⭐ Rafe's POV ⭐

There's not even a single second of my life that I don't regret marrying her but at the same time, there's not even a single second that I don't enjoy troubling her.

But right now, I'm definitely regretting it as she sat inside the car, parked outside dad's mansion, refusing to come out just because I dragged her here.

"If you don't come out right now, I'm going to carry you inside myself." I warned as I stood right outside the passenger's seat door with my arms folded.

I glanced at my wrist watch for the hundredth time and now, I had enough.

I opened her door and bending down, unbuckled her seatbelt as she started to smack my shoulder. "Leave me alone, idiot!"

Ignoring her, I picked her up in my arms (bridal style) and started to carry her inside and she started to curse at me.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you so much!" She yelled.

I glanced down at her and gave her a tight smile. "Thank you for your confession, Mrs Andrews; I have the same feelings for you."

She groaned loudly and pouted angrily, glaring at me.

I carried her towards the front door and gestured her to press the doorbell which she didn't do until I gave her a deadly glare.

A few seconds later, Raven opened the door and seeing me carrying a furious looking Leona, she chuckled loudly and gestured us to get inside.

I continued to carry her into the living room where everyone was waiting for us as they all looked at us in confusion, worry and amusement.

Everyone was seated around the couch, so, walking towards them, all of a sudden, I dropped her down on one of the empty couch.

She was quick to get up and glare at me. "You fucking idiot!"

"Yes?", I said in a saccharin tone to irritate her.

She took a step closer and grabbed my collar which caused everyone to stand up immediately in order to intervene except dad who sat there, face palming himself.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah, calm down, Leona, calm down." Uncle Matt got in between us, gently pushing both of us away. "There's no need to be violent."

"Uncle! Please tell him to stop troubling me." She whined, grabbing uncle Matt's arm and placing her head on his shoulder with a pout on her lips.

Uncle wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Rafe. She's like my own daughter so you better not try to hurt her again."

"Seriously? All I did was to bring her here and she is creating a fuss out of it." I defended myself.

"He didn't let me get ready nicely, I couldn't even wear my earings!" She complained.

"You weren't going to do modeling that you needed to get ready nicely." I spoke and behind me, Harris chuckled and so did dad.

She glared at me and took a step forward only to be pulled back by uncle. "It's okay...I'll handle him."

"Um...why don't we all have dinner now, I'm really hungry." Dad interrupted, diverting the topic.

Mom agreed with him and left to set the dining table along with aunty Delancy.

I sighed and was about to move away when Harris approached Leona and engulfed her in a hug making me freeze.

Dad and uncle were engaged in a conversation and Raven left to God knows where and Addison was not home since she was on her Cricket tour.

When they were still in each other's embrace and talking and giggling softly to themselves, I took a step closer to them and cleared my throat loudly.

"If you both are done confessing your love to each other then come have dinner", I said in a sharp tone, shooting daggers at Harris.

Leona rolled her eyes and stepped away from him and walked past me making sure to bump her shoulder with mine harshly.

Harris was about to follow her but I caught his arm firmly. "Stay away from her."

"Why, brother? Do you have any problem?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Yes. She's a married woman, have some shame and stop flirting with her."

"Flirt? She's my best friend, why would I flirt with her?" A mischievous grin formed on his lips. "Besides, she's your wife just for six months...after that, she's a free woman and maybe then I will marry her instead, hmm?"

I gritted my teeth and prevented myself from lashing out at him infront of our fathers. He was riling me up on purpose. "Best friend or not, stay away from her."

He yanked away his hand from my grasp and started to walk away but stopped on remembering something and took a few steps back and smirked slightly. "Tell me, brother...are you jealous over your wife?"

My nostrils flared and my jaw clenched as I looked away. "I'm not jealous!"

He patted me on my back. "Yeah, sure. Then I am going to talk, flirt and do what not with her to make you jealous; let's see how long you take to admit it yourself, okay?"

"Harris!" But he ran away before I could beat his ass.

.

.

.

At the dining table, Leona sat beside me and I sat to her right while Harris sat to her left.

"Why do I have a feeling that there's another bomb they are going to drop tonight..." Leona muttered to herself which I heard.

I groaned lowly. "God no! I hope there wasn't a clause in the contract that stated that we have to produce a child within these six months too."

That made her choke on air as she started to cough hysterically and Harris who sat beside her and who was her 'best friend', quickly handed her a glass of water and gently stroked her back.

Do whatever you want, I am not going to react.

I resumed to eat my food without giving any attention to them.

I could hear him talking about something and she laughed wholeheartedly at that. That laugh sounded so melodious that it warmed my heart but then I realised something and...

My heart clenched. She never laughed like that when I say something. An indescribable feeling settled inside me. It shot through my veins like fire burning up my whole body in rage and my heart just collapsed in that fire.

I paused eating and took a deep breath to collect my emotions. It's okay... it's okay...

"Rafe...why aren't you eating?" Mom asked, looking at me with concern.

I offered her a small smile and started to eat before anyone questioned again.

Dinner ended soon and both Leona and Harris were the first ones to get up and Harris said to everyone, especially to me, "We'll be in the backyard..."

And they started to walk away but not before Harris looked over his shoulder at me and grinned.

I looked away and again didn't give any reaction to that. I noticed dad watching me carefully but I ignored it and got up to take a walk around.

With my hands stuffed inside my pockets, I walked around the house, lost in my thoughts.

I stopped in my tracks when I reached the glass door leading to the backyard where they both were.

There Harris had plucked a small flower from the flower bed and stuck it in Leona's hair making her smile softly.

My jaw clenched and my palm folded into a fist, craving to punch Harris.

Next, he said something to her and extended his palm towards her and she placed her hand in his as he wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her closer and they started to dance slowly.

I didn't realise I had tears in my eyes until a tear rolled down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away.

I don't know why...but it hurts.

She's my wife. He can't do all this.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

My head whipped to the side to see dad standing there, watching them too. He glanced at me and smiled sadly, wiping away my tears.

The hell I am crying for?!

I took a step away and quickly wiped away the tears with the back of my palm. "Um...n-no...I...um..."

He placed his palm over my shoulder. "I know how you are feeling right now. There's no need to deny it, instead it would be better if you accept it."

"Dad...what are you talking about? There's nothing to accept..." And I turned to leave and then I heard dad opening the door and calling out to Harris.

"Harris! Can you please come inside for a min, son?"

"Coming, uncle!"

I scoffed and walked away from there but just a few seconds later, I heard a scream.

Leona.

I turned around and ran towards the backyard and opening the door, went out to see her crouched down on the ground with her eyes shut tightly.

What the hell happened?

I ran towards her and crouched down infront of her. "Leona, what's wrong?"

"Butterflies!" She almost screamed with her eyes still closed in fear.

"Huh?" And I looked up to see two butterflies flying around above us. "Are you seriously scared of them?"

I noticed the tears falling down her cheeks. Okay...this is something serious.

Hesitantly, I extended my hand and gently touched her cheek with my fingers. "Hey...it's okay...they are not going to hurt you..."

Then all of a sudden, she threw herself at me, wrapping her hands around my neck, the impact of which made me fall back on the ground with her top of me, her face buried in the crook of my neck.

And my heart skipped a beat after almost thirteen years.

Slowly, I wrapped my hand around her shoulder loosely. "It's okay..." I whispered softly. And my hand tightened around her shoulder and I got up slowly and she wrapped her legs around my waist, clinging onto me like a child.

I got up, wrapping my arms around her waist making sure she doesn't fall and carried her inside.

Closing the door with my leg, I started to lower her down to the floor but she refuses to get down.

"We are inside... there's nothing here..." I assured her.

"Promise?" She mumbled against my neck.

"Promise."

She slowly lifted her head and first looked around checking for any danger and then she unwrapped her legs from around my waist and got down, taking a step back with her head lowered.

And then without glancing at me again, she walked away from there as quickly as possible.

I followed behind her and into the living room where everyone was.

I settled on the couch beside Raven and she sat opposite to me, beside Harris who was asking her about what happened.

I rolled my eyes and looked over to dad and uncle who said that they wanted to tell us something.

"So..." Uncle started to speak. "Leona and Rafe...we have actually assigned you both a trainer who is going to teach you some self defence as well as how to...um...shoot."

"What?" Leona and I both said simultaneously.

"Are you sending us on a war or something? Why the hell do we need a trainer?" I spoke up.

"It's for your safety, kids." Dad answered.

"You are hiding something." I accused, narrowing my eyes at dad who immediately looked away and cleared his throat.

"We are not hiding anything." Uncle Matt replied. "It's just for both of yours safety and the trainer will be coming from tomorrow at your house to teach you both. No more questions now."

"What? This is ridiculous...you need to explain properly." Leona argued.

"There's nothing to explain... it's simple. A trainer is going to teach you a few stuffs and that's it..." Dad answered.

"Why do we suddenly need to learn all of this? Are you guys involved in some secret Mafia work and now there's going to be a war with the other gang so that's why we need to be prepared?" I asked.

Raven smacked me on my head and I glared at her. "Of course not, stupid. We are not involved in any such things. It's just a precaution."

"You didn't need to hit me for that." I grumbled and she rolled her eyes.

There's was no point in arguing anymore. What they just said was final so I got up instead. "We are leaving now." I announced and gestured to Leona to get up too which she did thankfully without any arguments.

Everyone bid us goodbye and Harris walked us to the door where he kissed her on the cheeks saying goodnight and I glared at him and taking her hand in mine, dragged her away.