Chapter 5-Anger

“Still no news?” Charles asked Roy impatiently. 

“Sorry, sir, I’ve checked all the hotels, even small apartments, but she’s not there.”

Charles angrily let go of the pen he was holding and gave the staff a bad look. “Don’t you have any other way to find her and bring her back to the house?”

Roy bowed his head. When the tone of the young man’s voice rose to such an extent, he obviously lost patience. He wants Stella to return to the house he gave her before his grandfather arrived. 

“Get out!” he yelled at the staff again when he couldn’t answer him right.

A few days passed and he couldn’t contact Stella. What makes him angry is that she just took the money but did not follow one of the agreements in the deed. Attached to that is that Stella still needed to show up to the old man and help him convince his grandfather that they parted amicably. And he got a divorce without a third wheel to intervene. 

Charles fell into deep thought and wondered where Stella could go. He wanted to blame himself now, and he didn’t find out about the girl’s other family background. He didn’t even know if she had any relatives and where she was from. 

“Why do I worry about her? The man he replaced me with seems to be rich, so she won’t just live on the street,” he indulges in his own will. 

“But you don’t have enough evidence that it’s her man in the picture,” against a part of his mind.

Charles blew air out of his mouth violently and chastised himself for having divided beliefs. He even washed his face with his palm when the expression registered on Stella’s face returned to his memory. Sadness, joy and surrender were visible on her face. 

“I love you, please give me a chance to prove to you that I married you because of love.” 

He clenched his fist on the table and remembered his ex-wife’s plea to him again. He does not believe that love is the reason why she married him. Stella became his grandfather’s nurse then, and she used the old man’s kindness to choose her to marry him.

When he first met the girl, he also liked her attitude. Caring for his grandfather and considerate. She also knew that he had a girlfriend and that he often used to go with her when visiting his grandfather who was in the hospital. But Stella still asked the old man to choose her to marry him. His spirit was roused from looking back when someone knocked on the door. 

“Sir, Ms. Elizabeth is outside,” informed by his secretary. 

He nodded to the secretary. He needed something else to distract his mind right now, and he thought of his ex-girlfriend. 

“Babe, I miss you!” Elizabeth immediately sat on her boyfriend’s lap and, without hesitation, kissed him on the lips.

At first, Charles just let the girl kiss him on the lips. But when she started to deepen the kiss, the sad face of his ex-wife suddenly appeared in his mind. 

“Why?” she asked the young man in surprise when he suddenly turned his face away from her. 

“I’m busy, do you need anything?”

Elizabeth frowned at her boyfriend’s sudden coldness. She thought he would have more time with her now that Stella was gone. But the opposite happened. 

“Grandpa is coming the next day. Don’t go home, and he won’t know you’re back.” 

Elizabeth frowned and stormed off from sitting on her boyfriend’s lap. The old man has always been an obstacle to their love. She should have been happy when he got sick. She thought he was going to die, but it turned out his life to be longer. 

“I still haven’t found Stella and I don’t want Grandpa to think you’re the reason we broke up.”

Elizabeth smiled, and the young man was still concerned about her. He just didn’t want the old man to look bad against him even more. She moved behind him and hugged him from there. Her chin rested between his shoulder and neck before whispering. “Grandpa isn’t here yet, so we still have time.” 

Charles closed his eyes tightly and let the girl seduce him. But he was very disappointed in himself, and he didn’t feel like he was used to every time she was seducing him. 

“Where’s Stella?” Ramon immediately looked for the woman after seeing his grandchildren who picked him up at the airport. 

Sophie looked at her brother and she couldn’t speak or lead him. 

“We’ll talk at home, Grandpa.” Charles pushed the wheelchair that his grandpa sits on.

Ramon’s hunch is not good, especially and his grandson is quiet. Only the two of them picked him up, and it was a miracle that Magda was not there. “I want to share the meal with Stella, so we’re going to your house.”

Charles nodded to the driver and granted what his grandfather wanted. He called their doctor and sent him there as well. He wants a doctor to look at him and maybe his blood pressure will rise when he finds out about his breakup with Stella. 

Sophie felt bad for her grandpa, and it looks like Stella is the only one he misses. So she was annoyed with that woman because it seemed like she was the grandchild of the old man and not hers.

Arriving at the house, Ramon entered the house smiling. He was only able to visit her today because he was abroad when the couple moved house. But he was very disappointed when the maid greeted him instead of Stella. He had a bad hunch but he calmed down. 

“Grandpa, take a rest,” said Charles, and pushed the seat back. 

“No, tell me the truth!” He looked sharply at Charles. 

Charles sighed and adjusted his grandpa’s seat in the living room. He estimated his condition first. 

“Grandpa, it’s not my brother’s fault why they broke up. There is also evidence that she has another man!”

Charles shot his sister a sharp look to take the lead in speaking. She immediately closed her mouth and bowed her head. 

Ramon was furious when he looked at his young grandson. He did not believe what he heard and waited for him to explain. 

“Grandpa, it’s been three years. You know one of our agreements.” 

The old man’s lips remained closed tightly, and he tried to calm himself down. He doesn’t want to be weak again because his grandchildren need him more now. That’s right, it was only three years before they agreed to be together. But he didn’t think that Stella wouldn’t get pregnant, especially, and they separated from the house. He thought that his grandson had fallen in love with the girl and that there would be no divorce.

“I’m sorry if you didn’t wait longer. I didn’t abandon her and made sure she wouldn’t suffer even though we were separated.” 

“Is this house the same as the one you gave to her?” 

Charles was surprised, and his grandfather became calm when asking. He nodded in response to his question. 

“And he hasn’t been here since you divorced, right?” 

“I’m looking for her, so you can talk.” 

Ramon grinned and shook his head. “Don’t expect to see her again and let her live in this house.”

Charles was stunned by what the old man said. He didn’t know, but it was as if something kicked in his chest with the knowledge that Stella would never be seen again.

“I want to rest.” He signaled his nurse to push his wheelchair.

 

Sophie’s gaze followed her grandpa with her open mouth. What she expected was for him to yell at her brother or hit him with whatever he was holding. When she looked at her brother, he also seemed to have be confused about their grandfather. 

After a few minutes, Charles turned to their doctor. “Look at Grandpa’s health.” 

The doctor quietly turned his back and followed the old man into the room.