Chapter 111 A Bar and Too Much Truth
Chapter One Hundred and Eleven
Stefan’s POV~
After the fire died down and everyone was safe, the firefighters asked me to go home and rest. I stood outside the building with my hands shaking. The smoke in the air burned my throat, and every part of me felt heavy.
Val stood beside me, watching me closely. She hadn’t left me for a single second. She kept asking if I was okay, and I kept telling her yes, even though I knew I was lying.
A police officer walked up to me and said, “Sir, you need medical attention. Smoke inhalation can be dangerous.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
The officer frowned. “You should still get checked.”
“I said I’m fine,” I repeated.
Val stepped forward. “He’s okay. I’ll take care of him.”
The officer looked at her, then at me, and finally nodded. “If anything changes, go to the hospital.”
When he walked away, Val touched my arm gently. “Stefan, you need to go home.”
I snapped, “I can’t.”
She blinked. “Why not?”
“I can’t face it,” I said. My voice cracked a little. “I can’t face my house… or that space… or the calls… or the questions… or Natasha.”
Val looked at me for a long moment. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t judge me. She just watched me with this quiet look that made my chest hurt even more.
“I can’t go home,” I repeated. “I can’t deal with the mess. Not tonight.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
I looked at her. “Okay?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “Come with me.”
She led me to her car, and I followed without thinking. My body felt heavy. My legs felt weak, and my head felt full.
Inside the car, I rested my head back and closed my eyes. Val drove in silence. I could feel her stealing glances at me now and then. I didn’t have the strength to pretend I was fine.
She parked in front of a small, quiet bar on the edge of the city. There were no cameras. No reporters. No people pointing fingers or whispering.
She stepped out, and I followed her.
Inside, the bar was dim and calm with only a few people sitting at the counter, minding their own business. No one tried to take pictures. No one recognized us.
We took a seat in a dark corner.
A waiter came over. “What can I get you?”
“Whiskey,” I said.
The waiter nodded. “Single or double?”
“Double. And keep them coming.”
Val opened her mouth. “Stefan—”
“Please,” I cut her off.
She closed her mouth and looked down.
The waiter left and returned with the drink. I grabbed the glass and swallowed half of it in one go. My throat burned, but I welcomed it. I wanted something to drown out the noise in my head.
Val watched me. “Slow down.”
“I don’t want to slow down,” I said. I drank the rest.
The waiter brought another. And another.
I kept drinking.
At first, the alcohol made the buzzing in my chest soften. Then my thoughts got too loud. Then everything inside me started to spill out.
“I ruined everything,” I said quietly.
Val looked at me. “No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.” I stared at the table. “I ruined the wedding. I ruined my company. I ruined everything.”
“You didn’t ruin anything,” she said again.
I laughed bitterly. “You didn’t see Natasha’s face. She hates me now.”
Val didn’t answer. She just looked at me with those calm eyes. That alone made something inside me break.
I let out a long breath and put my hand over my face. “I’m so tired, Val.”
She leaned closer. “Tell me what’s going on.”
The words pushed out of me before I could stop them.
“The pressure,” I said. “The expectations. The long nights. The meetings. The fear that everything will fall apart if I slow down. The lies. The mistakes.” I shook my head. “The loneliness.”
My voice cracked again.
Val’s face softened. She didn’t interrupt. She let me talk.
“I thought marrying Natasha would make everything easier,” I said. “I thought it would fix the pressure. I thought it would help the company's image. I thought it would make life simple.”
“Did it?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “It made everything worse. I felt trapped. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was pretending every day.”
Val looked down at her hands.
I leaned back in the seat and stared at her. My chest hurt again, but this time in a different way.
“I wanted to call you,” I said.
She froze.
I kept talking. “Every day. Every single day, I wanted to call you. Even when I tried to stop myself. Even when I tried to tell myself you didn’t care. Even when I tried to convince myself it was better if I left you alone.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed. But she didn’t speak.
“I thought about you all the time,” I said. “Even when I didn’t want to.”
She looked at me slowly. Her eyes were full of something I couldn’t read.
“You shouldn’t say things like that,” she whispered.
“But it’s the truth.”
She looked away. “Stefan…”
“I mean it,” I said. “I missed you.”
Her breathing changed. She tried to hide it, but I saw it. Her fingers curled around the edge of her dress.
“You don’t get to say that now,” she said softly. “Not after everything.”
“I know,” I whispered. “But I needed to say it. Just once.”
She looked at me with anger and compassion twisted together. The kind of look that hurt me more than any insult ever could.
I drank again. And again. I knew I was going too fast, but I didn’t care. I felt the alcohol taking over. My head felt foggy. My body felt loose. My vision blurred at the edges.
Val stood. “Stefan, that’s enough.”
“No,” I said. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” She grabbed the glass from my hand. “You can’t drink more.”
I reached for it, but my arm felt heavy. “Give it back.”
She shook her head. “No.”
I pressed my palms against the table and tried to stand, but the room spun. My legs felt weak. I almost fell, but Val stepped beside me and grabbed my arm before I hit the ground.
“I’m fine,” I said again, slurring the words.
“You’re not fine,” she said firmly. “You can barely stand.”
She wrapped her arm around my waist. I leaned against her because I had no choice. My body felt like it wasn’t listening to me anymore.
We walked slowly out of the bar. The night air hit my face, and I blinked several times, trying to clear my vision.
Val held me up the entire time.
As we reached her car, I mumbled her name.
“Val… Val…”
She sighed. “Yes, Stefan. I’m here.”
“Don’t leave,” I whispered.
She looked at me for a long moment. I saw something break in her expression. Something heavy, something real.
She opened the passenger door. “Get in.”
I sat down clumsily. She closed the door and walked around the car. When she got into the driver’s seat, she took a slow breath before starting the engine.
As she began to drive, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.
“Val…” I whispered again.
She didn’t look at me, but I saw her fingers tighten on the steering wheel.