Natalie’s POV


    After driving for an hour without a determined destination, thinking about what I had read in the contract that Rafael showed me, I found myself standing before the door of the ce I liked the most – the gathering of amateur painters. Even though I wasn’t a professional painter yet, I felt rxed whenever I started painting.


    I stood before the nk drawing board, and all I could see was Rafael’s face. An amusing thought suddenly popped into my head. I smiled a small smile and started drawing lines on the board. Every line I drew was a release of frustration and anger towards Rafael. His thick eyebrows were knit together, his sharp gaze was gleamed with evil, and his tightened lips curved into a yful smirk. That was how I imagined his facial features at that moment. Then I painted him holding a whip, poised like an executioner.


    Finally, after almost three hours, I finished my initial draft and stared at the board with satisfaction. He deserves it. A hasty idea came to my mind and I smirked while still gazing at the board.


    Without any dy, afraid that if I waited longer I would change my mind, I hastened my steps straight to the receptionist.


    He smiled at me and said, “How can I help you, ma’am?”


    “Hmm, I want to send this painting to someone,” I said, feeling awkward. The receptionist will see the painting I painted.


    “Sure, ma’am. Please give me the address,” he replied, then added, while entering some data on the desktop before him, “would you like to pay now or upon receipt?”


    “Now, please,” I mumbled, handing him my credit card.


    But when I parked my car outside Merrin Vi, I began to doubt what I had done. “Should I call them and cancel it?”


    I knew provoking Rafael wasn’t going to pass that easily, so hesitantly, I decided to undo it. However, I went straight to my room, intending to call the receptionist at the gathering of the amateur painters. Before I reached my room, I heard Laura, the housekeeper, saying, “Hello, Miss Natalie.”


    I turned around and smiled, “Hello, Laura. Is my grandma asleep? She must have been waiting for me for dinner!”


    I turned off my phone after Rafael called me via Jack’s phone. I knew he would try to call me from other phones, so I turned it off.


    But my eyebrows rose slightly when Laura said with a smile on her face, “Mrs. Merrin and her daughter are not home. They went to visit Mr. Jeverson,”


    Mr. Jeverson was Grandma’s brother. I asked with confusion, “Why didn’t they tell me?”


    “They tried to call, but your phone was off,” she said.


    I nodded and then asked again, “Didn’t they say when they would be back?”


    “They said they would stay for just a couple of days,” she replied.


    I nodded and turned around to go to my room, but she added promptly, “Miss Natalie, should we serve dinner now?”


    I stared back at her, thinking that I didn’t want to see Rafael, so I lied and said, “I already ate.”


    Then, I headed to my room. I opened the door and was totally shocked. I blinked several times. Is this really my room? I took a few steps forward, eyeing the amazing flowers that covered the bed and the flickering candles around the room. The flowers and candles were arranged beautifully, with a path of flowers and candles leading to the bed. The bed itself was adorned with flowers spelling out the words, “LEMME EXPLAIN.”


    As I took more steps forward, the room door was closed behind me. I turned around immediately to find Rafael standing before me,zily leaning on the closed door, and his hands in his pockets nonchntly.


    The corner of his lips curled into a smirk as he raised an eyebrow and said in amanding tone, “Come here!”


    I was about to move my legs and go to him, but fortunately, I regained myposure and stayed in my ce. I crossed my arms over my chest and asked, “What do you want?”


    “Look at the bed!” he said, fixing his gaze on my face.


    I stared at the bed and red at the written sentence with flowers, LEMME EXPLAIN.


    Even though this gesture moved my heart, I rolled my eyes, trying to seem indifferent. I sneered, “This meant nothing, Raf. I don’t want to hear anything from you.”N?velDrama.Org: owner of this content.


    He took a few steps forward, his tall figure standing before me, and mumbled, “You didn’t even continue reading the contract!”


    “I don’t wanna read it, Raf. It meant nothing to me. I believed that you wanted to give us a chance, but I was wrong,” I said with contempt.


    “Could you at least finish reading it?” he retorted with a t tone, but I could notice the frustration in his eyes.


    However, I ignored his request and turned around the room, taking in the effort he had made for this romantic gesture. It wasn’t the most borate romantic decoration a woman could have, but his effort was clear.


    I lifted a flower, yed with it between my fingers and said, “I never imagined you as a romantic man.”


    “I’m not. But here I’m trying my best to please you,” he smiled patiently.


    “So, the master wants to please his ve. Isn’t that odd?” I smirked skeptically, unconvinced.


    “You didn’t look high at me, did you?” He asked with a gloomy expression.


    “You urged me to. Is there a man with his full brain asking his wife to be his ve?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know.


    “It’s not what you think, Natalie. The contract is meant to serve and protect you, not me. I’m afraid I might hurt you, so I wanted you to secure your rights under any circumstances,” he exined.


    “So, let me take this straight. You want to protect my rights by making me a ve?” I asked, my eyes welling up with tears.


    “This will go nowhere, Natalie, if you haven’t read the contract,” he insisted.


    I surprised myself when I heard me saying, “Okay, I’ll just read it, Raf. Don’t expect anything”


    His face lit up, and he smiled. “Yes, that’s all I want you to do, just read it.”


    He handed me a paper from his pocket, and despite the tension, I couldn’t help butugh. “Do you walk around with contracts in your pockets all the time?” I teased him.