She's My Sleeping Pill

“I don’t have classes in the afternoon. You don’t have to come and pick me up for lunch. I’ll go to the office and find you.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting. Let me know if you have any cravings for lunch. I’ll have the chef cook them for you.”

“Got it.”

As soon as they reached the campus, Cayenne kissed him goodbye and stepped out of the car. He watched her get inside the gate with Martin and the other bodyguards, and when she was finally out of sight, Stefan sighed and pinched the space between his eyebrows. He felt nauseous.

Another bodyguard came to take over as his driver and when he saw Stefan with a deep frown, he was worried. “Sir, are we going to the office directly?”

“Let’s drop by the pharmacy.”

His bodyguard didn’t say anything and just drove the car away from the university. Stefan bought some things in the pharmacy by himself instead of telling his driver to do it. After which, they finally went to the office.

“Free up my morning and don’t let anyone disturb me,” Stefan said the moment he arrived which stunned Elena and Tristan. They didn’t know what happened but he didn’t seem angry or upset. It seemed like he was exhausted.

.....

Elena deleted all of his schedules in the morning and Cayenne would have found out about these changes if she checked her phone’s calendar which was synced to Stefan’s schedule that Elena and Tristan manage. Stefan’s calendar was synced to hers to make sure that he won’t miss anything of the things that she would be doing. It was like they exchanged phone calendars.

Stefan slept in the adjacent room to his office after taking the medicine that he bought. He was hoping that the dizziness will be gone by the time he woke up.

Three hours later, he was facing himself in the mirror and he looked a little pale. He just vomited the food he had this morning. He washed his face and wiped it dry before coming out of the bathroom to sleep once again. He felt so sleepy. He even thought that his body was finally giving it to the depravity of sleep in the last several years before he met his wife.

Around 11:30, he got out of bed to pick up his wife but soon, he remembered that she was going to the office for lunch because she didn’t have classes in the afternoon. He let himself fall on the bed once again. [I really want to sleep.] He thought but got up once again to order food.

“Let’s have this, and this, and this...” Stefan ordered the food directly from the Manger Kim in Clover Hotel and told her to inform the chef that he didn’t want bell peppers on fish escabeche.

Finally, Cayenne arrived almost at the same time when the food was delivered. The smell of the fish and other dishes almost made her drool and she was rather surprised when she saw the dishes. She didn’t tell Stefan what she likes to eat for lunch but he was able to order something that she would love to have.

“Where are the bell peppers of this fish escabeche?” Cayenne asked when he noticed that the dish didn’t have any of those.

“I asked them to replace it with something else.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you. If you didn’t, the ingredients will be a waste because I don’t feel like having bell peppers now.”

Stefan just nodded his head in agreement as he started to eat his food as well. He always had a great appetite as a man and it probably has become larger because he ate a lot during lunch. They all thought it was normal.

At night, he told Carla not to use any garlic on their food and the chef thought it was just him being worried about his wife once again. Thus, Carla cooked with no garlic to make sure that the smell of the said spices won’t cause discomfort to their madam. No one complained anyway.

The next morning, Stefan went to the laundry room and checked the detergent powder as well as the fabric conditioner. He smelled each of them and after almost five minutes, he came out of the room and told another helper not to use the current fabric conditioner on their bedsheets. The helper could only nod her head.

“I’ll go and buy another fabric conditioner later. Use it whenever you’re washing the bedsheets. Don’t worry about our clothes, I’ll be washing those.”

“Yes, sir.”

For breakfast, Stefan cooked scrambled eggs instead of the usual sunnies (sunny-side up) that Cayenne likes. He didn’t make her any juice either; thinking of their acidity alone made him want to throw up.

Him, being so mindful of what his wife likes and dislikes, didn’t really bug anyone. They were used to up already that no one would say a word. This continued on and on until the second week of November, when Stefan was packing their things for their trip to Dubai, a gift from Jillyanna’s family.

Cayenne noticed that her husband was very particular about so many things and especially with her food choices, she didn’t seem to crave anything but when she gets to see her meal, he actually prepared those that stayed on her mind for more than five minutes. She was always touched by this simple love language even though she didn’t know how he knew it.

It appears like he could read his mind.

“How do you even know that I don’t like that scent?” Cayenne asked when Stefan was packing her things and currently, he was choosing the perfume that she should bring with her. “You always seem to know what I like and what I don’t like.”

“It’s a personal choice,” Stefan answered honestly.

“So, you don’t like that scent?”

“I don’t know. I always like this scent on you whenever we have dinner outside but I don’t like it now.”

“Really?”

“Hm. When I make your meal, I made it because it’s what I want to eat as well.” And he didn’t think there was anything wrong with that.

Cayenne burst out laughing at his words. They never realized it, not even her. Stefan was actually experiencing Sympathetic Pregnancy Syndrome and everyone thought it was just him being the normal wife-doting husband.

“Pregnancy isn’t easy but we will be just fine,” she commented and even winked at him. Stefan somehow understood what she meant but he also thinks she meant something else. He just smiled and continued packing but fifteen minutes later, he was running out of their walk-in closet to vomit. This time, he finally understood what she meant. [It works.]