Weston stood there gazing at Stella who was sound asleep on the sofa. His disheveled black hair cast
a shadow across his eyes, rendering his expression impossible to read.
He stayed that way for so long that he’d forgotten what time it was. It was the cold breeze that finally
prompted him to go back inside. He slid the door open, sauntered over to Stella, and picked her up and
carried her into the bedroom.
The next morning, Stella woke up to find herself in a tight embrace. She felt something hard bolstering
her neck. She opened her eyes and saw that it was a man’s arm.
“Weston,” she muttered without even thinking, trying to push the man away.
But Weston did not get up. With his eyes still closed, he hugged Stella a little tighter. “Let’s sleep a little
longer,” he murmured in her ear. “Okay?” Stella struggled to get up so she could check the time. “I
need to go to work,” she told him. Weston pinned her body down before she could get away and pulled
her back into his arms, not even letting her move. “Let’s sleep a little longer,” he repeated in an
insistent tone.
Stella sighed.
“But I really need to go to work,” she said.
She wouldn’t be persuaded, so Weston let go of her and turned away with his back towards her. Stella
scurried out of bed in a rush and out of habit, reached a hand towards the nightstand to get her phone
where she always placed it, only to find that it wasn’t there. She then remembered that she fell asleep
on the sofa last night. So how did she end up here?
She glanced at the man who was still in bed with a mixture of complicated feelings. She didn’t dwell on
it though. She just went ahead and walked out of the room.
She found her phone on the coffee table. She checked the time and found that it was still early, so she
took a quick shower, got ready, and was about to leave. Weston was awakened by the noise, so he got
out of bed. He glanced at her, then with a vacant face told her, “I’ve asked the driver to come pick you
up.” Stella nodded and made no objections. “Aren’t you going to work today?” she asked, noticing that
he was still in his nightshirt. Before Weston could reply, she heard the sound of a car approaching
downstairs, so she dashed towards the door. “I’m leaving now,” she said before closing the door behind
her, not even looking at Weston to
see his reaction.
She no longer had any curiosity or interest in him now. Everything she said even sounded flat and
impassive, like a robot reading out a line of code, completely void of emotions. Weston stared at the
door. His eyes were dark and brooding.
Stella asked the driver to stop at the intersection, then she opened the door and stepped out of the car.
After walking for a few minutes, she finally reached her workplace. She saw Yvonne cheerfully handing
out gifts. Yvonne beamed when she noticed Stella. “It’s only been a few days since I last saw you,”
Yvonne exclaimed, “but I think you’ve gotten much prettier now!” Stella could clearly see that Yvonne
was in a very good mood. She deduced that something good must’ve happened.
“I think you’re the one who’s gotten prettier!” she replied. “When I was coming in, I was asking myself
who’s that lady who’s smiling like an angel?”. Yvonne knew that Stella was only flattering her, but she
was still very pleased by it. Once she was done handing out the gifts, she grabbed Stella’s hand and
pulled her into her office.
“I’ve got a special set of skincare products for you!” Yvonne chirped. “Come on and give it a try! Let’s
see if they suit your skin!”
Before Yvonne closed her office door, Stella felt a gaze directed at her, but when she turned around to
see, she saw no one there.
Yvonne didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, so she happily pulled out a small golden jar. She
opened it and dipped her fingers in the white cream, but just before she was about to rub it on Stella’s
skin, she noticed that Stella kept staring at the door. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Stella replied, thinking that she was probably mistaken.
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