Chapter 11
"How?" Lily asked the man who was putting his first spoonful in his mouth.
"As usual... delicious," the man replied with a smile.
"Is that true?" Lily asked sounding doubtful.
Actually there was something he wanted to ask Stefan, but he forgot what he wanted to ask. Lily looked down while stirring the fettucini in front of her and she looked up at Stevan again as she remembered what she wanted to know.
"Oh yeah, what were you doing last night? I tried calling you several times but your cell phone was off," Lily asked while stirring the fettucini with the fork in her hand.
Lily's question just made Stefan stop eating. "Y-last night?" Stefan asked a little nervously. "Ah, last night I was busy at work. There were so many proposals that came into the company, all of which piled up because I was living on vacation in Hawaii, so I took the initiative to bring my work home so I could finish it immediately," explained Stevan.
Stefan knew that there was no way he could explain what he did last night. The woman in front of her would definitely be very disappointed if she knew what had happened between her and Bella last night. But seeing the look on Lily's trusting face right now made Stevan feel very guilty for lying to this woman who trusted him so much.
And even now he felt that he was slowly turning into a master liar and this was not what he wanted. The image of Bella's face was still clear in her memory, how the disappointed look Bella showed when she left the girl when the movie they were watching was about to start. He left his wife with the excuse that he had something to do.
Actually he offered to take Bella home first to the mansion, but Stevan didn't want his wife to be alone there, but he couldn't beat his wife's stubbornness. Bella insisted on staying there, watching the movie to the end, alone.
"Honey, why not spend it?" Lily's voice snapped Steven out of his thoughts.
"Are you not feeling well?" Call Lily again.
"No, I'm fine," Stefan replied with a slightly forced smile.
"You look weird today, did something happen?" Lily asked who felt strange with her lover's behavior.
Mario nodded slowly. How could that be? How could he think of another woman when he was with the lover he thought he loved the most. Even this woman still cares about him very much even though Stevan's current status is clearly married.
Right now he felt so guilty for the woman who was smiling while finishing the food in front of her. Suddenly Stefan stood up and walked to Lily's side. Stefan knelt down and then hugged her from the side and buried his face in the crook of his lover's neck.
"Honey what's wrong?" Lily asked confused. He felt that Stefan was a little strange today.
The man acted unusually, as if he had something he wanted to say but couldn't say.
"It's okay honey, I just missed you so much," Stefan replied as he wrapped his arms around Lily's waist.
The treatment that Stefan did just now made Lily speechless for a while. He tried to digest all of Stefan's words which he thought were not as usual.
"Stand up, your knees will hurt at this rate," Lily finally said.
Liy pulled Stevan's hand from his waist, led the man to stand up then tiptoed and kissed his lover's lips.
"I love you so much Xander," Lily said confidently. "I will still love you even though the whole world is against our relationship, I will also still love you even though people will blaspheme me because of it," said Lily, looking into Stevan's eyes.
The girl stretched out her hands and hugged Stevan's body tightly as if she didn't want to lose.
"I love you too dear, I will never stop fighting for our relationship. I promise one day you will be the only woman who will be by my side until the end because I only want you," replied Stevan while stroking and kissing the top of Liy's head affectionately.
"This is how it should be," thought Steva. He felt that this was where he belonged, beside the woman who had loved him deeply for the past two years.
***
This morning Bella woke up and felt her body go numb. How come? that night the woman slept on the sofa in the tv room, the sofa was a bit cramped when used for sleeping. Makes him have to tilt his body so as not to fall. Only one person could make Bella do such a thing, and that person was Stefan.
Bella was deliberately waiting for Stevan on the sofa, at least when Stevan came home he would see Bella there and tell her to move to the room. But it's not. Stefan didn't come home to the mansion last night. Bella opened the door to Stefan's room and found that the room was still as empty as last night. Stevan's attitude made Bella wonder what business made Stevan not come home like this?
Bella closed the door to Stefan's room and rushed to get ready to go to campus. He has to submit papers and there is a presentation test today and his KKN files must be collected immediately so he can start next month.
Bella descended the stairs with lazy steps, for some reason she felt a little bad in her stomach, she didn't even finish her breakfast because she thought the food on the table all tasted bland on her tongue. Bella stopped in her tracks when she passed Stefan on the stairs. Stefan was on the other side of the stairs.
Stefan looked at Bella with an indescribable look. Stefan's gaze seemed to be trying to keep Bella away from him. The gaze that Stevan gave made his wife freeze in place with a myriad of questions in her mind.
'What's wrong with that man? Why did he just come home? Why is he still wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday? Why does his face look wrinkled and sleep deprived? Has he had breakfast this morning too?'
There were so many questions in Bella's head and all of them disappeared when Stevan turned his gaze away like he was looking away and left Bella who was still frozen on the stairs. His legs were numb, he thought all this was just a hallucination until he saw Stevan's back disappear as the man was at the end of the stairs and turned into the hallway.
"What's wrong with Stefan today? Did I make a mistake that he ignores me like that?" Bella thought.
Bella shook her head, trying to get rid of all the bad thoughts and convince herself that Stefan was acting like that just because he was tired.
***
"What are you thinking about?" asked Nagitha gently. His friend couldn't stand to see Bella propping her chin up with empty eyes since this morning. Nagitha knew very well that if Bella was like this, there must be something bothering her mind.
Bella nodded slowly. "I'm fine, Tha, I'm just a little tired, last night I stayed up late doing my paper." Bella was lying, because it was impossible for her to tell the truth.
This is a domestic matter and he doesn't want to share it with anyone, including his best friend. For him as long as he can handle it on his own, then other people don't need to know.
"Are you sure? If there's a problem, tell me. You're not fighting with Stevan anymore, are you?"
"No Tha. Really I'm okay... I'm just tired."
"You'd better go home, your face is a bit pale, your body is also warm, do you want me to accompany you to the doctor?" Offer Nagitha.
"No Tha, I'm really okay. I'm just not getting enough rest." Refuse Bella gently.
"Well, if you can't stand it, then! You look really weak Bell, I swear."
Bella nodded, she arranged the papers in front of her then prepared to come forward because after this it was her turn for the presentation. And as he stood up to take a step forward, his vision suddenly darkened. The last thing he remembered was a fairly strong thumping sound as his body hit the floor.