She's My Sleeping Pill

On the side, Stefan pulled Cayenne behind him and faced the woman who slandered his wife. For a man who spoiled his wife like a queen, seeing someone talking rubbish about her angered him. He couldn’t even bring himself to shout at her and here she was, getting slandered in front of the whole nation. How could he allow this to happen?

“Ms. Jimenez, I don’t know what grudge you have against my wife, but I cannot allow you to continue doing this. Have some decency. We’re on a show and this is a live broadcast. Whatever you say here will be instantly shown to the world. I have no qualms about you doing this to someone else, but you should know better not to go against my wife.”

If it was someone else, they probably left out of fear already. Maybe she has lost her mind from so much anger because instead of getting afraid for going against one of the powerful men in the city, Joy snickered and crossed her arms. “Do you know her so well in just a span of three years? Let’s not consider the time that you got separated from her as well. Just so you know – ”

“I know my wife more than anyone else. Saying I know her better than how she knows herself is not an understatement. Why should I believe whatever you are saying?”

“Really? Did she tell you about Arthur and – ”

“I have met the man several times in the past. Were you trying to say something about Seiji? We’re not friends but we’re not enemies either. He has helped me and Cayenne a lot of times.”

Cayenne clicked her tongue in disgust at the woman whom she had not seen for several years after graduation. She didn’t see this kind of reunion coming to her at all. “You were great in class. I don’t really understand why you always like to go against me.”

“Because you’re a slut!”

.....

The set sank into a deafening silence and no one could look at Stefan at all. They could feel his terrifying presence inside the room and it felt like looking at him would kill them. Joy smirked when she looked at Cayenne’s dark face but when she shifted her gaze to Stefan, to smile triumphantly; her knees started shaking and she fell back on her seat. Cold sweat started sliding down her back and goosebumps were forming on her skin.

“What else do you want to say, Ms. Jimenez?” Stefan questioned, like a demon who beckoned his subject to answer his question. His low but baritone voice was compelling her to answer but she could not open her mouth to say a word. Her reality slowly sank into her mind and she started tasting fear in her mouth. “Come on. Tell us more. Looks like you have so many things to say.”

The number of viewers started to increase and the director of the show was celebrating backstage. Travis called him earlier to make sure that he handles this matter well but he didn’t say to cut the show off. As a businessman, profits should always be taken into consideration before anything else. Although he was taking advantage of his friends’ issues, he knew that Stefan would be able to do something about it. He was never the type to just sit back and watch his wife being bullied.

“Uhh...uhm...” the host didn’t know what to say at this point. She was worried that Stefan would take this out of her since it was her show but she could not think of a way to help them. The director didn’t cut off the broadcast either which was another thing to worry about later on. “Mr. Dumrique, I know that you are aware that this entire show is being broadcasted so, instead of airing this out, do you want to talk about this matter privately?”

“I don’t mind either way,” Stefan answered nonchalantly before walking back to the couch with Cayenne. “I finished cooking already and I think it has cooled a little. Do you want to eat now?”

Cayenne gawked at him in surprise. The atmosphere was so tensed already and yet, he was still thinking about the food he cooked. More likely, he was thinking about his wife who craved for dumplings this time.

Amidst the tension, Cayenne chuckled and rubbed her cheek on his arm, “I love you,” she whispered and Stefan just kissed the top of her head in response.

“I’ll get you some to eat. Do you want fruit juice? I can make one real-quick.”

“A glass of water is fine.”

“Got it.”

Stefan stood up and walked to the mini kitchen where he cooked earlier. On the wooden table, he opened the food cover which nobody noticed earlier and it surprised them that he still had the time to arrange the dish beautifully while his wife was being chastised by an annoying woman a few minutes ago.

There were fried and boiled dumplings arranged neatly on a plate, and he also made some sauce to go along with it. He poured a glass of water for Cayenne and brought everything to her. He acted as if nothing happened and treated the set as his own home. He shifted his attention to the host and spoke, “You can ask the staff to distribute the food. I made lots of them.”

“Uhh..o-okay.” The host signaled the staff to quickly move and continue the show, and pretended that nothing happened. “Do you always cook dumplings for Cayenne? Is this her pregnancy craving?”

“She craves different kinds of food every day and it just happened that she likes to have dumplings today.”

“Does Cayenne cook at home?”

“Yes, she does...well, it was before she got pregnant. When I learned that we’re having a baby on the way, I forbid her to do anything in the kitchen. Though, sometimes, she’ll just have her way and make sandwiches which didn’t need so much preparation.”

“Is she good at cooking?”

“Her whole family knows how to cook.”

“I can understand that Cayenne knows how to cook since she grew up in poverty. How about you? You were born with a silver spoon and have all the riches that one could ask for. Why did you learn to cook?”

“You might have heard about this, but yeah, I don’t have a good relationship with my family. I was often neglected and at some point, I left home. Travis was a good cook and I depended on him a lot of times in the past. I was a freeloader until he had to leave because of his mother’s death. We were living in the same dorm room and he would always stock our cupboards and refrigerator with food and ingredients. All I needed to do was to cook them. Who else could do it aside from me? I have lost count of the number of eggs I wasted just to cook a perfect sunny. Then, I watched cooking shows and videos of how to cook a certain dish.”

“What was the first food that you cooked for each other?”

Stefan grinned upon remembering the first time he saw her cook. Cayenne was singing and dancing to a tune at that time and he would never forget that moment. “She cooked chicken curry and sausage rolls for me while dancing to a song Genius by LSD.”

“She was?!” The host exclaimed in an interrogative tone because she couldn’t tell that Cayenne could dance and sing.

“Yeah. She looked like she was having fun so I was watching her without saying anything. I would never forget her embarrassed look when she found out I was there the whole time.”

Stefan enjoyed talking about the moments she has with Cayenne while his wife? His wife was busy eating. She was just minding her world while eating the dumplings that Stefan made. Although she seemed to be not paying attention, she was actually listening to them and was also checking on the audience.

“Do you like the food?” She asked the host after some time when she noticed that the woman wasn’t eating that much.

“Yes, it’s really good, but I’ll tell you a secret.” The host leaned closer to Cayenne and whispered “I can’t eat a lot in front of the audience. I have to act demure no matter how hungry I am.”

“Oh. That must have been hard.” Cayenne whispered back and the host nodded.

The talk show continued for 30 minutes and when it ended, Joy stood up to leave immediately. Surprisingly to her, no one stopped her or attacked her slandering Cayenne in front of everyone. The fans who came to support Cayenne and Stefan were just looking at her like she was a pest and some just rolled their eyes in annoyance. She expected worse than this. She thought they’d do something to her.

The bodyguards who came to accompany the couple didn’t make any move as well. They just stood there and watch her leave without moving an inch.

The fans and the bodyguards didn’t need to do anything because they knew that Stefan would do something on behalf of his wife. They just knew it.

Just as they expected, when Joy came home, she found a letter on her doorstep. It was a letter from Stefan’s lawyer.