2026-08-26 12:18:05The Meal course arrived after ten minutes in lidded silver trays carried in by four staff walking in with professional ease. Patron's steal glances at them, commenting in hushed tone.
The tray's were gently placed on the table one after the other along with different labels of drinks that immediately made Arabella gasped, her voice catching on it. Her eyes widened on the spread of dishes in her front.
Ceramic plates arrived immediately too with cutleries only used in this kind of settings.
"Are you ready, Sir, Ma?" The waitress glanced between them. "I'll be offering the table service personally."
Caius glanced across to Arabella who was still in shock, her wide eyes counting down from one lidded trays on the table and drinks that stood together like trophies at the side.
What the heck?
"Please go ahead." Caius said seeing she was still processing everything. He smiled faintly.
"Alright. It's an honour to serve you, Sir, Ma."
The waitress moved, flipping one lid open with ease. Steam trapped beneath wafted into the air. The tantalizing aroma of accurately cooked and spiced fried rice diffused in the air, hitting Arabella's nostril and raising her appetite. She swallowed before she knew it.
The rice was scooped into the ceramic plate, fried plantain, coleslaw gently laid over the green graind with fried chicken. It was served with steady hand.
Arabella's stomach grumbled as the plate was carefully set in her front.
"What drink will you like to take, Ma?"
"Oh, yeah..drink...." Her eyes went to the collection of assorted drinks on the table. It was difficult to make a choice. "I'll just take the orange juice." She said after some second.
A glass cup was set in her front and the orange juice was carefully poured.
Caius giggled softly seeing her reaction to everything.
"Food is better served before your eyes," he said. "the eye is a sense organ so it captures the process and helps to increase the body to boost the appetite."
He was also served the same dish— fried rice with orange juice.
The waitress bowed gently and stepped to the side.
"If you need anything else, I'll stay around." She said respectfully and stepped to the corner.
Arabella stared at the plate in her front and looked at Caius again.
"This...all of this is..is much. We can't afford this, Caius." She leaned closer. "Listen I understand you want me to get better and you want me eating good stuffs but this.. it's too much."
"Good thing the Restaurant offers discounts." He said without even bothered. "Let's just eat up before the food run away, dear." He said.
Arabella stared at him intently. Something about him wasn't adding up. The way he talked calmly, the way he was relaxed despite the expensive plates laid out before him.
She didn't pick her cutlery. She leaned in further, her voice dropping to a low curious edge.
"Who are you really?" She asked.
Caius looked at him and smiled lightly. "I'm a weird?"
"You're too relaxed with all of this placed into your front."
Caius wanted to tell her his family owned the place, to tell her who exactly he was but he stopped. Not yet. It isn't the right time yet. He doesn't want her to be overwhelmed with her PTSD and have the motive that he's one of those arrogant rich people.
"You don't need to worry about it, Arabella. Just trust me."
They ate in the silence after then, savouring the expensive taste of the meal, occasionally exchanging conversation between the meal and quiet laughter.
It was Arabella's first time feeling relaxed with someone. And for once, the pressure and despair in her heart knotted. She was slowly getting used to Caius and their attachment was growing stronger
"You're being silly, Caius." She laughed over his joke.
"Hold on. . Hold on, Princess." Caius said between gentle laughter. He grabbed the handkerchief and leaned over gentle to remove a small food particle from her lips.
"What is that?" She asked.
Gently, Caius brushed the crumb from her lips. Caius's face was close, his finger brushed against her skin gently. Arabella flinched, the contact sending electric pulse to her brain. Her chest hammered. Her cutlery went still. Her face flushed.
"There you go." Caius leaned back and sat back in his seat.
The guesture caught her off guard. Her heart fluttered.
What was happening to her? She thought, her heart racing.
It was a familiar voice that broke her out of the reverie. She turned in the direction of the voice and whom she saw made her breathe hitched.
"Oh God." She gasped, her voice trembling. Her expression changed to panic instantly. "We need to leave. I need to leave." The words tumbled out of her mouth.
"What's the problem?" Caius asked with a raised brow.
"My step-sister... she's here..I can't let her see me here..it'll be trouble.."
Caius looked across the room to see a young woman about her age in a flashy outfit with a man in expensive suit walking inside.
"You don't have to leave, Bella. She's not going to do anything to you." Caius immediately understood the situation. Obviously, Arabella is not only bullied in the school, she was bullied even at home.
She held her hand gently.
"Look at me. Just relax. I'm here with you and nothing is going to happen."
At the moment, the young woman, Diane, standing beside the young man and looking at the space and admiring it suddenly looked in their direction. Her eyes narrowed, flashing with shock and maybe confusion.
"What the heck?! Ana?" She muttered in disbelief. "No.. what's she doing here?" Her eyes tunneled to the distance.
"Babe, please give me some seconds." She excused herself and moved across the Hall, her heels clicking gently.
Arabella's heart slammed her chest in anxiety.
Diane stood before their table, smirking. "Well. Well. Well. If it isn't the dirty Bella. What are you doing in a place like this where kings and Queens dine? Tired of watching dirty plates at home? Huh?" Her voice was poison wrapped in silk. She then looked at Caius and snorted.
"And who are you? You badged yourself a..." Her eyes darted to the tray lining up on the table in shock.
".....a Scammer?"
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Chapter 13 : The Morning After
For a few seconds, Arabella didn’t know where she was.The ceiling was wrong. The bed was too soft, too wide, the sheets smelling faintly of something clean and unfamiliar instead of the thin detergent Margaret bought in bulk. Her body tensed on instinct, the way it always did when something didn’t match what she expected — and then it came back to her in pieces. Margaret’s voice. The photograph. Caius’s hand around hers in the stairwell.She sat up slowly, pulling the blanket to her chest like she needed to justify taking up the space at all.The room was simple compared to what she imagined a place like this could be — no gold trim, no absurd chandelier — but everything in it was quietly, unmistakably expensive. The kind of expensive that didn’t need to announce itself. She ran her thumb along the edge of the blanket and felt a small stab of guilt she couldn’t fully explain.She wasn’t supposed to be somewhere like this.When she came out, Caius was already up, standing near the win
Chapter 12 : The Hings She Never Knew
“What did you mean by that?”Arabella hadn’t moved from the doorway. The words had come out of her before she’d decided to say them, steadier than she felt.Margaret’s face closed like a shop at the end of a bad day. “I didn’t mean anything. Don’t stand there making a scene out of nothing.”“You said my mother left something behind. You’ve told me for ten years she left nothing. Debts, you said. A funeral I couldn’t even afford to attend properly. Which is it, Margaret?”“Don’t take that tone with me in my own house.”“Then answer the question.”Margaret’s eyes flicked toward Caius, standing quiet by the door, and something in his stillness seemed to unsettle her more than Arabella’s voice had. “You’re upset. You’re not thinking clearly. Go on, then, run off with your little rescuer and see how far that gets you. See who’s still here when he gets bored of playing hero.”“That’s not an answer either.”For a moment Margaret said nothing, and in that silence Arabella felt something shift
Chapter 11 : The Door He Shouldn't Have Opened
Caius was halfway across the cracked pavement when he heard it — a woman’s voice, sharp and clipped, cutting through a window left open despite the evening chill.He stopped walking.It wasn’t shouting. That was the strange part. It was worse than shouting, the kind of voice that had rehearsed its own cruelty so many times it no longer needed volume.“Do you think I don’t know where you were?”He couldn’t make out Arabella’s answer. Her voice, when it came, was too low, too careful, the voice of someone choosing each word like it might cost her something.Caius’s jaw tightened. He glanced back at the taxi still idling at the curb, then at the apartment building — three floors of peeling paint and a stairwell light that flickered like it was considering giving up entirely. He climbed the steps two at a time and stopped outside a door with a number hanging by one screw.He didn’t knock. Not yet. He stood there, hand hovering an inch from the wood, and made himself listen.“I asked you a
Chapter 10: The List
"And you," Her finger snapped at Ryan. "we're done with this relationship! We're done!!" Diane stumbled out of the restaurant in rage, her face humiliated and makeup smudged across her face with a slap from her lover she never expected.On her way out , she spun around expecting Ryan to rush after her, but she was even more angry and bittered seeing him still groveling at her step sister's feet like an insect."How disgusting! This is over!!" She hissed, strutting out again. She nearly lost her footing on the marble just before she made it to the door.Inside the restroom, Caius held Arabella's wrist and gently pulled her away from Ryan. He looked down at him then to Marcus Williams who was skill shaking at the side in panic and whispering apology."You know what to do, Marcus," his voice was ice wrapped in silk— no shout— just quiet command. "Someone like him isn't fitting to be in the Cross family business. Using the Cross name to brag, to threat common people. Do you think it woul
Chapter 9: On His Kneels
***A man dressed in an impeccable suit walked in through the door, his loafers clicking against the marble swiftly.Ryan Brook turned to Caius."You're dead! Completely dead. You don't know who you just messed with." He boasted.Marcus Williams the CFO walked into the scene, looking at Ryan first."What is going on here?" He asked, his voice smooth and rich.Ryan snapped his finger at Caius in justified false accusation."Here he is, Sir. He insulted my girlfriend. He wanted to slap her in the face if I hadn't stepped in. I don't want to take actions on him yet so I had to quickly inform you." He spin the whole thing to make it justified and anger the CFO.Marcus Williams turned his look at the person, following the line of his hand. "Who is that pers—"The rest of the words caught in his throat. His eyes widened. His body tembled violently like an electric pulse had just slammed into him."Sir...Sir..." Without even asking. The CFO crumbled at Caius's feet with a sharp crack echoi
Chapter 8: The Cross Firm
Caius looked at her intently."What was that? An accusation? Or Is this a police station where you report your stolen stuff." His voice was quiet and firm."Who the heck are you to speak to me like that?" Diane's voice cracked through the air like a gunshot making heads turned immediately."You're loud, young woman," Caius simply said, "you're shouting on my girlfriend." Diane tossed her hair to the back, diamond necklace catching the illuminants on her neck. She let out a laughter that echoed off the roof like shattering glass."Girlfriend? Huh? Perfect. Just perfect.." She spun to Arabella who was panicking across the table, muttering something no one heard that could be a plea."So this is what you do, Huh? You hook up with some trash and tell them to spit nonsense at me?"Caius's inside boiled but he didn't move. His expression was perfectly impossibly composed."Diane..no.. that's not true. Caius is my boyfriend. Yes. But were were just hanging out.." "Hanging out?" Diane's l
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