"Our greatest joy and our greatest pain come in relationship with others." -Stephen R. Covey- *** Clara had been avoiding Raphael's gaze the next day, she still felt hurt from what had happened the previous day and he was fully aware of it too. She would not come out for breakfast although the housekeeper had tried knocking on her door several times on Raphael's order. Sometimes when she was out of her room and he was also home, he would try making conversations with her but she always tried to find excuse for something else. Most of the time she would just lock herself in the art room, her cold attitude drove him insane. He felt hurt and rejected at the same time and it was not even entirely his fault. He thought he was starting to lose his mind. Raphael knew he messed up, he should n

"The best gifts come from the heart, not the store." -Sarah Dessen- *** Clara curled up in her bed with the blanket going all the way to her head, she constantly squirmed around and shifted her body to find a comfortable position, that was when her feet accidentally kicked the edge and she felt something round and cushiony on bed end sofa. Still half asleep, she pushed away her blanket and found a round white box with blue ribbon and a bouquet of white lilies above the cushion. Is it another gift? She rubbed her eyes and opened it up to find a gown. Pulling it out from the box, she stood up and laid it on the bed to get a better look at it. It was a cerulean blue open back gown with marshmallow white ombre at the bottom with white flowers embroidery vertically on top. It was a rather simple yet stunning design. Clara had never said it out loud but blue was actually one of her favorite color, as an artist, she was not supposed

"Whatever spiteful fools may say, each jealous ranting yelper. No women ever went astray without a man to help her." -Abraham Lincoln- *** Everyone on the table had their eyes on Clara for an obvious reason. It came as a shock to nearly everyone who was personally familiar with Raphael, even Corentin who never bothered much with people's lives was aware of Raphael's clean reputation regarding women. His eyes went down to her hand and he saw the engagement ring on Clara's hand. He was a bit unsure why but he was not truly pleased with the truth. "Is that true? Congratulations, I am happy for you two." Corentin spoke with a hint of sarcasm.  For whatever reason it might be, he felt a bit disappointed, he had hoped she was single and available, but something inside of him simply could not let her go despite Raphael's declaration. Yes, he had only met her once before that but that short

"The first step toward getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." -Unknown- *** The sound of water boiling screeched from the stove made Marcel put down the knife he was holding and went over to turned the stove off. He poured the hot water on the coffee machine and made two mugs of cafe au lait for himself and Giselle, who right at that moment sprung out from the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around her hair. She removed it and pat her hair dry as she walked toward Marcel in a semi purring motion like a kitten. "That smells delightful, have you put extra creamer on my cup? She touched his shoulder from behind, the sweet and gourmand vanilla scent of her shampoo overcame Marcel's senses. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before carrying the coffee cups on top of the dining table. It was starting to become their daily morning habits where he would make both of them some coffee while

"People who seek attention need all the help they can get." -Denis Waitley- *** It was a cozy Saturday morning, Raphael was drinking a cup of tea on the couch as he scrolled down through his tablet, reading the latest finance and market news on an independent site while thinking of how he was going to spend the day. He could finally have his Saturday in peace as he had finished work, though he was quite a workaholic, it was nice to turned his mind off from work a bit and enjoyed the present. Usually he had dozens of plan in his head for the weekend, one was having a quick travel to a neighboring city through car or just hang out at a nice cafe or restaurant for a change of scenery, but since having Clara, he was beco