drunk and shocked

At 11 PM, Steffi leaned her head on a bartender's table in a bar. The girl was drunk and ignored the hustle and bustle around her. All she could think about was Liam and Gea.

"Umh... That means...," Steffi raised her head again, then frowned. "All this time, you guys were playing behind my back! Maybe you guys are secretly meeting... making love... that's disgusting!"

Steffi smiled sinisterly, took a glass filled with wine, and looked at it. "Was I stupid all this time? My boyfriend is dating my friend. They are doing intimate things. Actually, who is the couple here? Me with my boyfriend, or my friend with my boyfriend?"

Steffi chuckled, drank her wine, and put her head back on the table. "They're crazy!"

"Steffi!"

Steffi frowned when she heard a voice calling her. She was feeling lazy, dizzy, ignored everything, and wanted to sleep.

"Gosh, you're so drunk!" Liam said, holding Steffi's shoulder and looking down at her worriedly.

Steffi opened her eyes, glanced at Liam, who immediately surprised her, and sat down.

"Don't touch me, you bastard!" Steffi pushed Liam away.

Liam was surprised, looking at Steffi who couldn't even sit up straight.

"Baby, you're so drunk. I'll take you home!"

"No!" shouted Steffi.

"Baby, come on..." Liam approached Steffi, but Steffi immediately pushed him away.

"Don't call me that, you bastard!" hissed Steffi with a sharp gaze, pointing at Liam's face. "I hate you. You don't love me, you love Gea... Go... You have fun with her... She's your bitch!"

Liam exhaled harshly, frustrated with Steffi's attitude. "Baby, come on, I'll take you home. Your mother must be worried about you!" He approached Steffi again.

"I don't want to!" Steffi pushed Liam away.

Liam ignored Steffi's rejection and immediately embraced the girl, then forced her to leave the bar.

"Get off me, you bastard!" Steffi thrashed. "I don't want to be with you anymore. You are disgusting!"

Liam tried hard to drag Steffi to the doorway and met a man who stopped him immediately.

"Let her go," the man shouted with a flat look.

Liam smiled sinisterly. "Who do you think you are? I have the right to take her... I'm her boyfriend!"

"But she doesn't want to be with you!"

"That is none of your business!" Liam shouted, trying to get out, but the man pushed him away and pulled Steffi towards him.

Steffi immediately hugged the man, resting her head on his chest.

"Heyy...!" Liam glared.

"She doesn't want to be with you, so don't force her," said the man, embracing Steffi with his right hand.

"But I'm her boyfriend, I have the right to be with her! I have to take her home!" Liam was about to pull Steffi, but again the man pushed him away, and he almost fell.

"I'll take her," said the man, who immediately took Steffi out of the bar.

Liam, who didn't accept the stranger's attitude, immediately followed him until he arrived on the terrace. He pulled the man's clothes, but the man pulled him back and then threw him towards the short stairs.

"Oh, damn!" Liam swore, and he fell.

"I told you, I'll take her!" said the man firmly. "Once again you force me to take her from me, I will break your neck!"

Liam kept quiet with his ragged breath, feeling emotional and at the same time curious about the man who pretended to be a hero for Steffi.

The man immediately took Steffi to his parked black car.

"Damn it!" Liam cursed, feeling emotional, but he knew he couldn't fight this foreign man and couldn't hold Steffi.

The man put Steffi in the passenger seat, then he sat in the driver's seat and immediately left the bar area.

The man took his cell phone from his jacket pocket and answered the call.

"Hello, Mrs. Grace?"

"Have you found Steffi yet?" asked a woman from the phone.

"Yeah, we're going home now."

"Okay then... I'm waiting."

The man hung up the phone, then glanced at the mirror above, which showed the image of Steffi sleeping in the passenger seat.

'She's cute,' he thought.

The next day, at 10 am.

Steffi frowned, dazzled by the midday sun that entered her room through the window. The girl stretched, woke up, and glanced around lazily. She massaged her forehead, trying to remember what happened last night but couldn't recall anything.

"Mom?"

Steffi saw her mother opening the curtains of another window. She scratched her head, feeling confused about who had brought her home.

"Who took me home?" she asked.

"Bill," said Grace Natalie Rodriguez, Steffi's mother.

"Bill? Who's he?"

"You will get to know him later," Grace said with a smile, approaching Steffi.

"You have to get up, take a shower, and after that, we'll go to the boutique," she continued.

Steffi frowned. "I don't want to, I'm so dizzy!"

"But we have to go to the boutique to buy some nice dresses for you ... tonight, there will be a special event for you!" Grace said enthusiastically, then sat on the edge of the bed. "You have to look very attractive and beautiful, and you can't misbehave!"

"What happened, actually? What kind of special occasion do you mean?"

"Okay," Grace sighed, focused on staring at Steffi's beautiful face, which was still wrinkled even though the smell of alcohol was so strong.

"The Miller family is coming over tonight. We'll talk about..." Grace hesitated.

"About what?" asked Steffi.

"About Bill... He likes you and he wants to marry you," Grace replied.

"Marry?" Steffi immediately sat up and looked at her mother in astonishment.

Grace just shrugged her shoulders while raising her eyebrows.

"Mom, are you crazy? You know I just broke up with Liam... there's no way I can get into a relationship with another man right away, even get married. That's crazy, absolutely crazy!" Steffi sighed, shocked, annoyed, and a bit emotional. "Even I still can't forget that betrayal... I'm not done with my problem yet!"

"But if you keep this up, then you'll never be able to rise to your future... don't dwell in sadness, don't waste your time just lamenting your past love story," Grace said patiently, stroking Steffi's tangled hair.

Steffi was silent with disgust, remembering Liam and Gea.

"You have to learn to accept other men so you don't think about him all the time," Grace exclaimed.

"That means I'm just using him as an outlet, an escape... It means I'm going to toy with him," said Steffi.

"No, you're not toying with him...I'm sure you can learn to love him. Besides, he's very handsome and dignified, he's the CEO of his own company... And of course, he's the right age to get married."

Steffi glanced at her mother. "How old is he?"

"29 years old," Grace said briefly.

Steffi widened her eyes. "Jeez, 29 years old?"

"Yeah, that's the right age for a man to get married," said Grace.

"Ugh..." Steffi lay back down, staring at the ceiling. "When I was 21 years old, he was 29 years old. When I'm 29 years old, he'll be almost 40 years old...he'll look old whereas I'll still be very young. I'll look like a girl who married an old man ... That's not my dream at all!"

"Steffi..." Grace sighed.

Steffi shifted her position, her back to her mother.

"You can't determine love, compatibility, or anything just from age. Someone can even stay young, moreover, he is rich and can afford expensive treatments," said Grace, convincingly. "Bill is very handsome, even though he's 29 years old, he looks like he's 25 years old. He's very charismatic...he's better than Liam. You'll like him!"

"What if I don't like him?" asked Steffi.

"Then he won't force you to accept him," Grace replied resignedly. "But Mommy hopes you will accept him. Give him a chance to show that he's worthy of you. Mommy hopes for that...he's the dream son-in-law of all mothers in this world."

Steffi sneered, a little fed up with her mother's attitude that praised the man named Bill.