Chapter 80 I DID MY HOMEWORK, KIMBERLY SLOANE.

Chapter 80 I DID MY HOMEWORK, KIMBERLY SLOANE.
KIMBERLY.

Irritation flashed her features as she stared at us but quickly wiped it off her face with a smug smile.
"Thanks for the other day, Kim. I never got to thank you properly."She smiled, assessing me from head to toe at the same time.
"Of course, you're always welcome."I grinned, returning her smile as well.
"Uhmmm, Rafael."She fiddled with her clothes bashfully but the pretence was evidently on her face."Can we talk? I need to talk to you about–"
I tried withdrawing his hand from my waist a bit but Rafael pulled me back immediately, his hot breath fanned my ears gently.
"I have other things to attend to."He said unapologetically.
Blaire bobbed her head nervously."Sure, that's fine."
I gulped down nothing as Rafael's fingers played with the tip of my top, invading my bare skin. "Kim, let's–"
"Oh, Mom asked of you today as well, you should check on her if you can."She said, referring to me.
"Of course, I will."I said.
Blaire gave us a lasting glance and started walking away from us.
I stepped forward away from Rafael immediately she was out of sight.
"Uhmmm, that was good."I laughed nervously, tucking the stray strands of hair behind my ears.
"What was good?"Rafael scoffed, all sorts of humor gone on his face.
I licked my dry lips and reared my thumb in the direction where Blaire took."I mean, what happened with–"
"Are we really going to keep on with this?"He huffed in frustration.
I stared at him dumbfounded as I don't know where he's taking this discussion to.
"Rafael, what do you mean?"
"You think every act of mine is performative, even what happened with the event planners earlier–"
"I thought we were over that?"
"Are we?" He scoffed, staring at me in disbelief.
I clutched my fists tightly beside my hip and lowered my face a little bit.
"I said I wanted to be real with you and make it up to you by being truthful and not treat you like someone who needed saving?"He recounted, as his Adam apple bobbed slightly.
"This is me acting on that damned promise, Kimberly. And it's up to you to decipher if what we ever had in the past was worth salvaging or dumping in the–"
"We should probably dump it."I blurted, cleaning the tears forming on my face.
His eyes twitched the moment I spilled those words."What?"
"We will always have differences, about your Dad, Rita, you and–"I trailed off, embarrassed.
Because how do I tell him that I will always pull him down with my burden every damned time?
And he would always see me as someone that needed saving? I don't want to heave him down with that.
"It's for the best of this–"I gestured into the empty air, swallowing the huge lump in my throat."Arrangement."
"Oh, sure."He answered indifferently, running his hands through his hair as he shoved his face away from me.
"Rafael–"
"I heard you loud and clear, Kim."He snapped, raising his head up at me.
"Yeah." I replied, nodding. The atmosphere became so tensed that a knife could cut through it.
"I will go see Rita first and join you with–"
"Sure."He agreed and started walking away.
I watched his frame disappear into the long hallway and pushed back the tears that laced my eyes.
"God."I sobbed, sinking to my knees. I palmed my face in my hands and cried into it.
Would it have been better if I was selfish enough to come out with the fact that I want something more than this charade we're trying to pull off?
Wouldn't that make me a self absorbed bastard?
After a while of crying my eyes out, I rose to my feet and branched at the restroom to wash my face.
I splashed water from the tap in front of the mirror on me and wiped it down with my hand.
Surprisingly, a figure was standing straight behind me, glaring at me.
"Hi, Kim." She craned her neck, mimicking how I greeted her earlier.
"Blaire?"I called in an unsure tone and spun at her immediately."What are you doing here?"I asked, gripping the edge of the sink behind me tightly.
She flung her hands weakly in the air and laughed."What do you think? I'm here to get a fucking cookie."
I sighed and dabbed my face with the hand towel."I'm not doing this with you."I scoffed, ready to walk away from her but she dragged me back by my hand.
"It's fake."She said slowly, gazing at me keenly.
My face crumpled with confusion."Your act?"
"Oh, don't play dumb with me, you know what I'm talking about."Blaire laughed, pushing her short hair to the back and I wondered how vile she could be to have time to pine on a man who clearly had no intentions to be with her while her own mother was busy fighting for her life on the sick bed.
"Keep beating around the bush and see if I have time to entertain your bullshit."
"The wedding. The fucking acts and public display of affection was all fake."She growled, pointing her forefinger at me accusatorily.
I shrugged, laughing."Yes." I said easily, lacking the strength to bicker words with her.
What's the use of holding onto something that would never actuate to something real.
I might as well start soaking myself into the stark reality of the situation of things so it won't hurt me badly later.
Her expression turned blanched as I replied her.
"Yes, it's fake."I affirmed again.
She gasped, her mouth slacked downwards as she gaped at me."So, you mean you deceived the public about–"
"Are you that concerned about the public or this is you beating around the bush like I said earlier?"I interrupted her, giving her a suspicious look.
Blaire darted her eyes quickly and cleared her throat."That doesn't hide the fact that you deceived my Mom."
I folded my arms and threw my head backwards a little."Don't worry about your mother, Blaire. She already knew the night Rafael and I had our first outing."
She turned pink immediately."What?"
"If this is your way of trying to get me to cower to you, then you're doing a sloppy job."I shook my head, huffing and ambled towards the door.
"What if I had something better?"She said behind me, her voice declaring confidence and something sinister that made the hair on my nape stood straight.
"Okay, you can have fun maneuvering that."
"Sarah Sloane."Blaire called behind me again.
My steps halted against the ground immediately and a deafening silence descended in the room, the only sound that punctuated it was the loud thumping of my heart and the erratic rush of blood through my body.
"What?"I managed to say, stunned. This would be the best time to feign ignorance and acted like her name never existed but it's been too damned long, too long I heard her name for me to act like it meant nothing to me.
Blaire folded her arms this time around and gave me a shit eating grin."I might be sloppy in other things, but not when it comes to finding people's darkest secrets."
"How did you know her name?"I said, my voice cracked. I resisted the urge to rub the searing ache surging through my chest in her presence, but it would do nothing but add more chips to her already raised shoulder.
"Oh."She laughed hysterically, cupping her chin in your palm."You're asking abo
ut how I know your mother? I did my fucking homework, Kimberly Sloane."