All Chapters of Paid To Pretend, Destined To Love: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

74 Chapters

SILK AND SATIN

The final note of the music faded into the hall and, for a moment, the entire room reacted at once, applause rising in a steady wave that filled every corner of the space. Rachel remained still for a second longer than necessary, still trying to settle back into herself after the dance, while Joseph stood beside her with a quiet composure that did not fully match the intensity of what had just happened. Abuela was the first to approach them, her steps were slow but certain and firm. When she reached Rachel, she looked at her with a calm approval before saying, “You looked beautiful with him,” Everyone stood up to give them a round of applause. Abuela continued;“You're welcome to the family, beautiful lady. We are the one and only Delgados in town and we are pleased to have you here with us.”Everyone in the room chorused “yes” in agreement before Isabel ruined the night mood and Rachel’s brief response of thanks came out softer than she intended. That fragile moment, however, did n

ENTRE MUNDOS

The car was occupied with silence. Joseph kept his gaze on the outside view. Rachel on the other hand was lost in touch with what was going on around her. Her mind was elsewhere. She thought about what happened a few minutes ago. She had left unsaid at the Delgado estate and allowed her body to carry the residue of the evening like a weight she could not set down. Joseph loved the absence of Isabel and every other member of the family. He was finally free from the fading echo of voices and the unending fake laughter. “I’m sorry,” Joseph broke the silence which settled between them. Rachel turned to look at him. For a moment, she did not know what to say. The apology felt different from what she expected. It was not simply about what Isabel had said. It was not even about the uncomfortable dinner. It was obvious that Joseph was apologising because he believed she should never have been put in that position in the first place. Rachel held his gaze for a moment before looking away agai

THE SEARCH

That night, Rachel could not sleep. She reached for her phone to search for the name she had heard too many times in one evening to ignore. Eventually, she moved to the couch, set the phone down, then picked up the dress she had worn earlier and folded it neatly into her wardrobe. Her phone lay on the table beside her. She had told herself it was simple curiosity, nothing more than confirming a name she had heard too many times in one evening, but curiosity did not usually leave this kind of restlessness behind. And it was not jealousy because that did not come the way she would have expected jealousy to feel. It was something more unsettling, something closer to comparison. She picked up the phone again, then opened her Instagram. She hesitated before searching for the name Vanessa Torres. She could not find anyone who fit the description of the Vanessa she was looking for. After a few minutes, she decided to look for Joseph's account on Instagram. In a split of a second, he saw his

BOUNDARY

The next morning, Rachel arrived at the office earlier than most of her colleagues. She had not slept well. Her sleep had been broken, and she woke up several times during the night. By the time she got to work, she felt tired, but she was used to working like this. The office was still quiet when she arrived. A few people were already at their desks, and others were just coming in. The usual sounds of typing, phones ringing, and soft conversations slowly filled the space. Rachel went straight to her desk. Everything was where she had left it the day the last time she was in office..She sat down, placed her bag beside her chair, and turned on her computer. Before she could properly start her work, her work phone rang. She picked it up.“Good morning, Sterling Tech support, Rachel Martinez speaking,” she said.A man’s voice came through immediately. He sounded annoyed. He complained about a problem that was not fixed the previous day. He spoke fast and did not give her a chance to inte

HOME

Rachel arrived at the hospital just before midday on Monday. She had been called earlier that morning and told that Benjamín’s condition was stable, but he would not remain in the hospital any longer than necessary. The caller said that he could continue recovery at home. He still needed rest, medication, and regular check-ups, but he no longer required admission. Rachel stood in the corridor for a few seconds after the call ended, holding her phone without lowering it immediately. The information did not feel dramatic, but it settled on her mind in a steady way, like something that would not leave once it had arrived. She felt relief and also felt a heavier sense of responsibility settle. When she entered the room, Benjamín was already awake. He looked better than before the surgery, but still weak. He turned his head slowly when he saw her.“You’re early,” he said.“I left work,” she replied, moving closer to him.A nurse entered shortly after to complete the discharge process. She

ROUTINE AND RESPONSIBILITY

Rachel woke up early, before her alarm went off. For a few seconds, she stayed still in bed, staring at the ceiling while her mind adjusted to the new day. Then reality came back to her slowly. Benjamín was home now. He needed rest, medication, and constant care. And she still had to go to work. Nothing in her life could pause. She got up quietly and walked into the living room first. Benjamín was already awake. He was sitting up slowly on the couch, adjusting his position with care. He still looked weak, but there was a small improvement compared to the days before.“Morning,” he said.“Morning,” Rachel replied. She looked at him closely, checking his face, his breathing, the way he held himself. It had become a habit now, something she did without thinking. “How are you feeling?”“Tired,” he answered. “But okay.”“You look better,” she said.He gave a small nod and leaned back slightly into the couch. Rachel did not sit for long. She already knew how the morning routine went now, an

NEAR MISS

On Wednesday afternoon, Rachel was still at work. The office was calmer than the morning. Some people had already started finishing for the day, while others were still completing small tasks before closing. Rachel was at her desk going through emails and clearing pending work. She checked her phone once or twice between tasks, mostly to see if there was any message from Benjamín. There was nothing urgent, so she continued working. After a while, one of her co-workers walked up to her desk.“Rachel,” she said, “are you going home soon?”Rachel looked up. “Not yet. Why?”“I’m leaving now,” the woman said. “We stay in the same direction. We can go together.”Rachel thought for a moment. “Okay. Wait for me. I’ll finish soon.”“Alright,” the woman said. “I’ll wait downstairs.”Rachel returned to her work and finished what she could. She closed her files, logged out of her system, and packed her things. Before leaving, she sent a quick message to check on Benjamín, then stood up. A few min

JOSEPH’S ABSENCE

Rachel saw Joseph’s message later that evening. He had sent the message before she left work but she was too busy to notice it. She had been dealing with customer complaints when her phone vibrated. She looked at the screen and saw his name. For a moment, she just paused, then she opened the message.> “I will be out of the country for a week. Italy. Business and personal matters. I won’t be at the office. Take care of yourself.”She read it twice. There was nothing complicated in it. It was just a piece of unnecessary explanation and no extra explanation. She knew she had no right to ask further questions. The man was the CEO whom she had private deal with. She was surprised that that was what he said he had to tell her. After a short pause, she typed a reply.> “Okay. Safe trip.”She sent it and placed her phone back on the side of the bed.The next morning, Rachel arrived at Sterling Tech like usual. She greeted the few people she met on their seats and went straight to her desk i

THE LONG WEEK

Rachel noticed the change in her supervisor’s attitude towards her before anyone explained it to her. It started on Monday morning when the office felt slightly more crowded than usual, not because of clients, but because unfamiliar faces were moving between desks with printed schedules in their hands and quiet instructions being exchanged at reception. By the time she logged into her system, she was already being informed that two temporary interns had been assigned to Sterling Tech for the week to support operations during staff shortage. No further explanation was given, and no one seemed interested in discussing why the shortage had suddenly become important enough to require new people.The two interns were introduced briefly during the morning briefing on Wednesday. They were both young men, newly arrived, still adjusting to the structure of the office. One of them was Étienne, a French student on internship placement, who spoke first, polite but uncertain, carefully choosing hi

IMAGE

Rachel did not plan to check anything that night. It began like most of her evenings had started recently, quiet and without structure, with Benjamín already resting on the couch and the apartment settling into its familiar silence. She had finished what little she could manage at home, cleaned the small space around the kitchen, checked his medication twice even though she already knew the times, and then sat down without fully committing to rest. Her phone was in her hand out of habit more than intention, the screen lighting her face in a soft glow that made the room feel slightly farther away than it actually was.She opened Instagram without thinking deeply about it. It was something she had been doing more frequently in small moments of pause, not because she was interested in anything specific, but because it filled the gaps between exhaustion and sleep. She scrolled slowly at first, seeing familiar posts, updates from coworkers, random content that did not stay in her memory fo

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