Envy

Adrian was about to reply to Sonia's statement when his eyes suddenly fell on the pretty Stella.

His sudden lovestruck and disorganized state allowed Sonia to brush her lips against his before he had time to push her away.

"What do you think you doing?" Adrian asked in disgust. Even though his voice was directed at Sonia, both his eyes were fixed on Stella, who was standing some feet away from them and talking to someone over the phone.

Due to Stella's half-hazard movement and continuous turning of her head from side to side, it was obvious she was searching for someone.

The site of Stella brought warmth to Adrian's heart. It countered all of Sonia's flirtatious theatrics and easily broke down the spell she was temporarily casting on him.

"Don't tell me you've not been dying to kiss my lips all this while." Sonia smiled slyly as her hidden camera guy gave her the perfect signal.

"Grow up, Sonia. I no longer find you attractive. Nothing about you turns me on anymore. Save your breath and kisses for Mark. I'm sure he will appreciate it better." Adrian scoffed.

"I love you, Adrian and I will never give up on us, no matter how much you taunt me for my past mistakes."

"Then, get ready to wait forever because we will never be together. If you don't mind, I have other important business to attend to. See you later." Adrian snarled before walking out on her.

He quickly strolled to the place he first spotted Stella but she had disappeared into the bustling crowd of happy spectators. He move towards his left and later changed to his right direction in search of her but to no avail.

Adrian felt frustrated as searching for Stella amid the crowd became more tasking than he had anticipated.

Another thing that added to his frustration was the suffocating noise in the environment. People were either screaming their lungs out or cheering noisily.

As if the head-banging noise wasn't enough stress for a peace-loving kind of guy, Adrian had to combat flirtatious calls and advances from both pretty locals and foreigners.

After a while of futile search, Adrian thought of leaving but something made him walk towards the grape-treading arena.

Overlooking the noisy cheers by the crowds of people surrounding the elevated grape basin, Adrian focused his attention on the mesmerizing rendition by the local musical band.

He was humming the ever-green song of the band when his eyes finally caught sight of Stella.

She was happily dancing to the beautiful songs by the bang while squishing grapes with bare feet in the elevated grape basin.

Although, five other girls were dancing with her, every pair of lustful eyes seemed to be glued on her. She kept twirling, and rolling her waist as though she were a bell-dancing girl.

"Excellente!"

"Bravo!"

"Beautiful!"

"I love you!"

Lots of male voices echoed amongst the crowd. Single red roses were thrown in the air towards Stella by many admirers, as she perfectly danced to the rhythm of the music.

This made Adrian turn green with envy.

Hence, in a desperate attempt to also get Stella's attention, he quickly purchased a bouquet of red roses. Then he carefully separated the roses from each other and patiently waited until the end of the song.

As the song drew to an end, Adrian threw all his roses in the air, in Stella's direction.

His seemingly stupid but catchy concept instantly caught Stella's attention alongside some haters and envious guys.

Stella briefly waved at him before stepping down from the platform on the opposite side to his location.

However, before Adrian could maneuver his way around the crowd to where Stella was, another equally handsome young man beat him to it.

-

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Immediately after Stella left the vineyard, she thought of going home to get herself ready for dinner. However, Hannah's call disrupted her plans and made her attend the festival instead.

Hannah knew that Stella was a great dancer so she was able to convince her to partake in a dance competition at the grape treading arena.

According to Hannah's persuasive pleas, there was a reward of five thousand dollars for the best dancer amongst the grape treading participants. This was also exclusive of some other benefits like recognition, job opportunities, and bragging rights.

Based on Stella's supervisory earnings, five thousand dollars was a huge sum. This money was capable of settling a majority of her needs if she decided not to work for a six months.

So, without giving it much thought, she entered the competition as the last batch of dancers and won with a landslide.

Being a great dancer, Stella usually avoided the spotlight to avoid attention.

However, due to the way, she unconsciously lost herself in the brief moment of fun, she unintentionally exposed herself to the scrutiny of many eyes, both local and foreign.

-

-

As Stella carefully descended from the platform, amidst thunderous cheers, a young man dressed elegantly in a white outfit offered his hand to assist her. His friendly gesture and warm smile made Stella take his hand without hesitation.

"You dance beautifully!" The young man beamed as he carefully led Stella away from the many lustful eyes hoping to get a piece of her.

"Thank you!" Stella replied breathlessly. Compared to how she was feeling earlier, she was grateful that Hannah convinced her into partaking in the dance.

The young gentleman who seemed unperturbed by her messy skirt or her grape-splattered body offered her his handkerchief and a bottle of water.

"You're too kind, Mr..."

"Alexander but you can call me Alex for short.

"I'm Stella and thanks for your kindness. " Stella took a sip of the bottle of water to quench her thirst before turning around in search of Hannah.

But instead of Hannah, Stella came face to face with Adrian's astonished stare.

"Adrian," Stella muttered. She watched Adrian angrily walk towards them, scowling at the man standing beside her.

One look at Adrian expression and some would assume Stella was his wife and Alex was trespassing.