She's My Sleeping Pill

Since she attended the class via zoom, some of her classmates sent her a message. They were asking her if something has happened for her to suddenly stay at home. After all, she already started going to school and attended her class in person. She just made a random excuse about Stefan’s worry about her safety. And since everyone knew how overprotective her husband was, they didn’t ask for more details.

After attending to the first subject, she went out to check on Stefan but he was still asleep. Then, the class continued.

She felt bored without her husband but she endured until the class ended. She checked on him once again but he was still sound asleep.

Since the food she made had gone cold, she brought them back to the kitchen and ate them. It’s not good to waste food and besides, they aren’t spoiled – just cold.

At noon, Stefan finally woke up and looked for her. He greeted her with a kiss as if nothing happened yesterday and hugged her for a while until she needed to leave for her afternoon class. The two of them acted like usual and no one suspected anything.

When Cayenne was out of sight, Stefan called Tristan and received good news from him. At dawn, when he sent the name and the picture of the criminal, Tristan easily found a lot of information regarding the man in the picture, and using his network connections, he gathered more facts about him. Using what they knew, it was easy for Tristan to look for clues and lock on their targeted group.

.....

Although Stefan wasn’t able to find the other person who locked eyes with him, he wasn’t that worried because he knew that he will also be caught.

Tristan already coordinated with the police and sent them the location of the group that runs an illegal gambling den and forces families to sell their daughters to pay off their debt. Tristan wasn’t sure if the criminal that Stefan spotted was with the group that the police will raid but he will also make a close follow-up with Lucian to see how this goes.

In the afternoon, Stefan started working again in the study room while Cayenne attended her class and answered quizzes. From time to time, he’d look at her to observe her expression and so far, he couldn’t find any negative traces on her face or in her eyes. She was doing well relatively well even after what she witnessed.

“Hon,” Stefan called out when her class ended. She has a few minutes of break before another subject starts and it was enough for him to shift her mind to something else. “Let’s go buy some kitchen appliances tomorrow.”

Cayenne turned to look at him with a deep frown. “Why? I mean, we don’t need them.”

“Someone’s getting married and I thought of giving them something that they can use in the kitchen. Also, some of our things needed replacement.”

“I think everything’s fine in the kitchen. I just cooked earlier.”

“Did you notice that the combi steamer is already gone? I checked it last week and it was no longer working. I asked someone to throw it away. We can buy something of the same model.”

“Let’s talk again after my class.” Cayenne signaled him to zip his mouth and he only nodded at her with a smile. He even sent a flying kiss in her direction but Cayenne couldn’t do anything that could grab her professor’s attention. She only winked at him when the old woman wasn’t looking her way.

At night, Cayenne checked on the child once again but there weren’t any changes to her condition. The police weren’t able to find any relatives of her either. They probably didn’t want to have anything to do with a dying child. Aside from that, they might be afraid of the people who are responsible for the death of her parents. Or maybe, they just didn’t care. They could think of many reasons but nobody could tell them the truth.

“I can’t believe that no one came forward to get her,” Cayenne stated after the call ended. She was sitting on the chair on their balcony while looking at the flowers in the garden. Stefan was leaning on the railings while facing her. “I don’t believe that she has no relatives.”

“We can’t really force them to come.” Stefan retorted softly. “Once she gets better, we can send her to the orphanage. It’s better for her to stay there instead of wandering outside. Someone can take care of her properly and she will have friends as well.”

“You are right. I just hope that she wakes up soon but I am also worried for her once she realizes that her parents are gone.”

“It will be hard for her but if justice is served and she knows it, maybe it will help her a little. We can only hope that she will be strong enough to accept the truth. At the same time, we can – ” Stefan’s words were cut off because of the call from Tristan.

“Just answer it.”

Stefan answered the call right in front of her but he didn’t put it on loudspeaker. She could barely hear anything from what Tristan said but even if she didn’t know, she could tell that it wasn’t something good based on her husband’s expression.

Stefan looked like someone who wanted to tear someone apart.

“What’s the matter?” Cayenne asked as she pried his fingers open. “Is this about your business, about me, or about the little girl we met?”

“It’s related to her. I asked Tristan to look into this matter and he was able to coordinate with the police and raid the gambling den as well as arrest the people that manages this place. However, the criminals who caused the girl to jump weren’t there.”

“Are we caught in the eye of another storm?”

“No, not this time. They were caught off-guard from the raid and even their ring leader has been caught. Few people escaped but because of their resentment, the arrested suspects cooperated with the police so that those who escaped will be caught. I’m sure that those men who caused this to the child will be arrested soon. There’s no need for us to worry.”

“I see. You’ve worked hard. Sorry I wasn’t able to help.”

“Your presence is enough. As long as I know you are well and safe, I am more than happy.”

On the other hand, Lucian and his colleagues were having a headache. They agreed to cooperate with Tristan because he knew this man from Jillyanna’s case over a year ago and because he had worked with him for several times. He just didn’t expect that he would discover something a lot bigger than what they hoped to find. And now, their small prison wasn’t enough to keep all the arrested criminals.

“Warden, please send someone to escort these criminals to your beloved jail. I’m having a headache from watching them.” Lucian expressed this over a telephone call with Vincent.

“I’ll have someone escort them. Settle their charges and the cases first.” Vincent responded while putting on his cap. “I’ll make sure to prepare the best cells for them.”

“On it.”