CHAPTER 37: SHOPPING TOGETHER

"That’s one of the reasons," he replied casually without letting go of my hand.

We strolled around the mall along the lines of fancy stores side by side. Although having him hold my hand made my chest feel queasy inside, I decided not to make a huge deal out of it. Although I didn’t want to think about it, I found myself recalling the conversation that I had with Sam. I never thought that things would unfold between us that way when I met him again, not that I wanted to meet him ever again.

Suddenly, I found myself giggling and realized that I had recalled what Raphael had said about Emily’s company and its future now that it was in Sam’s hands. That was certainly an amazing whip of icing on top of the cake, and I couldn’t stop giggling whenever I thought of it. Although I didn’t want to admit it at first, I had started feeling quite thankful for Raphael’s interference, although it was quite bothersome in its own way. I glanced at Raphael’s face, and he turned to offer me a charming smile that made my heart clench quite painfully in my chest. Once again, I found myself questioning why he was made to look so amazingly attractive.

It was still hard for me to believe that I was out shopping with Raphael of all people. Some people stared openly at us, or more like at him as we walked by.

“Just ignore them,” Raphael told me but I knew that he wasn’t referring to the normal people passing by.

“Is it normal to have so many bodyguards?” I asked curiously.

Although they maintained a very respectable distance and tried to blend in, I couldn’t help but realize the handful of guards that followed us. Raphael seemed to have picked up on that as well and that might be because I found them quite distracting at times.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry. Pay them no mind,” he replied simply.

“I don’t need to get anything here,” I told Raphael but he simply ignored everything that I said.

I wondered what he meant when he said that I was the one who needed to buy something from this place. As far as I was aware, I had everything that I needed and there was no need for me to splurge my money on any luxury fashion.

“Anything caught your eye?” He asked after we walked around for a while.

“No,” I replied in a short.

I wondered what he was up to as we continued walking around.

"Let’s take a look in here," Raphael suggested before dragging me into a high-end brand name store that specialized in evening gowns.

"I don’t need something like this," I told him as I pulled back on his arm.

"Trust me, you’re going to need more than a couple of dresses like these," he asserted firmly.

"But why?" I asked blankly, not quite following what he had in mind.

"We’re going to go to quite a few parties and events together," he stated as he looked at the evening gowns.

"Me? Go to a party? With you?" I asked, overwhelmed with confusion. For a moment, it felt like we were not even conversing in the same language.

"Yes, you. Who else is there?" he replied as if it was supposed to be obvious.

"But why do I have to go to these parties with you?" I asked, feeling a frown forming between my eyebrows.

"You’re supposed to be my sister, right? So, of course, we’re going to go out on events together," he replied before taking my hand and dragging me into the store.

By the end of the day, I had more than enough evening gowns to last me a lifetime. I never knew that trying on dress after dress and being scrutinized by Raphael as he gave his comments would be so tiring. Since virtually every single gown in the store felt too fancy and elaborate for my taste, I left it to Raphael and the manager’s judgment to pick out the dresses for me. After that, Raphael led me to a few jewelry boutiques in order to find matching jewelry that would go well with the dresses that we had picked out.

Moving from one store to the next as we continued shopping proved to be a great way to keep my mind off things, and soon enough, I no longer thought about that unpleasant encounter that I had with Sam. Just like the times before that I was with him, Raphael managed to capture all of my attention to the point where I could not think of anything else or anyone else except for him.

"I think this is going to look very wonderful on you," Raphael said as he pointed to a necklace featuring several large emeralds.

"Oh no, that is too much and it’s also crazy expensive," I quickly refuted his opinion before he would end up buying the necklace for me just like he had done with the few others ones prior to this one.

"Excuse me, I’d like for her to try this on," Raphael told the store manager.

I sat in front of a mirror as Raphael carefully put on the large emerald necklace around my neck. When I felt the heat of his hand gently brushing against the base of my neck, I felt a tremor run through my body.

"I think it looks beautiful," the store manager quickly commented as they both looked into the mirror at my reflection.

As for me, I couldn’t focus on the necklace that I had on, given that Raphael had just rested his large hands on both of my shoulders before bringing his face close to the side of my face. Our eyes met in the mirror, and I felt my lower abdomen clench before I had to quickly avert my eyes from his.

"What do you think, Gail?" Raphael asked as he whispered directly into my ear.

I could feel the warmth of his breath brushing against my earlobe, and it took all my effort to stop myself from making a naughty sound.

–To be continued...