CHAPTER 92: NARROW ESCAPE

I was probably too exhausted and too deep in sleep to even realize when he had left the room. Although I dreaded facing Rosabella, I knew that there was no other choice but for me to act natural in front of her. With a heavy heart, I headed for the bathroom for a quick shower before dressing myself so that I would appear presentable. When I met the two of them again, I was surprised at how natural things appeared between the two of them.

"Good morning, Abigail. Did you sleep well?" Rosabella asked before greeting me with a bright and welcoming smile as she motioned with her hand for me to join her and Raphael at the dining table.

"I did," I replied softly.

I could feel Raphael’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. As I sat down at the dining table, I couldn’t help but steal a glance at Raphael before shifting my attention to Rosabella. The fact that everything appeared so normal, as if the events of last night and all the drama involved had never occurred, made me feel extremely uncomfortable inside. Even though I was supposed to feel relieved that Rosabella didn’t seem to catch on to what Raphael and I were up to last night, I still found myself feeling uncomfortable in front of her. I tried to reply to her small talk as smoothly and naturally as possible, but suddenly there was a heavy sense of guilt in my chest for what I had done the night before.

"I was honestly shocked and very surprised when I couldn’t find you. Where did you suddenly disappear to?" Rosabella asked Raphael, but her tone was surprisingly light as if she didn’t want to seriously press him about his whereabouts.

"Something came up," he replied without any further explanation. Just when I thought there was no way Rosabella would take such a vague answer, she simply smiled and nodded her head understandingly.

"I guess business is busy, and I hope in a good way. I guess it’s hard running a business by yourself, it’s like you can’t really get away or truly get a break," Rosabella replied before smiling sweetly at Raphael.

"You’re right," Raphael replied shortly. I honestly thought that Rosabella would express her frustration and her anger at Raphael for ditching her at the party, but that never happened.

"I tried to contact you but I couldn’t get in touch. I was honestly quite worried, so I ended up knocking on Abigail’s door and waking her up in the process. I’m sorry about that," Rosabella explained to Raphael before turning to apologize to me.

"That’s completely fine," I replied while forcing myself to smile.

If Rosabella ever suspected anything, she never voiced it out loud or gave any hint towards it. Despite the natural atmosphere and the effort that Rosabella put in to make the rest of the cruise an enjoyable experience, I felt like the three of us never truly got along, and there was always an awkwardness between us.

Needless to say, I felt like I had finally arrived at the end of a truly challenging and troublesome quest by the time that Raphael and I made it back to the mansion. When I first moved there, I never felt that I would feel so thrilled to return to the place. The cruise felt like living in hell with enemies all around me, so returning to the mansion felt like making it back to Earth.

"How was the cruise? I’ve heard news that the party was supposed to be awesome!" my mother asked enthusiastically as she fished for more details.

"It was fun. The weather was nice," I replied, trying my best to smile. I guess I wasn’t completely honest about the fun part, but I guess I made it up to her by being honest about how nice the weather was.

"I’m very glad that you got a chance to go on a cruise. I think the view and everything is just so adventurous," my mother said as her eyes sparkled, and I could tell that she was recalling the cruise trip that she had with Bennett during their honeymoon.

"I hope that you were very good friends with Rosabella now. She’s really a good girl," Bennett said with an approving nod of his head.

"She is," I replied because I couldn’t bring myself to lie to him that I was not good friends with Rosabella.

If anything, I felt like the cruise had created a rift between us, even though Rosabella hadn’t exactly found out the truth of what happened that night between Raphael and me. Thinking back, it truly was a very close call, and it made me question the security around the secret that we were trying to keep. Just how much longer could we truly keep the secret of our illicit relationship? Just thinking of the possibility that Rosabella or someone else would find out about us made my blood run cold.

"Abigail, have you had a chance to think about your job at the company?" my mother asked as if she had been waiting for the opportunity to do so.

"Oh, I haven’t really decided," I replied honestly.

"But you’ll still continue working as Raphael’s secretary while you decide, right?" Bennett asked before showing me an encouraging smile.

"Yes, I guess I’ll do that," I replied with the most natural answer. When I stole a glance in Raphael’s direction, I thought I caught him smiling a little. I told myself that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for me to stop working. Being jobless for too long wasn’t going to make my resume look good, and I knew that I had many things that I could learn from working as Raphael’s secretary. It didn’t seem like such a bad idea to continue working with him until I managed to find another job.

"Did you get a chance to catch up with Fabian on the cruise?" Bennett directed his question to Raphael.

–To be continued...