⭐ Leona's POV ⭐

I could hardly sleep that night as Rafe's words kept echoing in my mind.

"And for the next four months, you will remain my wife. You will remain mine and no one, not even your best friend can take you away from me."

"You are stuck with me for four more months, baby. And I am going to enjoy every minute of it."

What did he even mean by enjoying every minute of it? What is he going to do?

My brain thought it would be a really nice time to give me some wild suggestions on what he will be doing with me which made my cheeks go red.

Stop it!

I turned around in the bed and my breath hitched coming face to face with Rafe's sleeping form.

Unconsciously, he had shifted closer to my side facing me and his face a lot closer to mine as he slept, lying on his stomach, strands of his hair falling on his forehead and a frown etched on his face.

My fingers itched to touch him, once. Just once. To brush away the hair from his forehead in order to get a better look at him.

Slowly, I lifted my hand and cautiously brought it closer to his face. Then very gently, brushed away the hair from his forehead.

Noticing the lines of worry on his forehead, I carefully and gently smoothed them down. But it was of no use as he was back to frowning in a second and his nose scrunched up too for being disturbed.

I bit my lips to stop myself from chuckling.

I then brushed my fingers over his cheek which seemed to disturb him as he groaned and instantly retracted my hand fearing he would wake up and instance.

He turned around and laid on his back instead which scared me cause I thought he was waking up and I quickly shifted back which I shouldn't have because I fell down on the floor and a loud yelp escaped my mouth.

Ouch.

That caused Rafe to wake up and sprang up straight. "What happened? Is the house on fire? Or someone died?"

Then there was a pause. "Leona? Leona? Where are you?"

"I am on the floor, idiot!" I groaned loudly and he crawled to the edge of the bed and seeing me on the floor, bursted into laughter making me pout angrily.

"You are such a kid!" He laughed, falling back on the bed holding his stomach.

I sat up straight and glared at him. "I am not a kid! Can't adults also fall down from a bed while sleeping?"

"Yeah, whatever...", he said as his laughter subsided and he got up, wiping away the tears from the corner of his eyes. "Now go to sleep. And by the way, thanks for being stupid and making me laugh."

"Rafe Hanzall Andrews! I fucking hate you!"

You don't. A voice whispered inside my head and I shut it off immediately.

"Yeah, yeah...I hate you too, kid. Goodnight."

.

.

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I was in my office, late in the afternoon the next day, reading through one of the files when my office door was opened slowly and someone's back came in view.

I frowned when I recognised that it was Harris as he was being cautious and looked around outside, his back towards me and then he entered, closing the door quickly behind him.

Once inside, he let out a deep breath.

"Whom are you running from?" I asked amusingly.

He rolled his eyes and walked towards my desk. "Your husband because if he sees me coming here, he is going to kill me now."

"Why will he kill you? What problem does he have now?"

He shook his head and took a seat opposite to me. "Oh, you have no idea. He even complained this to dad for which dad gave me a nice scolding."

"But why? You are his cousin, aren't you?"

"He's going crazy, that's why."

That made me chuckle softly. "Well, he is already demented."

"Anyway...", he said, a wide smile forming on his face, "I have a very good news."

"And that is?"

He suddenly got a dreamy look in his eyes and he leaned back, smiling to himself. "That girl I told you about...well...I asked her out finally and she said yes!"

"Really?" I exclaimed. "That's so awesome!"

"Yeah..." He sighed happily. "I'm so happy right now. That's why I came here."

I hummed in response when I suddenly remembered what happened when I asked a boy out for the first time in my life. Unlike Harris...I wasn't that lucky. And never told anyone about that incident, not even Harris.

A gloomy expression took over my face which Harris noticed and he cocked his head. "What happened? Why are you so lost all of a sudden?"

"Um... nothing..."

"No, no, no, now you have to tell me. What is it?"

I sighed and contemplated on whether telling him or not. "Promise you won't laugh."

"Of course, I won't! Just tell me."

I was scared to even remember all that fearing all those feelings might come back.

I was sixteen and I used to love going to Sydney's central park whenever I was in Australia. For the past one year, I had been noticing a boy an year or two elder than me there who used to play cricket there every day with his friends.

He was cute and I thought of asking him out. Which I did, but it didn't go well because he was so straight forward and he looked at me in disgust saying that he would never date a girl like me cause I wasn't beautiful enough. That I was chubby and what not.

That hurt me really badly and I couldn't control my tears as I sat there on a bench, crying to myself for a long time.

Coincidently, Rafe happened to be jogging in that park along with his friend and when he saw me crying, he approached me and sat beside me on the bench.

"Such a nice whether for crying, isn't?" Was the first thing he said.

I was surprised to see him there and I quickly wiped away my tears. "W-what are you doing here?"

He leaned back and looked at me curiously. "Shouldn't I be the one to ask you that?"

"I...um...I came here for a stroll..."

"Alone? Where's your best friend?"

"He was busy..." I lied.

"Hmm..."

He noticed me staring towards where that boy was still playing and I sighed in defeat.

His looked in the direction I was looking and his voice turned serious. "Which one do I have to beat?"

My head snapped to him. "Huh?"

"Who hurt you, Leona?" He asked softly.

I shook my head. "No...um...no one...I'm okay..."

"Then why are you crying?"

I lowered my head and refused to say anything as more tears fell from my eyes.

Rafe remained silent, giving me time to cry my heart out.

When I finally stopped crying, I looked at him nervously. "Am I...not beautiful...?"

His jaw clenched and he got up and took my hand in his and started to drag me towards that boy and his group. "Who said it? Just point towards him?"

I tugged at his hand. "Rafe, no! It's okay...you don't have to... please!"

He stopped walking and looked down at me tugging at his arm. "I'm just going to talk to him...just tell me who is it."

I was unsure whether to tell him or not and he started to drag me again towards them and when they saw us approaching, they all stopped playing and started to whisper to themselves because they all recognised Rafe.

That boy walked forward and seeing him, I lowered my eyes, moving closer to Rafe and he noticed that and he gave my hand a squeeze and dropped my hand, walking closer to him.

I stood there silently and couldn't hear what Rafe was saying to him but that boy looked terrified and the only thing I heard in the end was Rafe saying, "Hurt her ever again and you are dead." And my heart skipped a beat.

He said something else too and the boy came upto me and apologised to me. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that--"

"It's okay..." I muttered cutting him off and he sighed in relief and ran back to his friends.

Rafe walked towards me and gently took my hand in his again and walked us to the bench I was previously sitting on.

He sat down beside me and I didn't realise that I was still crying until he wiped away my tears with his thumb, looking concerned.

My head was lowered, so he lifted it up with his index finger. "You are beautiful, Leona. You don't have to doubt it. He was an asshole, don't let his words get to you, okay?"

"Besides, if a man only loves you for your outer beauty, then you should simply tell him to fuck off." He added in a gentle tone. "Understood?"

I nodded my head making him smile softly.

"Now...do you want ice cream?" He asked and I slowly nodded my head, a small smile forming on my lips.

He got up to buy the ice cream when I got up too. "Rafe?"

He turned around. "Yes?"

Hesitantly, I walked closer and before I could change my mind, I wrapped my arms around his waist (since I was shorter than him) and hugged him tightly, placing my head on his chest.

His whole body tensed and he stood there frozen. I felt a little embarrassed thinking, he will push me away any second, but he didn't.

Instead, he wrapped his arm around me, hugging me back and I closed my eyes as a warm feeling started to arise inside me and my heart skipped several beats.

When a few seconds later, I pulled back, I got on my toes and placed a kiss on his jaw and took a step back as he looked at me in surprise and I bit my lips feeling nervous.

"I...I...I'll get the...ice cream..." He muttered and started to walk away but I noticed the blush that was on his cheeks.

And a soft chuckle escaped my mouth and I went and sat on the bench and waited for him.

A part of me feared that he won't return but he did, holding two ice cream cones in his hands, a vanilla choco chip in one hand and a strawberry in the other.

He handed me the vanilla one and I wondered how did he even know that I liked this flavor.

We sat there in silence, eating our ice cream while I secretly kept glancing at him and butterflies erupted in my stomach just by looking at him.

I never ever expected him to be so sweet to me. He was always finding ways to tease me, mock me, trouble me.

But that day he was being sweet to me, he could have simply walked away when he saw me crying, pretended to never see me there but he didn't. He stopped, he comforted me, assured me, wiped away my tears and made me smile.

And I knew at that moment that I was catching feelings for him, for Rafe, for the man I always hated and it scared me because he was 22 and I was just 16. Because he lived in Australia while I lived in America and I could see him only once a year. Because he hated me. Because he always saw me as a kid. And because I would never have a chance with him and my heart hurt at that thought.

But I pushed away those thoughts and tried to enjoy that moment with him.

He later dropped me home and told me to not go somewhere alone because I might get lost. I didn't argue with him and just left.

Those new found feelings made me so happy, as if I was on cloud nine but that didn't last long because the very next day at dinner, Rafe brought a woman along with him whom he introduced as his girlfriend and the tiniest of hope that I had, just faded away.

Later that day when I saw them kissing in the garden, it shattered my heart into tiniest of pieces, the pain was unbearable.

So, it was much easier to transform that pain into hate for him. So, I hated him, I still do.

.

.

.

When I finished telling Harris everything, his jaw dropped, he was so shocked. "You love him?"

I threw an pen at him. "What nonsense? Weren't you listening? I hate him. I just had feelings for him for a short period of time but I don't anymore, I hate him more than anyone else."

"Then why were you so against the idea of marrying him if you have feelings for him?"

"Have you lost your mind? I don't have any feelings for him. Why don't you get it?"

"Okay, okay...no need to get riled up."

I sighed as that memory played in my mind over and over again. Aargh! That's why I didn't want to remember that...now I will keep thinking about it.

"This is interesting..." He mumbled to himself and I raised a brow at him. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing! I was just wondering..."

"By the way, don't tell Rafe that I am going on a date and all." He added.

"Why?"

"Um...just like that...I don't want him to know..." He trailed off and it seemed as if he was lying but I didn't say anything.

"Fine."

We sat there talking about other things when there was a knock on the door and Rafe walked in which caused Harris to stand up immediately as Rafe glared at him. And I stood up too and came and stood beside Harris.

"What are you doing here?" Rafe questioned him sharply.

What problem does he has with Harris?

"Me?" Harris pointed to himself. "Me? What I am doing here? I am not here, am I? Oh my goodness!" He looked around acting to be confused. "How did I get here?"

He has definitely lost his mind today.

"Oh my goodness, Harris! How did you get here? Did someone teleported you here?" Rafe said, acting as if he believed what Harris was saying.

Harris walked closer to him. "Exactly, brother! I don't know how I get here. I think someone did teleport me."

Rafe's face blanked. "Get out!"

That made Harris flinch and he ran away from there before Rafe could lash out at him.

As he left, Rafe looked at me and started to take slow steps towards me. When he was close to me and still didn't stop walking, I took a step back for each step he took forward until my legs met the desk and there was no where else to go.

He came closer and closer and placed both his hands on either side me, trapping me in between him and the desk.

He kept looking into my eyes making me nervous. "I need something." His voice was low as he licked his lips.

"Y-yes?"

And he leaned closer making me grip the desk tightly and for a second I stopped breathing as his hot breath fanned my cheeks.

"Leona..." I hate how seductively my name rolls off his tongue.

"Y-yes?"

And then all of a sudden, he stepped back with the file I was reading in his hand. "I needed this file", he said nonchalantly and turned around and left from my office.

What the fuck just happened?!

Aargh! Fuck you, Rafe!

No, no, no...not fuck you...

I fucking hate you!

That's better.