A way I didn’t have a name for yet, and that was the problem. I needed to understand it.
Understandhim.
“You’re very quiet.”
I glanced up. Stefan was watching me.
“I’m thinking.”
His lips twitched. “I gathered.” He tilted his head to one side. “What about?”
There it was, my invitation.
Or maybe a warning.
I hesitated. Because once I asked, there would be no un-asking it.
But the question had been there since the night before, sitting beneath the surface, growing heavier the longer I ignored it. I’d seen Stefan with his friends, we’d spent virtually every day together since my arrival, but when I tried to sum up everything I knew about him?
I came up empty.
Stefan was an enigma. A mystery man.
So ask him.
All I needed was a place to start.
“Did you love Cole?”
He blinked, then chuckled. “It isn’t often that I’m taken by surprise.”
I said nothing, silently willing him not to shut me down.
Stefan carried his mug over to where I sat on the couch, and joined me. “Cole and I were together for six months. And to answer your question, no, I didn’t love him, but then again, he didn’t love me. It wasn’t that kind of relationship.” He smiled. “It was more of an… arrangement, I suppose. He needed somewhere to stay. We enjoyed each other’s company.” His eyes gleamed. “We certainly enjoyed each other. What can I say? It worked.”
“And when it didn’t?”
“It ended.” No drama, no residue, only a simple statement of fact. “So no, it wasn’t love, but we were both okay with that.”
The clarity of it caught me off guard.
“Have you ever been in love?”
Stefan didn’t answer immediately, but leaned back, his eyes focused on mine, as if weighing not the answer, but how much of it to give.
That pause told me everything.
“Yes,” he said at last. One word, but not uttered casually.
And suddenly, I was very aware of how much this mattered.
“Was that… recent?”
There was a pause before he answered. “No.” He let out a sigh. “It was a long time ago.”
“Were you together long?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. “Several years.”