All Chapters of Behind the scenes: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

There was a beat awkward silence from my end after all three of them file out, Grace being the last of them to leave as she made me promise to send her pictures of me in all of the clothes they made, they brought them from their collections and restyled them to my body and my preference, while hoping Abed would chirp in with his preference, he only silently watched. Him on the other hand was picking up their used cups and plates and dumping them in his trolley, without a care in the world, he had already refused my offer to help twice. In his words, “Sit there, look pretty, and give me hard on’s.” He said this with a wink, and ended up giving me the lady boner.I follow behind him as he strolled out with the trolley in front of him, he hummed a song I vaguely recognize. He seemed more relaxed than I had ever seen him, I don’t understand, I know the contract said six months, but aren’t we supposed to start with something? I usually don’t have thoughts like this about a specific person

I stifled a weary sigh when I realized I was being left alone with Joanne, and from the narrow eyed glare she was giving me, I would say the feeling was mutual. She hovers in front of me like I was some sort of experiment she was trying her best to understand. “Should I be worried?” I ask, meeting her eyes.“How did you become his sous chef? In fact, how did you sneak your way into his life?”I eye her wearily, her eyes had become even more razor like, and I don’t think she realizes, but she was bearing her fangs as she spoke. The understanding dawned on me then, she was protecting her friend, her person. With a sigh, I start, “He asked me to, both times, he even had an apron made for me.”Her slitted eyes widened to the point where I feared they would bulge out of her head, then what was I supposed to tell Abed, or worse Clay? Then as if she talked herself into it, her shoulders draw back into themselves, and she falls into her seat beside me.“He did?”Turning my upper body, I f

My eyes remain on the door handle, and once again, I try rattling it, it stayed the way it was, locked. I choke back how I felt, reminding myself over and over of my place in the house, a temporary guest, nothing more, he had a life to live that he didn’t concern me. “Rachel?” He called out from the other side, startling me, he sounded so close, like he was pressed against the door. I clear my throat,“It is you, I wanted to know who it was.”“Is there something you wanted to talk about?” His words betrayed nothing, he sounded as composed as he usually did.It was probably nothing right? Even if it were, would it be my business? “No, nothing. See you tomorrow.” I say and at the same time, I spin on my heels, already retreating. Explaining to myself that it was fine for him to not want to face me, it was none of my business, but even as I collapsed on my bed, I felt some weird emotion choke me, it pressed tightly against my chest, threatening to spill out of my eyes. I forced myself

“I had to see if you tasted as good as you sounded, and now I am in a dilemma, I can’t and choose.” He says this with a sigh as he pulls himself to his feet, and I stare at him, starstruck, unable to wrap my head around what just happened. First, he asks me to say what I wanted, and after pulling in all the efforts I could muster, I say the words, enjoying the thrill I felt when I said them, and he pulled me in for a mind numbing, body tingling kiss. My knees are still very rubbery from that kiss, and the world still spun in circles behind my eyelids. He did not hesitate even once as his mouth covered my mouth, for the first few seconds I did nothing but sit there and let his mouth work on mine, he kissed my lower lip separately, a tender, soft kiss, his tongue gently caressed my lower lip, shivers ran down my spine as it felt like I was on a different planet, or a different world. The kiss felt short, and I wish it had never ended, in all my years of living, I had never been kiss

There must have been something in my expression, since Abed’s eyes quickly filled with worry, his hands come up to my shoulders, gently holding me, as if to prevent me falling apart.“Who was it?” he asks gently, staring directly into my eyes, searching for the answer,“The police, they have asked me to come down to the station.”He removes on hand from my shoulder, fishing for his phone, and when he does find it, he squints under the afternoon sun as he scrolls, he finds what he was searching for and presses the phone against his ear.“Who are you calling?”“Clay, we would need a lawyer if we would be walking into a station.”A frown slips over my face, why? we did nothing wrong, and before I could say that, he walks away, the call must have connected. I say my goodbyes to farmer George, and he asks me to come back soon. “Of course I will, they are right here!” I say as I jog back into the house,I don’t see Abed anywhere, but I knew he was in the house, the stone walls carried his