It's working! I changed

    return json_encode(  (array)$data );

To:

return response()->json($data);

And this is the JS code:

        $('input[name="email"]').val(data[0].email);
                $('input[name="number"]').val(data[0].phone);

Can send a picture of the output instead of pasting the text?

Ok happy to hear that! :)

Actually return json_encode( (array)$data ); and return response()->json($data); are equivalent. I'm quite confused.

Appreciate if you can pick a best answer. It's 2am. Gtg

I'm not certain why it does that either.

I'm not sure which answer to pick as "Best Answer" since none of them are dead on.

@ajsmith_codes try switching back to return json_encode((array)$data);, I have a feeling it will still work.

I did try that out of curiosity and it didn't work. Weird!

Ok good to know. New info to me. Thanks~