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A fist landed on his face. One in his stomach. He landed a few of his own, too. But it was all such a back and forth that no one was winning.
Until the sirens blared.
The men, aware of what that meant, were trying to disentangle themselves, but Raf wouldn't let go. In the back of his mind, he heard the police sirens and somehow honed in on that thought, knowing he couldn't let go until they showed up so the perpetrators could be punished for attempting to assault the woman.
Yet when the police car drew to a halt, the officers coming out of it, it wasn't the two men who got placed in the back of the car.
It was Raf.
In his drunken stupor, he hadn't heard the men defending themselves and pointing out Raf as the aggressor. And with how drunk he was, the police didn't even question it.
He mumbled some things in his defense, none coherent enough to be taken seriously.
And that was how Rafaelo ended up being placed in a cell for the rest night. After all, the police couldn't deal very well with someone so inebriated.
It was in the early hours of the morning that Raf woke up, startled to find himself cold and without his blanket. As he opened his eyes, he recognized he wasnotin his dorm, and that his surroundings appeared rather bleak.
His state of mind became even worse as he was told why he'd been arrested, and that his parents had been notified.
At that news, he was one step away from punching himself for what an idiot he'd been.
Especially since it wasn't long before his mother's shrill voice rang into the station, his father's low mutter following soon after.
"My poor darling. What did you do to him?" She accused the policemen, one step away from doing them bodily harm as she saw the state Raf was in.
His white shirt was still stained with red from the jungle juice. Along the way, though, he'd also collected some dirt and grime marks, making him look like he hadn't bathed in weeks. And as Cosima stepped into his cell, hurrying to hug her precious baby, it was to be hit by the nauseating smell of alcohol.
"Raf, what happened?" she drew a sharp breath, worry evident in her eyes.
Raf didn't know where to start.
Damn it, but his one night out wasn't supposed to end like that. He wanted a brief reprieve from his lonely existence, not a stint in jail for reasons he still didn't fully comprehend. And he told his mother that much too—a little more embellished, of course.
He emphasized the fact that he wanted to make friends, so he'd accepted an invite to a party and he'd drank a little more than his share—none of it untrue.
She listened attentively, nodding. He could see right away as her focus shifted, from outrage to pity.
For all the love in the world she carried him, there were moments where he could see the pity in her gaze and the disappointment that her previous son would never live a normal life. Yet she'd never told him that. She'd accepted him with his faults and all the issues that came with hiscondition.
It was a bit startling to realize that his mother, the woman who'd schemed and plotted her entire life to get him on top, would be ok withnotfulfilling that dream.
But if there was one thing hisconditionhad helped him with, it had been to see the true of his mother's affection. Yes, she was an awful person—had been awful to everyone but him. Yet no matter how much he hated her for her part in his brother's suffering, he couldn't shake the inherent love he had for her—and he probably never would.
He saw her as she was. Flawed.
That didn't make her any less his mother just like that didn't make her any less guilty for everything she'd done.
Andthatwas a dilemma he warred with on a daily basis.
His mother continued to baby him while his father dealt with the logistics of his arrest. It wasn't long before he was let go, butnotbecause of his family's influence. Simply because the arrest had been a fluke.
Though Raf had been drunk out of his mind, and hehadbeen the one to initiate the brawl, he'd acted as he rightly believed someone was in danger. The CCTV showed why Raf might have thought the men were about to hurt the woman and he'd been given a slap on the wrist when the other participants had been called in, all confessing it had been some kind of kinky game between the three of them.
Raf had to reluctantly agree that it now made sense why the woman hadn't run, instead turning onhim.
"My darling boy, you can't do that from now on. How can I let you live by yourself if this is what you get yourself in…" his mother continued to drone on and on, coming with him to his dorm to see him settled. Deep down in her heart, she actually wanted to get him to pack his bags and return to living at home with her.
"You know how lonely I get," she sighed, sitting on his bed and watching him with sorrowful eyes.
