Chapter 100: DND

Stella cleared her throat softly, her eyes drifting away from his for half a second.

"Never mind." she said.

Tom turned more fully toward her on the pillow. "I do mind." He insisted quietly.

That pulled a quiet breath of laughter from her. Not defensive, just the sound of a woman testing how much truth the moment could hold.

"It’s really not something dramatic." She adjusted the sheet higher over her chest, her fingers smoothing the fabric slightly before she continued. "Erm... I’m still getting married to Adrian. Soon. And even though I’m already losing interest in the whole arrangement, I can’t cut it off right now."

Tom did not fill the silence immediately. He watched the way her mouth held steady after the admission, the controlled calm of someone used to managing consequences in public even when her private world had already started slipping. Then he leaned in and pressed a quiet kiss to her forehead, lingering there just long enough for the gesture to feel purposeful.

"Then don’t put that weight on yourself tonight," he said when he drew back. "Time will sort what needs sorting."

Stella looked at him for a moment as if measuring the answer against every emptier one she had received in other rooms. Whatever she found there softened her expression. She shifted closer across the mattress and settled into his arms, bare skin meeting bare skin under the sheet, her cheek resting against his chest.

Her hand drifted lower after a while, not hurried, just openly aware of the unfinished state of his body. "In the meantime," she murmured, "shouldn’t we do something about this?"

Tom caught her wrist before the touch could become more than suggestion. "No."

The firmness of it made her lift her head. A real laugh slipped out of her laced with disbelief. "Are you scared now?"

"For now? Yes." he said without any iota of shame.

That only seemed to please her more because she knew he said that because he cared about her wellbeing. Stella let her hand rest back against his chest instead, her fingers tracing absently over muscle while the quiet of the villa pressed in around them.

"It’s already midnight. You should sleep." Tom said after a beat.

"Mm. Yeah, right." She nodded against him.

"Do you need anything before that?" he asked as an afterthought.

Stella thought for a second, her thumb still moving lightly over his skin. "Just cold water."

Tom nodded and eased out of the bed. The moment he stood, cool air replaced the warmth of the sheets, and Stella’s eyes followed him with undisguised interest as he walked further in the room.

He headed to his bag then pulled on a pair of casual pants first, then a loose shirt, the ordinary motions somehow made less ordinary by the fact that she was watching them from the mattress with interest dancing in her eyes.

"I was enjoying the view," she said.

Tom shook his head, his mouth tipping up. "Well, show’s over."

He left the room and went into the kitchen. He took a cold bottle of water from the fridge first, then paused with the door open as the memory of the abandoned pasta returned. She had barely eaten. The night had taken more out of her body than either of them planned. After a short moment of consideration, he took out a small tub of ice cream as well and shut the fridge with his elbow.

By the time he returned to the bedroom, Stella had sat up against the headboard. The duvet was wrapped around her like a makeshift shawl, her hair slightly mussed while her expression was open in a way her public face rarely allowed.

Tom handed her the water first. Then the ice cream.

Stella blinked at the second item, surprise flickering across her face. "What’s this?"

"Something cold that might actually sit in your stomach. You didn’t get dinner." he said.

Her eyes lit with a quieter kind of pleasure then she asked; "Where did that idea come from?"

"From watching you push a plate of salt away and then collapse in my arms an hour later." he replied.

Stella accepted the ice cream fully at that, a big smile touching her mouth as she dug the spoon in. "I’m making today a cheat day, then. Officially."

Tom nodded with a small smile the sat on the edge of the bed while she took the first bite. At that moment, the System’s panel opened in his vision without announcement;

```

[RECRUITMENT PROGRESS]

[TARGET: STELLA MARCHETTI]

────────────────────────

Curiosity: 93% (+3%)

Attraction: 95% (+3%)

Love: 45% (+5%)

Obsession: 77%

────────────────────────

Status: Deeply Destabilizing ℯℯ𝑙.

Notes: Care under vulnerability continues to deepen attachment. Target responds strongly to unforced consideration.

```

Tom read the update and let it fade. Across from him, Stella took another spoonful of ice cream and settled more comfortably against the headboard.

"You’re not eating?" she asked.

"No, I’m fine."

She accepted that with a small hum and glanced toward the connecting door of the other room. "Should I go sleep over there, or stay here?"

"That’s your choice." He told her softly.

Stella did not pretend to weigh it for long, she answered immediately.

"I’ll stay here."

She said it simply, as if the decision required no decoration, and continued eating under the soft bedroom light. For a short stretch the villa felt almost ordinary; two people cooling down from too much intensity, sharing quiet and cold sweetness instead of demand.

Then Tom’s phone rang.

The sound cut through the calm with an ugly noise. It was way too late for anything casual. Tom picked the phone up from the side table, frowned at the screen, and when he saw the caller’s ID, surprise hit his chest hard.

Sienna Kensington...

She almost never called him. Least of all at this hour.

Across the bed, Stella looked over the rim of the ice cream tub, one brow rising with lazy displeasure as her spoon paused halfway to her mouth.

"I put my phone on DND so we could actually enjoy this vacation. And now you’re the one getting midnight calls?" Her mouth curved, not entirely playful. "That doesn’t seem fair."