CHAPTER 48: STAY AWAY FROM HIM.
Evelyn began to breathe heavily and soon, Raphael was behind her. He bent and placed his hands on his knees as he tried hard to catch his breath. He cast a look of concern at her and blinked his eyes in relief when he found out that she was okay.
Actually, they decided to go out this morning on Raphael’s insistence and he had been the one to urge her to come out so they could both enjoy the benefits the City had to offer.
They had visited some cool places together, the restaurant, the morning Cinema house and the most appealing to her was that he took her to see the sunrise that morning before anything else.
Right at that moment, Evelyn almost cursed at him. He forced her to run and now, she was trying to catch her breath.
“You…how could you do this to me? It’s called overusing your power.” She mumbled under her breath and finally sat down after managing to calm herself. Raphael chuckled and did the same right beside her. They were at what seemed to be the City’s glamorous field for racing. It was quiet but there were a few people on the field who were there majorly for exercising or sports routine.
Raphael passed her a bottle of water and drank the other.
“So, did you have fun this morning?”
“Are you seriously asking me this?” Evelyn asked in disbelief.
“Look at how sweaty I am, Raphael. Anyway, thank you for bringing me out. I enjoyed myself but can we go back to the hotel now?” Evelyn pleaded with him. Tonight was the auction. Wasn’t he supposed to be in a beforehand meeting or something? Rather than that he seemed less concerned.
Raphael looked around before placing his hand on her shoulders and kissing her cheeks. Evelyn kicked his ribs lightly with her elbow. She was starting to like whatever gestures he showed her, especially after what happened between them last night.
“Ouch.”
“We are in public, behave yourself.”
“Yes, babe.”
“Don’t call me babe, I haven’t accepted to be your girlfriend.”
“But you never rejected me, that’s a good clue.” Evelyn sighed.
“Why are you so interested in me? I am a single mom…”
“And so what? Are single moms not allowed to be in a relationship and stay happy? The first day I saw you, I knew that I already lost it and then your eyes…they are magnificent and I slowly found myself being pulled in. Look, I can’t say the real reason why I like you so much but I do, Evie, and I need you to know that. I am willing to prove to you in every aspect that I can be a man that is worth your and Tom’s approval, I promise.” Raphael said with a firm voice.
Evelyn’s heart fluttered, “Fine then, I will be your girlfriend.” She gave in.
Raphael’s eyes widened and he locked eyes with her in utmost joy. He was in disbelief at her sudden acceptance.
“Really? You are not playing a joke on me, are you?”
“No, I am not. It’s just me being your regular girlfriend for the meantime till you can prove yourself and please, can you keep it down for a while?” Evelyn asked and he nodded in agreement.
“Yes, I will. Thank you so much, Evie. I promise that you won’t regret this.” He held her hand and kissed the top of her palm.
Evie blushed and withdrew her hand. She reassured herself inwardly again.
‘Do what makes you and your son happy.’
“Well, we still need to get to the museum of love or something like that, and guess what? There is an air conditioner in there to dry you up. After the visit over there then we can head back.” He referred to their previous conversation and urged her to get up.
In a few minutes, they were inside the museum, and Evelyn was astounded. This was a museum of life that had so many things to offer, seeing how large it was below and even upstairs.
There were a lot of people around and their appearances were screaming ‘high class. They were mostly couples as they had their hands romantically linked against each other.
“Have you ever been here?” She asked Raphael as they walked past them.
“I think it was once, normally, the place is always crowded with people but not today as there will be an important auction happening this evening so wealthy individuals and VIP personalities are gonna be around. This will be a good way for the manager of this place to make some cool cash as he knows the preference.” He responded to her questions.
Evelyn sighed, the discrimination rate between the upper class and lower class was too much for someone like her to handle and this was why she kept having to rethink her decision to be with Evelyn even when her heart had been hooked on his from the start.
Raphael continued leading her and didn’t hesitate in answering any of her questions until someone called him from behind. It was a lady’s voice and when they both turned, it happened to be someone that they didn’t expect, especially Evelyn.
“Raphael, hi there.” Erica waved as she put on a charming smile while approaching them. Her eyes were solely on him. Evelyn used her eyes in gauging her dress without being too obvious. She was wearing a blue gown that hung to her right curves and had light strings of silver beneath. Her shoes were also silver and her hair was beautifully styled. She was indeed beautiful to see.
“Miss Erica, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Raphael responded.
“Ha, yes, same here. I am representing my Uncle as he couldn’t make it.” Erica spoke with her killer smile still in place.
“That is good. You remember my assistant, right? Evelyn.”
This was when Erica decided to give Evelyn one of her ‘worthy’ glances but it was brief.
“Of course. Anyway, where do you stay?”
“A hotel,” Raphael answered.
“The two of you?” Erica inquired further out of her curiosity.
“She is my assistant and it’s her first time here so what were you expecting?” Raphael saw her question as being a dumb one. Erica chuckled in embarrassment and blinked her eyes. Before she could say a word, a pot-bellied man approached Raphael and soon the two of them walked further from the two ladies.
Evelyn rubbed her arms and breathed out steadily while avoiding Erica’s questioning eyes.
“You seem to be a very good assistant Raphael wouldn’t stop talking about you every time we meet.”
“I didn’t attend a school just for the fun of attending it and secondly, the only thing he ever does whenever we meet is to introduce us. Lastly, this is our second meeting so don’t try to make it appear as if we meet every day.” Evelyn retorted.
“Whoa, take it nice and slow. You should know that we are different so you should talk to me with respect. I don’t know what your plans are, Assistant Evelyn but if you are thinking about snatching my man from me then I will advise you to drop the idea as quickly as you can because guess what? I have already been chosen by his family and very soon, we will get engaged.” Erica boasted with pride.
“You…”
“Shush, you can ask him but will you? Remember that you are an assistant and you will forever remain one, now, you can cry along to meet him if you want to. Moreover, you aren’t independent. Finally, stay away from him! Excuse me.” Erica smirked at her and took her to leave, her heels clicking against the tiled floor.
Evelyn folded her palms in frustration and scoffed in disbelief at Erica’s bratty attitude. She shot Raphael a look, did she say the truth? Was he going to get engaged to her?
_*_*_*_*_*_*_
“Of course, Mr. Ozone. Your goods are safe with me and I assure you that they will get delivered as they ought to…yes, I will get the payment once you get the notification of the delivery, and congratulations on your award from the government…Alright, have a nice day too.” Michael ended the call with a dry smile. After that, he looked at his beautiful wife who was seated in a corner with a magazine in her hand.
“Won’t you get tired of staring at me?” Mandarin asked without even returning his look. Michael chortled and took a sip from his drink.
“Why should I get tired of staring at a random flower, my love? You are worth my time.” He praised her and the corner of her lips tugged up. She then closed the magazine that she was reading when she remembered something. She pursed her lips for a while.
“Do you have something that you want to say?” Michael asked her.
“Darling, I was thinking about something.” She said,
“What is it?”
“I was thinking why don’t we announce Raphael’s engagement to Erica? The sooner the better. If we don’t take any action on it, he will never believe that we are serious about his future.” She proposed.
“I agree, Mandarin. Just a little engagement should keep him on track. Erica is a great girl. The last time he decided despite my warning, he regretted it so I see no reason why he shouldn’t obey me this time around. After his arrival, I will find a way to convince him and then we can talk to Shaft.”
“That is good.”
“What about Vegas?” Michael asked.
“What about him?” Mandarin raised her eyebrows.
“I mean shouldn’t he also introduce someone to us?”
“I don’t want to rush him. I am going to be the one to choose who he has to marry because many of the wretched girls out there are gold diggers. I won’t pressure him so he won’t bring home a bad egg.” She replied smoothly.
“You are my wife for a reason. We both make up a great team.”
“We sure do.” Mandarin threw him a kiss from where she was seated.