Croissants. Croissant donuts. Pain au Chocolat. Baguettes. It wasn't exactly the type of sweets that they preferred...Danary asked me if I wanted to join her and Liam on their weekend trips to a library, to which I eagerly accepted. Apparently, there was a lecture that Liam was interested in at the Morgan Library and Museum in midtown this week in particular, so she told me to wait in front of this french bakery shop near the library as a meeting point. I had gotten here a bit earlier than planned and decided to look around the shop to pick out a few snacks, but I couldn't decide what to get them. Liam and his mother tended to like fruity desserts, which this bakery shop didn't exactly have, leaving me confounded. Instead, the bakery had a lot of freshly baked bread, but I didn't know what type of bread they liked. Sourdough, wheat, or just normal? Soft or crusty? Lighter or darker bake?Maybe I could get them baguettes, butter, and some specialty jams... They had freshly in-hous
Days have passed since Benedict found out about my budding relationship. Although nothing had changed between Danary and me, I felt more stressed than ever before. I still went to her house in the evenings for dinner and helped Liam with his university-level problem sets, but I was never able to bring myself to ask about her past. I feared that she would try to leave me once I reminded her of the person with whom she still held attachments for, so I buried it deep down inside of me and tried to pretend that everything was fine. Even though my body itched to hire a private investigator to look into her past and figure out who it was, I cared too much about her to invade her privacy like that. She would only hate me if she ever found it. Instead, I kept myself as busy as possible so that my mind wouldn't wander in the middle of the day. Meetings stack upon one another such that there was always someone new wandering into my office to give me a report. Paperwork for finalizing overse
I checked my phone for the umpteenth time today. There was still no response. I messaged him this morning with our usual good morning text messages while I was getting changed for work, but he still hasn't responded, even though he almost always replies within 10 minutes. I haven't seen him all day at work either, but it was already almost noon. Was he not coming in today? But he would tell me beforehand if that was the case or at least let me know in reply to a message, right? Or was I expecting too much? After all, Rafael is a busy man. He's the head of Cordova Industries, the wealthiest and most powerful man in the country. I couldn't expect him to always think of me when he had other things to do. Maybe I was just being overly paranoid, but I couldn't stop myself from feeling antsy about his absence. He did seem to be growing increasingly tired over the last week.Even though he still always came to my house to have dinner with Liam and me, I could tell that he was exhausted
"No need to fret any longer, my sweet Danary, for Benedict is here to save the day!" His voice echoed from far down the hallway way before the front door swung open to reveal the owner of the voice. Although he seemed to be overflowing with energy before arriving, his face instantly fell when he caught sight of Rafael and me on the ground right in front of the door. He paled as his eyes raked across Rafael's unconscious but panting, half-naked figure lying on the ground. With my hand still soothingly stroking Rafael's hair, I looked up at Mr. Serman with a weak smile and shakily greeted, "T-Thank y-you for c-coming." His eyes widened as he took in the sight. When he finally came to his senses, he whisper-yelled, "What happened to him?!?""F-Fever, but h-he r-refuses to go to the h-hospital." Mr. Serman pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh and nodded in understanding. "C-Can y-you h-help me c-carry him to b-bed?" His eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he stared
I woke up with a heavy weight draped over my body in a wonderfully warm embrace. My senses were filled with the soothing scent of a familiar deep cologne, and all I wanted to do was snuggle up even further into big... firm... pecs?My eyes immediately snapped awake when I realized that I had not been cozying up to a bunch of pillows. Rather, I was lying on Rafael's broad chest and rubbed my cheek against his pecs like some sort of pervert.My cheeks immediately flushed at the sight of his naked form laying underneath me. I could feel every inch of his muscles naturally flexing under my touch.In my panic from finding him in such an ill state, I didn't have a chance to fully appreciate his lack of a shirt until now. I was too busy replacing the towel on his forehead and trying to make something for him to eat out of the few ingredients that he kept in his apartment.He had been asleep for the most part, letting his fever die down with rest, but he did wake up briefly last night. He was
"Where are you from?""How old are you?""Do your parents live around here?""How did you meet Rafael?""What made you like him?"Question after question came firing out of Mrs. Cordova without pause before I could even answer the first one. She was practically bouncing in her seat from excitement and had to be held down to the sofa by her quiet husband.Rafael had pulled me down next to him on the opposing sofa and wrapped his arm securely around my waist to keep me glued to his side.His eye twitched as more questions came flying our way until he finally snapped.He hissed, "Mother! You said that you contain yourself today."I instinctively reached out to pull his hands into my lap and rubbed soothing circles on the back of his hand, trying to get him to loosen up a bit."I-It's okay, Achilles. I d-don't m-mind a-answering."Even though I was still wasn't fully comfortable with them yet, I didn't want to make a bad impression on his parents.Turning my attention back to his mother's
Mrs. Cordova was a highly energetic person, to say the least. She had a bubbly personality that could easily draw a long person in, the exact opposite of her quiet husband and her son. But she also had an air of confidence to her that demanded respect despite the fact she was nearly as short as me.With an arm hooked with mine, she bombarded her favorite cafe with a boisterous voice, asking for her usual seat. I wanted to shrivel away under all the eyes that were instantly drawn to us, but the employees seemed to be used to Mrs. Cordova's bubbly personality as they happily showed her to her "usual" seat and laughed at her antics as she randomly pointed new things in the cafe from the last time she visited.I was a bit uncomfortable with everyone's attention. They whispered very poorly to each other about us, asking about who was with the madam of the Cordova household. However, Mrs. Cordova easily pulled my attention away from their whispers with the mere mention of Rafael's name.She
"So... how are you and Danary?""...""I heard she met your parents already.""...""Are you actually... lovey-dovey with her?""...""It seems like something she would like, but I could never imagine you acting like that.""...""Come on, just a few words. That's all I need."I gave a highly irritated sigh and came to an abrupt stop mid-walk. For some reason, Benedict came to my apartment this morning right as I was leaving and insisted on accompanying me to work.Benedict held up his hands in mock surrender when I spun around with a harsh glare. "Look, I was just curious. It's been over two weeks since I found out, and I haven't bothered you once since then. The least you could do is satisfy my curiosity a bit.""...""Just a little.""We're... good..."He was staring at me with such big, round, questioning eyes that I was only able to bite out two words. I immediately spun around on my heel and started to make my way toward my office building again, unable to handle his intense sta