Chapter 14 A MOMENT WITH HIM
I jolted up, gasping out aloud to shrivel up the reality of my dream.
Immediately this happened, I got welcomed by a shock wave the moment I opened my eyes— almost sending me into a frenzy of panic attack.
There he was— for how long, I could not say, but he was there, staring at me or perhaps he had been watching me sleep all along.
I sat up immediately, pushing myself back until I hit the bed rest behind me with the blanket packed up in my hands to cover myself up.
The look in his eyes was calm— almost dead with a drizzle of nonchalancy within them.
And in his left hand, there was a cigar stick which he had just drawn a drag from, puffing up the smoke into the air and the non-entity floated towards me.
As its smell hit me in the face, it became a temporary monument of sharp reminder of the smoke from my dream, hitting me hard as it dragged me through the same painful memory lane.
My reaction to this was a sharp squint as I turned my head away from him at once while my hand instinctively covered my nose.
What was he doing here?
I raged at him in my thoughts with a question.
Oh, please! What was I thinking?
The whole house belonged to him, where else should he be or would be found if not his home?
Then the realization hit me out of nowhere.
He was alive.
Rafael had come back alive and he was sitting right before me, taking drags of smoke from his cigar stick while puffing it into thin air.
My heart fell at this.
Perhaps I had done it the wrong way or no one had listened to my prayer.
My prayer to the Lord as regards his return had failed.
We both turned silent and cold, watching each little movement we both made as none was willing to speak first.
As for me, I harbored a huge chunk of hatred for his existence within my heart as I watched him sit like a royal and as for him, I assumed he enjoyed watching me.
My face, my state of my vulnerability and the emotion I had painted all over my face.
I could have sworn I had seen him smile for a bit as he looked over at me and this made boil further, the time of my face changing every minute.
I couldn't keep up with whatever reason he was clearly enjoying the moment he was sharing with me, so I decided to get rid of him fast.
“Do you mind taking that off?” I finally breathed the first words, my eyes latched at his cigar stick.
He paused his drag, his lips shooting out in a little pout, then he took his eyes off me for the first time since they had been tugged at me, turning his cigar stick like he could speak to it before pointing it at me.
“This?” His coerced voice asked, releasing the rest of the unpuffed smoke from his mouth.
“Yes.” I replied, pushing the stray strand of hair off my face. “I cannot stand the smell of smoke— especially the one from your cigar.” I continued.
He could see the irritation in my eyes and tone and at once, he put the light from the cigar butt out on the ash tray already placed beside the chair he had been sitting on.
“I'm sorry.” He apologized.
I was a little glad he listened to me at once without complaining or trying to make up an excuse for himself, but I wasn't going to give a word of appreciation for being a ‘good boy'.
I rolled my eyes at him, shifting in the bed into a more comfortable position.
“How long have you been here for? Watching me like a creepy vigilante?” I demanded.
“Wo-oh, Vanessa! Slow down.” He laughed, raising both hands like he was about to surrender to something.
I scoffed.
“I do not think it is creepy watching you sleep all night and besides, I could spend my whole life watch you sleep peacefully— better in my arms because every time I have my eyes on you—”
He paused, leaning out of his seat to hitch towards me a bit.
“Your beauty tugs hard at my heart which equally makes me restless because you have not given me the chance to prove myself to you yet.”
All I asked was a single question that could have been wrapped up with a single straight answer.
But the words of this man with many other conjunctions smouldered up was creating a rift within me.
Before I could catch myself, a waft of warm blood rushed to my cheeks, warming them up in a blush, but I quickly reminded myself I should be angry at him and he deserves no vulnerable emotions from me.
I cleared my throat, still throwing a dirty gaze at him, hoping he hasn't caught me blushing at his words.
“I never thought you could make it back alive.” I said to him without a single care about how he'd feel.
“I prayed for your death, you see.” I continued with a mock in my voice.
But instead of what I thought was going to be an outburst of cold energy from him, Rafael's lips broke into a soft smile.
‘What is wrong with this man?’ I wondered.
“I think I know you too well already, Vanessa and I swear to always surprise you in every way possible.”
“Huh?”
He stood up from his seat and walked towards the bed.
Before I could make for an escape, he had trapped me within his arms, grinning from ear to ear at such close proximity which had driven out goosebumps on my skin.
“And to do that, I have to stay alive— for you and you alone.”
His hand reached for my chin, titling it up a little more to match his gaze while I fumbled under his touch, biting hard on my lips as my nervous eyes got a chance to look at him properly.
He had three buttons on his shirt undone and my little eyes wandered about a bit, stealing slight glances at the perk of his chest under his black shirt which I hoped he didn't catch me doing.
He was—
I couldn't bring myself to deny it.
Just the little fragment of himself that I have seen, Rafael was hot— that it burnt my throat that I couldn't admit it to his face.
But his well toned masculine voice brought me back to match his gaze which was meant to tease me badly.
“Eyes up here, Vanessa.” He commanded with a lewd grin.