Morning came, and Damien awoke with a start. He had stretched his arm across the bed, expecting to feel Ella's warmth and body, but all he felt was the cold and light sheets in her place.

"Ella?" Damien called from the bed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Ella?" He tried again, getting up and knocking on the bathroom door, but upon hearing no response, he persisted. "Are you there? Can I come in?"

No response.

"I'm going to push the door open in three..." he counted upon realizing the door wasn't even locked. "Two... one..." he allowed a lengthy pause before pushing through.

Ella wasn't in there either, so Damien returned, noticing that her perfume was dancing in the air and that her phone, which was usually plugged up on her nightstand, was no longer there.

Damien grabbed his, dialing her number until she answered on the fifth ring.

"Hello?"

"Ella? Amore, where are you?" Damien ran a hand through his hair. He had decided yesterday, upon realizing how bad Ella's state of mind and health was, that he would stay at home with her.

There was some ruffling sounds before Ella pulled the phone away, "... next week at the same time sounds good... right... thank you. Bye!" There was another voice that could be heard responding before Ella's was back. "Sorry, Damien. What were you saying?" Ella sighed, seeming relieved.

"Are you working?" Damien frowned, super perplexed as to what Ella was doing. Perhaps she was punishing him. This was her way to show him that she didn't need him now. That he had already screwed up royally, and she wouldn't be forgiving him that easily.

"Yeah. I had an appointment early today. I didn't want to wake you since I figured you were tired, but I called Jihye to let him know you'd either be late or take the whole day off. He said to not worry about it."

She wasn't punishing him. If anything, she still seemed to be her sweet, caring, normal, and calm self.

Damien ruffled his dark hair again.

"Shouldn't you be the one resting? Your condition seemed unwell yesterday, Ella." Damien sat on the bed.

"I'm okay. Yesterday was... it was just a bad day. It's okay, though. That's life for you." Ella waved off. She was a psychologist; it would impossible for her to never have an off day at work or to not end up too much in her feelings.

"I... can we have lunch together?" Damien felt like he needed to make up for everything to Ella. He hadn't been a good fiancé lately, and he wanted to redeem that. He didn't want Ella to think that this was normal behavior nor that it would happen it again. Damien needed Ella to know that she could count on him whenever, even when he was drowning in work.

"Um... what if I leave work early? We can- well... when do you have free time?" Ella asked instead, and Damien almost cursed.

"Whenever you need me, love."

Ella shouldn't have to think about his schedule like that. She shouldn't have to work her time with him around his hectic work.

"Okay... then, I'll leave work early. I don't have any appointments after three, so I'll get home around then."

"Sounds great." Damien agreed, relieved that today was Friday so that they could spend today and the weekend all to themselves. Both of them desperately needed some time off work and time together.

Damien decided that while he waited for Ella's return he would do a bit of work while he waited, but time flew by, and the front door opened when he least expected it.

Going to the main hall, he watched as Stefanie carried in a large bag with some groceries in it.

"Let me help-"

Stefanie screamed bloody murder. She quickly turned, reaching to deck Damien across the face, successfully warding him off as she then realized what she had done.

"Dios mio!" She dropped her bag and rushed to Damien. "I am so sorry! In my defense, you're not supposed to be here." Stefanie quickly examined Damien's face, noticing that she had actually busted his lip. "I pack a good punch." She stated proudly, momentarily forgetting about apologizing. "Who would've known that the commercial I filmed would've come in handy? I gotta say- sorry." Stefanie realized that Damien was too quiet for a bit, and upon looking up, he looked a bit serious.

[My God]

"What happened here?" Ella wondered as she entered through the front door, taking note all of the groceries on the floor. "Oh, my goodness!" Ella almost gasped when she saw Damien's bloodied lip. She looked at her sister, silently questioning her.

"Why are you looking at me? He could've ran into a wall." Stefanie defended herself quickly upon seeing her sister's curious yet almost accusing look.

"Could've." Ella repeated, entering her house and shutting the door behind her before kneeling down to pick up the groceries. "What brings you here?" Ella wondered, giving back the bag to Stefanie and taking Damien's hand to lead him to the kitchen so she could clean up his wound.

"Fransisco said you weren't well, so I came to visit. I figured we were in due to a girl's night anyway. I didn't know Damien was here, though." Stef explained, following Ella to the kitchen as well. There, she began pulling out the ingredients she brought to make a chocolate flan, one of Ella's favorite desserts.

"Does it hurt?" Ella discreetly questioned Damien while patting his lip and the corner of his mouth gently. Damien shook his head, so Ella continued. "I'm glad you're here. I actually have something for you."

"Oooh, is it money?" Stef teased, her eyes twinkling as she began pulling pots and pans out.

"Not really." Ella scrunched her nose, a sneeze itching her. "Would you mind getting it for me? It's in the closet. The bag you asked me about the other day." Ella sent Damien off on a little mission while she helped her sister.

"I thought you guys were fighting." Stef whispered to Ella once Damien was out of hearing range from them.

Ella frowned, confused. "Fighting? Why would you think that?"

"Fransisco said-"

"You guys gossiping about my life like you can't just ask is baffling to me." Ella reprimanded, grabbing two cans of sweetened and condensed milk that her younger sister was pointing at.

"We could, but what would be the fun in that?" Stef cracked one open, pouring it into a mixing bowl. She knew the recipe by heart thanks to her mother often incorporating them into the daily cooking back when they were little girls.

"We're not fighting." Ella peeled open the other can.

"Then why did Fransisco say it seemed like you guys were." Stef frowned, curious. She did think their older brother was dumb, but he wasn't that dumb. He was a doctor, after all.

Ella shrugged, listening to Damien's nearing footsteps and dropping the subject. She had a suspicion that the reason her brother thought she and Damien were fighting was because of Damien's lack of awareness about what was happening in Ella's life, but to Ella, it wasn't that concerning. They both had jobs to maintain and take care of. They couldn't always know everything about each other.

"How about you tell me about that new gig of yours? I saw you on TV the other day in the waiting room for Rufus." Stef grabbed the spoon that Ella was no longer going to use to lick the remnants of the sweet cream.

"Did you really? How did I look? Was I pretty?" Stefanie nearly bounced in her seat with excitement, causing Ella to laugh. It wasn't the first time that her younger sister appeared on TV, yet every time she did, she was like a kid on Christmas Eve.

"You were really pretty. I even told the vet that you were my sister." Ella agreed, mixing the ingredients with patience and experience.

"Thank you." Stef smiled brightly.

It had been difficult for her to officially make the decision to not continue an actual, college education. With her two older siblings becoming doctors, she knew that the expectations were high. Once she had finally mustered up enough courage to tell her parents that she was going to pursue her modeling career, her parents hadn't been the happiest for months. They feared for her future.

Stefanie understood them, she really did, but it hurt. She could tell that she had disappointed them. Truth was, she had also been disappointment in herself. She hated the fact that she let her disability get the best of her. For a long time, her dyslexia ruled her life, and when she began modeling, she felt like she go farther in life. Since her brain didn't cooperate with her, at least her body did.

"How is Rufus? When is he returning home?" Stef changed subjects again, moving to help Ella begin her task on dinner while Damien sat on the dining table with a book in hand, occasionally hearing the girls' laughter or voices rise when they got really excited about something.

Eventually, after preparing and having dinner and dessert, Stef decided against staying over. She could tell that Damien was going to stay over, and he was probably eagerly waiting for some alone time with the older sister considering how relieved he accidentally looked after Stef said she was leaving.

Damien gave Ella her space while she got ready for bed, crawling into the covers and surprising Damien when she crawled right over to him, cuddling herself into the crook of his strong arm.

Damien kissed her hair, relieved to see her in better health than yesterday.

"What are you working on?" Ella murmured, closing her eyes as she rested against his chest, his cologne more prominent around that area. It was soothing, familiar, home.

"Nothing of much importance." Damien exited out of the tab that displayed many houses in a few safe and calm neighborhoods.

Truth was, he wanted him and Ella to live together officially. He wanted to go home to her and wanted to spend all of his mornings with her as well. He knew that Ella also enjoyed their time together a lot, but he still wanted to ask her and see how she would feel about doing it already. It would be a long process that would require a lot of responsibility from both of them.

"How do you feel with me here?" Damien gently brought up.

"Hmm?" Ella hummed, opening her eyes to lift herself to look at him straight in the face.

"Do you like spending the nights together? When I arrive from work here?" Damien worded differently, placing his hand to cup her face. He couldn't help but to want to touch her, watch her expressive and warm eyes.

"You know I do, but... what? Are you? Do you need to spend more time at your place?" Ella was confused. It was a sudden topic, and she didn't really even have a clue as to why he was asking.

"No, no." Damien left his touch on her face to grab her hands, looking down to where her ring was placed on her elegant and slim fingers. How were her hands this pretty too? "I know you don't want to have our wedding just yet, and that's perfectly fine." Damien met her eyes, "I want you to enjoy this experience: it is your first and I think it will be your last," Damien chuckled, and Ella laughed, falling back on his chest. His hands let hers go, moving one to caress the back of her head, touching her slightly damp hair.

"What are you trying to say, babe?" Ella yawned, tired from how her week had gone.

"I was trying to do it in a gentle and romantic way, but will you move in with me? Or, I guess, do you want to buy a house together?" Damien fumbled over his words, and Ella froze a little bit.

Ella felt a certain warmth spread inside of her, and she smiled. "Do you want us to live together?"

"Well, yeah." Damien's response was obvious to him. He had already promised to dedicating the rest of his life to her, to creating a new life together. They would eventually move in together, he was just speeding up the process a little bit.

"Okay... I would like that, but there a few things we need to talk about beforehand, though." Ella began to sit up again. This was an important conversation that she needed to read his face for it.

"Like what?" Damien frowned, leaning against the bed frame.

"I mean... honestly, everything. I know we agreed on marrying, but we haven't really talked about budgeting, family, morals, religion... all of that is kind of important in order to maintain a healthy and informed relationship."

Damien instantly agreed. "I completely agree."

Ella nodded, relaxing again. She knew that Damien was mature, and he would be very open to speaking with her about such things.

"We'll take it slowly. Talk things through while we get the house arrangements up and going. It'll take a few months anyway to get the ball rolling." Damien promised, kissing her forehead after seeing how tired she seemed.

"I agree." Ella relaxed back onto him, Damien accepting her before moving to turn off the lamp, reaching for her hand to play with her fingers.

"Thank you for having the patience with me." Damien broke the silence, almost inaudibly when he began to feel Ella's full body trust him enough to begin to fall unconscious over him.

Thinking that Ella wouldn't respond, Damien was ready to close his eyes and also go to sleep, but then he felt Ella's cold hand give him the smallest and most adoring squeeze on his warm fingers, her hum of something incoherent before she stilled completely, her breath falling deeply.

Even in her sleep, she could sense Damien, she would respond even in unconsciousness, and that made Damien's heart skip a beat.

"To say that you are my whole existence and life would be the biggest understatement, my Ella." Damien sighed, incredulous that he had been blessed with such a beautiful and extraordinary human.