CHAPTER 82: SEARCHING FOR HIM

“I’m sure that he’ll turn up. You’re the one who invited him, after all,” I replied as reassuringly as I could.

“I’m not so sure about that. Raphael doesn’t really like to come along with me to parties, and he’s never accompanied me so easily. That’s why I need your help,” Rosabella said as she leaned slightly towards me from the opposite side of the table.

It occurred to me that perhaps Rosabella had the misconception that Raphael and I were close because we were step-siblings due to our parents’ relationship and marriage. However, the truth was very far from that. Regardless of my intentions, I wasn’t at all confident that I could talk Raphael into attending the party, even if I tried my absolute best.

“Listen, it’s not like I don’t want to help you. It’s just, Raphael and I aren’t that close. I mean, I only just got to know him not so long ago before our parents got married, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to convince him to come to the party,” I told her honestly. Rosabella nodded her head slightly in an uncaring manner as she listened to my explanation.

“Well, I wish you luck, and I suggest that you give it your best shot because I think that you wouldn’t want your mother to find out about the truth behind his family business, do you?” she asked rhetorically as she narrowed her eyes at me. Rosabella looked like a cunning cat with a fake smile on her face and narrowed eyes as she stared back at me daringly. At first, I found it hard to believe that she was using my mother to threaten me and blackmail me into doing what she wanted.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am going to try my best to convince Raphael to come to the party, but I just can’t promise that he would do what I tell him to,” I said, hoping that Rosabella wouldn’t get even more upset.

Of course, I didn’t want to risk my mother finding out about the true nature of Raphael’s family business. I didn’t even want to imagine how upset my mother would be or how roughly she would take it. Worst of all, I didn’t want my mother to learn the truth from Rosabella. Unfortunately, I was forced to realize that I needed to talk to Raphael and get to the bottom of all of this as soon as possible.

“What are you waiting for? Shouldn’t you go find him?” Rosabella asked sarcastically as she glared at me from across the table. I felt like I was a palace maid being ordered around by the selfish and spoiled princess of the kingdom. I tried my best to smile at her while I wondered if Raphael already knew about her true nature.

“You’re right, I’ll go and find him so that I can convince him to come to the party,” I said as I quickly stood up from my seat. The truth was that I thought this was the perfect opportunity for me to get away from her.

...

Although I had promised Rosabella to find Raphael as soon as possible, I quickly realized that I had no idea where he was. The cruise was so large and had so many floors and rooms, so I didn’t know where to even start looking for him. I took out my phone and stared at the screen for a couple of seconds before gathering the courage to give Raphael a call. The line connected, but after waiting for a while, I was directed to voicemail. Whatever Raphael was doing, it seemed like he couldn’t answer his phone. That was one explanation; the other explanation was that he didn’t want to talk to me. I frowned before letting out a growl of frustration when I realized that I needed to search for him.

I went up to another part of the deck where I thought the view was breathtakingly beautiful, but Raphael was nowhere in sight. Although it was regretful that I could not stay longer to enjoy the view, I knew that I had to find Raphael as soon as possible before the situation got any worse. I went below deck to where all the restaurants were, but he wasn’t there either. After studying the guidance map posted on a wall close by, I decided that my next destination was to check out the recreational part of the ship. While walking along a hallway, a group of women dressed in maid uniforms walked past me, and I happened to catch a couple of words from their conversation.

“I’ve never seen such a large group of good-looking men gathered all at once like that before,” one of them said excitedly.

“Don’t you think that they look dangerous?” another one asked nervously.

“I think they look hot!” another said before letting out a giggle.

“I don’t know, it looks like they might be up to something bad,” another one added her opinion.

“Excuse me...” I said as I turned to face them. The maids obviously did not expect me to suddenly strike up a conversation with them, but I couldn’t pass up this chance.

“That group of men that you were mentioning, where are they right now?” I asked while ignoring the clearly stunned look on their faces.

After glancing awkwardly at each other, one of them provided me with a succinct explanation of how to get to where the group of men was. I quickly thanked them before going on my way. My gut feeling told me that Raphael must be among that group of men; as for what he was doing, I was about to find out.

I honestly didn’t know what I was expecting to see because it was probably very likely that Raphael was just hanging out with his friends. Rosabella did mention that some of their friends would be present, so Raphael was probably meeting up with them.

–To be continued...