"Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait." He held her hands which was about to hit his face. He almost couldn't hold it, meaning she exerted a lot of strength in that slap. "Don't slap me. Your hands will get hurt."

  "My hands will get hurt? Really? Showing fake concern now?! What were you trying to do?! Did you bring me in this place so that you can do anything and discard me right after?!" Pain. Betrayal. Worry. Fear. These emotions were showing on her pale face. She was clutching on the towel to cover her exposed chest. She was shivering but her flaming rage was more evident and all she could think of was to hit him. "I hate you!" She raised her foot and kicked him, aiming for his groin.

  With his quick reflexes, he caught Cayenne's leg with his other hand, causing her to feel angrier. "Ayen, wait a minute. Let me explain."

  "What do you want to explain?! I've seen it myself! You were touching me, touching my naked body!"

  "No. You're mistaken." With one single move, he spun her around and laid her on the bed. Holding her hand above her head while she was clutching the towel, afraid of letting go. His other hand was holding her leg and made sure that she wouldn't be able to move under him.

  His eyes held the burning desire for her but he remained expressionless in front of her. His hot breath was fanning her enraged little face. "Listen to me or I will kiss you. If you squirm, I will kiss you. If you open your mouth before I'm done explaining, I'll kiss? you."

  "Bu-" Cayenne immediately shut her mouth when she found him glaring at her. She nodded her head in agreement and watched him, still hovering above her naked body. 'God! I'll end up in a mental institution if this set up continues.' She told herself, doing her best to avoid his hot gaze.

  Stefan took a deep breath and released it. He also let go of her hand and sat properly on the bed space beside her. Seeing the quilt at the edge of the bed, Stefan pulled it and covered her body. "I know I've been saying sorry and I can practically guess that you are starting to hate these words coming from me now." Stefan started while peering at her black and fierce-glaring eyes. "But Ayen, I wasn't really planning to do anything unwarranted. I promised that I'd respect you and I would never cross your bottom line. Ayen, please trust me, even if I have some lustful desires, I wouldn't do anything to you. I'd rather suffer instead of hurting you."

  Cayenne didn't speak. Her emotions were in complete tangle and she was confused if she would still believe in him or not. Stefan caressed her face and his voice was soft as if he was talking to a child. "I thought you'd be too tired to wash up and I was worried that you'd feel uncomfortable and get skin rashes in the morning. I tried waking you up but you did not. I was just wiping your body. I wasn't thinking of doing anything to you."

  "Really?"

  "Hn."

  "I don't believe you."

  Stefan was stunned to see such deep resentment in her eyes. She was still angry even after the explanation he made. "I'm really sorry if I was being rude to you. I thought it was fine since you've done it to me before when I got sick. I thought I can also take care of you like you did for me."

  Cayenne looked at him without saying anything. They two of them were silent for a minute before Stefan spoke again to break the silence. He stood up from the bed with a heavy sigh. "I'm done wiping you. You can get dress and go back to sleep."

  Right after saying these words, he walked out of the room and opened the other room across the master's bedroom. He was planning to sleep without her. It's time to test himself if he'd be able to sleep without her help anymore.

  Seeing his dejected back, Cayenne burst into tears. She was terrified. She was helpless. She was worried. She was guilty. He might be saying the truth and she wanted to believe him but her heart felt complicated. She got out of bed wearing her undergarments, and walked towards where the suitcase was, thinking that her clothes were still inside. To her surprise, it was empty; and when she looked at the inside of the wardrobe, all her clothes were neatly arranged by him.

  With heavy heart and tears rolling on her face, she pulled out a blouse and shorts to wear. She went back to bed after getting dressed and waited for him.

  She waited for half an hour. And it turned to an hour. Another one hour had passed but there was no Stefan coming back to bed. She was getting worried and she was not even familiar with the place that they were in. She waited for another half an hour. She was no longer sleepy and her heart was restless, thinking that she might have left her alone in a place unfamiliar to her.

  Stefan was also wide awake on the other room. He was tossing and turning, her fiery and resentful gaze was deeply embedded in his mind. He knew it would happen but his worry for her welfare weighed more than his worry of her anger. "What should I do now?" Stefan asked himself while staring at the ceiling. There were small lizards chasing one after another near the fluorescent light and to his amusement, when the other lizard caught up the one that was being chased, the two of them had their forehead touching each other. The gesture was very sweet and cute for such little animals. "Good for these lizards. A few seconds of chasing brought them to their chosen partner. In my case, I haven't started my pursuit but it looked like I have failed already."

  He was still thinking about several things involving Cayenne when he heard the sound of faint footsteps going down the stairs. The sound was faint but it was obvious that the person was in a hurry.

  "Stefan." Cayenne mumbled, looking for him in the living room. When she couldn't find him there, she ran to the kitchen and still found no one. "Stefan!" Her tears continued to pour down her face. She was scared being left alone. She didn't want him to leave her alone. "Stefan, where are you? Don't leave me here." She sat on the cold floor of the kitchen, knees bent and pulled close to her. She placed her chin on top of it and hugged her knees. She dropped her head and cried her heart out.

  There's no going back with how she felt. She knew that she's invested too deeply in her feelings for him and even though she knew that it would lead her to nothing, she couldn't seem to stop herself from falling for him heads on. She silently sobbed in one of the kitchen corners, hoping that he'd come back and get her. She had no idea that Stefan was just inside the room across from where she stayed.

  Since the house was soundproofed properly, even though it was made of teak and mahogany woods, Stefan wasn't able to hear Cayenne's shouting. He leaned closer on his door, trying to listen to some noise but there was nothing. "Why isn't she coming back?" he asked himself and opened the door of his room and crossed to the master's bedroom to check on her. "She's not really here."

  He scratched the back of his head while sighing in his heart. "This woman will make me lose my head one day." He decided to find her downstairs but he didn't expect to find her curled up and crying in one of the kitchen corners.

  "Ayen?"

  She raised her head at the sound of his voice. Her vision was blurry from all the tears that kept streaming down on her face. She wiped it with the back of her hands and looked at him. "You're still here?"

  "Hn. I'm still here."

  "You did not leave me?"

  "No, I did not. What makes you think I'd leave you?"

  "I thought you were upset because I didn't believe your words. I thought you decided to go back home and leave me alone here." Her hiccups were painful but she endured it just to express her thoughts clearly. "Stefan, I don't know what's going on with me. I was terrified when I found you touching me while I was half naked on the bed. I was embarrassed. I was confused. When you explained things to me, I wanted to believe you but I was worried that you might be making things up. I don't know what's happening to me. I was even more terrified when I realized that you might discard me sooner or later. I know, you paid me to help you but I don't think I can still focus with my job. I don't think I can keep working for you." She looked so lost in front of him. Her tears kept falling on the floor and she was looking so miserable. "Can we stop all this? Can I quit? Maybe you'd find someone-"

  "Okay. You can stop working. I'm firing you now."