CHAPTER 66: COMPLICATED

Raphael appeared as normal as before as he concentrated on his work. I shifted my eyes to the pile of documents in front of me, also noting that he hadn’t teased me lately. Even though I tried to remind myself that that was actually a good thing, I couldn’t help but think if that was a sign that something was off with Raphael.

Just as I hesitated about what to text her back, because I wasn’t sure whether I should simply disclose all of Raphael’s schedule to her due to my professional standards, the door to his office opened and in came the man in question.

"Oh, you’re back," I said when I saw Raphael enter through the door.

Raphael spared me a smile, but I could tell that he wasn’t in the best of moods. It occurred to me that the meetings that he had back to back were probably not entertaining. Either that, or something had gone wrong in one of those meetings. Just when I thought that I might risk my neck asking him about it, my phone suddenly began vibrating repeatedly on the table, signaling that I had an incoming call.

"Aren’t you going to get that?" Raphael asked as I hesitated to answer the phone.

"I’m a little bit busy right now, so I’ll answer it later," I said quickly, hiding my phone away.

Thankfully, Raphael did not press me on the matter as he headed towards his work table. I let out a soft sigh as I hoped that Raphael did not see the name of the person that had called me. Since I never got around to replying to her chat, Rosabella must have run out of patience and decided to call me instead. I made my way out of the office to the hallway so that I would have some privacy before I called her back.

"Sorry for not answering your message or your call from earlier. I was a little caught up at work. Can I help you with something?" I asked, trying my best to sound friendly.

"That’s not a problem. You see, Abigail, I was wondering if Raphael would have some free time tomorrow. You see, I got this new suit tailored for him and I want to make sure that it fits well before our engagement," she said with a voice dripping with sweet honey.

"I see. His schedule is quite packed at work so it would probably be better if you could contact him during his free time, perhaps in the evening?" I suggested, advising her to contact Raphael directly to deal with him. I had absolutely no insight and control over Raphael’s personal time out of office hours, so I thought that it would be much better if she dealt with their personal matters during that time. Although I wanted to help her out, I didn’t want to be the go-between between her and Raphael when it clearly would have been much easier for her to reach out to him directly.

Rosabella went silent for a moment at the other end of the line. For a moment, I honestly thought that the line had disconnected and had to check the screen on my phone.

"Hello?" I said questioningly while I wondered why she had gone totally silent on me.

"Don’t worry, I’ll get in touch with him. Thank you for your help," Rosabella finally said in her usual sweet tone.

"You’re welcome. I have to get back to work now, so I’ll talk to you later," I said before ending the call. Little did I know back then that her way of getting in touch with Raphael would be different from what I had in mind.

...

It became like a new norm for Raphael and me to share a ride together to the office after having breakfast with our parents. During breakfast, my mother would ask how our lives were at work, and Raphael would do the perfect job of complimenting me and my accomplishments at work in front of our parents. Just like magic, they both believed everything that he said and looked so reassured that everything was going well.

At first, I thought that Raphael enjoyed talking about the small accomplishments that I made at work as his personal secretary, but soon enough I realized that he was probably only spending his time talking about that just so that he could avoid talking about his upcoming engagement to Rosabella.

"How are the preparations coming along? Are you working with Rosabella on it?" Bennett asked right at the moment when Raphael’s story came to a pause.

"She’s working on it, so I’m sure that everything is fine," Raphael replied casually before conveniently switching the conversation to another topic.

"What about you, Abby? Are you helping out your future sister-in-law?" My mother asked with a slightly teasing tone before she smiled at me. She probably didn’t know just how much her question put me on the spot. I tried my best to act natural when I returned her smile.

"I’m trying my best to help her. Rosabella gives me a call sometimes and we exchange messages," I replied honestly.

"That’s good. Make sure to give her all the help that she needs. I’m sure that she’s going through quite a lot preparing for her upcoming engagement. The prep time being so short and all that..." my mother replied, and I was reminded once again of how kind-hearted my mother really was.

...

It was supposed to be a normal day at the office working as Raphael’s personal secretary. In fact, after having breakfast with our parents, Raphael and I headed to the office just like we usually did. Raphael’s schedule was once again very packed with meetings with external clients who came in to see him at the office. I also tried to keep myself decently busy so that I wouldn’t be distracted by Raphael’s upcoming engagement. However, despite all of my efforts, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking at the back of my mind about his upcoming engagement even while I was busy working on some tasks at hand.

–To be continued...