Bab 12: Mrs. Oliver
SHAY
I thought I had already reached the point of no return when I left my life back at The Mesial, but here I was, packing my things once again.
I still can't believe that I was going to be wed.
The idea of marriage has been wired in my brain a long time ago. I read and watched too much romance literature, and I can't help but feel sorry for myself.
In my 25 years of existence, I never thought that this day would ever come. Especially not right after barely meeting the groom to be.
I hardly even know Detective Oliver, and yet here I was, about to marry him and who knows for how long.
Though, he did promise to let me go, when, if, they capture Marcus.
Now that I think about it, I already feel imprisoned.
My freedom from a binding contract was dependent on that 'if.' I had a gut feeling that this sham marriage will stand for a very long time.
In the worst-case scenario, I might end up dying still tied to the detective.
Two big suitcases later, I was almost done packing what little items I had. It was when Stella, who had been trying, not very subtly, to hide her excitement of me moving out, made herself fit inside the last suitcase, giving me a somber expression upon achieving her goal.
"I'm going to miss you." I looked at her funny.
"I highly doubt that."
She giggled, wriggling herself out of the packed space.
"But, really, I will. Having you as a roomie would be a totally different deal with having Tristan around. I'm going to miss all the girl talks and your weird mumbling while asleep. There will be no more breakfast gossip or toast bite sharing. You'll be faaaar away. I will also miss occasionally tainting your innocence. But, I have nothing to worry about. You won't be so innocent for long".
"I… liked everything that you have said except for the last two sentences". Stella waggled her eyebrows.
"I'm only stating the truth. Trust me, babe, you're going to like it. No, wait, you're going to love it". She purposely prolonged the word 'love,' and I had to throw the piece of clothing that I was holding towards her, hitting her on the face, hiding the fact that I felt embarrassed, and my cheeks were probably showing it.
My thoughts had drifted back to the intense elevator moment I had with Detective Oliver.
I felt my heart beat's quick response to the vivid memory. The ghostly smell of his aftershave wafted through my nostrils.
I silently cursed my hormones, and at this point, I already knew: I was so screwed.
--
RAFAEL
I wanted to convince myself that the nervousness I was feeling was because of the engagement party that my father had insisted when I finally told them that Shay Zephanie had said yes.
Yet, that was only partly true. The other half might be, I'm afraid, because of Shay Zephanie herself.
"You seem nervous, Detective." She was right, and she caught me.
I found myself staring at her back, one hand pulling the lighter of her suitcases while I took care of the other two, as we walked through the tunnel that would lead us back to The Mesial.
Each zone was connected to The Mesial by a single tunnel. And each tunnel was only a 5-minute walk, which, in my case, felt like an eternity with Shay Zephanie leading the trek.
I had to redeem myself somehow.
"You should probably start calling me Rafael so as not to blow our cover. You already did it once. There's no harm in being consistent".
"Rafael." She said, voicing out my name slowly like she was testing herself to get used to it. My breath almost left me.
As I said, I already heard her call me by my name once. However, this time, there was something different.
Focus, Rafael. This is Shay Zephanie. You're only doing this for work purposes, nothing else.
I took a deep breath, willing my mind to delve on something else.
Just as I had regained my composure, Shay Zephanie chose that moment to turn her head in my direction, smiling broadly.
"I like it." And there goes my pep talk. So much for trying.
"By the way, I had thought of something. That is if you really want to sell this marriage to catch Marcus and have everyone fooled". Now, that was the right pep talk I needed to hear.
I strode towards her, having the two of us walk side by side. This way, she didn't have to crane her neck all the way to the back just to talk to me.
"I'm listening."
She seemed to appreciate the gesture. I could have saved her all the trouble earlier. However, I wanted to put some distance between us in order to put a stop to the feelings I was starting to have before it would be too late.
"Didn't you say that there's an engagement party for us tonight?"
"Yes, on my dad's insistence." Much to my protest.
"Well, it's a perfect opportunity to make it official." Shay Zephanie brandished her left hand in a gesture to remind me of the fact that I didn't put a ring on it. Yet.
Truth be told, I did buy one. Unfortunately, for some reason, I wasn't able to bring it during the initial proposal.
"Aren't we official?" I said, gazing at her ruefully. Shay Zephanie looked at me dead in the eye.
"How badly do you want to find Marcus, Rafael?"
That was the question, wasn't it?
How badly, how desperate was I to catch Marcus Zephanie and expose the man he really was and find X, for me to be willing to sacrifice anything and everything?
"Enough to even gamble my heart and everything that came in-between".
She blinked, once, twice, but she didn't say anything and maintained her dumbfounded stare towards me. It was after a while before I realized what I had said.
I'm afraid, I just admitted to Shay Zephanie how I really felt.
She was becoming my kryptonite, and I had no one to blame. I did dig my own grave after all.
Hadiah
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