Noah slowly opened the door to smell a sweet aroma coming from the kitchen. He stood rooted by the door for a while, inhaling the scent and scratching through his memory as he tried to remember what date it was, but he couldn't think of anything special about that day.
"Wow, you're back home so early," Raquel said, beaming with a smile as she walked towards Noah, who looked at her skeptically.
She kissed him on the cheeks and offered to carry his briefcase, just like a dutiful wife does, and Noah's doubts about the occasion intensified.
"What's up?" He asked as he continued to inhale the aroma that was slowly sifting through the room.
He suddenly felt hungry though he had passed by a restaurant a while back with some of his friends and had some food and drink.
"We need to celebrate," Raquel happily said as she held Noah by the hands, and together, the two walked into the dining room, which was decorated for a couple's night out.
The dining table was covered in linen and had bowls of food served, a bottle of champagne, and glasses, as well as candles and flowers around it.
"Please sit. Why are you so afraid?" Raquel asked, and as Noah sat, his heart beat so fast.
"It's not like I don't trust you, but this looks so strange...I want to know what and why we're celebrating."
"Isn't it obvious? I said I would deal with Stacy, and I did, "Raquel proudly said as she started serving their food. She looked up in shock when she didn't get an acknowledgment from Noah and feigned being hurt as she asked, "Aren't you happy?"
"I... don't know," Noah responded weakly, ashamed at not having noticed that Stacy was no longer posting shit about them.
"Did you…hire someone to do it?" He asked as he swallowed saliva, and then Raquel stopped serving, pulled the chair, and sat down to squarely face her husband.
"How dare you think so low of me?" Raquel asked, visibly hurt by Noah's question. "Do you really think I would hate her so much as to want to kill her? Because of you?"
"I didn't mean that…." Noah stammered as he looked at a spot behind Raquel. He wished he hadn't opened his mouth, heck, and he wished he had listened to his friends' pleas about remaining behind for a few more drinks.
"Tell me, what did you have with her? What did you do to her that makes her bay for your blood? Killed her mom, father, child, or what is it?" Raquel asked, her forearm muscles appearing cut from stone, her face pinched, and her mouth twisted in a sneer.
"I just…thought you silenced her like that…I mean... it's strange, right? That she hasn't said anything since you threatened to deal with her. Come to think of it, and even Vera is silent. It doesn't just make sense. So, forgive me if I think you killed her because nothing else can explain her silence," Noah defended himself as he suddenly lost appetite and got up from his seat.
He walked without turning back to look at his wife, and his mind fixed on getting to his bedroom and trying to call Stacy using a secret phone that was always locked in a hidden compartment in his drawer.
He had gotten to the other end of the room when he heard Stacy speak, and he wished he could unhear her words and, even better, be swallowed by the ground.
"She doesn't exist," Raquel said as she also got up to walk up slowly to Noah.
"W…what!" Noah asked as he batted his eyelashes, rubbed his face using the handkerchief from his pocket, and swallowed saliva hard. He could almost choke on it.
"Stacy Lund. The name didn't exist anywhere until two years ago when she launched her 'Juicy Tales podcast. It's also about the same time that she had surgery on her face," Raquel said in a challenging tone.
"But…" she added as she pointed the finger at Noah and shook her head in sarcasm. "That isn't the irony. What baffles me is that you know her…pardon me…you knew her even before then that you recognized her even after she underwent plastic surgery on the face and looked like a completely different person. How is that? Why did she have surgery? Why would she change her name and face and come back to create havoc in your life?"
"You don't know what you're talking about. I have to go," Noah managed to say after calming himself down.
"Maybe, but I do know that you won't manage to call her today," Raquel said as she removed Noah's other phone from the back pocket of her jeans which had been covered by the trench she was wearing. Noah's eyes flashed in shock and shame as he silently wondered how Raquel had gotten hold of the phone, yet the drawer was always locked.
"How…did you get that?" He asked in defeat, and Raquel laughed off the question sarcastically.