04 - Strangers

New York | Ten years earlier ]

(Sebastian's POV)

The clock continued to tick, getting closer to nine o'clock. The time to close the café was there. Most of the customers had left already. Only Stella remained there, alone and upset, in the same booth.

The guy who was supposed to meet her never came. It was a pity that a guy made a beautiful girl like her wait for hours and never showed up. The curiosity about the guy and his relationship with Stella was still there.

"I am leaving." Alex's deep voice broke my chain of thoughts. I turned to the source of the voice and faced him. He had changed already.

"Okay." I nodded my head. "I will close the café." It was not unusual. I happened to stay till the end and closed the café every day. But, for that night, I wanted to stay back for another reason.

He nodded. However, we both looked at Stella at the same time. "What about her?" Alex asked. "It's almost closing time." There was annoyance on the edge of his tone. A relief washed over me when I realized that Alex was not into Stella, but that didn't give him the right to get annoyed with someone who didn't do anything to him.

"I will take care of it." I folded the apron and went to the changing room. By the time I returned to the counter, Alex was not there. My eyes darted in Stella's direction. She looked out of the window. Her hands rested on top of the table, clasped.

Stella had been in the café for five hours, even more, if she had waited outside before Alex came. We offered her beverages and sweets, and refused everything by stating, "I will have them once he arrived." And that time never came.

Although she had four glasses of ice water, which I was grateful for. She was hydrated. But sitting on an empty stomach for long was not ideal. My eyes slowly traveled to the display bar and found that some of the blueberry muffins and cheesecakes were left from today. Usually, I gave the leftovers to the beggars on my way home. Today I saved a couple of them for Stella.

Putting the cheesecake and two blueberry muffins on a plate, I started the coffee machine to brew a cup of hot coffee. She needed to feed herself anything. It's been a long and I had no idea when was the last time she ate.

Taking the tray in my hands, I walked up to the booth she was in. With three-four long strides, I approached her. Stella had her undivided attention out of the window, watching the not-so-busy street across the café. I sighed, and very slowly, I placed the tray on the table.

Once again, on that day, Stella jumped and looked at me with wide eyes. I smiled and nodded toward the tray on the table. "These are for you," I told her. "You didn't eat anything ever since you came here."

Stella narrowed her eyes at the food in front of her. The pair of hazelnut eyes shone under the now dim lights in the room. She inspected the food for a brief moment before averting her gaze and giving me some of her undivided attention.

"But I didn't order them." Her voice was quiet, almost reluctant. I sighed and slid into the leather seats across from her. Her eyes watched my movements carefully then stuck on my blue orbs once I seated in front of her.

"I know." I tried my best to keep calm and ignore the thumping of my heart. "As I said, you have been on an empty stomach. It's not good for your health." I meant that. Every word I released from my mouth was sincere.

Stella looked at the food for another minute before pulling the tray, almost reluctantly, in front of her. "Thank you," she murmured but didn't look at me.

"It's my pleasure." I crossed my arms over my chest and watched her. Stella cut a small portion of the cheesecake before pulling the fork before her mouth. Hanging the bite in the mid-air, she averted her gaze on me, the corner of her lips tugged up.

"Cheesecake is my favorite." A full smile was displayed on her face before she took the bite. I fought my smile back and kept a neutral reaction. Stella chewed the cake with her eyes closed, the smile still lingered on the corner of her mouth. Swallowing the bite, she kept her eyes closed but a pleasurable hum vibrated in her throat. "They are delicious."

"Thank you." I straightened my back and sat up. The questions in the back of my head started bothering me. Although I had no business in her life, I still wanted to know who made Stella wait for long but never came. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is this?" She asked absently minded. Her attention was now on the blueberry muffin. Taking in the opportunity, I cleared my throat.

"Who was he you were waiting for?" Stella abruptly stopped chewing as she kept the muffin back on the plate. A sharp breath escaped my parted lips with regret. I shouldn't have asked the question.

Her pale face lowered with some shaky breath. If she shed a tear, I would jump off the cliff. Making her cry was the last thing I wanted that night. The air got thick around us, and the unbearable silence did nothing but increased the pace of my heartbeat.

After what felt like an eternity, Stella looked up at me. Her eyes were moist, tears threatened to fall. Taking a deep breath, she parted her mouth. "Henry, my boyfriend." I almost choked in the air. Of course, she had a boyfriend. A gorgeous girl like her was already in a relationship, and that was natural, yeah.

But the grief on the edge of her voice told me something else. Something I wanted to know. Who was Henry? Why didn't he show up today? Did he always stand her up on a date? Did he love her? I brushed the questions back when Stella's low voice reached my ear.

"He did that again." She lowered her eyes. "Stood me up on a date for the ninth time." The revelation was shocking. Before I could ask her if that was frequent or consecutive, she beat me. "And this is consecutive," she added.

Red flag. A walking red flag. Just what I had assumed. I untangled my arms and leaned on the table. "What is the reason for his behavior?" A shadow crossed her face for a mere second before she looked at me.

"I don't know." Her hands went up to her face as she run them up and down a couple of times. "And the sad part is this was the last date I had scheduled with him." She exhaled a sad breath. "He's leaving for abroad in two days, and this was supposed to be the last date which he ignored deliberately."

"If he's leaving for abroad in two days and still doesn't come to meet you, for the last time to see your face, put a smile on it, telling you how much he loves you and going to miss the pretty eyes for the next couple of months, if he doesn't crave for a long hug that will leave your scent on his clothes, he's not for you. Not the one you should chase."

I was shocked myself when the words repeated in my mind. Keeping the shock to myself, I reached for Stella's hand. I gave it a light squeeze. When she didn't flinch or react to the touch, I kept my hand on top of her, holding her hand in mine. "Trust me, a pretty girl like you deserve some treatment those Disney princesses got from the guys."

I cringed at my words. Did I call her pretty? And proceeded to compare her with Disney princesses? Gross.

I inhaled a sharp breath. I prayed for the ground to dig a large hole and shallow me there. It was embarrassing, and I happened to face that for the first time. If Aaron ever discovers it, he'll never leave me in peace after that.

"You are right." I heard Stella say. "I don't deserve the sick treatment from a guy I did nothing but loved unconditionally. I don't deserve any of the excuses he had been giving me for the past three months, nor the tears I shed for him." She looked into my eyes. And the hazelnut eyes held something heavy on them. "Why didn't I realize it before?"

"No one probably told you this before," I said calmly. Stella took some time to understand everything before she looked back at me.

"I am going to break up with him. He's leaving for abroad anyway. The long-distance relationship was never my best fit. It's better to end things for a better future."

I nodded my head. "You are right. Ending things and letting go of what has hurt you is the best decision."

The corner of her mouth twitched up. "Thank you for the valuable lesson. I will never make the mistake again."

"Pleasure is all mine." I leaned back on the seat, fighting back the grin. "I hope you find you're forever soon."

Stella nodded her head. As I proceeded to get up, Stella looked at me. Her eyes shone with a new concern. "What's your name?"

I smiled. "Let us remain strangers." I nodded my head. "It's always easier to share your trouble with strangers rather than friends. Since you revealed a great portion of your relationship to me, let us stay strangers so you will not be embarrassed later."