Cheryl looked around. She looked at the hundreds of people who were gathered at the casino tables to play some gambling games while enjoying alcoholic drinks.
Cheryl likes to drink wine. She is not a weak woman who gets drunk easily with just two or three glasses of wine. Let alone three, ten glasses were not able to overthrow Cheryl.
However, the purpose of her arrival at the center of the largest casino in Las Vegas is not to drink and enjoy the time to relax but to find Rafael.
And as if fate deliberately made it easier for her, Cheryl was currently standing with bulging eyes when she faced Rafael.
"Now I believe that you actually followed me, Cheryl." Rafael waved, and gave a relaxed smile. He looked like a person with no problems at all, and now they were like two people who accidentally bumped into each other in a nice restaurant.
Unfortunately, that's just a supposition.
Because many facts do not match this assumption. First the fact that Rafael was having problems. Second, they were not in a restaurant but at the biggest casino in Las Vegas.
"What if I said that this time I deliberately followed you?" Cheryl asked. Her eyes shone calmly, not at all looking like a panicked person who deliberately left her busy life to meet a man who was said to be on the verge of bankruptcy.
"Oh really?" Rafael narrowed his eyes, "I'm glad then."
"Why are you happy?"
Rafael didn't answer right away. He reached out and took Cheryl and walked past the long tables and the crowds of people who were busy enjoying their respective games. Some are angry because they lost, and some are happy when they get a win.
Rafael's footsteps led them through aisle after aisle, which was dominated by black and gold. The walls looked dark, but the light of a few golden ornaments was able to illuminate the entire long hallway they passed.
"Talk here is better. It's too crowded in there. I can't hear you." Rafael said when they were in a large room that was not so full of visitors.
Cheryl didn't make any move. She looked around her in amazement.
Honestly, this is Cheryl's first time coming to this kind of place. Little did she know that the casino building, which looked unattractive from the outside, kept many surprising secrets from one room to another.
"So what made princess Alejandro fly from Manhattan to Las Vegas in the middle of the night like this?" Rafael spoke again.
Rafael's voice caught Cheryl's attention. She turned her gaze back to Rafael, observing the man closely before saying quietly, "Is there no chance for Frederick Corp?"
Rafael didn't look surprised. Instead, he gave a short smile on the corner of his lips. "You came to Las Vegas just to ask that?"
Cheryl nodded, not intending to cover up the reason behind her arrival.
"Well, you shouldn't be surprised, should you? The power of your family is not a joke," Rafael narrowed his eyes, then laughed softly.
"So Mateo did it?!" Cheryl blinked in surprise.
Raphael shrugged. "Who else has ever threatened to flatten my company? Is it your fiancé?"
"Don't make a joke, Rafael!"
Cheryl knew that Rafael was the kind of laid-back guy who could make a joke of anything, but corporate bankruptcy shouldn't be a joke to him.
"Then, what should I do? Crying and begging Mateo to forgive me?" Raphael gave her another amused look. "That wasn't me at all, Cheryl. I enjoy my life no matter what happens." He continued very calmly.
Cheryl was flabbergasted. In all her life, this was the first time she had seen someone who had just gone bankrupt able to speak casually and calmly as if losing the company was not a big thing to cry about.
In her heart, Cheryl was wondering, is it Rafael who is too rich or is that man too easygoing?
"But that's your grandfather's company, isn't it?" Cheryl squeaked in a low voice.
"How do you know?" Raphael narrowed his eyes.
"Is it important?!" Cheryl raised her voice as a form of frustration.
"Okay, okay!" Rafael raised both hands while smirking briefly, "Tell me, what should I do?"
"Why are you even asking me? It was your company that went bankrupt, not mine!" Cheryl started to sulk. She uttered a sentence with an annoyed tone like a child who didn't get candy.
"Did I ever say that you look cute with bulging eyes?"
"What?!" Cheryl's eyes widened even more.
Cheryl almost hit Rafael's head, who had been joking without wanting to be serious. However, suddenly Farael pulled her closer and hugged her tightly. His arms wrapped around Cheryl's slender waist, and then his head lowered to meet the crook of Cheryl's neck.
In the first five seconds, Cheryl felt that her heart had stopped beating, and her blood was flowing with shocking throbs.
Rafael's heartbeat was heard so clearly, as well as the smell of his body immediately filled her nose. She touched Rafael's chest, one of the objects that had caught her most attention since she first met him a year ago.
However, amid the cradle of unfamiliar feelings that filled her head, there was an image that swirled rapidly, which made Cheryl quickly reach out and try to push Rafael away.
"What are you doing?" Cheryl hissed when Rafael didn't let go of their embrace. Even Rafael's hand was outstretched to resist Cheryl's refusal.
"Shut up."
Cheryl is getting increasingly rebellious, especially when Rafael's head is getting closer to her neck. His warm breath touched her skin, causing Cheryl's body to shiver shamelessly.
For a moment, Cheryl's head flashed back to Carlos' anger whenever he saw her talking to another man.
Carlos can lose control just by seeing Cheryl chatting with his business partner. What would happen if Carlos saw Cheryl in the arms of a stranger?
Will Carlos leave her?
"Let me go!" Cheryl rebelled with all her might.
"Shut up, Cheryl. Keep your head down, don't let anyone know you're with me. We have to get out of here as quickly as possible."
Rafael's friendly voice turned even deeper. He sounds serious and scary.
Cheryl's hand movements began to stop. As if saying an undeniable command, Cheryl's body immediately reacted when she heard Rafael's prohibition.
"What happened?"
Her subconscious said that something bad was happening.
"You came with your bodyguards?" Raphael whispered.
Cheryl shook her head. "What happened?" She repeated the same question
Before Rafael could answer, a gunshot was suddenly heard from one side of the room. At first, there was only one, but after that, a series of gunshots began to be heard shouting at each other.
Hundreds of guests screamed in terror, making the atmosphere even more terrifying.
Cheryl lowered her head. She screamed too, but Rafael's big hand covered her lips and dragged her hand to run as fast as they could.
Gunshots were still ringing, but Cheryl didn't have time to look back as Rafael continued to drag her to run.
Cheryl's body began to tremble. A handful of past events, which were still one of her worst memories, started to replay in her head.
The sound of gunshots echoed, as well as the screams of hundreds of people who were frightened. All of this made Cheryl even more panicked. Even now, her breathing was starting to get heavy because she was forced to run through hundreds of people running in any direction to avoid bullets that could still be heard shouting at each other.
Cheryl had experienced this before, and now she couldn't bear to imagine that it would ever happen to her again.
"Rafael!" Cheryl tried to call out to Rafael, who was running in front of her, but Farael was too focused on finding a way out among dozens of hallways that connected one room to another.
"Rafael ..." Not a scream, but a whisper of Cheryl in a trembling voice that was able to attract Rafael's attention.
Rafael turned around, pulled her towards one of the doors, and then went inside to hide.
Cheryl thought they would hide, but she was wrong because Rafael opened another door again. Afterward, Rafael shifted to a large table and opened the carpet under it.
"Don't be afraid. I'll get you out of here." Rafael grabbed her finger again and gripped it tightly as if he promised he would not leave Cheryl until he drove her home safely.
"What happened?" She asked again in a trembling voice.
"Come in here. No time to explain." Rafael answered, but his voice still sounded horrible, not his usual joking voice.
Cheryl started to walk closer. She felt even more scared when the gunshots that initially sounded faint were now getting closer.
"Where are we going?"
"Come in, Cheryl." Instead of answering, Rafael again uttered a command that sounded like a request. Rafael reached out, helping Cheryl to start walking down the steep to dark stairs.
Cheryl's breathing was heavy again, especially when the darkness completely swallowed her. The light from the window opened by Rafael had been tightly shut after he came down with her.
"Rafael," Cheryl turned around, trying to grab Rafael's hand, which had slipped from her grip.
She was afraid, very scared.
"I'm here." As if knowing that Cheryl was trying to find his hand, Rafael reached out and gripped Cheryl's hand tightly.
Cheryl's breathing became heavier, cold sweat appeared on her skin, and her eyes continued to search for Rafael, who was standing right behind her back.
"You have to start walking, Cheryl. We can't keep being here for too long." Rafael whispered while trying to push Cheryl down one hand at a time.
Cheryl's legs were still shaking, but she tried hard to fight her fear.
A moment of regret appeared in her mind when she decided to come to see Rafael.
If only she had preferred to return to the mansion in Manhattan, she would be sleeping right now, hugging her warm blanket.
"I want to go home," Cheryl realized that her whining would have no effect, but she still couldn't hold back the tears that escaped her lips.
"Are you crying?" Rafael walked forward ahead of Cheryl to stand in front of her.
"Nope." Cheryl quickly wiped her tears.
Cheryl learned one thing during her upbringing in the Alejandro family; she mustn't cry and shouldn't look weak in front of other people.
She can't look weak… even if She is breathing heavily from fear.
Come on, Cheryl. It's just a dark room. Not a cramped, dark closet.
"You can cry if you want to," Rafael pulled Cheryl's hand to follow in his footsteps. Now Cheryl is no longer in front, but she is right behind Rafael's broad back, guiding her to find the right steps.
"I don't like crying," Cheryl answered in a trembling voice.
There were no more gunshots by now, but the silence and the surrounding darkness felt much more terrible.
"Oh, Really? If I was a woman and I'm being forced into the sewer, I'll be crying out loud."
"We're at the sewer?!" Cheryl screamed hysterically.
Compared to the darkness engulfing her body, Cheryl was far more panicked when she found out they were walking in the sewer. She could imagine how many bacteria, germs, and other one-celled creatures were around her.
No, this is hell!
"I want out, Rafael! Get me out of here!" Cheryl cried out loud while sticking her body to try to climb up Rafael.
Her high heels had come off and just disappeared when Rafael pulled her to run. Now she is barefoot and walking in the water ditch.
"Well, I see. Cry, Cheryl. At least crying will make your heart lighter!" Said Rafael, laughing casually.