Inside the car

Stephanie held Carlos’ hand tightly, lost in thought.

She stole glances at Carlos from time to time. He too seemed to mull over something. And that only worried her more.

After a long silence, she finally spoke, feigning a nonchalant voice.

“Carlos, who was that woman? She must be someone well known to you.”

Shaking his head, Carlos answered shortly, “I don't know her."

Somehow relieved, Stephanie rested her head on his shoulder.

"Really? I thought you were cheating on me."

Carlos lowered his eyes to look at her and lightly cautioned, “Stop kidding."

“Soon we're going to get engaged, Carlos. This has been long coming, and I'm careful about a lot of things," Stephanie grumbled, avoiding eye contact to conceal her true feelings.

“Don't worry," he assured softly.

When they arrived at the hotel, Carlos walked Stephanie to her room before coming back to his own.

Staring out of the window, he briefly savored the spectacular night sky. Tonight, the stars shone with resplendence. As he loosened his tie, he pulled out his phone and sent James a text message.

“Dad, did I date someone before Stephanie?"

A terse reply from James came sooner than expected.

"No."

However, as he stared at his phone, Carlos recalled the woman. Annoyed, both at his failing memory and at the woman for showing up to remind him of his current predicament. Shaking off hateful thoughts, he threw his phone onto the bed and walked towards the bathroom.

Straight away, Debbie had checked into the hospital to have her feet treated before going home. By the time she got to the house, it was already 3 a.m. First thing, she went to Piggy's bed to check on her.

Kissing her little bundle of joy lightly on the forehead, she murmured,

“Piggy, you know what? Your daddy is still alive. Mommy will take you to meet him, okay?"

The next day, when Irene dropped by, Debbie was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at Piggy.

“Deb, what happened Last evening? I heard you left the party earlier last night."

No response. ‘There's something odd about her today, ' Irene thought.

“Hey Deb. You gave me quite a scare. When did you come back?" she asked. Getting anxious, Irene scooped Piggy up in her arms and sat beside Debbie.

“Did something happen to you?" she asked with genuine concern.