Chapter 88

88 88- Missing The Look

Marissa watched Rafael wearing his wristwatch. The man who made her squirm quite intimately in his arms was now busily getting ready so they could leave.

They just had breakfast, and Marissa was happy he brought her here. Yet she regretted that she wasted most of her time in complaining about the past.

She was back in her office attire.

After wearing his watch, his focus turned to her and he halted for a minute, “Why this look, strawberry!”

He held her earlobe and gave it a little pull.

“This place is so nice, so quiet…” she said hugging herself.

“You like it here?” He questioned and held her hand, “Should we plan to come here again?”

Marissa clicked her tongue and shrugged. Before she could say anything, Rafael reached to her and fixed her blouse near her shoulders. That made her freeze momentarily.

This was exactly how she used to do it when he was her husband, just as an excuse to touch him.

“Ready?” he brushed his forefinger at the tip of her nose and picked up her purse. She quickly went ahead to take it from him.

“I’m sorry. Let me hold it,” She was aware of how men despised holding ladies‘ stuff.

“It’s ok. I don’t mind holding your purse for you. Ok?” he ruffled her

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hair.

88 88–Missing The Look

“Ms. Marissa?” Marissa spun around when heard a familiar voice

behind her.

“Emily!”

Rafael mentioned to her subtly that he was waiting for her outside

and left.

“These are your clothes,” Emily handed her the shopping bag, but Marissa didn’t take it.

“Keep them, Emily. Take it as a gift,” The girl beamed while clutching the bag to her chest.

“Thank you, Ms. Marissa. If you don’t mind, can I ask you something?” When Marissa nodded, she tried to smile, “Are you both… like… is he your boyfriend? You two a couple?” Marissa’s heart skipped a beat but then she controlled her emotions and

didn’t let it show on her face.

“N–no. We aren’t. We… we are just friends,” she said what they’d mutually decided last night.

“Forgive me if I’m crossing the line… but he seems smitten by

…

you,” Marissa looked over her shoulder where she could easily see Rafael who was leaning against the car instead of starting the

engine.

“You might be imagining it, Emily. He shows his care to everyone,” Emily didn’t say anything else to persuade her.

But her face showed that she wasn’t convinced.

“Take good care of yourself, Ms. Marissa. Please come again, I’ll be

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very happy to serve you.” Marissa took the girl by surprise when she hugged her.

“Bye, Emily.”

Emily stayed glued to the window when she saw the couple leaving.

Ms. Marissa must be blind to not see it all. It’s as clear as the day.

The man is a heartthrob and has feelings for her.

***

They were sitting quietly in the car busy in their thoughts when she decided to at last break the silence, “I liked these cottages. Ours was a corner one. Who does it belong to?”

She asked him when he was taking a sharp left turn with quite

ease.

“A friend,” he said busily trying to drive through the narrow passage that was occupied by a truck.”

Maybe Joseph?” She thought for a minute.

“Interested in coming back someday?” he glanced at her for a moment before moving his attention to the road ahead.

She had a hint of a smile when she shrugged, “Don’t know. It’s a good getaway from everyday life and kids will definitely like it

here.”

She noticed that he was thinking hard about something. Her eyes wandered to the folded sleeves of his shirt exposing the strong arms. The same arms that held her close to him last night.

Get a grip, Marissa! Get a grip!

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88 88–Missing The Look

She had to jerk back to reality when their phones started making

constant pinging sounds.

“Crap! What is that!” she fished for her phone in panic when Rafael

reached over to hold her hand.

“Relax. We are getting the signals back. Remember? We were without any network for more than twenty–four hours?”

Marissa inhaled a deep breath. This made sense, still, her fingers were trembling slightly while she unlocked her phone.

Tons of notifications flooded her screen.

“Bingo!” she heard Rafael’s teasing voice and chuckled.

Feeling overwhelmed, she scrolled her screen to find a mix of messages, social media notifications, and missed calls.

“Oh, brother. Rafael. Missed calls from Sophie,” She quickly dialed Sophie’s number, and this time she did find tension on his face too.

“Sophie! Hey. What’s up? Are kids alright?” she closed her eyes praying silently that it was nothing to worry about.

“Mar! No! All is good,” her friend assured her cheerfully, “and don’t worry about those missed calls. I was looking for my laptop charger and wanted to ask if you had seen it. Ariel told me later that she had it as she wanted to place it around her little plastic pony whose robe was broken due to constant pulling.”

Marissa took a sigh of relief. After looking at Sophie’s missed calls, her first thought was about the well–being of her kids.

Thankfully there was nothing to worry about.

“Hev Mar. Umm. I have got an offer from a private hospital. Can

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you ask Rafael to check his messages? I have sent him some details and he is the only one who can check their credibility.”

Marissa found it absurd. Was Sophie taking Rafael’s help for a hospital job?

“What credibility?” she asked her.

“It’s a newly constructed building and I want to know if they are genuine people or just a hoax. Can you ask him to check my messages?” Marissa nodded as if Sophie could see her through the phone and disconnected the call.

“Everything good?” Rafael asked with concern.

“Yeah. Kids are fine. Sophie wanted to talk to you so maybe she was trying to reach both of us. She has been offered a job in this newly constructed hospital and wants your help regarding that.”

Rafael nodded. Though he felt odd.

Why would Sophie want his help in doing this kind of digging? This didn’t make sense.

Marissa had again gotten busy catching up on her notifications and Rafael was glancing her way now and then.

These last twenty–four hours! This one day!

It was the most precious day of his life. Marissa looked up when saw him slowing down the car.

She gave him a questioning glance and then got back to her phone when he mouthed, “Fuel!”

Before getting out of the car, he leaned quickly to kiss her.

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“Rafael!” she exclaimed, her jaw nearly dropping in surprise at this unexpected kiss.

“You said we are friends. It’s called the friend–zoned kiss,” he

explained with a wink, and she slapped his shoulder.

He went outside and held the hose to fuel the tank.

“As*shole!” she muttered to herself with a grin before paying attention to her phone almost missing the look on his face when he took out his phone from his pocket to check something.

When he locked it back, his jaw was clenched, and a nerve was ticking in his temple.

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