CHAPTER 116: SECRET DEAL

I wondered what was the truth, and what was just baseless rumors. I stared at the printed words on the paper in front of me before letting out a long sigh. My lack of concentration made everything so much more challenging to the point where it felt like the words might as well have been written in a language that I didn’t know.

"Gail," Raphael’s voice suddenly called out my name. I looked up quickly to realize that he was leaning against the door with his eyes on me. His sleeves were rolled up to reveal the strong line of his forearms, and there was a slightly amused smile on his lips.

"When did you get back?" I asked, as I wondered when he slipped into the room.

"Long enough to know that you’ve been staring at the same page for the last 15 minutes," Raphael replied before walking towards me.

"That’s not true. Also, you could try to make some noise when you enter the room," I replied, as I tried to stop myself from blushing at his comment. I honestly didn’t know that I had spaced out for that long.

"What are you thinking about? Your mind seems to be anywhere but here," he asked observantly.

"I wasn’t spacing out," I quickly denied.

"Oh really? It looks like you were very lost in your own thoughts to me," Raphael said before letting out a laugh, showing me that he wasn’t at all convinced.

"Maybe I just need some coffee," I replied, while sidestepping his question.

"Are you free tonight? I’m thinking about taking you out," Raphael said invitingly.

I blinked rapidly a couple of times at his unexpected invitation.

"Take me out? Where?" I asked curiously.

"That’s a surprise. You’ll see," Raphael replied with a playful glint in his eyes.

"Fine. Have it your way," I replied before letting out a soft sigh. I knew that it was no use negotiating with Raphael when his mind was already made up. Plus, I could definitely wait a couple of hours until the end of the working day. The secret that he was keeping from me wasn’t going to last beyond the day.

"I have another meeting to go to," Raphael said without any enthusiasm.

"Good luck," I said, before waving my hand for him to leave the room.

As I watched Raphael leave the office, curiosity bubbled inside of me as I wondered what kind of surprise he had planned. It sort of felt like the first date that Raphael had really invited me on, and I found myself feeling excited even though I didn’t want to admit it. I was truly looking forward to spending time with him, and suddenly all the work piled up in front of me felt like something easy to deal with.

After sorting out some work for a while, my phone suddenly vibrated on the desk. I glanced down to see an unexpected message from an unknown sender. Usually, I wouldn’t pay much attention to such things, but the words on the screen caught my eye.

’I can tell you the truth about everything that you want to know.’

A cold knot formed in the pit of my stomach because I felt like the sender could read my mind. Something about the message made me believe that it wasn’t sent from a random fortune teller. I thought that there was only one way to find out, as I quickly reached for the phone and began typing.

’Who is this?’

The response to my text message came almost immediately. However, the answer was far from what I had expected.

’Josh. Meet me this evening at my place, and I’ll tell you everything.’

This evening?

I stared at the text message as I wondered what I should do. Raphael had just invited me out with him this evening, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust Josh. My mind raced as I weighed out my options. If I didn’t go see Josh, I might miss out on the opportunity to find out the truth. After all, it didn’t seem like Raphael was ready to spill the beans anytime soon, and it wasn’t like I could ask Bennett without raising suspicion.

Then again, I had no idea why Josh would suddenly offer to tell me the truth. The scene that I had witnessed of him chatting pleasantly with Rosabella in front of the office building came back to my mind. My fingers tightened around the phone as my heart raced faster in my chest. For a moment, I didn’t know what to do or who exactly to believe.

’I’m not free this evening. Can we do this another day?’

When I sent that message, I realized that my mind had already been made up. I would meet up with Josh, and I would listen to the truth that he had to tell me. After hearing what he had to say, I could decide whether or not to believe him. The issue was that I couldn’t meet him today because I had already agreed to go on a date with Raphael.

’It has to be today. I’ll send a driver to pick you up after work.’

The reply to my message came back almost immediately, leaving me no time to think. On one hand, I wanted to go on a date with Raphael, but on the other, I feared that I might miss the golden opportunity to find out the truth if I didn’t meet up with Josh.

’Fine.’

I replied to him in short. Josh must have been very satisfied with my response because I never received another message from him. Undoubtedly, he knew where I was, so there were no further instructions that he needed to give me. Now the only problem that I had was how to tell Raphael that I couldn’t make it to our date that evening. I hoped that he wouldn’t be too disappointed, but then again, there was a very high chance that there would be no impact on him at all, and I would be the only one feeling the disappointment.

–To be continued...