Chapter Nineteen – Pushed away

“Raphael?!” Alaya ended up saying, as she saw his green eyes from the reflection of the rear view mirror. There was a pause when his eyes met her via the reflection but Raphael looked away.

“Don’t be surprised. Jia told me that you had a function to attend so thought of taking you there on my way to my office.” Raphael said, pulling the gear and driving forward out of the gate as though everything was normal. And for a while Alaya did feel so. But all of a sudden she recollected what had shocked her. This Range Rover. And Raphael being the owner of it! Could mean that it was Raphael who saved her from Max and his friends? Could it really be him? If it was him it’s impossible for him not to remember her. Because that was just a month ago. He must know her! He must care about her too. Alaya looked at her hand as she remembered how he had held her hand. The love that she felt from that touch.

Alaya looked at the driver’s seat in front of her. She looked at the rear view mirror but saw that Raphael was looking forward with his eyebrows crossed. That’s strange, Alaya thought. His attitude right now did not line up with the night he had helped her from those thugs. If he did help her, he would at least ask her about it wouldn’t he? He would still care about her. He might as well love her. What is he doing right now completely ignoring her? Was it his marriage to Laana? Why did he marry Laana if he still remembered her? Something was utterly wrong and Alaya had to know.

“What’s wrong, Raphael?” Alaya asked, in line with her thoughts yet completely out of the blue.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You know what I mean! Why have you married Laana when you don’t love her?!” Alaya asked. The change in the tone of her voice surprised her and yet she didn’t plan to back off from this conversation.

“Who told you that I don’t love her?” Raphael said in an unexpected harsh voice.

“Well I know that you don’t and you know it too. It was you who saved me from three guys in the prom weren’t you?”

“Three guys? Prom? What are you talking about?!”

“You know clearly what I’m talking about so stop acting! It was this Range Rover that you drove away in that night.”

“Lady! Do you really think this is the only damn car that looks like this or have you gone out of your mind?”

Raphael said and just then as Alaya was going to say something, his phone began to ring. Alaya paused to give him a chance to take the call. But as soon as he looked at the screen, something strange happened. All of a sudden, he pulled the car over to the side of the road as he answered the call.

“Salaam.” she heard him saying. Alaya tried to take a peek at his face as she saw him listening intently to the caller.

“Yes, why do you want to know about her?” Raphael asked and Alaya started to wonder.

“Sh…She ran away?!” Raphael said in a whisper and Alaya’s breath caught in her throat. Who was on the other side of the call? Was it her parents? Was it the police who were searching for her high and low in the states?

“I’ll call you back in a while.” Raphael said as he clicked his phone. Alaya’s heart was thumping against her chest as Raphael paused for a while. After a moment that felt like days for Alaya, he spoke.

“Get off this car Alaya…” Raphael said in a calm voice and Alaya froze.

“Wha…What do you mean?” Alaya asked.

“It doesn’t have to be explained. Just get off this car and don’t come back.” Raphael said, without even looking back.

“But why would I do that? Where will I go? We are so far away from home.”

“You aren’t going back to that house.”

“But why? I have nowhere else to go to. I’m sorry if I did something wrong. Yes I did run away from my family because they were forcing me to marry someone I didn’t love.”

Alaya was close to tears as she explained. She never thought she’d have to explain herself to Raphael this way. But there she was, with tears rolling down her cheeks as she thought Raphael did not care much about her. She expected him to turn around and show his sympathy for her. To console her by saying what she did was right. And she should never marry someone she didn’t love. But no. None of that happened. Raphael just sat in his seat like a statue in silence. The silence was broken when Raphael received a text message. He looked at his phone and spoke again.

“Now Alaya! Go!” Raphael said and for a moment, for one split second, Alaya heard a pain in his voice. As she was about to think about it, his voice rose.

“RIGHT NOW!!!” he shouted out loud. Alaya shook from his voice and was forced into action. At once she opened the door of the car and did as he said. Just as she closed the door, the car came to life and it went straight into the road dangerously dodging a motorcycle that passed by. Within seconds, Alaya lost sight of the car and she let out the breath she was holding. She was too shocked to feel or even comprehend the mixed emotions that began to build up in her heart. As a result, she just stood in her spot not knowing what to do.

Raphael’s POV

Raphael’s sight was utterly blurred because of the tears in his eyes. He could only see blobs of light in front of him and he knew he was on the verge of a dangerous accident if he didn’t stop. But the pain in his chest made him wish that he did face such an accident. Perhaps the pain would stop if he did and he found no other way of getting rid of it. There was no other way now, when he himself was the one who pushed away the one he loved.