Six months later,
"What are you doing?" Adam shot up from the couch and rushed towards the stairs. The lone figure of his wife descending down the staircase was more than enough to give his poor heart a shock.
"How many times do I have to scold you? Just call someone if you need anything, or you can just give me a call." He muttered out as he hastily made his way up the staircase to meet her midway.
Staring down at her figure, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he offered her the other one to hold. "You never listen to me." He added before he began to guide her down the staircase.
Stella let out a hearty chuckle in response to his words as she brought her free hand to rest on her round belly. She was already a little over eight months pregnant now. Though there was still time in her due date, her hen-pecked husband refused to leave her side. He had been working from home for the last one month, refusing to leave her on her own.
"Your forehead will be marred by wrinkles way before it should be." She shook her head in helplessness after seeing his worried expression.
"All thanks to you." He stared back at her as he helped her in settling down on the couch.
"I didn't ask you to spend your days worrying about me when there are tons of things which can use some of your time." She breathed out as she picked up a file which was resting on the table and began to skim through it.
"As if our study wasn't enough for you, you had to turn our living room into one." She looked up at him briefly before shifting her gaze back to the file. "And don't even try to snatch the file away." She added threateningly.
She was becoming tired of how he had been treating her. She wasn't allowed to leave her room without someone. It either had to be him, or two maids accompanying her to everywhere. Even if it was just a stroll in the garden.
"You shouldn't stress your mind, my love." He spoke up as he sat down next to her.
"The only thing which stresses my mind is how you treat me." She spat back at him. "I am just pregnant, Adam. Stop treating me like I am made of glass." She was starting to feel enraged by his actions. She felt like she was living in a prison rather than her home. Her own husband had tricked her into staying at the ancestral mansion.
She still remembered how he had used the excuse of their safety to make her stay here, only to extend their stay. She decided to turn a blind eye to it since he was being concerned for her comfort. But this was now getting out of hand.
"You cannot expect me to stay in our room forever while you carry out meetings and video conferences in the living room." She continued. "You should be doing all of this from your office. Moreover, I should be the one doing this." She shut the file as she turned her attention to him. Waving the red file before his face, she gave him a questioning look.
The file in her hand was about one of the ongoing projects under R&E Group of Companies. After taking over the office, the first thing Adam did was to remove the tag of being a subsidiary from the company's name after making sure that it was stable enough to run on its own. Not only that, he transferred the ownership of the company to Stella as it was the right thing to do. It was after all her father's business.
"Are you forgetting that I am no longer your assistant?" She added while narrowing her eyes at him. "You cannot order me around like before."
"I don't intend to order you around, sweetheart. You were never just an assistant for me, love. Your man fell head over heels in love with you the moment you stepped inside my office." He took the file from her hand, and placed it back on top of some papers which were sprawled all over the glass table. He had a meeting with some executives from the company earlier, or else he wouldn't have left her alone in their room.
His hands reached up to her face as he continued. "But I have to question your sense of fashion." He muttered while he cupped her face. He was starting to grow fond of her filled cheeks. The pregnancy was definitely doing her good, adding bits and pieces of flash to her lean figure. If everything went well, she might retain some of it after giving birth to their twins.
"What do you mean?" Stella narrowed her eyes at him. The urge of giving him a good punch was starting to resurface once again after hearing his remark. The hormones were driving her rationality away with time.
"I mean who wears a crop top and skinny jeans to an interview." He raised an eyebrow at her while bringing her face closer. "That's damn unprofessional. It's a good thing that your Boss never cared about appearances much."
"For your record, I did that deliberately." She spoke up in her defense. "My previous Boss was a jerk. I didn't want the new one to be like him too. So, I dressed like I didn't care about the job when I actually needed it." She pursed her lips in a pout.
"That was a really dumb move, my love. You could have been kicked out of my office right away if I wasn in a bad mood." He reprimanded her softly.
"I did realize it later on when I was in the waiting area. The way everyone was staring at me was enough for me to know how stupid of a move that was. But it was already too late to fix the problem." She heaved out a long sigh. Looking back at herself, she couldn't help but throw curses at herself. Her own stupidity from back then was enough to not only ruin her career, but she might have also lost the chance of knowing the love of her life.
"It's fine. None of those things happened, and I still love you." He pressed a kiss against her forehead, allowing his lips to linger there for a couple of seconds. "And I will try not to act like a warden, sweetheart. It's just that I worry too much about you especially now that you are so close to your due date." He added while grazing his thumbs over her cheeks.
"What can happen to me here, you idiot? Stop worrying about me so much, you are only going to end up with wrinkles." She shook her head. "And I will try my best not to add anything else on your already filled plate." She added, tilting her head towards the table. "But you have to let me do things my way too. Just let me do my job from home and run things my way. After all, I am responsible for what goes on in there."
She was referring to the R&E Group of Companies. As the current Ceo, it was her job to make sure that it was going down the right path. And she could always ask her dear husband for help if things became too hectic for her. But he had to at least give her a chance so that she could prove herself.
"Alright, your highness. I will do as you say." He kissed her lips briefly as he gave into her demands. He could never bring himself to say no to his little elf and see her disheartened expressions.
"I love you, my dear husband." She muttered under her breath before throwing her arms around his neck.
"Careful!" He yelped in surprise as his arms wrapped around her lower waist on instinct to keep her from falling down. He could tell that the next two months were going to be really tough for him. "I love you too, my wifey. I love you too." He mumbled softly as he pressed a kiss on the side of her face. No matter how crazy she acted, his love for her would only increase. And the same went for her.