Bab 23: 5.4 Turning Point
Ezraphel was woken up by the sound of the garage doors opening, Stanley had returned. Her eyes felt slightly irritated for some reason-oh! She nearly forgot that she had been crying. A look at the clock told her it had been a little over two hours since she fell asleep. She didn't need a mirror to know that she must look like a mess right now.
Ezraphel could not let her Stanley see her like this, she had an image to maintain after all! There was a certain quality to her appearance she upheld when interacting with her Stanley even throughout her 'wardrobe malfunction.' A quick trip to the bathroom and she was making her way downstairs a short while later. Her nose had picked up the scent of food and unsurprisingly Stanley was in the kitchen taking out the various containers from one of the many restaurants in the area. Ezraphel had been exposed to a lot of the local 'cuisine' during her stay and yet she could not recall this particular one.
She shook her head. That did not matter, what did matter was Stanley himself and he…
"Hey, I got takeout."
He seemed fine all things considered. As he took out the various food items Ezraphel approached him tentatively, his earlier reaction still burning fresh in her mind. There was no flinch or any obvious signs of avoidance on his part. Stanley for all intents and purposes seemed fine, maybe a little preoccupied but he was not pretending he did not notice her gaze, he just didn't call her out on it.
"Stanley?"
He stopped and suddenly she saw how tired he looked, not physically, but mentally.
"Are you alright"
"…no, no I am not. I am so in over my head with this shit right now…" he trailed off before looking her in the eye "look, Ez about what happened before, I'm sorry"
Red eyes widened in shock, this was the first time Stanley had ever apologized for anything. One of the things she learned about him was that he was very unapologetic towards her. Part of it was due to his silly notion that he could distance himself from her through his poor attitude and the other reason was due to his personality.
He took her silence as his cue to go on "I was being an asshole, even more than usual" he grumbled "there's ice-cream in the freezer"
Translation: "I'm sorry for being a jerk, please forgive me."
Ezraphel had only heard of ice-cream but that did not matter so much to her as his sincere apology "oh Stanley~"
Rather than protest at what was coming next Stanley closed his eyes and gave a weak "here we go" before.
*GLOMP*
*Sigh*
Tentatively, hesitantly Stanley raised his arms (as much a she could in his compromised position) and hugged back. It was an awkward and mildly uncomfortable thing for the man to do yet it still drew a small gasp from the Lilim when he squeezed back softly yet firmly. Drawing back from the embrace to look at him she saw her Stanley frowned though it lacked any heat. He seemed frustrated and embarrassed as he looked at her.
"Ez, I'm really sorry"
"It is alright Stanley, I forgive you"
"You really shouldn't. I mean, I wouldn't"
"I choose to forgive you" she retorted with finality.
"I…okay…thanks"
"You are very welcome"
His irritation showed in the unimpressive look he sent her.
He pointed at the food on the island counter "we should eat that before it gets cold"
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Streggae
Streggae Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone