Cheryl knew that her decision to ask Rafael to sleep with her in that small room was the stupidest decision in her life.
The bed was too small, so very small that their bodies were completely in contact with each other as they lay together.
Cheryl's hands trembled. Not because of the influence of her closeness with Rafael, but because she was really cold. Especially when the rain fell harder and filled the window above her head with water droplets that didn't stop flowing.
"Are you still cold?" Rafael asked while tilting his body towards Cheryl.
Cheryl shifted her body, but the wall on her left stopped her movement. There was no room left to stay away from Rafael, who was now facing right at him.
"Can a glass of hot chocolate not warm you up?" Rafael reached out, brought Cheryl's head onto his shoulder, and hugged Cheryl's body with his big body.
Rafael's embrace immediately sent a warm sensation all over her skin. Cheryl closed her eyes slowly and couldn't help but accept Rafael's embrace even though her heart was now in turmoil voicing her refusal.
"How long have you known Veronica?" Cheryl asked in the middle of her consciousness.
Her eyes were very sleepy, but the sound of raindrops made her want to stay awake longer. The cold wind that could still sneak in between the windows couldn't beat the warmth of Rafael's embrace.
"Since we were young," Raphael replied. His hand reached out to stroke the top of Cheryl's head gently. Their legs were intertwined, Cheryl's leg stretched out to hug Rafael's waist and vice versa. And instead of giving a rejection because Rafael is getting closer to her body, Cheryl comes closer to find warmth behind Rafael's body.
Cheryl realized that what she had done this time had gone too far. He is betraying Carlos' trust. However, the warmth offered by Rafael's body he couldn't just refuse, especially in the middle of the rain like this. The sound of raindrops brought a peace that Cheryl had never heard before.
"You should stay away from him, Raphael. You can't mess with a married woman."
"Then who should I play with? With you? Aren't you engaged too?" Raphael snorted softly.
Cheryl shook her head briefly, her eyes slowly starting to close as Rafael's hand brushed the top of her head with increasingly gentle movements.
"You can't play with women who are married or engaged."
"Oh yes? Just who invited me to sleep together in this narrow bed?"
Rafael's voice didn't sound like that of a tired person who lacked rest from staying awake in the middle of the night after running through long halls to avoid a strangely armed man. Rafael sounded very relaxed, completely unaffected by fear or worry, even though they had just slipped into a strange place after running for over an hour.
"I will never forgive you if you dare to ruin my brother's household," Cheryl uttered a threat that ended with the movement of her hand, trying to cover her mouth after a big yawn.
"What if I ruin your engagement relationship? You won't forgive me either?"
"It will not happen. I would never leave Carlos to play with you…" Cheryl mumbled quietly.
"Oh really?"
There was no joking tone to Rafael's question. Instead, his voice sounded like a doubt that demanded an answer.
Unfortunately, Cheryl is too sleepy to re-open the conversation with Rafael. Her eyes grew heavy with the soft caress she got from Rafael's hand. Her body was cold, but Rafael's skin offered a warmth that made her even more comfortable.
Inevitably, Cheryl began to close her eyes slowly.
Without caring about the small bed that she was sharing with Rafael, and also without caring about the fact that she was now lying in the arms of a stranger, Cheryl decided to sleep. She was asleep because her body was too tired to be forced to stay awake until morning.
She doesn't know what will happen tomorrow morning. Maybe she'll scream in surprise when she finds Rafael beside her, perhaps she'll kick Rafael's ass spontaneously, but… Cheryl doesn't care at all about that. The only thing she needed was sleep.
***
"Hey princess, hurry up and take a shower! You look like a homeless tramp!"
Cheryl muttered under her breath, starting to nag at the sound that disturbed her sleep.
"Do not bother me!"
"Wow. It turns out you're very lazy. Girls shouldn't wake up so late!"
Cheryl scowled in annoyance, she still couldn't open her eyes, but the indistinct voice disturbed her sleep again. "Go and get out of my room, or I will fire all of you! I don't like being disturbed while I'm sleeping!" Cheryl pulled the blanket and wrapped her body to get warm again.
"If you don't wake up soon, I will not hesitate to leave you, and you will look like a lost child who lost his father."
"I don't want breakfast so early. I just want to sleep! You guys go and tell Mommy that I don't want breakfast. I want to sleep!" Cheryl shouted angrily as she started to open her eyes.
However…
Instantly Cheryl's eyes bulged when she found that the roof of her room had turned into a bright blue sky. He turned his head to look at Rafael who was leaning towards his face.
"What are you doing?!"
Just like what Cheryl had feared before, she did something spontaneous this time by slapping Rafael's cheek and pushing him away with her leg kick.
Rafael staggered and then fell to the floor with the buttocks landing first.
Cheryl grimaced. She blinked for a moment to look at Rafael's pathetic state.
One by one incidents began to play in Cheryl's head. From her arrival to Las Vegas, the incident when she met Rafael at the casino, and finally when she slept soundly in Rafael's arms.
"You prove that you are part of the Alejandro family," Rafael muttered as he stood up. He patted his buttocks and then walked leisurely to Cheryl, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed with a surprised expression. "Your brother punched me twice even though he was the one who had an affair and made Veronica cry. Then, you kick and slap me on the cheek just because I woke you up. Am I meant to be a victim of the Alejandro family?"
"You surprised me! It wasn't my fault." Cheryl bit her lower lip, she felt a little guilty for Rafael, but her ego was too high to apologize to him.
"Okay, it's my fault. I shouldn't have to wake up a sleepy princess who likes to wake up late. Maybe it's better if I just leave you like that." Raphael snorted.
"I'm not a sleeping princess!"
"Well, it's up to you." Rafael held a large black crackle to her, "take a shower and immediately go downstairs. We must get out of here before last night's people find this place."
"What's this?" Cheryl looked at the crackle with a confused look. In all her life, Cheryl had never touched the black crackle used to wrap garbage. Her hands could be allergic if Rafael joked by bringing trash for her.
"Clothes," Rafael took her hand, pushing her to walk towards the small bathroom in front of the bedroom door, "you need to take a shower and tidy up." He shook his head briefly while chuckling sadly, "You look very messy, Cherry."
***
Cheryl covered her mouth to hold back the hysterical scream that came out as soon as she looked at herself through the mirror reflection.
Disheveled hair, red eyes with big black bags, wrinkled skin, and also shabby clothes like a tramp who lives on the side of the road.
Oh no… is this really her?
Cheryl repeatedly hit her cheek, hoping that the reflection of the shabby woman in the mirror would soon disappear and be replaced by a beautiful woman with a perfect appearance.
Unfortunately, Cheryl had difficulty swallowing her saliva when she realized that her appearance was currently very messy.
Her heart was beating fast. Suddenly she remembered Carlos, who always nagged every time he saw her hair messy. Now not only hair, but everything in Cheryl's body looks very messy.
Carlos would leave her if he saw her current appearance.
However, isn't Carlos not in Las Vegas? He was busy managing his company in Seattle, or maybe he was still living in Manhattan to take care of some work-related matters. There's no Carlos here, so Cheryl doesn't have to worry.
The only person who saw her chaotic appearance was Rafael. And luckily… Rafael wasn't her fiancé. Rafael was not an important person in her life, so Cheryl didn't have to worry even if Rafael had seen her disheveled appearance.
Now, the only thing Cheryl had to do was take a shower and clean up the mess she had created.
Bath. Yes, she just needs to take a shower and straighten her hair to return to being the Princess of the Alejandro family.
Bathing is not difficult. Everyone in this world has bathed at least twice a day. Everyone knows how to take a bath, but the problem is that Cheryl is never allowed to flow alone without her Nanny's help. Even now, Cheryl doesn't know how to unzip the one behind her back.