4 Chapter 4

The eerie quietness of the night streets brought the feeling of comfort around me. I walked up the smooth concrete pathway to Stella’s house but straightened my windblown clothes before I reached the door. This old familiar two-storey structure might’ve been my second home but I still tried my best to be presentable in whatever I wore. I saw that only the kitchen light was still on so some one must’ve been awake. I snuck out of my room just before 10 p.m. so it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes later. I wonder who was still up at this time. I tried opening the polished wooden door but it was unsurprisingly locked. It was late already so everything should’ve been locked up. I reached in my pocket and took out my key to the O’Connor household. Like I said, this was my second home.

“Oh, Hunter, it’s only you.” Stella’s mom appeared behind me. I locked the door again behind me then turned around to face the older women.

“Good evening Aunty.” I gave her a short hug then released her. I knew that she wasn’t really a fan of showing affection when it came to people who weren’t her husband or daughter but she surprisingly didn’t mind me hugging her although she never returned it. I guess I was part of the family but still an outsider in certain situations.

“How are you doing?” I asked her as I followed her into the cute little kitchen they had. I guess she was the reason why the light was still on. By the looks of it, she was heating something in the silver microwave. That confused though. Mrs O’Connor never ate this late at night and if Mr O’Connor wanted something to eat then she would’ve sent him down here to get it himself.

“I’m just tired. Have a bunch of orders I need to complete by next weekend.” The slim lines on her forehead and invasive bags under her eyes clearly confirmed that she had been working hard.

“Maybe it’s time you hire someone to help you then.” It was an innocent suggestion and it would benefit her. She would have an extra pair of hands to help and they could share the load.

“No one knows how to make the clothes like I do. I’m the only one that can do it.” That was true. I watched her make a dress for Stella once when we were younger and it looked extremely complicated. The dress fit her perfectly at the end though and it hasn’t been torn or broken once no matter what Stella did in it.

“I’m sure you’ll find away to complete your orders.” I tried reassuring her but the beeping of the microwave suddenly disturbed our conversation.

“I’ll have to.” She took the plate out of the microwave and the delicious smell immediately entranced me. Even though I ate during dinner by my house, I suddenly found myself craving whatever was under the plastic lid and by the enthralling smell it could only be my favorite pasta dish that Mrs O’Connor made.

“I need to go sleep so that I can get working early in the morning. Make sure that Stella eats then goes to sleep.” She handed me the plate then walked past me.

“Goodnight Aunty.” I greeted her as I opened a drawer and took out a fork before closing the drawer again. I heard Mrs O’Connor return my greeting as she climbed the stairs so I switched off the kitchen light then took out my cellphone so that I could use the torch on it to light my path in the extremely dark house right now. I didn’t really need the light since I knew my way around the house with my eyes closed. I could probably sleepwalk my way up to Stella’s room right now.

I climb the sturdy staircase then shine my light in the usually vacant corner of the passage to see if Buddy was snuggled up on his cushion already. My light surrounds the sleeping pug so I decide to let him continue sleeping but I still don’t see how he can look so comfortable resting on that old worn out cushion. I continued my journey nonetheless and walked past the first door, Stella’s parents’ room, then the next door, bathroom, before finally coming to Stella’s room. The lock on the door was broken thanks to Stella forcing me to do something she knew I couldn’t do just so that she could laugh at me. No that I think about it, why did I even like her?

“I gave you that key for emergencies.” Stella said without looking up from her laptop as she rested on her bed. It was clear that the bed was only made for one person but Stella and I never had a problem fitting both of us on it.

“This is an emergency.” I close the door then head straight to her bed.

“Really?” She turned to look at me then readjusted the senseless glasses she was wearing. She always wore those glasses while she worked even though the glasses were just clear glass and her eyes worked perfectly. We got into one of the weird arguments about it last year which ultimately ended up in her throwing me out of my own house because I was being ‘inconsiderate’ and ‘selfish’ for some reason. How the argument turned out to be about me is a hell of a good question.

“I urgently needed to taste your smile.” She reluctantly smiled as she looked at me before allowing me to plant a gentle kiss on her lips.

“You do realize that I leave my clothes here so that I can use it when I sleepover. Why are you wearing it?” I questioned her now. She wore one of my t-shirts but this wasn’t the first time. She wore more of my clothes while she was at home than she wore any of her clothes.

“I urgently needed to smell you.” I knew what she meant but I couldn’t help but release a couple of chuckles at that.

“That is probably the weirdest sentence I’ve ever heard you say.” She lightly shoved me then turned her attention to her laptop again while my laughter died down. I stole a peek at the screen to see what she was working on but I got a little frustrated when I saw that it was the art show she was running tomorrow. The plan she had was already perfect so changing now would just be a mistake and she knew it. Hell, I explained it to her on Monday when we went over her plan together. She was really frustrating at times.

“Shut up.” I tried to divert my attention to the rest of her dimly lit room so that I didn’t get a little too frustrated but I found it rising regardless. She hadn’t changed her room in years; her bed was placed in the corner next to the large window for some reason, her disorganized desk was placed next to her bed while her cupboards and dressers were placed on the opposite side of the room with a full-length mirror on the door of one of her cupboards. My frustration rose because of the amount of clothes littering her floor and desk chair right now.

“You should really learn how to put your clothes away.” I commented as I settled myself against the cushioned headboard next to Stella on her bed. I began eating the pasta as I relaxed myself. I wasn’t really comfortable seeing as Stella was working right next to me and the clothes I had on wasn’t exactly made for sleeping in but I wasn’t planning on sleeping right now.

“And you should learn to stop eating my food.” And the challenge begins yet again. I thought relationships were supposed to be smooth sailing and not battle after battle.

“This isn’t your food though.”

“Really?” She gave me a sideways glance but I wasn’t perturbed by it so I continued eating.

“Yeah. Your mom gave it to me and she knows it’s my favorite so it’s mine no matter how you look at it.” I swear I could hear her eyes rolling to the back of her head once I was finished but I knew that she was going to give up now. It was pointless fighting my impossible logic.

“Your mom did tell me that you need to eat though so I guess I have to share my food with you as usual. I’m not that heartless.” I had the stupidest smile plastered onto my face right now but she was too focused on the screen in front of her to see it.

“You could’ve fooled me.” Her sarcasm was a welcomed relief right now. I gathered up some of the pasta with the fork then presented it to her.

“Open up.” I instructed her. She didn’t put up a fight or give any snarky reply surprisingly so I slowly fed her to make sure that I didn’t hurt her while doing so because her attention was solely on her laptop right now.

“This reminds me of your high school years.” I released my smile again as I recalled the memory. I used to come over to Stella’s house at night just like I did tonight but when it came to exam time then she would be so focused on studying so that she could do her best that she would forget to look after herself properly so we would often end up on this bed with me feeding her while she studied.

“Remember my last math’s exam?” She suddenly asked me as she turned to me and smiled. I guess she wasn’t as focused on her work as it seemed.

“The night you tried to strangle me with spaghetti and meatballs, how I could I forget it?” Stella’s joyful laughter erupted in the room at the memory and I couldn’t help but follow her lead.

“My parents kicked you out of the house and nearly banned you from coming back here.”

“It’s all your fault by the way.” I pointed out.

“It was fun though.” I fed her more pasta to try and muffle her laughter but the her angelic face still held an ocean of amusement.

“For you. You basically covered my face in spaghetti. My mom thought I fell somewhere and refused to let me go wash me until I explained exactly what happened.”

“Your mom and I laughed so much about it that weekend.”

“I know. I was in the lounge while you guys spoke.” My amusement faded but the smile on my face was still ever-present. I loved seeing Stella so happy and just enjoying the small things in life. Her laugh was still as innocent as the day we met which wasn’t exactly a fond memory for me. More than enough of my memories with Stella ended up in me getting hurt or humiliated in some kind now that I think about it which begs the question again; why did I even like her?

“Well your spaghetti face helped me pass that horrible exam so thank you.” She leaned in closer to me then slowly pressed her soft lips to mine. I gratefully accepted her kiss as the rush of hormones suddenly enveloped my system which left me irritated when she ended the kiss unexpectedly. She leaned against me so I put my left arm around her and allowed her to rest her head on my shoulder. The sweet floral scent of hair suddenly invaded my senses but I reveled in it. Whenever I smelled that sweet scent then I knew that Stella wasn’t far behind. It meant that I would see her and fall in love with her beauty all over again like a brainwashed teenager.

“Need any help with whatever you’re busy with now?” I offered as I continued feeding her and myself. The pasta was nearly finished since the porcelain plate clearly wasn’t big enough for 2 people but she was too focused to care about food right now.

“I don’t know. The layout is set perfectly and everything flows into each other. The catering staff all know what to do and the rest of my team has all the information on each piece that they need but something just doesn’t feel right.” I could hear the frustration in her voice so I knew it was a serious issue that she was facing right now but I honestly couldn’t see anything wrong with the setup she had on the screen.

“Maybe that ‘something’ missing is our families. Did you change your mind yet?” Stella made a decision last week that her parents, my parents and I couldn’t attend tomorrow because she wanted to do it on her own without any help from us. I didn’t like that I couldn’t go tomorrow to support her but I respected her decision. Whether she failed or succeeded, she wanted to do it on her own merit.

“Nope. My mom is still angry about that as well.”

“That will pass. I was thinking about coming over here tomorrow afternoon so that I can show your parents the reviews and comments about your show. Obviously I’ll only show them the positive ones so that they have nothing to worry about.” I suggested as I fed the last of the pasta to Stella then set the plate on her desk.

“That’s sweet of you but you don’t have to. They’ll be fine.”

“And so will you so stop worrying.” I slowly closed her laptop then put it in its usual place on her desk as well before turning all my attention back on her.

“Now I promised your mother that I will make sure you ate and went to go sleep early and you know I can’t say no to your mother so are we going to do this the hard way or not?”

“Are you going to sleep in that?” She motioned to clothes I had on.

“Obviously I’m going to change and take the plate down to the kitchen so that it doesn’t attract unnecessary insects but then I’m going to make sure you sleep.”

“I need some water so I’ll take the plate downstairs and you can change.” She immediately jumped out of bed and climbed over me before I could protest then grabbed the plate and walked out of the room. I honestly couldn’t keep up with that girl anymore. She was either going to kill me or drive me crazy. I didn’t care which one it was as long as she never left me.

I stood up then started undressing me. I neatly folded my clothes then placed it on her desk chair before going to her draw and fishing out one of my boxers to sleep in. I found a black one with red stitching so I put that one on then decided to clean up her room just a little so that it hopefully wouldn’t irritate me as much anymore.

“I knew you were going to start cleaning up if I left you.” Stella definitely sounded happy that she was right about something but she knows me better than I know myself so it was to be expected.

“I couldn’t help myself.” She came over to me then grabbed her clothes out of my hand and tossed them in the corner of the room.

“I like my room the way it is.” She stated as she looked up at me in defiance.

“It’s messy.”

“And your room is too clean but you don’t see me having a problem with it.” I thought my logic was

impossible but hers seemed to rival mine.

“I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing.” I shrugged my shoulders but she lightly hit my bare chest in reply. “When we live together, our room is going to look more like my room than… whatever is happening in this room.”

“If you don’t like it then you’re welcomed to leave.”

“Are you kicking me out?” I raised an eyebrow at her as I waited for her reply.

“Did I stutter?” She folded her arms over her chest as she fixed her stare at me. I had to fight the urge to laugh in this moment because I was sure that Stella would’ve attacked me if I did.

“I was just a little confused for a moment. Usually when you do this, it involves a lot more… kicking.” This time I released a short laugh causing her to crack a smile.

“Screw you.” She tried pushing me away but I grabbed her arms and pulled her right up against me. Her slender form molded against mine as her arms circled my body while mine wrapped around her shoulders.

“Tomorrow night. Then you can screw me as much as you want to.” I gently laid down my head against hers as a smirk played on my lips. I couldn’t tell if it was her heart or my own that was trying to get out of its bony cage. Suddenly the air around us became heavier but we didn’t do anything except enjoy the subtly of our romance right now. Sometimes actions and words aren’t enough to define the love between two people so we let our silence speak volumes. We let the rhythmic beating of our hearts convey the unspoken messages we wanted to hear.

“I really and truly love you.” Stella finally broke the silence. Her words were innocently pure yet filled with so much conviction.

“Aren’t you going to tell me that you love me?” She asked me when I didn’t reply. In all honesty I was too captured by her words at that moment to respond. She was so sure about us which both enthralled and scared me a little but if there was one thing I was sure of was that she was my soulmate.

“I’m trying to remember something.”

“Remember what?”

“Remember if there was a time when I didn’t love you.” I brought one of my hands up to her warm cheeks then lightly rubbed the soft flesh as I stared into her eyes. Our eyes never left each other’s gaze as we just lingered in each other’s presence. Both of us unwilling to break the perfect pose of our bodies right now. If ever there was a moment that defined our relationship then this was it. No fighting, no challenging, no arguing; just the two of us perfectly in sync and falling deeper in love the longer we got lost in each other’s worlds.

“Don’t leave me.”

“If I was planning on leaving you then I wouldn’t be planning on moving in with you.”

“About that, I think I found a pretty good place.” I raised my eyebrow at her but she released her hold on me and made her way to her desk but I immediately stopped her.

“You’re not opening that laptop again tonight.” I warned her as I turned her around in my arms. “Let’s get in bed and then you can tell me about it.”

“Fine but that’s the house we’ll look at first when we go visit different houses.”

“Deal.” I agreed, not that I would have a choice anyway. When I said that Stella and I should look for a house together, the way it was going to turn out was that she was going to look for houses and tell me where to go and the houses I would suggest would either be disregarded somehow or not even make the cut. I preferred it that way though. I wanted to give my input but I trusted Stella’s judgement.

“Are you going to sleep like that?” She asked me as she crawled onto the plushy bed.

“Why?” I looked at the boxer I had on but I didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“You’re not wearing a top and you know how cold my room gets.” She was referring to the lack of clothes I had on rather than the clothes I actually wore.

“Then I guess you just have to keep me extra warm tonight.” Yep, her emotionless expression wasn’t a surprise there but I had to try my luck I suppose. I looked around her room then took the long red scarf lying on the floor next to her desk and draped it over my shoulders before climbing on the bed.

“Better?” I asked her while I made myself comfortable and decided to lay on my side to face her.

Stella mimicked my movements and laid on her side as she faced me now as well.

“If you get sick then you can’t blame me.” That was fair, not that any one of us would adhere to it. If one of us got sick then both of us basically got sick which ultimately led to us either staying here or by my house until both of us were fully healed.

“Okay. Tell me about the house.” I grabbed the blankets then threw it over us but both of us stopped it once it reached our shoulders. I took my right arm out from under the blanket while my left arm propped up my head.

“It’s close to the edge of town with a view of the beach and ocean. Two storeys; open floor plan downstairs, 2 bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom both upstairs and downstairs. Wooden floors, marble kitchen tops…”

“Sounds like you’ve made your choice already.” I joked but the intrigue and wonder in her eyes didn’t fade.

“But it sounds perfect and nearly exactly what I would want as well. We can check it out on Monday if you’re not busy.”

“We’re both working on Monday.”

“Lunch break? I can take you out to lunch after that as well.”

“You just did it again. We spoke about it earlier.” Wait, what the hell just happened? Did I say something wrong? Well that’s probably a dumb question right now but what exactly did I say that was so wrong?

“You’re going to have to refresh my memory because I say a lot of dumb shit and way too much has happened today already. Hell, there’s a girl in my bed as we speak so…”

“A girl in your bed?” This expression I knew all too well. Eyes deadly focused, right eyebrow slightly higher than it’s counterpart, pursed lips completing the threatening expression.

“Before you do anything, let me explain everything.” I suggested as I put my right hand in front of me to try and stop any attack that she might use right now.

“Explain then.” My throat suddenly dried up so I tried swallowing but failed so I just took a breath before I started.

“The clients that my parents and I were having dinner with were the Andrews family from Andrews Construction. My parents invited Mr and Mrs Andrews and their three children; Naomi, Michaela and Zendé. They’re staying the night so obviously we had to share rooms…”

“So why aren’t the girls sharing a room and you and Zendé taking your room?” Stella looked as confused as I was. At least she wasn’t angry anymore.

“That’s what I asked her. I was in my underwear, just about to get into the shower when Michaela came in with only a towel around her body.”

“I just have to say, your explanation right now is not going well.” And her anger returns. I still needed to find out what I said that made her angry in the first place. I dug myself so many graves that I could literally choose one to bury myself in.

“I think I’ll just keep quiet now. I can’t say anything bad if I don’t say anything at all right?”

“That’s not how it works mister. You need to finish your story no matter how much worse it gets for you.” Yep, I was screwed no matter what I did. Wait, how did this suddenly change from looking to houses to being about me? Did she just do the same thing she did when it came to our disagreement about her glasses?

“Fine. She explained that our parents thought it was a good idea for us to share the room rather than me and her brother since Michaela and I got along during dinner.”

“And you were still in your underwear while she was practically naked?”

“I was actually in the shower and she was doing her hair in front of the mirror.”

“I’m a little confused here. Just clear this up for me quickly; do you like digging yourself into a deeper grave or are you just a complete idiot?”

“I’m being honest with you and I don’t think I did anything wrong did I?” Yeah, what did I do wrong? It’s not like I cheated on Stella right?

“You and another girl were naked in your bathroom.” If you put it that way then I guess you could see it as cheating I guess.

“But I didn’t kiss her or anything.”

“Like that makes it any better. She might as well have jumped into the shower with you.”

“I’m sorry then. I decided to come here tonight and spend the night with you rather than sleep next to her so doesn’t that count for anything?”

“I’m not throwing you out right now, be grateful.” She turned around under the blankets and faced her back towards me now. I knew she was a bit insecure in our relationship but I never knew why so I should’ve expected this from her. She knows that I would never cheat on her but she couldn’t change that small part of her and I actually liked it. It showed me that she wanted me and no one else. It was cute.

“If you want me to get undressed right now then you just have to say the word.” I whispered into her ear then lightly placed kisses on her soft neck.

“I need to go sleep.”

“So do I but I need to tell you something. Please turn around.” I traced my right arm along hers under the blanket until I finally reached her hand then gently intertwined our fingers. At least she wasn’t pushing my hand away so that was a good sign.

“I can hear you, talk.” I gave up and released a frustrated sigh. I was still glad that I got to be with Stella regardless of the situation we found ourselves in right now. I moved a little closer to her so that I could snuggle against her and so that I didn’t have to waste any extra energy by talking loudly.

“I found out why my parents don’t want us to be together.”

“How?”

“I confronted my dad about it earlier. It’s not that they don’t like you because they basically think of you as a daughter. They just think that we wouldn’t last because of the decisions that I would have to make if I was to take over the company. You’re too pure and caring and I would have to be emotionless and make decisions to improve the company even if that meant firing people who have been loyal to the company for years.”

“That makes sense I guess but at least they think that there’s a possibility of us being together.” Trust Stella to see the bright side to this right now. I felt her wrap both her hands around mine.

“I know. I told him that if it came down to choosing between you or the company then it would be an easy decision for me.”

“You know I don’t want to come between you and your parents like that.”

“I know but I’m not going to allow anyone to tell us that we can’t be together even if it is my parents.”

“Hey, let’s not think about that anymore. Just be with me here tonight okay.” She probably sensed my blood beginning to boil the longer we spoke about it. I was glad that she knew me so well. Without her I would’ve probably ran away from home already. The only reason I was staying and obeying my parents was because of Stella. She really had me wrapped around her finger but I didn’t want it any other way.

“Okay. We should go sleep.” I suggested then lifted my head and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Goodnight beautiful.” It felt weird for Stella and I to sleep like this. Usually she would be burying her head in my chest as she fell asleep while her legs wrapped around mine. It might’ve sounded weird but it was surprisingly one of the most comfortable positions I’ve ever fallen asleep in. I thought nothing of it though and just allowed Stella to fall asleep however she wanted to, as long as she got her rest.

A couple of minutes later, however, Stella turned back around under the blankets then gave me a quick kiss before making herself more comfortable in our normal position. She wrapped her arms around my neck as she pulled me closer to her so I wrapped my arms around her body as well. Now everything was perfect, this was our little slice of heaven.

“Goodnight.” I left a kiss on her forehead before allowing my mind to switch off for the night.