Stella and Tristan were sitting on the back of his pickup. They were wrapped in each others arms and watching the sunset. Stella was still soaring in the clouds from their first kiss.
"Tristan..." Stella said, gently. "When we met, you said your brother was sick. How is he now?" Tristan sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't want to ruin the night. It's been perfect."
She wanted to know everything about him, and she wanted him to know everything about her. She had never felt like that before. But it was complicated. Usually, she felt uncomfortable sharing her private life with others, and she imagined that Tristan felt the same because he never talked about his family.
"Yeah, he's still sick. Even worse than before. It's not easy to talk about."
"You don't have to..."
"I want to. You know, he used to be my hero, but now I barely recognise him."
"I'm sorry." Stella pushed herself further into his arms. "I hope he'll be okay. I would like to meet him some day."
"One day. When he is better." Tristan kissed her forehead. "What about your family. When will I get to meet them?"
"It's complicated. I have no idea who my father is. Not sure my mom does either. My mother has still not grown up. The only grown up I've ever had in my life was my grandma Evi, but she's gone. And now, all of the sudden, I live in this perfect wonderland... I really miss Evi."
Stella got a lump in her throat. She had barely thought about her grandma since she moved to Alvik. Guilt washed over her.
"I'm sorry. My family is messed up as well. My mom left before I learned how to walk and my dad has been drowning his sorrows ever since. Family sucks sometimes."
"Tristan."
"Yeah?"
"I'm falling for you too."
Stella heard her phone vibrate in the front seat of the car. Shit! I completely forgot about time. She got up from the trunk of the car and hurried to the phone. She was too late.
The screen showed seven missed calls from Ben. Shit, shit shit. She looked at the clock - half past ten. She was too afraid to call him back.
Tristan drove Stella back to their meeting spot. They kissed goodbye and she started walking back home. Each step felt heavier than the other. She had a bad feeling in her gut.
When Stella reached the house Ben was waiting for her on the steps. She usually bubbled with joy when she saw him, but not this time. He had a harsh face and was oozing anger. Even from far away she could see his veins pulsating.
Ben got up and walked towards her. Stella froze with fear. He threw his coffee cup at the ground in front of her. It shattered in a thousand pisces. Some hit and cut her leg.
"Where have you been?" Ben screamed. Stella was too startled to answer. She could feel tears welling over in her eyes. "Don't you understand I was worried dead?!" He was screaming at her face. "I came home from work to be with you and I find out that you're out with some guy! And then you don't answer the phone! You're such a spoiled and rude brat."
Winston came running from the house. He barked and jumped up on Ben, trying to make him move away from Stella. Trying to protect her from him.
"I'm sorry," Stella whispered. "Please."
Something changed in Ben, like a switch. He sighed and then the normal, charming Ben was back. Winston calmed down.
"Shit... I'm sorry Stells." Ben said with a soft voice and rubbed his forehead. "I was just so afraid. When you didn't answer the phone I was worried something had happened to you."
Stella was confused. Ben was like the ocean - beautiful and seductive, but dangerous and deadly.
"It's okay. I'm okay. I didn't mean to scare you. I just forgot about time."
They hugged and Stella once again got a burning feeling of desire inside her.
"No, it's not okay. I'm really sorry. It's just that the guy I fired has been crazy. I was afraid he had threatened you or something. Now I realise how crazy that is."
It sounded strange. Would a person really do something that crazy just because he was fired from a health company? Something didn't add up.
The door opened. Stella and Ben let go of each other and turned around. Ed was standing in the doorway wearing a robe. He had Diana's lipstick smudged all around his mouth.
"Is everything okay?" Ed asked, confused. "We heard a crash and Winston's bark."
"Yeah, sorry. It's my fault," Ben answered. "I dropped my coffee mug, it broke and it scared Winston."
Stella and Ben went in to their separate rooms. It was getting late and she should have gone straight to bed, but she couldn't get rid of an itch that something was wrong.
Stella picked up her new computer from its box, sat down by the desk and started researching Ben's company. At first everything looked normal. Their revenue was good, they had partnerships with local influencers and a lot of different products.
Once again, Stella felt like a fool for doubting Ben. She continued to browse the internet. She couldn't help noticing that the clothes looked good, but seemed to be made out of cheap material.
She looked at the vitamins. They contained basically the same stuff as vitamins you could buy in the grocery store, but had an extra zero in the prize. Although they were so expensive they seemed to be the best selling product. Could people really be that stupid?
Stella knew people were easily fooled by the shiny, perfect and fake lifestyle that people posted on social media, but she never thought people didn't do any actual control of the products. Even if people were fooled by the marketing, why did they continue to buy the crap? Why didn't Ben have any of the vitamins at home?
She wanted to ask Ben about his business, but now wasn't the time. Besides, he would probably have a logical answer. Just like he always did.
When he got strange calls and had to leave all of the sudden - work emergency. When he didn't tell Stella he had a dead twin sister - he thought that Ed had already told her and the subject was too sensitive for him to talk about. When he screamed and threw things at her - he was worried about her and scared.
Not now, but tomorrow. Tomorrow at breakfast she was going to ask Ben about his business. She had to do it.
Stella woke up with mixed feelings. She was excited about Kian's pool party, but nervous about confronting Ben about his business.
She looked at the clock. For once she had slept past nine. It wasn't strange since she had been up half of the night researching Ben's business. She put on a robe and went to the kitchen with Winston.
To Stella's surprise Tessa was sitting at the kitchen island. The last time they met was when Tessa pushed Stella in the water and almost killed her.
"Good morning sunshine," Tessa said with a big smile.
"Hi... are you waiting for Ben?"
"Oh, Ben has already left. He had to work, but he'll come to the party. I was waiting for you."
"Me?"
Stella was confused, and it didn't help that she had just woken up.
"I feel really bad about what happened. You know... I want to make it up to you." Tessa poured up a cup of coffee and brought it to Stella. "I thought we could spend the day together. I can help you get ready for the party."