretty good answer. Faiza was always dressed in the traditional attire of a Saudi woman, wearing a black robe and a veil, so it was understandable that Abel wouldn't recognize her.
"She looks like she's preparing to leave the United States." Laila thought back to the situation earlier. Faiza had so many maids with her, which didn't indicate she was on a regular trip. But would she give up so easily after a failed attempt?
"Strangely, she's not with her prince in the United States," Roy mused. "Maybe the prince isn't in the United States."
Laila nodded in agreement. "He's probably not in the United States." Otherwise, he would have shown up in front of her a long time ago.
Roy also seemed to realize this. "Right, if he were in the United States, he would have come to pester you."
At this point, Abel couldn't help but interject, "Isn't it because you two are in a romantic relationship, so he left the United States disappointed?"
Laila and Roy were both left speechless.
"Roy, don't let Abel read those tabloids anymore! Make him watch Discovery Channel or something instead."
Roy, feeling embarrassed and somewhat in agreement, nodded. "Absolutely, he won't be allowed to read those damned tabloids again! What did he turn my little scientist-to-be brother into?"
This conversation served as a reminder for Laila. Her relationship with Roy had been widely reported in the United States and even worldwide. There was no reason for Al Nadeem not to know about it. Yet, he hadn't come to find her, which was strange. The only explanation was that he wasn't in the United States, and something was preventing him from coming to her.
This was indeed something to celebrate!
Perhaps, as Abel had suggested, Al Nadeem saw her in a romantic relationship with Roy, so he chose to stay away from her. Now that Faiza was gone too, following the story's logic, what should come next was, "From then on, the prince and the madwoman lived happily ever after."
What a beautiful scene. They would be very happy. In her heart, Laila silently lit a candle in mourning for the prince.