On our way back, I decided to drive the car. Stella was quietly sitting on her seat. I stopped the car in the middle of the road, where it was not crowded. The empty road was the perfect place to murder someone or to gather up your thoughts.
" Why did you ran away that time?"
" ... I don't know. I just felt so sad and heartbroken when I saw you with her. Even though I knew it was nothing to make a fuss about." She was looking at the window avoiding my eyes.
" It's okay. You don't have to be sad." I tried to comfort her. The eyes of her were on the verge of crying. They became the pools of tears. The warm drops of tears began to fall down on her smooth skin. " I'm just glad that we didn't had any misunderstandings. But I still have one thing to know from you. What you said to Ray, is that true?" I was gazing at her, my eyes were fixed on her, waiting to hear the answer.
" Yes." She nodded her head as she replied. For a moment I couldn't believe my ears. I was just stunned and shocked as well. My mouth took a shape of a bright smile. In fact I can tell it was brighter than the sun. Although the seat belt was keeping me on hold, I stretched out my body and warped my arms around her.
" I knew it!" Stella smiled but the drops of tears were still there. Such a pretty smile being worn out by those pitiful tears of her. I wiped them with my palm. " Shhh. Why are you still crying? "
" Because I'm stupid. I'm crying because.... I was overthinking this whole situation. I should have stayed and talked with you, right there instantly..... If I hadn't ran away, you couldn't have gotten hurt." She burst out in tears. Her nose and cheeks were puffed up bright red. Her eyes had turned swollen.
" That's not your fault. Besides nothing happened to me—— see! I'm perfectly fine. Please calm down."
" I can't.... I just can't! Everything is going out of my control. My stomach hurts so bad after running like that and-"
" Are you still on your period?"
" Mmmm ."
" Okay, lemme take you somewhere else." I drove away the car and took her to eat ice cream. As much I know, girls like eating ice cream in these days. We went inside the cafe and sat in a corner where people won't see or bother us. I told the waiter to bring us ice cream Sunday.
" Let's start it from the beginning. What happened when I went for trip?"
" Ray had apologised to me after that day when he came to our house. He said, he was only worried for me so, I believed. But I noticed that Ray was trying to talk negatively about you. In the past, when I would discuss anything with Ray he would only agree with me. That's why, when he was saying the opposite of mine, I started to doubt him. Even I went to meet him and he still talked badly of you which made me feel sad."
As the waiter came to serve us the ice cream, Stella stopped her speech. Her emotional state was beyond explainable. She was angry and sad at the same time. She began to take spoonful of the ice cream and stared to eat it in a hurry.
" Well, as you know now Ray loves you that's why he was doing all these scheming."
" Surprisingly I thought he just hated you but in real, it turns out to be he likes me. I would have never imagined it if he hadn't told me today." She spoke angrily eating her ice cream Sunday.
" I also knew it. But it's not appropriate for me to inform you about that." I don't wanna keep any secret between us. It's better to tell her everything I know.
" Of course, I understand that. I just never thought he would do something low like this. I am hurt by his actions."
" How come you short out everything? where else I had no idea that Ray was the real culprit."
" Isn't it obvious? Why would a hooker drug you for sex? They have many customers there. Unless someone paid them to do it. And I knew Megan had worked for Ray many times. She's well acquainted with him."
" Of course they would know each other since Ray is a designer. How come this didn't came to my mind?" I began to scratch my head with my hand. I knew something was fishy about the way Megan was acting.
" Everything was connected to each incident. That day when I cooked for you, actually before that I was texting Ray and I remember that I had told him, I was cooking dinner for you. Even today, I had a phone call from Ray. When we talked, I had told him that I was going in this area for my work. I didn't thought that he'll set up the whole thing to make you look like, you were cheating on me."
" That I won't ever do. You know it Stella. I'm not a that type of person." Keeping my gaze fixed on her, I replied back with honesty and confidence.
" I do believe you but I just felt insecure when I imagined you with someone else. That is when, I realised my love for you. In fact I got jealous and sad when I saw you hugging Megan."
Is that for real? I can't believe this! Even though after all the plotting and scheming Ray just only helped me to get closer to Stella. You know what they? God helps those who helps themselves. But technically Ray did the God's job for me.
" Oh. Well, Look at the bright side! This whole thing made you aware of your feelings. That's a good reason to cheer up."
Finally she smiled while she had the spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. She was trying to keep the ice cream inside while she was smiling at me.
" I guess that's true after all." I grabbed her hand which was kept on the table. My palms were firmly pressing her hand.
" I knew from the beginning that one day you will feel the same for me. I don't know if there's gonna be more situations like this in future but I promise you, I will be loyal to you. There's a big part of you life being affected by your past. Unless you share your pain with me I can never heal those wounds. I'm sorry that I asked your brother to tell me about it but even after that, I feel no regret. The more I know, the more it will help me to understand you." Stella gasped when he heard that. She had no idea I heard about the incident from Neil.
Maybe, she feels that it was something that was not explainable or understandable. What she felt and how it had effected her, it was not an easy task to open up to somebody. Expressing your pain to someone is way harder than it seems. After all, no matter how much concerned you are for that person, you will never feel it like the way they have felt.
" I will tell you everything." It took her a while to finally accept my question and I was glad that she was willing to open up.
~ to be continued