Grace Under Fire

Diwata smiled as she chewed the pizza and focused on the book she was reading. She was very happy with Cinderella's story, even though she had read that book several times. She leaned forward on the bed with her legs outstretched.

"Their love story is really cute! I also want to experience it. Having a prince charming who's looking for you. What if I lose my shoes too?" She said this to herself with a smile and took another bite of the pizza she was holding.

A box of yellow cab pizza landed on her bed, and she has also been reading a book for almost three hours.

She was stunned at the thought.

"Uhm, of course I already have a prince charming. It's Lee," she said, nodding and talking to herself like a fool.

After a while, the door suddenly opened, and her husband Lee came in.

"Sweetheart!" She was happy to see her husband.

Lee just stared at her and then frowned at her.

"Why are you eating in our room? There will be an ant here," he said to her. She also frowned and stopped chewing.

She bowed and apologized to her husband.

"S-sorry sweetheart, I'm hungry, and I don't want to go out because the scene I'm reading is exciting," she said softly. Lee sighed and looked at the book she was holding.

"Tss! Cinderella? You have read that several times," he said, obviously annoyed, but then he also forced himself to smile at her. He saw the tears in her eyes begin to roll down her cheeks.

He stepped closer to her and sat down on the bed.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, it's alright. I'm not angry," he said calmly and squeezed her hand.

She looked up and wiped the tears from her right eye.

"R-really? You're not mad at me?" tearfully reassuring her husband.

Lee nodded and smiled.

"Y-yes, but please, sweetie, this is the last time you will eat in our room because maybe tonight the ants will hit us," he replied. She nodded to her husband. That's right. Why didn't she think of that right away?

Lee stood up, and she knew he was going to change his clothes. She left the room first because she didn't want to see it naked.

Yes, in their nearly more than a decade of friendship and eight years of togetherness as a couple, she still doesn’t see it naked. She is shy, so when he gets dressed or takes a bath, she goes out of their room. Her parents said when they were still alive that it was rude. Even in magazines, they don’t let her see topless men, they said she shouldn't look at people like that, so sometimes Lee gets annoyed with her, but he can't force her.

He once invited her and said he would make her happy, but she didn't like it. Lee undressed in front of her, so she ran out and screamed. Lee was angry with her for what she did, but he forgave her because she gave him a car. Lee loves cars, and she knows he'll like it.

She was only 20 years old when she and Lee got married. Her parents reconciled with them because they had great trust in Lee. Lee and she have been friends for a long time. She was an only child and the only heir to the wealth left by her parents. They are both engineers, but she was left alone because they died in an accident. She doesn't want to remember it anymore because it's only been two years since that happened. Suddenly losing them caused an extreme amount of pain to her.

Lee was kind to her parents when they were still alive. Lee's mother was their maid at the time, so she often played with Lee when they were young. Her Daddy always left her with Lee back then because he said Lee was the only man he could trust because all of her cousins were in another country. Her mom didn't want them to live there, so they stayed in the Philippines.

Lee and her had just separated because she had encephalitis and her parents treated him in another country, so they did not see each other for several years.

She was happy with Lee because he was kind and calm.

In fact, she still doesn't know what love feels like, but for her, she loves Lee because he has been with her through all the challenges of life ever since. She always had it by her side. Her brain was affected because of her previous illness, so she often could not understand herself. Her mood changes, but she is often happy, even over small things. Her parents were overly protective of her. She only went home and school; she even has a nanny watching over her so that they know all her movements and actions. They babysit her too. They said they didn't want her to end up with the wrong person as she got older because she's sick; that's also one of the reasons why they prefer Lee to marry her. They knew her husband very well, and she had no problem with that because she knew that what her parents were doing was for her good.

Her mind was interrupted when she felt Lee's hand on her shoulder.

She looked at it. Lee was dressed up. She also smelled its scent.

"I'm leaving, sweetheart," he told her, kissing her hair.

"Where are you going? You just arrived, right?" she asked her husband in astonishment.

His eyes became naughty and seemed to be searching for something to say.

"Ah, I'm going to see my friend, sweetheart. I'll be home right away; we just need to talk," he said, so she nodded and let him go. She never asked again. Lee stepped away and waved at her before exiting the door.

She just sat on the sofa for a few minutes before thinking of taking Mallow's car key.

That was the name of her yellow car, which she gifted herself on her 27th birthday. She was jealous of the cartoons she watched, so she also wanted to have her own car like that.

She was wearing yellow pajamas and a t-shirt with a spongebob design. She didn't change her clothes after all, she's bored, so she immediately got out and opened the car she had parked.

"Hello, Mallow! Let's go to Dreame Café, I miss the Italian soda there," she said with a smile, and as if her car would answer her, she wiped it and immediately rode inside and drove it away.

"Can I have a large, triple-shot, sugar-free, non-fat latte, please?" Hale said to the waiter with his deep and baritone voice.

The waiter immediately followed him.

He went straight here at Dreame Café after he got back from the office. He was tired from work and he needed to chill a bit. Only now did he go to this Café even though he often heard its name in their Village. He just does housework often.

He was just quiet in his seat and there were few people inside the Café.

He looked at his cellphone when it lit up. He read the name of his friend Arham and opened the message.

[Bro, wer u at?]

He frowned at the question. They were just together yesterday. He think his friend misses him too much.

He replied to him.

[I'm at Dreame Café. Y u askin?]

He no longer received a reply to it after he sent the message to his friend. His eyebrows furrowed. Arham is often really weird. Maybe it has a plan to harass him again if