“If you are still unsure of Mister’s feelings, pay attention to the way he looks at you. Mister has never looked at anyone with such a warm gaze before.”
Gabriella lowered her head and closed her eyes, remembering the butler’s words. It had been more than half a day, those words were circling in her mind. However, logic still refused to believe.
“There’s no way that man loves me. He is always angry and calls me troublesome. Neither one of my traits fit his criteria,” the woman muttered while propping her chin against the window.
The scenery outside was still the same as ten minutes ago. The fence was tightly closed without a single car passing.
“And why doesn’t Max come home yet? Is he really avoiding me?” Gabriella grumbled before letting out a resigned sigh.
“Today is really boring,” she mumbled with pursed lips.
After a moment of silence, the woman turned towards the bed. Two teddies looked like they were waiting for their master.
“Are you guys bored too?” Gabriella asked.
A few seconds later, the woman closed the window and climbed into bed. After placing Smiley and Snowy on her lap, she picked up a piece of paper from the table. After a glance, her eyes were fixed on the words “things that Max likes”.
“Why did I ask Auntie about this?” she grumbled, tilting her head.
“Could it be because I feel sorry for him? Max’s life is much harder than mine. Perhaps, this is what the wise men would say. Don’t judge a person by what his look.”
After muttering, the woman lay down with left hand hugging the two teddies and right hand holding up the paper in front of her eyes. In just a few seconds, the points she wrote had conveyed sadness.
“Max doesn’t look miserable at all. But apparently, he has a lot of wounds,” Gabriella mused before lowering her hands and looking up at the ceiling. “How is it possible that running free on the beach is a dream that has never come true?”
With a slower blink, the woman mumbled, “Poor him.” Slowly, she drifted off to sleep with compassion.
When someone pulled the paper from her grasp, Gabriella was no longer conscious. Neither did the woman know that a warm gaze was directed at her.
“You have a talent for digging up information about me, hm?” Max muttered with a small curve of his lips. “I purposely didn’t write it in the diary. But, you know it from eyewitness.”
For a few seconds, the man looked at his wife’s peaceful face. The fatigue in his body gradually began to evaporate.
“Why is she so adorable?” Max thought before smiling and looking down at the paper in his hand.
As soon as he saw the not so neat writing, the man’s mouth let out a soundless laugh. “Her writing is really bad.”
Shaking his head, Max read every point about him. Warmth slowly enveloped his heart. “As expected, you do have a secret interest in me,” he muttered in a light voice.
Realizing that the desire to touch his wife was getting stronger, the man slipped the paper into the notebook on the table and rushed to take a shower. Once he was clean, without hesitation, he approached the woman and embraced her.
Receiving such sudden treatment, Gabriella’s eyelids rose spontaneously. “Max? You’re home?” she asked hoarsely.
The man replied with a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Continue sleeping,” he whispered, stroking his wife’s hair.
Miraculously, Gabriella nodded and closed her eyes again without protest.
A few seconds later, no more sound could be heard. The man who usually had many thoughts at night, fell asleep quickly. Both of them were too tired of harboring an unspoken longing.
***
“Max? You’re home?” Gabriella asked as she opened her eyes.
For the first time, the woman looked at her husband’s face as soon as she woke up, instead of finding the man clinging to her back.
“Why do you repeat that question?” Max said, lifting the corners of his lips.
The woman’s eyebrows rose in confusion. “When did I ask?”
“Last night. You don’t remember? You even hugged me really tight.”
Gabriella’s brows furrowed spontaneously. “You lie. I couldn’t hug you,” she said with pursed lips.
After flashing a faint smile, Max tucked his palm under his cheek. In silence, he paid attention to the details of Gabriella’s face.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” the woman asked as she felt uncomfortable being looked so closely.
“Because today, I still have to work overtime, so I need to charge more.”
Suddenly, Gabriella’s heartbeat became faster. With a faint quivering eyeball, the woman heeded the butler’s advice.
“That gaze …. is it really sincere?” she thought with furrowed brows.
Finding Gabriella’s eyes were fixed on him, Max widened a smile. A second later, he approached the woman and buried his warm lips on the doubtful eyelids.
“Why did you kiss my eyes?” Gabriella sighed as the man restored the distance between them.
“So you can see more clearly,” Max replied before stroking his wife’s shoulder. “If you are still sleepy, continue your sleep. I have to get ready soon.”
As the man left, Gabriella digested the enigmatic answer she had just received. “What does it mean? What should I see more clearly?”
In the midst of that contemplation, the woman’s eyes suddenly widened. “That paper? Didn’t I still hold it last night?”
Wasting no time, Gabriella got up and looked around.
“Where is it? Don’t tell me Max has read it,” the woman mumbled, wincing at the thought of how embarrassed she would be if that happened.
After a while, she found the paper tucked inside a book. In an instant, her brows furrowed even deeper. “Why is it here? Was it Max who saved this?”
Three seconds later, Gabriella shook her head to shake off the prejudice. “Impossible. If Max found it, he would have made fun of me. I have to keep this in a safer place.”
Stupidly, the woman did a pointless thing.
***
“Ah, today is boring again,” Gabriella murmured as she had just closed the piano.
With drooping shoulders, the woman turned her gaze to the notebook on the right corner. When it opened, there was only empty table there.
“How can I fill it if we are always apart?” she grumbled as her finger traced the long column without a word. “Should I fill in based on my recent experience?”
After pondering for a moment, Gabriella grabbed the pen and placed it to her chin.
“Let’s be objective. Last time, he disturbed my sleep. That’s a negative point.” After writing the description, the woman tried to remember more. “Then ….”
For a few moments, Gabriella maintained silence. She never found bad treatment from Max. “What’s wrong with my brain?”
Once again, she checked the memories. However, the result remained the same. Max hadn’t been so mean since Gabriella cried at the hotel. Instead, the woman was stunned by the flash of their sweet memory.
“Should I note the positive points too?” she muttered doubtfully.
Subconsciously, her hand began to bring the tip of the pen to the paper.
“He stood up for me in front of Cherry, took me to beautiful places, took pictures of me at every opportunity, and gave me the food I like.”
Gabriella was silent for a moment. Memories with Max flashed faster and faster in her mind. After shaking head faintly, the woman poured whatever she could imagine.
“He held my hand tightly, looked at me warmly, then made me smile every time i saw him. He also makes me laugh happily when he’s near, and irritate when he’s not around.”
Suddenly, Gabriella gasped and the pen slipped from her hand.
“I love him?”
Gabriella’s eyes fluttered as fast as the pounding in her chest and swishing in her veins. After swallowing hard and looking down to read every description, a breath of disbelief escaped her mouth.
“I love him.”
After a long time, the woman finally found the answer to the real riddle. As it turned out, it wasn’t Max’s feelings that she always questioned, but her own heart, a heart that refused to believe for fear of facing unrequited feeling.
Gripping the throbbing head accepting the truth, Gabriella grimaced and closed her eyes. “This is bad! What should I do now?”
“How can I fall in love with him?”