Waking up the next day almost felt like I was still in a dream. Honestly the whole of last night felt like a dream, but here I was in Rafael's room. The whole room smelled like him, a faint smell of cologne in the air mixed with a natural musk that he carried with him. It was really gross and I don't understand why people like 'natural musk' so much, to me it just shows you don't take care of your personal hygiene.
I take a minute to wake up and I feel oddly refreshed, more so than any other night that I've been at college. I truly didn't want it to end but sadly reality is cruel and it was almost time for first period class. Knowing Cara, if I didn't show up at our dorm within the next ten minutes she would have a freak out on me yet again. Even though she's the one who locked me out of our room I would still be the one to suffer the consequences.
When I awoke and got out of bed I let out a long yawn and a big stretch, the kind where your whole body twitches; those are the best kind of stretches. Reaching over to my phone to look at the time I quickly snapped awake, I had exactly ten minutes to get dressed and get to class. Panicking, I jumped out of this stranger's bed and threw on the outfit that I had on the day before. Not caring that my hair wasn't brushed or that my makeup was still on from the day before, I rushed out of the door to sprint off to class(the amount of sprinting I've done in the past 24 hours is inhumane I swear). Just as I'm about to walk out the door there is a note sitting to the right of me that caught my eye, well mainly because it was addressed to me.
"Meet me after school like we talked about last night. It wasn't a joke, and I wasn't trying to mess with you, don't back out on me now. You're bestie, Rafael."
Wait so that conversation actually happened last night? I thought that it was just something from my dream, because I thought there was no way me and my mortal enemy were about to team up. To my surprise, though, it was not a dream. This was real life and there was no telling what he would want to make a deal on.
I snap out of it and sprint out of the door but when I step out of the door a woman is waiting outside of the door. She has dark black hair, brown eyes, and is wearing all pink. We have a staring contest for a couple of seconds before she finally speaks up,
"What were you doing in Rafael's room?"
"He forgot something in his room and asked me to get it. He said since he didn't have time in between classes he just wanted me to grab it on my way back to my dorm." I say, hoping that my lie was believable.
"I know you aren't telling the truth," she says, crossing her arms and getting closer to me, "I know you were in there last night. I watched both of you going in there and watched the whole ordeal with the RA. If you don't want me to tell Neil what went down in there I suggest you listen loud and clear to my next words. Stay away from Rafael, I won't warn you again."
Before I could even respond back she gives me one last glare, turns around, and walks away. I have no idea who that just was but I have a feeling I don't want to know. I'm guessing it's just another Rafael obsessed woman, I mean the man practically has a whole fan club so I wouldn't be surprised. Something about that felt off, though, the way she spoke seemed like she meant business. I don't really know nor do I have the time to care right now as the clock was ticking for my class to begin.
Luckily the fates were on my side today and I made it to class with thirty seconds to spare. Sweat dripping down my face and back I sit down in the back of class and take those thirty seconds to cool off and take a breath. I look around because I feel something piercing the back of my head, only to find Cara death staring at me from the front row. Even from all the way down there she really knew how to intimidate someone. I mouth sorry to her and shrugged my shoulders, but what did she expect? She not only locked me out of my own room but laughed while doing it, then expected me to be to class on time. She truly is something else.
We get to my most hated period of the day, the period where Rafael is student teaching. Not only did I have to see his face all of last night, I would also have to see it in class and later today. That quite honestly is too much torture for a poor soul like me to handle. Nonetheless I would play along nicely and hear him out on what he needed to say, although I'm most likely going to say no. I mean come on we are talking about Rafael here, nothing good can come out of what deal he has to propose. He's rich, all the ladies want him, and he's cocky. He knows he is too which is why he plays on all of those things. Whatever the case, I would at least be semi open-minded to his deal.
Class started and the professor was talking about the end of semester project already, which counted for 70% of our final grade. When he told the class that they all started freaking out, but the second Rafael said it was going to be okay they all settled down with this dumb smile on their faces. I swear half of them had drool running down their mouths.
To be fair, looking at him from this angle I could tell why the ladies loved him. He was quite handsome and his hair was looking amazing today, he was honestly perfection. Hold on, what am I thinking? My god is this the power of handsome men? Gross. I see why so many women fall for him and his charms, it's almost hard not too. I, however, know the worst side of him. I mean I was raised that way so I know how to spot the worst in everyone, it has stopped me from getting hurt by people several times. Although sometimes I do wish that I was able to get the chance to learn.
Class was over and as I was walking out I felt a hand on my shoulder stopping me. I thought it was Cara about to tear me a new one again but when I turn around I see it's Rafael's hand on me.
"I beg your pardon, why are you touching me?" I say, grabbing his hand off of me.
"Apologies but I didn't want to yell with everyone around, there would be too much attention on the both of us. Are you ready to go?" He asks.
"Ready to go for what? I still have another class after this."
"Just skip it then, I feel like once you hear my deal those classes won't seem as important."
"Please tell me you are joking. There is no way you just asked me to skip a class. You know I'm almost at the top of our grade and have perfect attendance, I'm not going to ruin that because you asked me to. Your deal or whatever can wait another hour and a half. If it can't, then it truly is not that important, please learn some patience." I said, then I turned around and walked away before he could get another word in.
Who does he think he is? Must be nice to be able to slack off whenever you want too. Some of us have consequences to our actions. I wasn't spoon fed everything, I had to work for what I wanted or else I'd be thrown out. Whatever open mind I had about his deal was gone now.
I snapped out of it, took a deep breath, and headed off to my final class of the day. I couldn't let this entitled jerk ruin my day, not when it started off so well. I'll still talk to him but only because I promised to last night, also so that I can tell him no to his dumb face. The satisfaction from the look on his face will make my entire year. No matter what he says I will say no.
The school day was over and I headed to the spot where he told me to meet him, the cafe just off campus. It was a small local place that not only made amazing coffee but also had amazing food. For a place that was mainly run by college kids, they really knew what they were doing. The place was always clean and had the most wonderful scent to it. Although the prices were absolutely ridiculous, I was still going to go there at least twice a week to get coffee. I don't care how much it costs. I will absolutely go broke for some coffee.
When I get there I see Rafael sitting in a corner reading a book. I can't quite make out what he is ready but it looked like a very long book. I look around and see a bunch of girls whispering about him, no matter where he went he brought fans with him. Again, if you were someone who didn't know how he acted you would think he's gorgeous. He is literally just sitting there reading a book and he looks like a supermodel who just got done with a shoot.
I shook my head, sighed, and walked over to him. I was standing in front of the booth until he noticed me, then when he finally noticed he gave me a soft smile and gestured for me to sit down. I wasn't falling for that innocent smile so I kept a cold face the entire time and sat down on the opposite side of the booth.
"I'm here. What deal would you like to make?" I say, staying with a monotone voice the entire time. Also making sure my face had zero expression.
"No hello first?" He said, winking and giving me a smile.
I gave no response to him and just raised my eyebrow.
"Alright, I see we aren't in much of a joking mood today," he says, his smile fading, "anyways, I wanted to speak to you about a deal that would benefit the both of us."
"Yes, I know that is why I'm here. Please let me hear this deal of yours." I say.
"Okay, just hear me out please because it's going to sound a little ridiculous." He says, folding his hands in and out anxiously.
"Fine, I'm listening, please go on." I gesture my hands towards him.
"I won't go into full details on certain parts. I'll just need you to trust me on some things. Basically, the deal I want to make is for you to be my fake fiancé in exchange for money."
"I'm sorry, what? Please repeat that." My eyes blinked rapidly.
"I said, I want you to be my fake fiancé in exchange for money." His face showed no signs of joking.
"So I did hear you right," I took a deep breath, "what the fuck is wrong with you." I said, giving him a smile.
"Nothing is wrong with me, at least I don't think so. I'm being serious, Rhea. This is why I asked you to just let me explain before responding. I realize how absurd it sounds but please just listen to me before you make up your mind." He says, folding his hands like he's begging.
"Just let me mentally prepare myself quickly before you continue because that was completely out of the blue." I take another deep breath and a moment to just pause and think about what he was about to say next, "Alright, I'm ready so please explain. If it's a poor explanation I'm throwing iced coffee at you."
"Fair enough but I promise it will make more sense when I explain. My parents have forced me into an arranged marriage. They want me to continue the family legacy and for that to happen I need a wife at my side. None of the male leaders have ever been alone, they have always carried a woman by their side. It showed that they were powerful and would be willing to do anything to protect those by their side. Marriage in my family isn't for love, it's for power, and I hate it."
He pauses for a brief moment to calm down, I could see in his face he was getting angry. Once he calmed down a bit he continued, "The woman my parents arranged me with is a woman I cannot stand, and I can never see myself falling in love with her. So that's where this deal comes in, you are to pose as the perfect fiancé and in exchange I will give you enough money to escape college. I know you said your parents were forcing you to be here, so I'll give you enough to pay them off so that you don't owe anything to them. It won't be for long, only enough to convince my parents that you are a better fit for the family than she is. So do we have a deal?"
It sounded too good to be true. He was going to set me free from all of this? I could finally have the life I always dreamed of having, one that was truly my own. Maybe it was too good to be true, I mean I know he is rich but how is he going to pay off all of the money I owe my parents. This is my third year of college and I already owe them so much because of how expensive this school was and for the fact I wasn't on any scholarships.
I wasn't going to accept his deal but now it has me really thinking. If he really is serious about all of this and will actually give me that money at the end, maybe it's worth it to tolerate him for a little while. Honestly I just needed more time to think about all of this so I responded to him, "Can I please just think about it for a little bit? This is a lot of information to process and I think I just need some space to think for a little while. Can I get back to you tomorrow?"
"Of course, Rhea. Take your time, please don't feel pressured by me like you have to have an answer right away. I appreciate, though, that you will have one by tomorrow. Just know that either way I will respect your decision. I know how crazy and untrue all of this must sound so I will completely understand either way." He pauses for a moment to grab his phone and then hands it to me, "Please put your number in my phone, that way when you make your decision you can contact me directly without having to hunt me down."
I take his phone, hesitant to put my phone number in my enemy's phone but I do it anyway. He's right, it will be a lot harder to tell him when I've made my decision if I can't find him.
After we exchange numbers, we both say our goodbyes and leave the cafe. I headed straight back to my dorm room as I needed as much quiet time as possible to think about this. It was a huge decision to make, one that could potentially affect my life in a major way. I know I said that there was no way of me saying yes but everything's different now. The stakes are too high for me to not at least think about it.
When I get back to my dorm I keep the lights off and go straight to my bed, throw myself down, and stare at the ceiling. Luckily Cara wasn't back yet so I didn't have to worry about any distractions for a while.
Could he really pay off my parents? Would I finally be free of this lifelong curse that has been put onto me? I mean with them paid off I could finally pursue what I wanted to, I could travel the world and discover new things. I wouldn't have to worry about any restrictions and I could finally discover who I am. Maybe I could even make a few real friends, not that I would know how to do that but at least that way I could learn.
On the other hand, though, this is Rafael Bautista we are talking about. He may have seemed sweet and genuine but he has teased me and pranked me way too many times for me to trust him. Hell, this could all just be some elaborate prank to give me payback for not only my outburst in class the other day but also for staying in his room the other night.
There were so many risks but also so many rewards as well. It was way too hard to choose on my own so I let the fates decide. I grabbed a coin from my backpack and decided that I would let this tiny copper penny decide my entire future. If it landed on heads then I would say yes, but if it landed on tails then I would tell him no and forget this ever happened. I toss the coin into the air where it flips a bunch then lands on my hand. I flip it from my palm to the back of my hand and when I lift up my hands I see my answer. Heads.