Rafael and Vera were tired from walking around the city, all the supermarkets they visited strangely had no beef. Rafael couldn't help but suspect that Zayn had a hand in it. They both wandered around the city for a while before someone described a big market square to them.
"Why is it so crowded?" Rafael muttered with anger.
"I guess they're having a festival," Vera said with a low voice. They both haven't said much to themselves since they left Zayn's penthouse. She had tried raising a conversation but he gave straight answers as if telling her that he wasn't ready to talk.
"Let's go!" Rafael said as he walked into the market leaving her to catch up with him. As she ran to meet up with him, they both lost each other in the crowd. Vera kept turning round, looking for the red-colored hoodie Rafael wore but she couldn't find it.
"Oh no! I lost him" Vera said defeatedly. "I don't even have his number to give him a call"
Rafael suddenly realized that he no longer perceived Vera's scent. He turned to look for her but he couldn't pick her scent.
"Seems I've lost her for a while". He turned around to search for her while trying to pick up her scent.
Vera prayed Rafael would realize that she had gone missing and that he'd try to find her. She kept walking further in hopes that he'd find her, but she abruptly stopped when she got to an oak tree in the middle of the market. Like a flash, she saw the whole place on fire, dragons were flying in the sky, humans were lying in their blood, and Rafael who was badly injured fighting a nine feet giant that had several heads. The place was in chaos and ruins but amidst the trouble, she couldn't find Kylie or Zayn and just then she snapped out of the vision.
"Just what was that?" Vera asked her confused self as she tightly held her head, as she was trying to wrap her head around what she saw, she felt a hard pressure from behind. Someone just pushed her to the ground but luckily before she fell, another hand caught her.
"Vera! Vera!! Are you okay?" Rafael asked in a worried tone. He saw her a minute ago trying to find her way amongst the crowd, just for her to stand still while staring at the oak tree. She didn't even notice when a strange man approached her and tried to remove her golden bangle before pushing her to the ground.
"Huh? I.. I'm fine" she stuttered, still in shock.
"Come, let's find a place to sit," Rafael said as he put her hands around her neck for support.
Though Vera was confused about the little show that played in her head, she was happy it did. It gave me a reason for Rafael to care for her.
"We should just go back already," Rafael said to Vera while opening a drink for her.
"What about the beef?" She asked
"We should leave it, I'm sure it was only an excuse to get us out of the house"
"He just wanted to do some naughty things with your friend that's all" he scoffed before realizing what he said.
Vera's face was reddened, the thought of Kylie moaning underneath Zayn made her blush the more.
"She's so cute, " Rafael thought to himself. "Why don't I take my chances to hit on her, it's not like Dad would find out, well as long as I keep him updated on Zayn, he wouldn't know"
"Vera!"
"Yes "
Rafael suddenly felt tongue-tied, he didn't know why, after all, he had messed around with prettier girls. Why was Vera's own difficult?
"Raf?!" She called him out of his mind.
"I want you Vera, I want us to be together..more than friends," Rafael said with one breath.
Vera was spaced out, the same Rafael that rejected her after she confessed her feelings to him now wanted her. She wanted to shout for joy but her brain was curious to know why he suddenly wanted her.
"But why? Why do you suddenly want me? You rejected me before" she said looking down expecting another rejection.
"I didn't reject you because I hated you…no, I did that because I didn't want to hurt you " he answered her
" My dad wouldn't have approved of you because I had someone else but now, I've ended whatever we had, so now we're free to be with each other and I'd choose you always because I love you Vera, I always had"
Vera felt her world was finally having some meaning, after her parents withdrew her from Hartley's, she felt like she was less of a person, as her only true friends were Kylie and Gideon but now she had found love, her unrequited love finally reciprocated her feelings. Rafael hugged her tightly as he felt genuinely happy, for the first time he made a decision that he always wanted, not dancing to anyone's tune.
"Kiss me!" Vera said
Rafael: "..."
"So I'd know that this isn't a dream, kiss me,e Rafael," she said.
Rafael leaned forward as he stared deeply into her eyes, he brought her face closer to his as he rubbed his thumb on her lips, to and fro before finally sealing his lips on hers. Vera threw her hands around his neck as she kissed him without shame. The passersby couldn't believe the guts of the teenagers who were kissing in public, some turned their heads in shame, while some were in embarrassment from a guilty mind.
"Wow, that was nice," Rafael said after they broke from the kiss."I'd want to keep kissing you and even try more naughty things with you," he said as he winked at her.
Vera could only smile as she tried burying her reddened face.
"Let's go home now," he said as he stretched his hands out for her to hold onto. She held his hands and they walked out of the crowded marketplace.
**
Zayn laid Kylie on his bed after the little exercise they had. He watched her sleep peacefully and suddenly a mark appeared on her wrist. He had seen the mark twice on her; at the train station and in his room the other night, it appeared again when they were making out. The mark came as a flash and disappeared as quickly as it came. But this time, it came slowly while forming each line and curve on her wrist.
Zayn opened his mouth and eyes in shock when the mark finally turned into a tattoo; it was the second half of the tattoo he had below his neck and suddenly he realized the game fate was playing with him.
Kylie was his destined mate.