Chapter 8 Brief Chaos

“Get out of my room, or I will kick your face!” Cheryl exclaimed as she saw Mateo walking from a distance.

“Cheryl,” Carissa turned her head, noticing Cheryl, who looked antipathetic to Mateo's arrival.

“Mom, he cracked my hand!” Cheryl was crying again, whining at her mother, so she immediately expelled her eldest son.

Everyone panicked when they heard that Cheryl was hospitalized because of her wrist injury. "What? Why am I the one to blame?” Mateo shrugged guiltily. He glanced at Veronica, who was walking beside him—trying to explain to that woman about last night's incident.

“You deserve to be blamed, Mateo.” Veronica sarcastically walked towards Cheryl who was lying on a hospital bed with her right hand wrapped in a bandage while her left hand was playing with her cellphone.

"Cheryl ran and hit me in my stomach. Why are you blaming me instead?" Mateo looked at Veronica, Carissa, and Jackson who were standing around Cheryl.

“It all happened because you suddenly landed a helicopter right over my head!” Cheryl was still shouting her annoyance, “Daddy, look what Mateo is doing. He almost killed me in a helicopter." She whined as she grabbed Jackson's hand to get her Daddy's attention.

Jackson took a deep breath. After a long journey from Spain, he had to run as fast as possible to meet his spoiled princess who was lying in a hospital bed. “Actually, what happened? Why did Cheryl break her arm, Mateo?” He looked gently at Cheryl, but the gaze immediately turned serious when he turned to Mateo who was still frozen between the doorway of the lounge room and Cheryl's room.

“Cheryl went to Queens secretly, and she was on the restaurant rooftop with Rafael Frederich.” Mateo explains to defend himself.

"Rafael?" Veronica mumbled while turning her head to look at Cheryl who was instantly nervous because Mateo explained as if he was accusing her of cheating on Carlos.

Oh no, what if Carlos finds out about her madness?

“Did you mean Rafael Wagner? Jackson asked.

"Yes. He owns Frederich Corp."

Cheryl ignored Veronica's curious gaze because she was more interested in the conversation between her father and brother.

"Isn't he the owner of the restaurant?" Cheryl asked in a doubtful voice.

“Which restaurant are you referring to, Cheryl? His mother owns almost every 5-star restaurant in the United States.” Mateo looked up with mocking eyes.

For a minute, Cheryl blinked her eyes while gaping briefly. She doesn't know how many times she felt misunderstood by Rafael's real identity. Rafael was too mysterious to show his true identity, and she was also stupid for jumping to conclusions. She even felt sorry when she saw that Rafael had a deserted restaurant that seemed uninterested to the public.

Oh damn, if Rafael's mother owns almost every fine dining restaurant in the United States, then it is certain that he is not a poor man who deserves pity. Moreover, Mateo had mentioned about Frederich Corp. If she is not mistaken, the company is one of the large companies engaged in various infrastructure and development sectors in the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, and Southeast Asia.

“Alright, stop talking about Frederich Wagner. Let's go back to talking about how Cheryl's hand got injured until her bone fractured." Carissa interrupted while looking at Cheryl and Mateo in turn.

Cheryl felt that the time of her judgment would come.

“Call Rafael Frederich here right now. We can't just interrogate Cheryl, can we? If something goes wrong, then Rafael also deserves to be blamed.” Jackson broke up while glancing at her with a mysterious expression.

Cheryl widened her eyes, “Why did you call Rafael here? All of this has nothing to do with him at all!” Cheryl cried out in a panic.

"You're already engaged. Why are you on the rooftop with another man? We must sort it out if something goes wrong before you married with Carlos.”

Again, Cheryl was shocked when she heard the relaxed words spoken by her Daddy. “This has nothing to do with Carlos either!” She whimpered as she tried to get up from her lying position. The cell phone she initially held with her left hand just fell, but Cheryl didn't care about it.

If Carlos finds out about her crazy behavior, he will not hesitate to destroy Rafael's restaurant.

End of history!

"No, I don't allow anyone in my room!" Cheryl glanced at Mateo, “including Mateo!” She continued with emotion.

"Hey, Princess, I didn't tell you to punch me in the stomach," Mateo gives an explanation, “you're the one who took the initiative to hit me.”

For more than two years, she and Carlos had been trying to get her father's blessing to marry, but he was having difficulty agreeing to their relationship. Now, after they got engaged three months ago, Cheryl didn't want their efforts to be in vain just because of a small problem she did.

There was no need for Rafael, nor was there a need to discuss anything related to that man.

“We just met by accident. What to explain about that? Even you guys know that I don't really know Rafael. Our first meeting was a year ago when Veronica ran away after seeing Mateo having an affair!”

"What?!" Mateo again showed surprise.

Cheryl looked away in annoyance, “Whatever happens, I don't want you to call Rafael here. If anyone calls out to him, then I will stop talking for one year!” Break up Cheryl confidently.

A knock on the door broke the tension in the room.

Cheryl's eyes immediately fell on her cell phone. The last time Carlos said he was in Southampton on business, he could only come this afternoon.

If not Carlos, then who came to her room?

"Let me see who's coming." Veronica took the initiative to get up and open the door.

And, yes…

According to Cheryl's prediction that she had experience meeting Rafael at unexpected times, now it was that man who appeared at the door of her room.

It's complete. Cheryl's time of judgment has arrived.

***

Less than an hour later, Cheryl's room had turned into a family court venue.

Cheryl is still on her bed. She looks at Mateo with sharp eyes that hold grudges and hundreds of evil plans to avenge her brother's madness. Meanwhile, Veronica was sitting between Mateo and Rafael who had just arrived a few minutes ago. Mateo was busy talking to Veronica to distract her from Rafael—who got Veronica’s attention without even trying to get her attention.

On the other side, her Daddy was sitting with Carissa on the end of the lounge sofa that was available near Cheryl's bed.

“I came with flowers and fruit for you, Cheryl. I hope your hand recovers soon.” Rafael said while pointing at the large bouquet of flowers and fresh fruit that Veronica had placed on the table, right beside the headboard.

"Thank you for coming here, Frederich." Carissa greeted when she realized Cheryl was too emotional to respond to Rafael's sentence.

"Did I miss something? Everyone looks tensed,” Rafael looked around him with a relaxed smile. He also gave a glance at Cheryl who still maintained her serious expression.

“Don't you realize? Everyone doesn't like your presence, Frederich." Mateo answered with a short snort.

"What? Is that true, Vero?”

As if knowing a sensitive point that could make Mateo even more annoyed, Rafael turned his head towards Veronica, who was only able to give a short smile and grimace.

"We were talking about you, and then you suddenly came as if you knew that we were talking about you." Jackson intervened in the atmosphere that suddenly turned tense.

"Oh really? I do have the ability to always come at the right time, Uncle.” Raphael replied calmly.

Yup, Cheryl agrees with that. Rafael likes to appear suddenly at unexpected times.

“Yes, and we also wanted to talk about what you did with Cheryl last night. Is there something between you two?”

"Daddy!" Cheryl whined in a spoiled voice.

Rafael glanced at Cheryl, then looked back at Jackson who was sitting in front of him.

“Something like what?”

Cheryl clenched her fists. Even though she didn't know Rafael very well, she knew he was an asshole who liked to joke at the wrong time.

“Something shouldn't have happened,” Cheryl spoke before Daddy or Mateo could interrupt, “but there wasn't anything between us. We met unexpectedly, we talked to each other, and he offered his rooftop restaurant for stargazing together before I headed back to Manhattan.”

Everyone turned to Cheryl who was desperately holding back the anxiety in her heart.

The scrutinizing gaze that Rafael gave to her was more than capable of breaking the rhythm of her heartbeat. His brown eyes glowed in stark contrast to the white shirt he was wearing. His shirt sleeves were partially rolled up to reveal an anchor tattoo on his inner wrist.

Cheryl swallowed hard. She had to immediately continue her explanation before looking stupid again for continuing to pay attention to Rafael.

“Then Mateo came and messed things up. I was scared because the helicopter landed right over my head!” Cheryl again gave an annoyed look to Mateo who was grimacing with guilt, "if anyone is to blame here, it's Mateo." Cheryl said.

"Yes. That’s my fault. I'm sorry about that. However, do you know why I suddenly came looking for you?”

Cheryl blinked. "Why?" she asked.

“Because your phone has been off since the morning. Where have you been that you ignored all of Veronica's calls? She panicked because she thought you were kidnapped or something. We canceled plans to Italy because I had to come to Queens to pick you up. And guess what I saw when I got your phone coordinates?” Mateo turned cynically at Rafael, “I thought you were with Carlos. I was planning to beat him up if he dared to take you away without asking my permission. But I found out that you were with Rafael."

Cheryl turned to Veronica. She muttered quietly silently as if to say, “Sorry.”

“I think you should start learning how to cook steak so your sister doesn't have to go all the way to Queens to taste steak from my restaurant, Mateo.” Rafael shrugged nonchalantly.

"What? Why would she eat at your not-so-successful restaurant?” Mateo replied.

"Not successful, you say? Who ever ordered food from my restaurant to celebrate a birthday at the Alejandro Skyscraper Building?”

 Mateo was silent. It seemed he had lost his way to putting up a fight.

"Stop it, boys. You make me dizzy." Carissa complained as she stood up, "do you need something dear?" she asked Cheryl who immediately got an answer in the form of a head shake. She had been busy observing the debate between Mateo and Rafael.

Mateo looked very annoyed while Rafael always responded with simple sentences as if making Mateo annoyed was fun for him.

“You are indeed a confident young man, Frederich. Normally, I don't really like youths who are a bit arrogant, but this time I like the arrogance in you." Jackson laughed briefly.

"Well, I didn't mean it. But sometimes we have to show arrogance to make fun, Uncle." Raphael replied with a laugh.

Hell, Rafael laughed!

Cheryl almost gaped in shock when she heard the sound of his laughter.

"You can be arrogant, but don't let that arrogance make you have to lick your spit."

"I won't. I assure you that I won't cross my line."

"Well, we'll see. After being arrogant in front of the Alejandro family, will you still be able to laugh like this later?”

Not her Daddy, but Mateo. He replied to Rafael's joke.

The alarm immediately sent a warning signal to Cheryl's head.

Mateo may be her older brother, but he can turn into a deadly demon regarding grudges and anger.

Mateo is a cold-blooded man full of cruelty. Let alone destroying Rafael, he can only do a monetary crisis in the United States within a month. Cheryl had witnessed how Mateo undermined US politics to find Veronica who was hiding behind the power of one of her family members to avoid Mateo when they had a fight about 3 years ago.

No. Cheryl doesn't want to complicate her life by letting Mateo harass Rafael.

“Interesting,” Jackson laughed curtly, “What do you think? Will Mateo succeed in making Frederich Corp collapse?”

Rafael raised an eyebrow, "what if it was the other way around?" He chuckled softly while glancing at Cheryl who was now giving him a worried look.