Ruhi went down to the home gym in the basement. What she expected was a single room with lots of fancy equipment. She was taken by surprise when she saw that it was bigger than the most popular gym she used to go to in Florida. There were several rooms and every one of them was occupied by the bodyguards who were training hard.Harry greeted her and offered his sympathies when he saw her looking around."Most of these are for heavy exercise. It may not be a good time for you to exert so much right now.""Oh, I'm just looking for Rafael. But there are so many rooms here. I feel lost."The number of different basements the house came with never ceased to amaze her. There was space to park Rafael's dozen cars and another half a dozen of the bodyguard vehicles, hold people as hostages with dangerous men guarding and torturing them, and still have enough space to build such a sophisticated gym. She wondered what else lay buried and which part of the

FLASHBACK | SEVEN YEARS AGO"What the hell is this piece of shit?!" Rafael was baffled when he saw that his dad took away his fancy Lamborghini Spider and replaced it with a Subaru Forester.Antonio had just finished signing a hefty check as a donation to Rafael's college while Rafael stormed into his dad's study. Every time Rafael messed something up, his dad wrote checks to shut people up. The scholarship amount he offered every year in his wife's name for the last fifteen years is also the largest among all contributors and patrons."You don't need a 400,000 dollar car for gallivanting all over the town.""Yes, I do... Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to drive an SUV as if I have a child in the back seat? I need my supercar back! Else, I'm dropping out of college right now.""There's no need. It's the third time this year the Dean warned me he will kick you out. Go talk to him and explain what happened. Give an officia

Rafael watched Ruhi and Eva as they ate ice cream, ignoring his existence. Ruhi introduced her new friend to everyone in the house, including the goldfish and angelfish.Oreo was overjoyed to meet Eva, while Chunky Monkey raised his nonexistent brow to scrutinize the stranger, just as he did when Ruhi first met him."He doesn't like me much either. He just looks scary but actually, he's just a big lazy boy. I took away many of his resting spots by placing my ceramic plant pots which he can't move.""Oh!" Eva got up to take her plush toy from where Chunky Monkey was standing so that he could lie down."Aren't you a sweetie pie!" Ruhi couldn't say why, but she loved Eva already. Every word that came out of the little girl's mouth was very cute and she wanted to pull her into her lap and kiss her. She wondered why she never liked kids until that point.'Maybe because she's Rafael's?' She felt a tightening in her chest at the mer

"Have you seen enough?" Rafael hissed at Aaron when he caught him staring at Ruhi."Your possessive ass needs to calm the---""What's happening here? Oh... Aaron, hi." Ruhi caught them talking near her door and pushed her notes away once she ended the call with Lisa."Hey..." Aaron was flooded with guilt when he saw how pale and stressed she looked. "Everything will be all right, Ruhi. You have to trust Rafael on this one. Listen to what he has to say and don't assume anything.""He's too scared to talk to me. Ever since his Kimmie returned, he's maintaining some ten feet distance, as if I will pounce on him or something.""What? I thought you wanted some space.""Did I tell you so? Aaron, you told me not to assume things. Why don't you tell your friend the same? He brings his ex here without asking me if I would be okay. He thought I'll stay at my apartment while he can have some quality time with his sweetheart and Eva. When I as

Ruhi smiled at the maid and picked Oreo in her arms as usual."My cutie pie! I missed you too... You put on so much weight like your lazy brother!"Grumbling about how heavy he had become, she carried him into her room and gave him one of her old shoes he loved to play with. Her phone went off after she had walked into the bathroom. "Ugh!" She thought it was her mom because her parents called her every day around this time and told her to just leave Rafael and come home.Her phone rang again when she stepped out of the shower, and Rafael was calling her this time. But Oreo didn't let her check the phone. He was barking like crazy and asking her to unlock the door."What's the matter with you? Let's go make some chai before talking to my mom. A strong chai for the headache I'm going to get because of your dad."Oreo always agreed with her and took her side when she talked against Rafael, but he was too angsty to pay