Chapter Thirteen (UNEDITED)

--Kindly put your playlist here--

"Love is not an equation, it is not a contract, and it is not a happy ending. Love is the slate under the chalk, the ground that buildings rise, and the oxygen in the air. It is the place you come back to, no matter where your headed" ― Jodi Picoult

Stella's POV

"Are you sure this is the table that Mr. Petrakis reserved?"

"Yes, Miss Valiente." The waiter confirmed after he refilled my glass of wine.

I checked the time in my wrist watch. It was 7:45 p.m.

Whoever this guy that Eros Petrakis set up as my date is fifteen minutes late! This won't work. Punctiality is very important for me in a man. Men who are happy go lucky, insensitive, arrogant and unconcern that a woman is waiting for him in a restaurant is out of my list.

I sighed heavily. I told you Stella, this is not a good idea.

I shouldn't have agreed with Eros when he called me yesterday that he was keeping his promise in setting up a date for me. I strongly disagreed but he insisted. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He already made a reservation in this new fine dining restaurant.

Well... I've never been here before and I heard it's so hard to get a reservation, even for millionaires - because of its marvelous cuisine cooked by their world class celebrity chefs – it would take a month before one could get one. I got curious and eventually agreed with Eros.

I checked the time again – 7:50 p.m. I sighed with disappointment. He probably won't come and I'm starving to death already.

I was about to call a waiter when I saw Tristan entered the restaurant.

Darn! What is he doing in here?

Panic. Embarrass.

Oh... Of all days, why now? When I'm stood up by my date. I want to hide... but where? Under the table? But I will only look silly.

I pretended not to see him. I drank my wine and checked my Facebook notifications on my phone. But... I couldn't help looking at Tristan. He looked so gorgeously sexy as usual... purely male – making my stomach fluttered with excitement.

Our eyes instantly collided. Darn. He was striding towards me. I had no choice but to face him.

"Hello Stella. Nice to see you here."

I lifted my chin and looked up at his devilishly handsome smiling face. Darn, I couldn't control my heart, it hammered foolishly and all my hormones were celebrating in seeing him again.

Tongue-tied. I just kept on staring at him.

"Are you with someone?" He asked then sat down on a chair across where I was sitting.

"Um... no... I mean yes. I'm with someone."

He settled on the chair comfortably and glanced sideways. "Who?"

"He's not here yet. But... but he's coming. And... please vacate that chair, it won't look good if he finds another man here with me."

"NAah. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Tristan, please... it's not fine. I'm not comfortable, okay? I don't wanna be rude, but please, just go to your table."

He smirked at me. "This is my table."

His table?

"Excuse me. This is my table. I'm waiting for my date, so will you please..."

"Calm down, Stella. I'm your date."

My eyes widened in surprise. No way! Damn Eros Petrakis. Of all men, why Tristan? Oh... I remembered, they're cousins.

Tristan couldn't be my date. We couldn't stand being with each other for a minute. We would just end up arguing like the last time we saw each other - in a stage play.

"You can't be my date. We hate each other!"

"Correction. I don't hate you." He firmly said.

"You do. Admit it, Tristan. You hate me as much as I hate you." I remembered the day I went to Arizona and found him with his bimbos – how he humiliated me in front of his friends.

He groaned and shook his head. "You can hate me all you want, princess. But I'm starving already. Can we order now?"

My stomach warbled. I forgot that I was hungry before he came in. "Of course."

We were sipping our wine and waiting for our food when I told him. "You were twenty minutes late. You kept me waiting."

He frowned. "Sorry about that. I just came from the airport. Our flight was delayed because of a terrible storm."

Oh. He just arrived here in New York. I suddenly felt bad about myself, judging him without knowing his reason.

"Isn't that a bad idea, flying on a bad weather?"

"Yeah, it is. But I couldn't let a lady waiting for me in a restaurant, starving."

My heart sank.

I knew I was blushing and flattered. He crossed a stormy weather just to see me?

No. No. NO. I shouldn't believe him. He just wanted to toy me with the idea that I was special. Men and their excuses. But... what if it's true?

"That's not a sensible thing to do. It's too risky. What if the plane crashes? Aren't you afraid of dying?"

"I'm a risktaker. I'm not afraid of anything – even dying."

"That's a stupid thing to say, Tristan." I didn't know what happened to me, but I was suddenly angry of him for taking death so lightly. I didn't want him dead, for heaven's sake! "You should value your life. It's not good to take risk all the time."

He smiled and shook his head.

"Why are you smiling?

"You sound like a nagging wife."

"Excuse me, I'm not nagging at you."

"You just did."

"Of course not. I'm just pointing out how important life is."

"Okay, fine. I don't want to argue about that." He shrugged his shoulders. "I just thought for a moment that you're concern about me."

"I'm not. Why should I be concern about you? We don't like each other."

"I like you." He said.

My heart fluttered wildly. I suddenly felt a tingling sensation at the pit of my stomach. His confession brought excitement in all parts of my body.

I tried to control from reacting. I refused to believe him. He couldn't fool me anymore.

"That is not funny."

Tristan and I had dinner and continued talking. I couldn't help being so defensive. He seemed provoking me to get angry... or I was just so paranoid.

I was caught off guard when he suddenly asked me. "I thought you're marrying Eros?"

That's what I also thought. I wanted to say to him, but I decided to spare him all the details.

"Well, as you can see, he's marrying Jade. They're in love."

"And that's fine with you?"

"Why not? I'm only 23. I'm not in a hurry to get married and having babies. I'm too young for that."

An odd expression suddenly crossed his face. "You must be heartbroken now."

Wait. Did he hear me? "I'm not. Why should I? I've never been in love with Eros."

He frowned. "Never?"

"Yeah. Never ever."

"Are you sure. Cause I don't want to be a rebound guy."

"You won't be a rebound guy because we're not dating."

"What are we doing now? We're having our first dinner date."

"I don't consider this as a date. But if you do, this will be our first and last."

He exhaled heavily and groaned. "Can you just stop hating me for tonight and enjoy the food and the place? I know you hate the sight of me but can we just pretend that we've just met?"

"No. I can't." I sipped on my wine and said. "Blame that cousin of yours for setting this up. I shouldn't have come if I've known that you're my date."

Tristan leaned on the table and took my right hand. "Stella. What should I do to make you stop hating me. Let's try to call a truce. Who knows, things will work out between us."

I removed my hand from his burning touch. "You wish, Tristan. Things won't ever work between. First, we hate each other. Second, we are not compatible. According to you, opposites don't ever attract."

"Well, I changed my opinion now. I realized that you're right. Opposites do attract each other, like you and me."

"I don't believe you." I rolled my eyes and wiped my lips with the table napkin. "And third, there's an issue also about trust in a relationship. I doubt if you'll ever trust me."

He frowned. "I don't have trust issues, princess."

"You do."

"Na-ah." He insisted.

"What about Xander and Mia? You can't even tell me where Mia is right now."

That stopped him and just stared at me.

"See?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"You're right. There could never be an us." Heanswered.    

*** DON'T FORGET TO VOTE, COMMENT AND SHARE TO YOUR FRIENDS***