He knew that people would laugh at him once they knew that he was having this weird sleeping relationship with a poor woman and most of all, she’s his employee at the hotel. Protecting her was a sort of protection to himself. Showing her sweet little gestures was his way to keep her bound to him for a while. It was to make sure that she will do her best to help him.

Everything was for himself.

Slapping these things to him, he felt a stabbing pain in his heart. It was painful to see her genuine smile. It was painful to know that she didn’t have the slightest interest in him. He blinked his eyes and looked at the bag on the coffee table.

“I guess, you are right. Let’s just stay with the employer-employee relationship.”

“Hn. I’ve got no problem with that, sir. What do you want for dinner?” Cayenne switched her address to him instantly. In truth, she already had an idea that this will happen. She had been prepared for all the possibilities that might happen between them.

“I don’t want to have dinner. Let’s just go to bed.”

“Uh..o-okay.” Cayenne watched him walk upstairs first and she followed right behind him. Since he wasn’t going to eat, that means, she won’t be eating anything either. She wasn’t a shameless person who will eat the food which wasn’t meant for her.

Stefan took his bathrobe and went inside the shower as soon as they arrived in their bedroom. Cayenne sat on the bed while waiting for him to finish. She was setting an alarm for her work on the next day since they have been getting up very late recently. She didn’t want to be time constrained.

She opened her bag and pulled out her change of clothes. She had been bringing her set of clothes every day but she used the ones that Stefan brought for her. Now, she felt like using her own clothes again. She just thought it was right to use her own things instead of using the things he bought for her.

Stefan couldn’t fathom Cayenne’s way of thinking and he was angrily brushing his teeth inside the bathroom. He couldn’t understand his own feelings as well. Everything was just messed up and he didn’t know how to fix. He didn’t even know their exact problem.

After taking his time in the shower, he went out and Cayenne was preparing to come inside after him when he noticed that she was holding a set unfamiliar clothes. “Are you going to wear them?”

“Yes, why?”

“What about the clothes that I bought for you?”

“I’ll wear them when I feel like wearing them, sir”

“Are you angry at me?”

“I’m not, why?”

“Because it seemed to me that you are being mean. You don’t want me to become your friend. You are not wearing the clothes I bought and you are calling me ‘sir’.”

“I don’t know what being mean is. In fact, many people say that I’m a good employee. I do my job properly.”

Stefan was at loss again. He was just a job to her and nothing more than that.

Since he didn’t say anything, she left to take a shower. They needed to sleep early and she needed to be there for him. Cayenne wasn’t the least bit bothered with their situation. She just did her normal routine like how she had been doing in the past days.

She brushed her teeth, took a bath, put a little moisturizer on her face, change her clothes and dried her hair. Unlike before, Stefan didn’t help her with her hair. But that’s fine, she can do it herself.

After making sure that she was all set, she went to the kitchen to get a pitcher of water and glass. She would need water in the middle of the night but she couldn’t leave him alone for even a second.

Stefan was just watching her do her stuff. He didn’t say anything and she wasn’t saying anything either. The night was completely silent.

She got on the bed after coming back and covered herself with the blanket. She was facing on the other side while Stefan was facing her back.

“Ayen, can I still hug you to sleep?”

“Hn.”

Stefan moved closer and hugged her waist. Even though he was holding her, his heart was still restless. He couldn’t sleep. Cayenne was just listening to his movements and his unsteady breathing. She didn’t face him and didn’t say anything.

“Ayen, can you sing a song to sleep?”

“What kind of song? I don’t know any songs for sleeping.”

“Didn’t you sing your brothers to sleep before?”

“Nope. My mother was still around and was taking care of them when they were little.””

“Where’s your father by the way?”

“I don’t know who my father is. He left when he found out that my mother was pregnant of me.”

“That’s sad.”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t feel sad that you don’t have a father?”

“Nope. I’m happy with my family already. Having no father doesn’t affect me.”

“That’s good for you.” Stefan mumbled. “In my case, I have complete parents but none of them loves me. Only my brother cares for me. I don’t know why my parents don’t like me. Until now, they have never shown any care about my existence.”

“Are you sure you are their child?” Cayenne innocently asked. She was just joking about it but it rang an alarm bell in Stefan’s mind. He had never thought of that before. Cayenne didn’t hear any response from him after that but she knew that he was till awake because he was holding her tightly.

Stefan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think about anything anymore. He just wanted to rest his mind and heart. He was so emotionally exhausted that day.

Cayenne thought about what she said tonight. It was true that she has no biological father but she got a step father who wasn’t around at the moment. She wasn’t sure if what she did was counted as her lying to him.