"Aren't you going to change?" Ruhi asked Rafael hesitantly when he set his plate on the table and sat down next to her.
She was glad no one saw what she did. Alisha and Michelle ignored her and showed each other some pictures of their nieces and nephews. Adira looked like she had a problem with Ruhi sitting next to Rafael. She stirred some creamer into her coffee with a grim face and refused to meet Ruhi's questioning gaze. Her husband, Eddy, Aaron, and Irene were very amused by the newly married couple.
"Your first fight, huh?" Irene asked Ruhi as Ruhi looked helplessly at Rafael.
"Correction: First fight today," Aaron chuckled.
Rafael ignored them and glowered at Ruhi with narrowed eyes and poked at the hash brown crusted quiche a little too hard with his fork. Her eyes lingered on him as he quickly gobbled his food.
"Looks like you don't need to eat. Are you just going to stare at him while he's eating and feel fu
The main pool deck and the adults-only sun deck were transformed into a nightclub with an illuminating atmosphere.The DJ was spinning some 70s tunes whilemouthwatering mojitos were being served on the house. "A twenty-four hour pizzeria and sushi bar! How awesome!" Ruhi said and grabbed a dark rum strawberry mojito. "Wait, wait!" Anita stopped her from taking a sip and put her ocean blue mojitonext to Ruhi's and clicked a picture. "Damn! Your sister is here." Dhruv said and started looking for Rafael. "Give her one of these free drinks. She will be rolling on the floor in no time," Ruhi smirked and movedcloser to the sundeck. She felt someone tug at her arm and turn her around to go back to the pool deck. "Come on. We will be eating some sushi." Rafael said to her, standing withAdira and Irene. Ruhi reluctantly placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her to the others. "There's a
Ruhi turned around to look at herself in the mirror when she tasted blood.Her lower lip was bleeding, and she was sure her neck was going to have at least five bruises. She could feel the skin tingling in several spots while her core was still on fire, feeling deprived of his closeness.Adira was flashing angry looks at her reflection in the mirror, but Ruhi ignored her existencefor a minute to understand what just happened.Her face was a shade of deep red and she couldn't help blushing, despite all the confusion.She hissed at her sister when she broke the silence, interrupting her excited thoughts."How does it feel? Stealing someone'sboyfriend, depriving them of the happiness they deserve?""What?" Ruhi turned around to face her sister. "Since when did you start siding with Alisha? You always like to take my opposing side, don't you? Doesn't matter who you support, as long as it isn't me.""I'm not talking about t
Ten dayslaterin San FranciscoRafael, Eddy, and Aaron were at Rafael's mansion to watch a football game.The family home is split into several interconnected villas with separate kitchens and entry exits. Ruhi's family wason the west side when they stayed for the wedding. Rafael's dad was more or less in the middle, grandma was in the southand Rafael lived on the far east end with Ruhi."Woah, that's a lot of plants. I thought we were in the wrong part of the mansion for a second." Aaron pushed a large palm leaf out of his way and headed toward the living room."It's all my little wifey's doing. She has taken over my space and turned it into a tropical jungle. And don't call them plants. They all came from her Florida home over the last one week, and she frowns when I don't use their proper names. This is Dracaena, the one that looks like swiss cheese is Monstera, and that one over there is called my ass!""
"Hell no!" Rafael said without blinking twice. He was sure he would do something stupid and she will stay mad at him for eternity. Ruhi gulped in fear when she saw him shirtless. Now she understood why he wanted the heater blasting so high in such cold weather...so that he could roam around almost naked. She frowned at how low his waistband was before looking away. They fought indirectly more than twice last week about how cold she wantedher room to be because she liked to bury herself underextra thick blankets. The maid conveying the messages for them went crazy and called in sick the next morning. "Please... I don't want your bed. I just need you in the same room." The sky rumbled some more, and she looked at him with puppy eyes, hoping he would let her sleep on the extra foldable bed that she saw in the closet once when she was moving some of her stuff to his bedroom to confuse the maids. To cope with t
"We are a conglomerate firm with the headquarters in New York. We have twenty-seven satellite offices and fourof them are in California." Ruhi nodded to the friendly brunettewhose name she forgot already out of tension.She wasn't sure why this lady seated in front of her was explaining things to her which she had already found outthrough her Google search."Would you like some coffee?" Another woman walked in to interrupt them. "We have some flavored hot chocolatetoo. Trust me, the raspberry dark chocolate one is awesome." She winked at Ruhi and left."That's Janet. She talks a lot. So avoid her when you have a lot of stuff to do." The brunette continued.Ruhi was confused whenthis person was talking to her like she was already hired. She was pissed for a second, thinking Rafael had something to do with it.There was another knock on the door and a tall blonde with blue eyes walked in."Hi, I am Caitlyn. Are yo
Rafael was sitting at thedesk inhis Berlin office, looking out the window at the frozen ground sparkling in the winter sun. A little boy and his mom were standing on afaraway sidewalk wearing woolen hats. Each time ice crackled underfoot, the little boy's face lit up, and he kissed his mom's hand in delight.A gentle knock on the door brought Rafael's attentionback to his computer screen. He checked his watch and resumed typing. His personal assistant, Khloe, set his coffee on the desk and took some files with her to the conference room where Rafael was headed to in a few minutes.'Dry and bitter, just like you.' Ruhi's words rang in his mind when he took the first sip of his morning coffee.It hadbeen two days that he flew into Berlin with Khloe, and he mentioned Ruhi to her at least half a dozen times without knowing.When eating sushi at lunch the other day with his associates, he was thinking about Ruhi's&n
Rafael's heavy jet, with elevenpassengers, took offthe brightly lit tarmac in Berlin two days earlier than it should have. As the engines roared and the strongwinds buffeted before the storm hit, his mind was racing with excitement.He watched the sun go down andlooked at his watch, wondering what Ruhi must be doing. There were thousands of miles to go before reaching home.It was around this time yesterdaywhen he realized it was soon going to be thirty days from the day he met Ruhi.'One month down and eleven more to go. Only eleven more,' he thought.The last four weeks went by in the blink of an eye. If time was going to run so fast, he wanted to make the most of it."I don't want to be in Berlin on the 30th. I can't be." He told his managing director and got everything canceled or delegated out of the blue.'Can't go a minute without thinking about her.' Admittingdefeat, he acknowledg
Antonio looked at Ruhi with a scrutinizing gaze to see if she knew what he was talking about."Y-you are rivals with them.But they k-kill...They go to kill? I mean, I'd have never imaginedthey would go to the extent ofkilling someone." Ruhi was so uncomfortable she couldn't form a proper sentence when she felt her father-in-law suspecting her involvement in the foul play."YOU WANT TO GET US INTO AN ACCIDENT TOO?!" Antonio yelled at his chauffeur for jumpinga red light and almost getting T-boned by a Mazda CX-5. "No one asked you to speed like that. The chopper is still in the air."Ruhi, who was already very embarrassed about her sister's in-laws, wondered if Antonio wanted to yell at her but was using the poor driver to vent out.He had reasons to be mad. First, it was her dad striking a deal with Adira's dadagainst his business interests, and now, with them attacking Rafael, she was sure he was regretting this allian