Forbidden Deception (Deception)

37

M y vision blurs and a wave of nausea hits me.

The only way to deal with this heartbreak is to pass out, so I can’t think about it anymore.

My phone rings making me jump. The eery silence and the ringing making my skin prick with awareness. Emptiness in the cold apartment feels odd tonight. It feels wrong.

“What kind of movies do you like?” Rafael asks, his chin resting on top of my head.

I snuggle closer. “Thriller and horror. I love them so much. I love the thrill and the adrenaline rush.” I sigh.

Rafael’s chuckle vibrates through me. “Of course you do.”

“Hey, what is that supposed to mean?” I pout, moving away so I can look him in the eyes.

He grins down at me, then grabs my chin and pulls me into a quick kiss.

“You would definitely outsmart the killer or monster.”

I finally pick up the phone after it rings the third time.

“Venezia, you had me so worried. What is troubling you that you sent me a voicemail crying?” Aurora’s panicked voice fills my ear.

Tears instantly fill my eyes, and she sees this though the screen.

“Please don’t cry. Tell me what is wrong,” she says softly.

I sniffle, blinking, then look at the ceiling to dam the tears, but Rafael’s voice and laugh ring in my head, and it shatters me all over again.

“Aurora, I messed up. I didn’t know it would be like this,” I whisper, my breaths quickening. “I didn’t think I would fall so hard like this. I can’t rip myself away from him without hurting myself and him in the process, I can’t…I don’t know what to do, and it’s killing me,” I cry, squeezing my eyes closed. My tears fall onto my lap and soak the letter I tried to write for Rafael.

“Venezia, my beautiful girl, who is it? Did someone hurt you?”

I shake my head, her tender voice once again punching me in the gut.

I open my eyes and look at her frown.

She’s holding the phone so carefully, looking at me as if to not miss anything.

“I—” I choke on my words. “Aurora, I…fell for Rafael,” I sob out, my body shaking. “I couldn’t help myself, and it’s far too late to save myself. He’ll find out any day now that I…I am the one who betrayed him, and Remo is my brother. Then our whole relationship will look like a sham to him. But my feelings… they were never… they were never false.” I shake my head, covering my face with my hand.

“Venezia, I—”

“I am sending the jet. You are coming home, Venezia,” a deep voice announces.

My head snaps up.

Remo is standing behind Aurora, his eyes narrowed in what could be anger or disappointment—probably both—with his arms crossed.

“Remo, I—”

“The discussion is closed. This mission has now turned extremely dangerous and could destroy everything. Including you. Rafael is far too cruel to spare you despite your feelings for him.”

He grabs the phone out of Aurora’s hand.

“Remo, wait. Listen to her, at least.”

“Aurora, this isn’t a trivial matter. It’s too dangerous for her to remain there.”

My screen turns black.

I am left in silence with nothing but my short breaths filling it.

I won’t be able to face Danyi once she finds out about everything. She looks up to Rafael, and while she knows he is strict; she truly admires him.

When she finds I have been the one betraying her boss, that I have been in a romantic relationship with him and have shattered his heart in the process, she will well and truly hate me. Despise me, even.

Grabbing my keys and car, I head to her apartment. I can’t just tell her over the phone, I won’t be able to.

I stand in front of her apartment door clutching the note I wrote her. The soft bass of her music drifts through the door. It’s hard not to knock and see her.

I lift my hand towards the handle, but my fingers shake and keep me from reaching. I can’t do it.

I’m such a coward, I can’t face my friend.

She’s been by my side, helped me, cooked food for me, taken care of me when I was sick, and bad-mouthed Rafael with me whenever he got on my nerves. She shared secrets and parts of her life with me, and here I am, sneaking away like a coward .

I spent most of my life left alone without answers, and I can’t do that to other people.

The least I can do is give them closure, answers for my absence.

Bending down, I slide the note under her door and turn around, desperately trying to control my teary eyes, and head back to my apartment to grab any things left behind.

Once home, the sight of fresh sunflowers on my kitchen counter instantly brings fresh tears.

My chest tightens, and my hands tremble when I reach out to touch the petals.

Rafael has the flowers on my desk at work refreshed whenever they start to die, and with how much I am rushing around his building and having meetings with teams, I don’t always get time to throw them out, but I always notice.

I notice he changes them.

I notice how important that particular flower is to him.

I notice how he puts effort into leaving me postcards of oceans around the world, reminding me of Medora. He promised to help me see them.

Picking a petal, a small smile manages to escape when I remember the first time he put them in my vase in my office and got offended when I didn’t mention them at all.

He thinks I don’t know about his stupid one-way wall. Idiot.

The sunflowers look dim today. They look sad, as if missing the presence of the man who plucked them from the earth to gift them to me. How do I tell them that I am about to take them with me hours away from him?

What kind of tragic curse has life put in our love?

I am burning merely at the thought of leaving him and I haven’t even walked away yet.