How could he be so comfortable with any of this?
Susan couldn't help but get herself worried with how Rafael was so quick to act like his life was not just threatened a few seconds ago. With the way he got down quickly from the car and smiled at the butler,
just how immortal did this man actually think he was?
She drew a deep breath as she stepped away from the car just as it drove off to the garage. She could see Rafael inhaling as deep as he could with his face, raised to the sky and his nose in the air.
It just had to feel so good to be back home.
"What is it Susan?" He asked still facing the sky. He could sense something was wrong and it wasn't just because he could feel her staring at him but also coupled with the fact that she hadn't said a word to him since the restaurant.
"If something is bothering you, you should talk about it."
He finally drew his gaze down then straight at her. She let out an exasperated sigh and walked slowly to him. She came to a halt right in front of him.
"What is it?" He asked looking right into her eyes.
"I'm really worried about you sir." She said.
Rafael narrowed his gaze on her
"I know it's out of place but I can't help but feel Victoria's threats shouldn't be overlooked." She went on. "I'm scared of what she might do to you if we keep deciding to push on with this."
She wasn't going to stop or be discouraged by Rafael's silence.
"What is it about this case sir? Why won't you leave it alone? I mean, we won the first, we got Ms Silver out of jail, are you really going to sacrifice everything you've worked so hard for, everything you've built, are you willing to put it all on the line just for her."
Rafael scoffed
"You think I'm doing this for her?"
"Then why? Why are you doing all of this?" She asked him "I know what you're going to say, I know you'd say you don't have anything else to lose more than you already have but- I don't know what to think. To be honest, I'm scared something terrible is going to happen to you."
She was breathing fast now. She was nervous. She couldn't even bear to look at him anymore. She was so scared. She had her eyes focused on her hands now, a large frown covered Rafael's lips as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"And if anything bad happens to you, I don't know what I'd do. If you get hurt in all of this-"
"Hey," he rushed to her. "Hey," he quickly reached for her hands and then held them. She slowly turned to look at him. She almost had ears in her eyes. "Nothing is going to happen to me."
"You don't know that." Her voice broke. "The Silvers, they are quite good at making someone disappear. Look what they did to that lady, what if they do worse to you-"
"Nothing is going to happen to me." He assured her, cutting her off. She didn't look convinced. "I promise." She exhaled. For some reason she believed him, she wasn't trembling anymore. She wasn't scared anymore.
Standing there, holding his hands, looking at this man in front of him, she was at peace. She exhaled softly and then let out a tiny smile.
"Are you okay?" He asked her squeezing her hands and then letting them go. She nodded and then took a deep breath. She looked around pretending not to be so embarrassed as her eyes slowly rested on the house.
"You honestly don't have to worry yourself this much." Rafael still had his eyes on her as he noticed the smile on her face turn to a frown immediately, her eyes still focused on the house.
"S-ir?" She stammered. He raised his brows,
"Mnn?"
"W-why is that window open?"
"W-window?" Rafael slowly turned to the house, narrowing his eyes to where she was pointing at. The first opened window after the balcony, carved in a tiny arc at the middle of the building.
Rafael felt a frown grow on his face immediately. It only took a second, a second for him to take to his heels. He ran away from Susan immediately, his focus right at the front door. Susan followed him as fast as she could.
"Welcome home sir," Lucy almost fell to the ground the moment Rafael ran past her, bumping her slightly on her shoulders. He wasn't even paying any attention to anything that was happening around him. He just ran to the stairs, his loud footsteps alerting Benita from the kitchen.
"What's going on?"
She stopped Susan as fast as she could. The last time she had seen him in that state was four years ago. What on earth could have possibly had him on his toes?
"Someone just opened the windows in Kamsi's room."
"What?" Lucy blurted out at the top of her lungs just as the butler joined them in the hallway. Benita was so confused. She had no idea what they meant till it finally dawned on her .
Rafael ran up the stairs, jumping as much stairs as he could, while the rest of them tried to keep up.
He hurried down the long hall, towards the direction of the room the window was in. He stopped the moment he noticed someone walk out of it with a mop stick.
It was Olivia.
She had a scarf around her head and another one around her nose like she was trying to protect them from the dust while she tried to shut the door.
She drew a deep breath, raising the back of her palms to her forehead to clean off the beads of sweat from it just as Rafael drew closer to her, his eyes glued to the mop in her hand, dragging his footsteps as slowly as he could.
She pulled her scarf down the moment her eyes met his, trying so hard to force a smile on her face. She didn't have to act like how she felt, devastated.
"Mr Rafael." She waved at him as he drew closer, widening her smile but of course, he wasn't getting the joke. Rafael stopped the moment he got close to the room, he glared at her for a second. He looked so surprised, so confused and scared and it made her worry.
"I-is everything okay?" She asked him as he looked at the room, like he could see anything with her standing in his way.
"What were you doing in there just now?" He asked her in the most despair tone ever, his voice trembling like he was scared of her answer already.
"H-huh?"
Her eyes turned to the stairs as soon as she heard everyone else run up, breathing as fast as they could. They all had the same look on their faces. It was like Lucy was trying to whisper something to her, to warn her but she was just too slow. Why were they all like that?
"Get out of the way." Rafael put a hand on her shoulders and pushed her away as hard as he could just so he could get in. Olivia almost fell to the ground before Benita and Lucy rushed to stop her.
Susan just stood there, taking tiny steps as she watched Rafael walk into the room. She had her first two fingers in her mouth, biting them anxiously like she was hoping he didn't come out of that room with the expression she had in her head.
It took a few seconds right before Rafael stepped out of the room.
That was it, the expression she had feared. She let out a weak sigh as she watched Rafael come to a stop right in front of Olivia. He swallowed hard. He wanted to say something, he really tried to but he was just too shaken to even look at anyone.
His hands were trembling even as he rubbed his forehead, trying to control himself from lashing out. He needed to breathe, he had to.
Olivia looked at him closely. She couldn't understand what was going on but she knew it wasn't good.
"W-What's wrong?" She whispered to Benita who slowly held her hand and pulled her behind her. They were giving Rafael time to pull himself together.
"Sir," Susan took a step forward to break the silence right before Rafael stretched a hand to stop her from saying more. He dropped his hand, finally getting the courage to stare at Olivia.
"Wh-" He paused and then exhaled, he was running out of breath. It looked like he still needed time. "What did you just do?" He asked her. "Uhhhh-" his voice broke as he scratched his brows, resting his hand on his hips. "Who permitted you to go in there?"
"Rafael," Benita asked staring at him with her hands stretched out. "Jiri nwayo inugo Nnam?" She said as her voice broke "Calm down-"
"I asked you a damn question!" Everyone shook as he yelled at the top of his voice. Everyone including Olivia.
Why was he so upset?
"I just cleaned the place a little bit." Olivia was trembling now. "I-I had no idea it was going to upset anyone."
"You just cleaned- who asked you to?" He glared at her, "Didn't I specifically ask you not to meddle around or touch anything?"
"How was I supposed to-" she whispered "The room was really dusty. I was just trying to help."
"Shhh." Benita looked at her with the corner of her eyes. She had to stop her from talking.
"What help?" He asked her "Did I ask you for your help? just who do you think you are pocking your nose into other peoples businesses? Help me? You couldn't even help yourself out of jail how do you expect to help anyone?"
Rafael was so upset. Everyone could see it.
He scoffed in disgust.
"All your life, you've been the one being helped, you've been accepting help from everyone so just what made you think you're in a position to offer help to anyone let alone me?
Olivia shut her eyes. She took a deep breath. She was really trying to overlook all those mean things he was saying to her but it was really hard especially since he was going on and on.
"Look," she told him "All I did was clean a little and open the windows for ventilation. The bed is in tact, the toys are in tact, I didn't touch anything and I can put them all back to the way they were. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to do something other than sit by myself in that big room all in my thoughts."
He scoffed.
"I didn't think helping to clean a really dusty room was this much of a big deal-"
"Get out."
They all turned to look at him as silence filled the hall. No one made a move or a sound.
"Rafael." Benita called his name
"Didn't you hear me?" He asked, glaring at Olivia, tears clouding his eyes. "Get out of my house right now!"
"I-" Olivia started "I have no where else to go."
He grunted.
"Does it look like I care right now? " he asked her. His breathing getting thicker. "I don't care what happens to you- I don't care where you go or what you do from now on because you," he paused. "People like you are the reason why I don't want to live anymore. People that get involved in other people's lives and businesses even when they were asked not to. I detest the likes of you. I can't stand you, just the thought of you right now disgusts me-"
Olivia let out a soft sigh as her eyes suddenly became clouded with tears.
"Nnam," Benita called his name, noticing how shortened his breathing was. He was really trying so hard to speak but he couldn't anymore. He kept stammering, trying to force words out of his mouth but it was like the walls were closing in on his lungs.
He placed a hand on his chest, trying to catch his breath. He placed his other hand on the wall, scratching it as he bent over, hitting his chest like he was trying to force air in. His veins popping out on his forehead with every attempt he tried to speak.
"Sir Rafael." Susan yelled his name as they all rushed to him as fast as they could. Olivia cringed.
She didn't understand what was happening or why Rafael was being like that. She watched Susan pull him to her as she slowly knelt on the ground. She held on tight to him
"Sir Rafael," she tried to get his attention but he was barely listening "Her hands were trembling."
Olivia watched Susan raise his head up a little bit while he kept struggling to breathe.
"Sir Rafael can you hear me," she asked him almost in tears.
"He's going to be fine." Benita told her. She slowly turned to Lucy who just stood there shaking. She didn't know what to do. "Go and get his drugs now."
Lucy nodded quickly, turned and ran off.
"Chukwudalu," she heard Benita call Rafael's name while he still struggled to talk as drops of tears rolled down his eyes as she tried to hold him up. "Chukwudalu can you hear me?"
"W-What's going on with him?" Olivia asked, too frightened to even think. "What's wrong?"
Susan inhaled sharply, she was frustrated. She turned to Olivia.
"This is all your fault." She said glaring at her "You did this."
"I-I didn't kno- it's not my- I'm sorry."
"Just go." Susan told her "You shouldn't be here. He should never have brought you here."
Olivia looked around. She didn't know what to do.
"Didn't you hear me?"
Her gaze drew back to Susan's. "He's not going to get better if you're here. Leave!" She yelled.
"Just let her be." Benita whispered to Susan trying to stop her
Olivia cringed back. She was so confused, so scared. She didn't know what to do. Susan let out an exasperated sigh and quickly turned back to Rafael. She held his hands just as Lucy came running in holding a tiny bottle.
She quickly gave it to Benita who grabbed it from her immediately
"Water." She told her
Lucy Nodded quickly and then ran to the water dispenser at the corner of the hallway. She reached for a cup.
"Hurry!" Susan yelled at her .
"You could help us-" Benita turned to Olivia and then paused. There was no one there.
No one at all.
She was gone.
Benita exhaled. How did everything get so messy in a couple of hours? She turned back to Rafael just as Lucy hurried back to them.
Where was she?