Katia reached out to him and took his hand. This gesture made him look at her in surprise, but he eventually smiled at her.Then she said:"You should know me by now. I'm very stubborn."The problem is, we're both very stubborn," he said with a smile."Maybe…" she let go of his hand and sat up straight in her seat.Stefan gazed at the young woman who was sitting a few inches away from him. He noticed that she wasn't wearing anything around her neck, ears, or wrists.He closed his eyes, smiled, and then leaned forward slightly. He pulled out a square blue box and then two smaller ones. He wasn't sure if she would accept to wear them, but he had to try.He leaned back in the car seat."Katia," he called.She looked at him with a smile but had a puzzled expression when she saw the three boxes."What 's this?""This is for you, to complete your outfit. I would have liked to give it to you before we left, but... I forgot," he replied.Katia took the boxes and opened them.In one box, there

Katia breathed slowly and looked sideways, without turning her head to look at him.Stefan, when he finished what she had asked him to do, stroked her back with his fingertips, making her skin crawl.She shrugged her shoulders at the feel of him.He got up from the bed, but not before kissing her neck. Katia put her hands on her chest to hold the dress and turned to face him.She couldn't hold it any longer. She needed to know the truth."Stefan..." she called out to him."Is something wrong? Don't you want me to leave or something?" he joked, laughing as he turned around."It's just that I want to ask you something," she said, avoiding eye contact."Tell me," he turned slightly to look at her."Why did you marry me?"Stefan looked at her in surprise, not expecting that question and not knowing how to answer it. He clenched his fists inside his pockets.Without warning, he began to approach her, sat down beside her, and placed a hand on her leg. Katia looked into his eyes, waiting for

Katia got out of the car when they arrived at the bookstore. A small smile graced her lips as she entered the shop, accompanied by Jennel. After about ten minutes, both women came out of the bookstore with some books in their arms.Katia seemed happy as she chatted with the woman, until her ears caught a whimper. She turned her head from side to side, searching for the source of the cry, and then turned to look at an alley next to the bookstore.She stopped at the entrance of the alley and looked around without seeing anything unusual. Suddenly, she heard the cries again, and her gaze went to two cardboard boxes placed together on the ground against the wall.She approached them curiously and let out an "oh..." when she saw that one of the boxes contained a kitten, and the other held a puppy. She crouched down slowly, being careful not to hurt her ankle, and squatted."Katia," Jennel called, standing behind her."Look, Jennel. Aren't they precious?" She began to touch the noses of bot

Katia looked at Stefan in astonishment at that question and shook her head. Something inside her shrank at the thought of Oscar.She watched as Stefan walked away while placing a hand on her heart. Lately, her mind had been occupied with thoughts of the German, and it was starting to worry her.She closed her eyes and sat on the edge of the bed with her hand on her chest, her mind still fixated on the mulatto man, and her heart ached.At that moment, she realized that he hadn't called her for several days, and that worried her.Unable to help it, she started crying with her hands covering her face. She began to cry silently so that no one in the house would hear her. She didn't want to worry anyone, especially Stefan, who had nothing to do with her.The next morning, she hadn't managed to sleep at all. She got out of bed with swollen, red eyes. In the end, she had spent the whole night crying without knowing why.Her head also hurt.When she checked the time on her phone, she saw that

"But... what nonsense is this?" Katia said, shaking her head and annoyed by her friend's insinuation. "Of course, I'm not in love with him.""How could I fall in love with someone like him? Seriously, Madeleine, you have some...""You seem jealous," Madeleine crossed her arms."Me? Jealous?" Katia clicked her tongue. "Please, Madeleine! I love Oscar, and I want to marry him. If I can convince him... we might have a child. I want to live a happy life with Oscar. He's the one I want to be with for the rest of my life.""Even though you're eager to see Oscar, I know you're afraid he won't come back, right?""Exactly," she said with narrowed eyes.The elevator stopped a few minutes later. Unbeknownst to them, they had reached the top floor, where Stefan's office was, and she knew all the CEOs from different delegations would be there.The two women stood near the elevator, while Madeleine continued to tease Katia about being jealous of Stefan's ex. As Stefan emerged from his office, talk