CHAPTER 16: BEDROOM VISITOR

To my shock, Raphael was already out the door by the time I looked up again. I found him standing in front of the door when I exited his bedroom.

"Now that you know where my bedroom is, you can drop by whenever you need something... or if you feel so lonely that you can’t sleep at night," he said before smirking at me.

I glared at his broad back, wondering what I had ever done to deserve ending up in this kind of situation.

**Later that night**

After meeting our parents in the living room and chatting for a while, a maid showed me the way to the bedroom that I was to use for the night. Although I should have expected it, I was still shocked to find that the bedroom was very luxurious. Decorated in shades of pink and gold, the bedroom looked fit for a princess straight out of a fairy tale. Bennett must be head over heels for my mother because he surely went the extra mile to make sure that everything was perfect. I had to say that I was appreciative of the way he tried so hard to make me feel welcome. Everything would have been perfect had it not been for his son. My mood immediately darkened when my thoughts shifted to Raphael.

I thought that taking a relaxing shower was going to help clear my mind, but it proved to be useless. I lay wide-eyed and restless on the bed, sleep evading me endlessly. My mind was a mess, and it was all because of Raphael. At first, I felt disappointed that he didn’t recognize me, but now that he does, I didn’t quite know how to feel about it. On top of that, regardless of how I felt, it didn’t change the fact that him remembering me just leads to a bunch of problems.

It didn’t take me all that long to realize that the solution wasn’t so difficult and that it had been staring me straight in the face. The problem was that, although the solution was simple, I was too much of a coward to face Raphael. While ignoring the conflicting feelings that blossomed in my chest, I told myself that the solution was obvious and that I had to prioritize my mother’s happiness and the future of her marriage to Bennett. In order for that to happen, we all had to become a family, or at least act like one. Unfortunately, I needed Raphael’s cooperation to make that happen.

I made up my mind that no matter how difficult it would be, I would talk to him directly about this. It was better for us to put the past behind us; after all, our passionate affair wasn’t supposed to last beyond that one night. I just needed to remind him of the rule of a one-night stand and insist that we keep the past in the past and not let it interfere with our present and future. Going forward, our relationship should be nothing more than that of stepbrother and stepsister, where both of us would do our best for the sake of our parents’ happiness. I tried to remain hopeful as I steeled my resolve. With my mind made up, I was determined to talk to Raphael the next day so that I could get this out of the way and finally live a peaceful life.

**Knock, knock, knock**

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard someone knocking a few times on my bedroom door. Immediately, I climbed out of bed and tiptoed towards the door.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"It’s me," a man’s voice replied.

I closed my eyes in dread when I realized that Raphael was the one standing on the other side of my door. It was already way past midnight, so I wondered what it was that he wanted so late at night.

"Why are you here? Is there something that you need?" I asked without opening the door.

"I have something to give you," he replied.

He has something to give me? But that means I have to open the door...

My heart beat faster in my chest as my hand reached hesitantly towards the doorknob. Honestly, I was scared about what might happen if I opened the door for him. Memories of him trapping me between him and the sofa earlier that day came flooding back to me. He even went as far as kissing me, and if it wasn’t for that phone call then...

I opened the door a crack before peering out. Raphael stood there with what looked like clothes hanging from a hanger in his hand.

"These clothes are for you. You should wear this tomorrow when we go out to check out the wedding venue," he said.

I reached my arm out between the slightly opened door for the clothes, but he pulled them out of my reach.

"What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to give me those clothes?" I asked while feeling slightly annoyed.

Finally, the door was yanked fully open, and I found myself standing face-to-face with Raphael with nothing in between us.

"Why are you acting like a scared kitten?" he asked as he leaned forward and brought his face directly in front of mine.

I quickly moved backwards into the room to maintain a respectable distance between us.

"You can give me the clothes tomorrow in the morning," I said as I tried to close the door.

The door wouldn’t budge when Raphael pushed against it with his hand to keep it open. My eyes widened when the door suddenly opened wide and I found myself face-to-face with Raphael.

"What are you doing?" I asked defensively.

"Isn’t it obvious? What do you think I’m doing?" he asked as he took a step to close the distance between us.

He leaned down and brought his face so close to mine with a mysterious smirk on his beautiful lips. I hated the way my heart raced so fast as if it was about to explode out of my chest. His lips came closer to mine, and I was certain he was about to steal a kiss from me.

–To be continued...