Ryan and the men armed in armor appeared the other end of the secret garden. The men were marching in two lines with five people in each line while Ryan was walking in front of them.
My eyes trailed their every move up until they stood before Miss Harley and I. Miss Harley stepped forward and stood just in front of me, blocking my view of Ryan. She did this so flawlessly that no one would have suspected that she did it on purpose.
" Big brother Ryan." She exclaimed with great excitement as she approached him with her arms wide open as though she would hug him. My breath hitched at the site, but then she stopped just a few steps before him and suddenly changed her stance and instead bowed politely.
" Miss Harley." Ryan said. When I heard his voice, that's when I finally believed the scene before my eyes. My mind got flooded by many questions, and one of them being, why was my husband meeting in secret with Miss Harley? Did it have something to do with the investigation, or was it something else?
" Oh, don't be so cold, people might mistake us as strangers when we are not. We grew up together after all, big brother Ryan." Miss Harley said in a voice filled with flattery.
" Where is he?" Ryan asked Miss Harley, ignoring her last remark.
Miss Harley turned to me with pouted lips and said," He is no fun, right?" As she said this, I could see a small smirk playing around at the corner of her lips. Ryan turned to face me but didn't say anything before focusing on Miss Harley, and so I also did not respond to Miss Harley's question. Miss Harley also didn't force me to respond as she turned around again with a satisfied smile, completely ignoring my existence again.
" I won't say. You came out here making me leave my party and you know how important these are to me. Yet you are so cold to me even if it's been years since we last spoke!" Miss Harley exclaimed as she crossed her arms against her chest.
Ryan sighed and said,
" Harley, now is not the time. Where is the threat you spoke about over the landline?"
His sudden change to a causal tone shocked me, but I guess it made sense since they were childhood friends, but then this made me feel like an unwanted bystander, and I had the urge to leave.
" That's more like it. Why were you so formal before? You scared me to death! He was injured when he came in, and i stabilized him. My daddy's guards have detained him. We haven't established if he has accomplices or not." Miss Harley explained, making me feel even more unwelcome than before because I didn't know what they were talking about.
" Alright, take us to him." Ryan commanded.
" Not yet, big brother Ryan. I want to make a deal. Since I helped you catch the prisoner who had escaped under your watch, I want to be reinstated to my previous post." Miss Harley said.
Ryan frowned and said, " That's not up to me to decide."
" Yes, but you can convince my dad, Daddy only listens to you! I want to be reinstated, I want to work beside you again! Besides, you know that I'm one of the best medical officers (MO) you've ever worked with, and i had that your army is currently struggling with finding a hands-on MO. " Miss Harley retorted
" Take me to him, and I'll see what I can do." Ryan said
Miss Harley clapped her hands and jumped out of excitement.
" Alright, this way then." She said as she turned and left me standing where I was.
Ryan began walking and stopped beside me.
I bowed to him in greeting and said, " Your Highness."
" What are you doing here?" he asked
" It's a tea party...I was invited." I said with my head hanging low.
" Big brother, hurry, what's taking you so long?" I heard Miss Harley's voice exclaim from the other end of the garden gate, the one we used to enter the secret garden.
" Go back. It's not safe here." he said, then started walking in the direction of Miss Harley's voice again. It was a sharp contrast, his attitude towards me and Miss Harley. If anything, people would think that I was a stranger to him while Miss Harley was the real wife.
And this was exactly how he was in my past life, uncaring and unbothered. He didn't flinch or anything when he passed me... He just did without looking back even.
Just when I thought that things were less tense between us, he flipped a switch again, and we were back at square one. What can I do to close the distance between us? Whatever it is, I need to find it because my life depends on it, literally.