“Stay away from my fiancée.If you have something to say, say it to me,” Rafa interrupted, nearly losing his patience, but he smoothed the spikes of anger as much as he could.
Harmon’s expression hardened.“Very well…” he said.“So I’ll tell you instead.The grimoire you brought has no provenance documents.It’s appraised, yes.But without those documents, Sal will look unprofessional if she sells it.”
“Whether we sell is Sal’s prerogative.She understands the risk,” Rafa retorted as calmly as possible.“I’m not an art curator.But I am an entrepreneur, and I know that this will get people curious enough to come,” he said, narrowing his eyes.“Your concern is unwarranted.”
“Other people aren’t allowed to care for your fiancée?”Harmon responded in a biting tone.
“No, just not you,” Rafa snapped.
Harmon scoffed and offered a taunting grin.“It’s funny that you’re the one marrying her, but you don’t care about her career.”
Rafa shook his head, controlling his frustration.“You placed her in this situation, and I stepped up to help her.Now you’re saying I’m ruining her career?”
“She put herself in this situation.Unfortunately,” Harmon corrected him.“But you?You brought an unverified artifact here, knowing full well she will use it even at the cost of her credibility.”
“You doubt her because she is a storm you seek to control.”
“She is the storm Irespect,” Harmon argued.“Sal and I are cut from the same cloth.We both know what it’s like to toil for the love of people who do not want us.To be rejected, to seek retribution in the form of achievement.You couldn’t understand her even if you wanted to.But you and your siblings are impressive, really.Asian American head-turners and heartthrobs of rumored Castilian royalty and with mixed Chinese business smarts.”He scoffed.“Everything was given to you on a silver platter.Love never withheld opportunities at the ready,” Harmon recounted, looking emotionless.
Rafa nodded and grinned.“That’s right.That is the love and security I was raised with, and I will offer her the same thing.And I may not understand her completely, but I will spend the rest of my days trying to.”
Harmon breathed in deeply and paused as though weighing the next thing he was about to say.“She didn’t tell you?”he asked.
“Tell me what?”Rafa asked.
Harmon blinked slowly.“Ask her who she was with the night you came to Cebu.”
Rafa felt like his heart dropped to his gut, and he had trouble keeping a straight face.
Harmon shifted his weight and began walking the other way.“She had a reason for keeping it from you,” he stated, leaving Rafa to deal with the aftermath of his revelation.
Rafa’s feet remained firmly rooted on the pavement as shock waves of fear and doubt ran through him.Don’t jump to any conclusions,he thought as his mind raced.After a few deep breaths, he urged himself to turn and walk back to the BnB café.For all his foresight, he hadn’t expected this relationship curveball.Rafa was so trusting and so…complacent.Yes, that was the word.It had never crossed his mind that Sal could betray him.He shook his head.Don’t jump to any conclusions, he repeated.He’d have to ask her first, and only then would he be able to think.
Rafa knocked and entered their shared room.“Hey,” he said, and saw Sal seated on a chair next to the antique desk.She looked up at him and offered a smile.He remembered what Harmon had just said.She had a reason for keeping it from you.Why would she keep something from him?He looked at Sal and studied her.Was it true?Was she nervous about him and Harmon speaking?What was going on in her head?Maybe Harmon was right; maybe he understood her better because they were so similar.He hated it was so; he felt like he had just entered a battle he was unprepared for—but damn it, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.She was worth all the wins and losses his heart would bear.
Rafa sat on the edge of the four-poster bed and faced her.For a moment, they sat there in silence.
“I’m not sure if Harmon told you anything…but I love you.I would never do anything to hurt you.”
He gave a nod, still feeling deflated.“I heard nothing.But I think you have something on your mind.Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Sal looked down, eyes fixed on her lap, and said, “Harmon booked a room and I went up with him in the Dusit Thani.But it was because he had to tell me something in private...”
Rafa closed his eyes, steeling himself, and forced himself not to interrupt her.
“He told me about his life, his pain, and struggle, and I—we were caught up in such a vulnerable moment, and we kissed,” she said, breathless as she finished speaking.
“Did something more happen?”he blurted out and opened his eyes.
“No,” Sal responded, appearing surprised.
Rafa let out a sigh of relief.“Do you have feelings for him?”he asked.
Sal stared at him for a moment with a shade of perplexity in her eyes.“I don’t know.But when I’m with him, I feel seen, curious, and excited,” she said, glancing through her long lashes.
“But don’t you feel seen with me?”he asked, controlling his tone from sounding too confused or hurt.
“With you, it’s different,” she replied, her bangs falling to cover her face when she lowered her head.“With you, I feel warm, safe, and loved.”
