CHAPTER 68: CAUGHT IN BETWEEN

Rosabella seemed to shrivel right under his gaze, and I found myself feeling extremely sympathetic towards her.

"Please don’t get mad at me. I just want to make sure that everything about the engagement is perfect. After that, we also have to discuss the date and the arrangement of our wedding ceremony shortly afterwards," she reminded him patiently before showing him another bewitching smile.

"I told you before that I’m fine doing everything your way. You can choose and you can decide whatever you want, and I’ll go along with it. Is there anything else that you need from me?" he asked apathetically, as if he could no longer bear to talk to her about this matter.

Rosabella struggled to reply to Raphael as he kept on staring at her menacingly. I would have been so scared had that been me in her position. I truly wanted to say something that would ease the tension in the air between them, but I felt like it wasn’t my place to step in. While I was wondering what I should do, Rosabella suddenly broke out into a sweet smile before she turned to face me.

"Actually, I’m also here to see Abigail. We agreed to meet up a little today," Rosabella said before smiling at me.

Of course, I had no idea what she was talking about, and I was absolutely certain that I never agreed to meet with her today. Even if I wanted to meet up with her, there was no way that I would invite her to the office, especially if it was still during working hours. However, the pleading look in her eyes as she silently begged me for my help made me feel obliged to offer her my support, even if it meant that I had to go along with her lie.

"Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot all about it because I’ve been so busy lately. You see, we agreed to discuss a bit about the upcoming engagement event here too, you know, tie up some last-minute loose ends," I said while making things up as I went along. I wasn’t even sure if I sounded convincing, but it seemed like Raphael couldn’t care less either way.

"Fine. I’m going off to my meetings," he said sternly before quickly heading to the door to make his escape. I remembered that he had pushed back his meetings already, but I didn’t want to bring it up. The tension in the room eased immediately after Raphael made his exit. I let out a sigh of relief as the door closed behind him, and I was left alone with Rosabella. It honestly felt like the worst was over, but that was only because I didn’t know what was coming up next.

"I’m very sorry about that. He’s usually not that moody, and I’m not sure what got into him. Maybe he’s just stressed from all the work," I said before letting out a dry laugh while hoping to smooth over the situation.

"Why are you apologizing in his place?" Rosabella asked, and for a moment, I thought she didn’t look impressed at all. I thought that was a very good and valid question, and I was surprised that I did something like that. Perhaps it was because I was working as his personal secretary that I thought I should cover up for my boss. After all, if his relationship with Rosabella became strained, I didn’t think that Bennett and my mother would like that very much.

"Probably because I’m supposed to be his secretary, and I guess I didn’t take care of his schedule very well, and maybe that’s why he was in such a bad mood," I said, making a slightly guilty face. I truly expected Rosabella to simply laugh it off or flash me one of her friendly smiles; however, that wasn’t what happened. To my surprise, the air around her seemed to grow colder as she stared intensely at me.

"Is that so?" the mask she had been wearing slowly fell away from her face, and her true face was revealed. The bright and happy expression that she always wore, regardless of what happened, turned into one that seemed quite stiff and intimidating.

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked as I started to feel slightly nervous.

"Actually, I wasn’t exactly lying when I said that I wanted to meet you. I didn’t come all the way here just to give Raphael his suit," Rosabella said as she kept her eyes trained on my face.

"Oh, I see. Is there something that I can help you with?" I asked, expecting her to enlist my help for the final preparations of her upcoming engagement.

"I don’t think that we should talk here. Why don’t we find a cafe somewhere close by where we can talk in a more relaxed atmosphere? After all, I don’t think that we should be mixing personal affairs with business," Rosabella said, with a hint of warning in her voice.

"Alright," I replied blankly, trying to wrap my head around what exactly was happening.

---

After a short walk, I ended up in a cafe that wasn’t so far away down the road from the office building. By the time that we arrived, I wasn’t sure how to react around Rosabella anymore because she didn’t seem like herself. I took note that this might be her real self. She was a lot less talkative and friendly than before, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t approachable. In fact, I thought I could relate more to this version of her than the overly optimistic and bubbly persona that she always had on display.

"So, what is it that you want to talk to me about?" I asked, trying to keep my tone as light as possible. After we ordered our drinks, we had the privacy of the cafe almost to ourselves since there were only two customers there besides us.

"I guess you have to quickly return back to work, so I’m going to get straight to the point and keep this short," Rosabella said before showing me a smile that looked quite natural.

–To be continued...