Chapter 212 - BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION I

The days continued to pass without any problem. Cayenne worked everyday and Stefan was the same. The only changes in his life was that, he no longer works overtime like before. Unlike other employers who went to work late; Stefan's very punctual which the employees admire the most. And he leaves the company at exactly five in the afternoon as well.

Day after day, Cayenne's colleagues were getting curious as to who her boyfriend was but they never got the chance to find it. Stefan had been using a different car to make sure that no one recognizes him.

"Tomorrow is mom's birthday. I have asked Chris to come along." Stefan commented while they're on their way home.

"It's good to give him a break sometimes." Cayenne responded. "We'll be leaving early in the morning. Did you tell him the time?"

"Of course."

For some reason, Cayenne felt that nervous. Her life had been peaceful in the past few days; it was so peaceful that she was starting to worry about it. She thought of the saying 'calm before the storm'. She didn't really want to think it that way but somehow, there's something that's making her anxious.

'I hope nothing happens tomorrow.' Cayenne mentally stated while keeping her eyes on the road. Without noticing, she already tightened her hold on her husband's hand.

"Ayen, is there something wrong?" Stefan asked in worry. He didn't like to see a sad or worried expression on her face. Cayenne faintly smiled while shaking her head. "If you have any problem or worry, make sure to tell me. I don't want you to be burdened alone."

"I'm fine. Promise."

"Okay." Stefan parked the car outside their house and the two of them got out at the same time. Since it's Friday, they will be staying in their house and he'll be able to make love to her again. Friday and Saturday were the days that he looked forward to every week. 

With the moon and stars as witness to their actions, Stefan kissed his wife as soon as the door got closed. Cayenne's used to it now. She's less embarrassed when he did it and when he make love to her, it didn't hurt that much – just a little bit.

In the middle of the night, Stefan massaged his wife after thoroughly rocking her body for several hours. They still needed to go somewhere tomorrow and he didn't want her to be uncomfortable because of the pain on her waist.

"Mmm…That's enough. I'm good. We can go to sleep now." Cayenne mumbled with her stomach on the bed.

"Okay." Stefan put away the oil he used and wiped her body with tissue to remove the grease from her. After making sure that she's fine and comfortable, he laid beside her and cuddled her to sleep.

With Cayenne's alarm clock, the two of them got up around six in the morning, took a shower together and dressed up to meet her family at the apartment building. When they arrived, Chris was already there as well as Jasmine, the nurse. Ali and Luna said that they'll meet with them at the resort so, they didn't come early in the morning. David, as a close friend to Stefan, was also invited but he could only come in the afternoon.

Emerald still had no idea what her daughter planned for her. She thought it was just a normal family bonding with some of their friends. Speaking of friends, Cayenne had a bad feeling about it.

Her mother already rooted Stefan to remain as her boyfriend, well, she didn't know that her daughter married him already. Even so, she still likes Arthur because she knew this man ever since the children were young. He stayed with Cayenne most of the time before and he took care of her as well. There's no way that she would just ignore him because Stefan came to her daughter's life.

If his relationship with Cayenne changed over the years, Emerald didn't care about it. She still likes talking to him out of respect for being a good acquaintance to her daughter in the past.

Cayenne walked towards her mother. "Ma, today is your birthday and I know you're close with Arthur. Did you invite him to come?"

"Nope. I didn't. He said that he will be busy with some meeting today." Emerald responded almost immediately.

"Oh." Cayenne didn't say much and went back to Stefan. "Anyway, let's go already."

"Chris, you lead the way." Stefan told his secretary.

"Sure. Sure." This time, instead of driving an expensive sports car, Chris was using a van to make sure that there's a space for everyone. Stefan didn't really have any van at home so, he rented it.

Cayenne, along with his brothers, decided to celebrate their mother's birthday at Turtle Beach Resort. It's a white sand beach, known for scuba diving, snorkeling and sea turtle egg hatching. Sadly, it's not the season for egg hatching so, they wouldn't be able to see it. However, there were other activities that everyone might enjoy so, Cayenne didn't really mind missing the egg hatching.

Cayenne told Stefan that she didn't want to celebrate her mother's birthday in one of his resorts. What she didn't know is that, Stefan didn't really own the Turtle Beach Resort but, he's one of the shareholders of this resort. He just kept it a secret from her in case she'd change her mind again.

"Yenyen!" Luna called Cayenne while waving her hand. They arrived earlier than them and were currently waiting at the lobby. Usually, the resort's check-in time would be one in the afternoon but because of Stefan, they allowed them to come early in the morning.

"I'm glad you could make it." Cayenne told Luna while giving Ali a faint smile.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss Auntie's birthday celebration." Luna replied and went to Emerald, greeting her happy birthday with a warm hug.

"Thank you for coming." Emerald gently squeezed Luna's hand with a smile on her lips. "I'm really happy."

"Alright. We can have a chat later. Let's check-in first and arrange our things inside our rooms." Stefan suggested in which everyone agreed.

Meanwhile…

Arthur was happily choosing his clothes for the occasion. He prepared a gift for Emerald already and she told him that they'd be going out today. She said that it was just a family bonding and invited him if he can come over. He's very thankful that he has a good relationship with her. No matter how much Cayenne wanted to avoid him, her mother was doing her best to bring them closer as well.

"My dear Yen, even your mother wants you to become mine. Fate doesn't want you to escape from me." Arthur mumbled while looking at his own reflection in the mirror. The twisted smile on his lips started to mellow and his temperament change. He was now the normal Arthur that everyone knows.

In the morning, Cayenne and Stefan joined everyone for breakfast. After breakfast, they took a short dip in the pool except for Cayenne and her husband. Luiz and Kyle had a competition as to who can reach from one edge to the other with Kath as the judge. Of course, as a younger brother, Luiz didn't fight with all his might. It would be good to make his older brother leave some impression to his girlfriend. Kyle knew it, too. Between the two of them, they both knew who was a better swimmer.

"Thanks." Kyle whispered to his brother when he passed by him to get the towel.

On the other side of the pool, Cayenne and Stefan was browsing through the brochure that the hotel gave them earlier. They wanted to make sure that everyone will have fun in this trip so they were looking for some activities that they can do.

"Would you like to try going for a jet ski? It's fun." Stefan asked her while showing some pictures.

"As long as you're with me, I don't mind at all." Cayenne replied while leaning on his shoulder. "Should I go and change my clothes now?"

"Hn. Let's go up." Stefan brought the brochure with him, pretending he had no idea what the hotel offers at all. If Cayenne noticed that he knew a lot about the hotel, she might start to suspect so, he had to give his best in keeping it a secret.

"Yen, where are you guys going? Aren't going for a swim?" Luna asked her while wrapping herself with a robe.

"We will just change our clothes." Cayenne replied with a smile.

"Okay. Hurry up." Luna waved her hand to dismissed them. "I want to go and ride a jet ski with you."

"Ah?" Cayenne looked toward her husband before shifting her eyes back to her best friend. "Let's talk about that later." She finally turned around and went back to their designated room with Stefan.

Stefan bought a lot of swim suits for her but when Cayenne put them on, he just wanted to wrap her with a blanket and keep her inside the room. He suddenly felt jealous with just a thought of some other men eyeing at her.

"If you're not comfortable with the swim suit, we can look for something else." Stefan commented while looking on the tile floor instead of his wife. If he continued looking at her, they might not be able to go down again. 'Why must she look so pretty in that flimsy clothes?' Stefan thought as he suppressed the urge to push her down on their bed.