This afternoon, I received a text message on the phone Rafael left for me. With the address of our meeting place.

I was afraid to meet him again, but I had to go. I forced myself to change from my gray sweatpants and oversized white T-shirt into something more presentable. I picked a navy blue dress with a daisy pattern and a white shirt with lace stitching around the wrists.

I took a bus and ended up in front of the fancy restaurant. A lot of people were standing in-line on the sidewalk, waiting for a table, and my first thought was that it will take forever to get in there.

Then blue Maserati pulled up on the parking space near the restaurant and I must admit Rafael knew how to have a good entrance. Once again he was accompanied by bodyguards, do they ever leave him? Two girls standing in front of me started whispering a little too loudly about Rafael's handsome looks. I don't blame them. Was that really a man I was about to have dinner with? I could barely believe how crazy my life has become.

As Rafael's dark gaze set on me, I couldn't take my eyes off him. "Let's go," he said quietly, but I heard him clearly. I could smell a pleasant smell of his cologne.

When the waitress saw us, she didn't ask for our reservation. She didn't ask about anything at all. She just nodded in a polite greeting and started speaking with other customers.

"This restaurant belongs to Lorenzo, the staff knows me" Rafael explained, seeing my confusion.

When we entered the private room with only one table, the waiter was already there. He even pulled the chair for me which made me feel awkward and gave us the restaurant's menu. My eyes widened at the sight of the prices. As I was trying to figure out what to order, I didn't even notice when the waiter reappeared.

"What can I get for you?"

I couldn't decide there were so many options and all of them were probably delicious.

"I've heard pasta con and pepperoni cruschi is popular here. I personally am a fan of the orecchiette" Rafael said.

I wanted to order orecchiette, but I got worried about what he'd think of me if I ordered the same dish as he does, so instead, I picked the second option. My dish was served with cacioricotta cheese and dried deliciously sweet peppers with pasta and olive oil. Raphael also got a bottle of red wine for us. There was a whole process in which the waiter poured the product and the client (Rafael) tasted it. As I said, fancy.

"Let's start speaking about the details of our arrangement, shall we?"

"Y-yes of course"

"First, if we do this, we do this properly. Meaning, as long as we're married, you will perform a duty of a wife, at least at the representative level. You will show up at social events, some business meetings, and of course, you will move into my house"

I choked on wine. Ok, note to self. Don't drink when he talks.

"Excuse me, did you just say that I will move into your house?"

"Yes."

Oh, hell no.

"That's not a good idea. I am living with my teenage sister, she's still attending high school, it wouldn't be good for her to change the environment this suddenly..." I skipped the part when they threw her out of the last school. I just needed a good excuse to get out of this.

"There's enough room at my house for two guests. If you're still interested in our deal"

In other words, I either do as he tells or our deal is over.

"Why do I have to move in with you?" I asked, getting angry.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you have to ask. We're about to play an engaged couple and get married, but yesterday we didn't know of each other's existence. A lot of eyes will be pointed at us. We need to play a believable game"

"Okay, but what if we're a traditional couple, and we want to wait with moving in together until the wedding? Then I'd still have a couple of weeks-"

"We are a traditional couple in a sense - when I tell you to do something, you're doing it"

What?! How dare he? I suddenly felt the urge to grab the glass of wine and throw its contents on him. And then I imagined how he takes out the gun and shoots me right here and now, and I stopped myself.

I don't want to... no. I wouldn't dare to argue with him. But I still couldn't accept it.

"If we're traditional in that sense, we should be consistent and traditional in every sense, meaning I don't move in until the wedding day. After all, people, what would people think of me?"

"Ah yes. We wouldn't want any rumors about Ms. Snow's supposed indecency," Rafael said, playing along. "There's only one problem. If it's a really traditional relationship in all aspects, does it mean I'm allowed to fuck you on our wedding night?"

My eyes widened, did he really just said that?

He was smiling at me, clearly amused by my shocked expression.

"No. No, I didn't mean it like that" I think my face became beetroot red right now.

Change the subject, Eliana. Change. The. Subject. I need to calm down.

"B-but my sister has a difficult character, you know," do I really have to stammer right now? Yeah, good job Eliana throw your sister under the bus, "You wouldn't want her at your house"

"Some people would call my character difficult"

Did he just make a joke?

"What if she won't listen to you? Or act rudely? That's Casey, she doesn't listen, I am worried that-"

"Eliana, relax," he said, stopping me from continuing that sentence. "I won't hurt your sister no matter how rude she is, she's a kid"

"Alright, I- okay, fine. Let's say I will move in with you. At some point... in time" I will just try to postpone it as long as I can.

At that moment we finished eating and Rafael paid for our meal.

"Excellent. We can go then" he checked his watch and stood up "I have another two hours, it should be enough to get you home, so you could pack your things"

"Now?!"

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Dear friends,

If you have any questions about Eliana, Rafael or any other character of my story feel free to ask. Who knows maybe they will answer you? 👀

Thank you so much for reading my story, there are about 20 of you. That's a classroom already. 😂

I hope I will feel the motivation to continue with this story but tbh rarely anyone clicks on it, it's low in rankings too so that's a little depressing.

Anyway have a great day and I hope you enjoyed today's update! ♥️