Stefan was awfully quiet during the car ride back home. He stared blankly out the window, avoiding talking to Kara.
It hurt her a bit but she didn't care. As long as she could be with him, she would endure it.
"Aer you okay?" she asked, placing her hand on his thigh but released it quickly when he tensed.
"If okay means I got the rest of my life married to a witch then yes I am okay." He replied bitterly.
"Stefan...." She called his name softly. "Look, I am sorry we got stuck together. I'll do my best to give you space okay? I am just trying to help. This is doctor's order..."
He ignored her and his eyes went back scanning the side of the road as if it was the most fascinating view in the world.
"Did I happen to transfer you the share?" He finally opened a conversation with a topic that Kara didn't really want to talk about.
"Yes."
He sighed, "wow...." His eyes now following a red car from the opposite direction. "You are truly a witch."
"I have returned it to you though." Her statement pulled his attention back to her.
"Why?" he looked stunned and his hatred toward her slightly vaporised into the thin air.
"Let's just say we had an agreement."
"On what?"
"I can't tell you now.... You are..."
"I am not ready, I know..." he shrugged. "How's our marriage life? Were we happy?"
"It's complicated...."
He snorted, of course it did. Everything connected to this witch was complicated. Why didn't he surprise about it. "Did I treat you well?"
"Yes." This time she answered without even thinking.
"Honestly?"
"Stefan, you were the best husband...." She took a glance at him, "not that I had ever been married before you. But you care about me."
He stared at her, waiting for her laugh but her face stayed serious.
"I am worry about AngeloGen." He changed the topic.
"What? Why?"
"I've been absent for weeks."
"Stefan...." She sighed, "I've been absent for weeks too. Don't worry about anything. Last time I checked your people took care of everything."
"You've checked? What do you mean?"
"You know when I wasn't at the hospital I went to my office and I visited yours too just too just to make sure everything run smoothly." She replied.
"You did?"
"Of course I did. Leah had been helping me a lot."
"Leah? You know Leah?"
"Of course I know Leah. I am her boss' wife, remember?" she laughed.
Everyone he trusted knew Kara and liked her more than he did, it irritated him a little.
"And oh... We, um... I meant you, just won a new tender." She said happily with no slight of jealousy or hatred there like he expected her to have. It was part of her demand that he had to step away from every major tender and now she said he had won it? Did she mean she helped him win it?
Kara Singleton, the witch that stole his company. She ended up return it to him, she had helped him run it and became his wife?
He found her to be useful after all.
Who would have thought that his enemy became his ally and helped him running his company? Not just his ally, she became his wife. He knew that bond was much stronger than an ally.
That was the quality of a woman that he had been looking for. Smart, independent, beautiful and possessing a body as hot as lingerie model.
Stefan blushed to his own thought. How could he think of her that way? He barely knew her.
He stole a glance toward Kara who was busy turning her steering wheel, and somehow he knew she would bit her lips at some point after running through the yellow light....
Yes she did! He was shocked by how well he knew her and her habit after all.
"You need to slow down..." he commented.
Did he really love this girl? The question was back into his mind.
"Why? Don't tell me you scared. You can't remember the accident yet, can you?"
"No. And I am not scared, it's just you looked nervous running the yellow light." He said, almost grinning.
She was cute.
She looked different than that day when he saw her first time at the hospital. She looked miserable, but now she was glowing and it warmed his heart.
No matter how hard he tried to hate her, but Kara turned out to be a very likable person and he knew slowly his heart had melted. It was only day one out from the hospital and she already wormed into the very private corner of his mind. It wasn't fair at all......
"I am not nervous." She denied it.
"I bet you got fine a lot." he added.
"You think so?" she chuckled, agreeing to his comment. She got some speeding tickets that she had to sort out for the last few months. She loved speeding and she remembered Stefan went slightly pale when she drove him to work for the first time. He called her the road demon.
"I think so. You drive like a lunatic." He said.
"Well, I wasn't the one flipped his car upside down." She retorted.
***
Kara had a day to move her stuff back into Stefan's penthouse before he was being released from the hospital. And when they arrived at home, it was all ready as if she had lived there since they day he married her and never moved out.
It was so weird to be back into the house that caused her feeling mixed between happy and sad.
"You have key to my house?" Stefan asked her in a very strange tone when she swapped the key card on the panel inside the lift.
"Give me a break Stefan. I am your wife."
"I still don't believe that."
"What can I do to make you believe me?" Kara groaned in frustration, adjusting her steps to him who walked slowly with his crutches, entering his place.
"Nothing you can do Witch. I just won't believe you."
"Fine! Suit yourself." Kara walked straight to the laundry room with his bag and put his dirty clothes into the machine.
"Where are the maids and Andrea?" he asked, following her from behind, somehow fascinated by how comfortable she was walking around his house like it was hers. Did she really tell him the truth about the marriage?
"I send them for a week holiday." Kara answered.
"Why?"
"Um... I just want you to have a rest with less people around." She gave him an excuse but she was lying, the real excuse was because she wanted to spend more time with him and re creating the first day she stepped into this place as his wife.
She would be the one doing the house chores just like he wanted her to do.
"Really?" he dragged his question, obviously suspicious with her answer. "So, who will do the washing and cleaning?"
"I'll do it." She replied lightly and earned a doubtful stare from him.
"What? Do you think I don't know how to operate a washing machine?" she raised her eyebrows at him.
"Fine. Just don't flood my laundry room with foam." He mumbled and left her alone. He remembered something about the laundry room accident only he didn't realise it.
Kara smiled slightly.
***
Stefan was struggling with his boxer when he was out from the shower. His ribs bite him and his broken leg didn't help either and he didn't know why suddenly his lower back was sore too.
"Stefan?" Kara knocked the bathroom door.
"What?" he answered in frustration.
"Do you need any help?" she asked again.
"NO!"
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Stefan...." Kara knocked again after five minutes.
"Leave me alone!"
Kara grunted before bragged in ignoring his stunned face.
"Damn it woman!" Stefan cursed. "What did I say about respecting my privacy?"
"Relax! I've met your friend down there very often." She rolled her eyes, bent down in front of him and helped him wearing his pants. Oh god, his back felt so much better when he stopped bending over.
"Thank you." He mumbled when she finished her job.
"I don't know you can blush." Kara tapped his chest and gave him his crutches. "Come downstairs, I'll make you some dinner."
"No thanks. I'm not hungry." He refused flatly and walked slowly to his bed, he sat on the edge of it and placed his crutches against his bedside.
"Stefan, you need to eat something before you have your medication." Kara sat next to him and touched his arm.
"Can you tell me why are you doing this?" he asked a strange question, pulling his arm away from her.
"Doing what?"
"Helping me."
Kara stared at him feeling a little annoyed. Didn't he believe in her yet that she was his wife?
She showed him their wedding photos and his family had told him the same thing, yet he was still hesitated to trust her.
But of course he did. His memory stopped when Kara blackmailed him for the first time. He only remembered hate and anger, nothing more.
"I am your wife Stefan."
"Yeah... yeah... But you can always call a nurse to take care of me."
Kara shook her head, "no, I will not do that. You are my responsibility. I want to take care of you."
"Why?"
"Because I love you!" She yelled. Frustrated by how stubborn he had been.
There she finally said it that she loved him, too bad he couldn't remember their past.
His face changed, from confused to shock, followed by anger. "You don't just say that!" he raised his voice.
"Say what?" Kara turned pale, didn't expect him to react that way. He was really moody lately. One second he would be nice and the next he would explode like dynamite. It was probably from his medication or he was simply confused by the gap in his memory.
"You don't love me Witch, you only use me."
"But Stefan...." She wanted so much to slap him right now. He had driven her mad.
"No matter how much proof you gave me about our marriage, I don't believe you and I will never believe you. Don't you dare saying it again! Now get out, I am tired."
***
Stefan stirred and turned for hours since he told Kara to get out from his bedroom. He checked his clock, it was one in the morning. Where did she go? She wasn't sleeping next to him. If she said she was his wife she would sleep here with him. And he knew he only had one bedroom. There wouldn't be anywhere else to sleep except here, or maybe she slept downstairs?
Slowly he sat up and took his crutches, he exited his bedroom and wobbled his way along the corridor, straight to the staircases and stopped half way down when he saw her curled on his couch with a thin blanket covering her body and a small cushion under her head.
His eyes softened.
The arrogant witch slept on his couch?
What a view.
He never imagined that they were married to each other and she just told him that she loved him.
Was it part of her game? Or did she truly love him?
He wanted to believe it, but he couldn't let his guard down. His family had been fooled by this Witch but not him, he wouldn't let her fooled him too
He lifted his hand and checked his wedding ring. A jolt of tenderness wrapped his heart when he stared at it.
So weird....
He knew his feeling wouldn't lie. It didn't matter that he lost his memory about his wife right now, but his feeling would still be the same. If he had butterflies in his stomach every time she smiled at him then the marriage maybe for real. He must love her before because he knew love wouldn't be easy to get rid of.
He needed to know what had actually happened to them and the only way to find out was by talking to her and regaining his memory. He had to work together with her and not pushing her away.
He cringed when his stomach growling.
Carefully he continued his steps down and he walked to the kitchen to get him something to eat.
Kara must have left some food for him, he opened his fridge and saw an almost full tray of lasagne on the second shelf. She ate only a little, he thought. He pulled out the tray and placed it on the counter.
Slowly he opened the kitchen cabinet and took one plate out. He stopped for a while when his ribs started to throb. He should have his pain killer earlier but he had been childish toward Kara and decided to go to bed without it. Now he suffered the consequences.
Stupid.... He cursed himself.
"Stefan?" Kara voice startled him, "What are you doing? Are you okay?" she walked out from the shadow of his dark living room into the kitchen. Her hair was messy and the strap of her night gown fell off her right shoulder exposing the top part of her boob.
Stefan lost his mind for a second there.
"I... I am hungry..." he finally able to pronounce a sentence.
Again, he noticed that his heart skipped a beat when he saw her face and yes her short too revealing silk nightie to.
"Oh right. Okay, I'll prepare your meal." She snapped out her half asleep mind and guided him to the living room before turning the light on. "You better sit down."
Stefan's mood turned lighter with the bright ambient around him. "Thank you." He said when she slipped her pillow behind his lower back. His body was aching all over till he didn't know anymore how to position himself comfortably to reduce the pain and luckily she knew what to do.
"I'll be right back." She dropped a kiss on his lips absentmindedly before heading toward the kitchen.
She kissed him!
Stefan stared at her back trying to put a lid on his suddenly over joy feeling inside his heart.
This was ridiculous he thought.
Five minutes later she was back with a warm lasagne, a glass of water and his medication ready in her hand.
Stefan ate with satisfied groan in his throat when his tongue tasted the food and his stomach became warmer from the lasagne. He liked her cooking.
He stopped.
He liked her cooking? A memory surfaced in his mind, Kara was a good cook and her lasagne was the one to die for.
"This is my favourite food that you cook right?" he asked tentatively.
Kara's face lightened up, "yes." She smiled widely.
"I remember...." Seeing her happy made him happy. And he couldn't help but smiling back at her.
"What else do you remember?" she asked enthusiastically. Seeing Stefan smiled at her for the first time since he got back from the hospital lifted up her spirit. She shifted closer to him till their legs touched. Resting her palm on his arm, she waited for his answer.
"Um... just that for now." He shrugged, suddenly nervous by their closeness.
"Oh...." Her face fell but not too long, she smiled again and told him that he would get more of his memory back sooner or later, which earned her another smile from him.
Stefan then ate in silent for a while.
"Kara, about before... Sorry I yelled at you." He apologised.
Being angry to someone who was simply telling him how she felt about him wasn't cool at all and he was ashamed of it.
She lifted her face and gazed at him with her brown eyes, "I told you the truth Stefan." She said, reaching up to touch his jaw.
"I know..." he replied, "I just couldn't remember anything and I was upset because I couldn't return your feeling." He explained.
"That's okay...." She shook her head, dismissing his guilt. "I completely understand. But at least don't push me away. I am here to help. When you get your memory back you can tell me how you feel about me, but for now don't let it be a burden okay? Think of me as your nurse, ask my help any time you need. And as I promised I will give you as much space as you want."
Stefan nodded.
Finally they agreed on something.
He finished his meal soon after and had his medication before heading back to his bedroom, "Kara." He called.
"Yes?"
"Come sleep on the bed with me. That couch isn't the most comfortable place to spend a night on."
"Are you sure?" she looked surprise.
"Hurry up before I change my mind." He shrugged and taking wobble steps toward the stairs.
***