It was Stella who was standing in front of me, her eyes swept across me with obvious disdain written all over her face. Our gaze met and I looked at her, unfazed by her snide remark as the corners of my lips twitched upwards into a small smile.
"I'm looking for Blake," I replied nonchalantly with a bored expression that masked my features, hiding the fact that I was happy she was the one who answered the door. This would have made my plan go a lot more smoothly.
A smug look was plastered across her face. "Blake's not home. Why are you looking for him? He doesn't want to see you."
"I'm just here to return some stuff. But I guess I can just drop it off then."
She arched her brow at me and crossed her arms over her chest.
"What stuff?" She snarled, her brows were furrowed together, forming a frown to rest on her face.
It was at this moment when her gaze flickered down to the huge paper bag I have been holding in my hands since the very beginning. Without a single warning, she forcefully snatched the bag out of my hands and rummaged through the items. I watched as her eyes widened as she began to examine each and every one of the items inside.
"What are these?" She held up a piece of baby clothing from inside the bag. "Why are you returning them to Blake?" She questioned, her voice laced with a hint of suspicion as she narrowed her eyes at me.
I smiled at her with a knowing look twinkling in my dark brown eyes. I knew what I was about to say was going to get her riled up for sure.
"Oh, these are just all the things that Blake has been giving to me over the past week," I revealed casually and watched as anger started to creep onto her face in an instant as she clenched her jaw tightly. "I told him I didn't want them but it seems like he wasn't going to give up on trying to win me over," I let the words roll off the tip of my tongue.
As impulse and anger clouded her judgement. Within the next second, she roughly threw the bag of things onto the ground, letting it fall with a loud thud as the things rolled out and were scattered all over the floor, forming a huge mess.
She drew in a deep breath as her heart raced inside her chest.
"You are telling me that Blake got you all of these things? For you?!" She spat with a disdainful scorn. "Why would he be getting you baby clothes and flowers and food?!" She continued to shout, her high-pitched voice piercing through the tension that was thick in the air.
There was a brief moment of silence before she broke it once again. I was certain that my lack of reaction was fueling the anger burning inside of her body with each passing second.
"You are making this up right? You just wanted to make me mad and lose trust in Blake. You are trying to drive us apart and ruin our relationship!" She yelled, her voice dripping with accusation as she glared at me with a fiery blaze in the depths of her eyes. "But guess what? It's not going to work! I trust him." She remained adamant.
I only let out a cold chuckle as our gaze matched.
"What relationship?" I taunted with a smirk tugging at the corners of my lips. "Blake doesn't even care about you or see you as anything more than a temporary placeholder. You are not special to him."
Her cheeks turned red with anger as she clenched her fists tightly beside her body. "You –!"
Before she could say another word, I interrupted her.
"Besides…" I drawled, letting my voice trail off as I took a step closer towards her, leaning down so that our faces were only inches apart. "Why would I make this up and waste my time? I want nothing to do with him, which is why I'm returning everything today so that he finally gets the hint."
"I don't believe you. Who knows what a woman like you is capable of? Blake doesn't even like you anymore. Why would he do all these to try and please you and win you back? It's clear that you are being delusional."
"Is that so?" I asked as a smirk morphed itself onto my lips. "Then tell him to stop looking for me and bothering me in the office, it's getting on my nerves."
I turned to leave when I bumped into someone's chest.
Almost immediately, I lifted my head, looking up to find myself coming face to face with none other than Blake. We locked eyes and a look of surprise crossed his face for a fleeting moment when he recognised it was me.
"Aurelia? What brings you here?"
"Nothing much, I'm just about to leave."
He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, grabbing it to hold me back so I wouldn't walk off.
"Wait, don't go. I want to talk to you." I could hear the desperation in his voice, but I wasn't going to give him another chance.
"There's nothing for us to talk about," I responded coldly with a distant look that stretched across my face.
Before he could say another word, Stella ran up to his side and clung onto his arm with a huge grin etched onto her face as she leaned her head on his arm, pretending to be nonchalant.
"Blake, you are back," she said in a sweet voice, her demeanour shifted entirely in his presence. "I missed you," she said coyly, subtly trying to declare Blake as hers, thinking that I would let her get to me.
He was jolted back to reality when realisation dawned upon him. Stella had been standing by the door and watching us the entire time. I could see the panic in his face in a split second as his eyes shot wide open and he released his grip on my wrist to wrap his arm around her.
"Yeah, I'm back," he answered, but he didn't say that he missed her. Instead, his eyes flickered down to look at the ground to see all the things that he had given me over the past week were lying on the floor. "What's… going on here? Why is it a mess?"
Recognition flashed past his eyes as he took a second glance.
He looked back up to meet my eyes, a hint of hurt laced his voice. "Did you come here to return all the things I got for you?" He questioned as he looked at me with emotions running wild in his eyes.
I nodded as confirmation. "I told you. I don't want your gifts, I don't want anything to do with you. So stop trying, it's not going to work."
Stella stumbled back dramatically, almost losing her balance and collapsing onto the ground. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth and her eyes were now wide open.
"So it's true… she wasn't lying…" she muttered under her breath, her voice muffled by her own hands that covered her lips. She turned to look at him, her eyes filled with betrayal and hurt. "You did send these things to her, but why? I don't get it…" Tears started to well up at the brim of her eyes, threatening to spill out at any second now.
Almost immediately, realisation washed over him. He fucked up.
He rushed to call her name. "Stella… It doesn't mean anything. I was just… I was…" he stuttered, struggling to find the right words to say as his eyes darted around anxiously. He let out a sigh. "Just trust me, okay?" He finally said, when he knew there was no good explanation he could give.
Behind them, I was watching quietly. While it was amusing and entertaining to watch, I couldn't stand it for another second longer. I let a cold chuckle emerge from my throat, the sound commanding their attention.
"Stop lying to her, Blake," I interrupted and the both of them whipped their heads around to stare at me. "Just tell her the truth. Or else I would," I warned, my voice heavy with a threat.
"Are you crazy?!" He snarled. "What makes you think I'm lying to her? I wasn't lying about anything," he insisted.
"Oh, really?"
She looked up at him with her wide doe eyes. "Blake, what's going on? Tell me the truth. I want to know," she said with a pitiful look that masked her features, as the words that left her lips were dripping with desperation.
He remained silent as he contemplated between lying or telling her the truth. The silence enveloped the three of us for what seemed like an eternity before I spoke up when he didn't.
"He won't tell you, I will."
Before he could stop me, I pulled out the paternity test papers and handed it over to her.
"Take a look," I urged. "It will tell you everything that he doesn't want you to know."
I watched as her eyes widened as she quickly scanned the document and it finally clicked. Her lips were now agape as she looked up at Blake with a look of disbelief.
"You… you are the father of the baby in her stomach?"