She's My Sleeping Pill

“Before you scold me, I’m telling you that I am doing all of these for Ayen.”

Travis made himself comfortable on the couch as he gazed at the man in front of him. [He has grown.] “You have become very perceptive, I must say.” He crossed his legs and placed his clasped hand on top of his knees, sitting regal like a king.

“You are making me nervous when you behave like that. Did I anger Jill again?”

“Well, you are making enemies here and there. You will be putting Cayenne’s life in danger again. What are you up to?”

Stefan sighed and copied the way Travis sat. “Did you know, Cayenne was almost raped when she was young? When I heard what happened to the child we saved, I trembled in rage. The hatred that I have been keeping suddenly resurfaced and I didn’t know where to vent them. I wanted to make up for that time when I wasn’t able to help her. Although she was saved, I felt regretful that I wasn’t the man who lent her a helping hand.”

“What do you expect? You even scolded her the first day you met her.”

.....

“Stop reminding me of that day.”

Travis grinned mischievously as he leaned a little and observed Stefan a little closer. “Jill is worried but I think there’s nothing for us to worry anymore.”

“I’m not doing things recklessly. Tristan helps me all the time and he’s very efficient with his work. Partnered with Elena, I’m sure nothing would go wrong.”

“I see.” He looked around the office since it has been a long while that he last visited Stefan’s office and wherever his eyes landed on, he could see Cayenne’s touch. “This place has changed.”

“Hmm? You mean the pictures, right? I love taking photos and after I got my beautiful muse, I started collecting pictures of her.”

“It’s not just the picture. I felt that, this place wasn’t so cold anymore.”

Stefan knew what Travis meant. Although he loves to fool around before and looked cheerful around everyone, only this room and Chris witnessed his moments of weakness. He wondered when this place started to change. Appearance wise, it was almost the same with how it was few years ago.

[Ah! It must be during the time she visited me because of my fever.] Stefan thought and smiled to himself which didn’t escape the keen observation of the man before him.

Travis smirked and didn’t say anything. He couldn’t believe that their fateful encounter with Cayenne two years ago would bring them to where they are now.

“Anyway, I just hope you could minimize your activities. I understand that you want to vent your emotions but make sure you won’t get yourself caught. Forcing these rats to come out would make the other groups to start their investigation.”

“I know. As soon as those two criminals are found, I will stop. This isn’t my job anyway. I’ll it to the police.”

“Speaking of, Cielo visited us early this morning. She was so annoyed with us because we kept sending criminals on her husband’s way. He spent too much time in the station instead of her and their baby.”

“That’s why he needs to accept his promotion. In that way, he can just demand his people to work this and work that. He will have flexible time, too.”

“Lucian loves to work instead of bossing around.”

The two of them talked about different things just to pass the time. Since he has good reason for doing what he did, Travis didn’t scold him and even explained this matter to Jill when he arrived back to their mansion. This time, he was reassured that Stefan can handle things on his own. He has matured over the years and he knew it was because of his wife.

Since it was Friday and Cayenne’s class ends early, around 4:00 PM, Stefan was already waiting for her at the gate. He wanted to shop with her for their new home using an excuse that someone was getting married. To his delight, she wasn’t suspecting him of anything.

She accompanied him to choose which kitchen appliances have better function with a good price. Since it was supposed to be a gift, they could only buy one. However, Stefan was able to convince her that giving more would save the couple from spending so much money. After all, they are just starting their family and would need a good amount of savings.

“I am not against the idea but are you sure about this? I will really choose whatever I like and gift it to them.”

“That’s fine with me.” Stefan stated and showed her around the store. “I think of giving them a barbecue grill in case they wanted to dine outdoor. Since we are getting a combi steamer for home use, we can also get the same model for them.”

“That sounds good.”

“By the way, I think we should get a bigger refrigerator, too.”

Cayenne felt something odd with these gifts he wanted to give because normally, people don’t give refrigerator as a wedding gift. “I’m not meaning to be selfish but, if people find out that you give someone these gifts and then we attend another wedding and gifted them something of smaller value, won’t they feel that we are being biased?”

“It’s not what I mean.”

“Huh?”

“The refrigerator is for our house.”

“Our ref is working fine.”

“Yeah.” Stefan started getting nervous as his wife narrowed her gaze at him. He scratched the back of his head and slung his arm over her shoulder as he pulled her close to him. Then he said, “We have a big family and we all love to eat. We need to have a lot of groceries and our refrigerator couldn’t fit all of the items. I’m not saying we should get them now, but maybe you can choose something that we can use in the future.”

“Oooohhhh....That’s what you mean. I get it now. Sure. Let’s go and check something.” Stefan finally sighed in relief but Cayenne’s next question struck him dumb speechless. “Who is getting married by the way?”