The room felt like a blur as Marissa’s eyes fluttered open, her gaze adjusting to the bright light of the living room.
She could feel the cool water on her cheeks that someone must have sprayed to bring her back to consciousness. Sophie’s concerned face came into view.
"Marissa, are you ok?" Sophie asked her, and Marissa could feel relief and worry in her voice. She blinked, glancing around, and saw Joseph nearby.
At some distance, Valerie was standing but her eyes were not on Marissa. Marissa followed her big sister’s gaze and found the man standing in the corner of the room.
He had changed... transformed, still able to capture her attention. This time his presence was more overwhelming. He looked different, his shoulder-length hair, rugged face, and his stronger, more defined build made him unmistakably more striking.
His expression was unreadable, his gaze was fixed on her. There was no hint of recognition in his eyes like they were two strangers who never met each other.
With a sigh, she looked around and found herself lying on a couch, "You alright, Mar?" Sophie asked her again. Marissa’s face was dangerously pale.
"We can ask a doctor to check her," Geena who was standing nearby told Sophie. Marissa squeezed her eyes and started shaking her head in a firm no.
She didn’t want a doctor. She was just waiting for this dream to be over. Just like her other dreams for the last year.
The door burst open with a loud thud, and Dean rushed in, his eyes widening at the sight of so many people gathered around Marissa.
He hesitated for a moment, taking in the odd scene before crossing the room to her side.
"Are you alright?" he asked her softly, crouching beside her as she lay on the couch, "Is she sick?" he asked no one in particular, keeping his eyes on her face.
Marissa didn’t respond to him and closed her eyes with a subtle nod to her head.
A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye, trailing down her cheek. Dean reached out instinctively, ready to wipe it away. Something he had been doing for the last year after Rafael’s death.
However, before his finger could touch her skin, a chilling voice cut through the air from behind him, "Touch her and you are dead."
Dean froze, his hand suspended midair. He turned slowly, his expression shifting to shock as he saw the man who he somehow missed when he entered the room.
"What the..." he stammered, utterly speechless, "R-Rafael?"
Rafael didn’t even acknowledge him; the iciness in his eyes and on his face was making the situation unbearable for Dean.
He didn’t look like himself because neither he stepped ahead to greet him, nor he tried to even smile at him.
Dean kept looking at him and Rafael held his gaze not ready to back off.
"H...how... I mean... when ...?" Dean’s voice faltered, his mind racing to make sense of Rafael’s unexpected presence.
Do dead people return to life?
Rafael was no longer looking at Dean, his gaze was now fixed back on Marissa.
The heavy silence was hanging in the room, until Joseph cleared his throat, "I think... I should take you to your room," Joseph offered and leaned in to help her when Rafael’s firm voice reached his ears.
"If she is my wife then I think I should be the one to carry her," nobody could miss that possessive hint in his voice.
Without waiting for anyone’s approval, he moved forward, making Joseph step back. Marissa raised he face; Rafael was already looking at her.
The moment their eyes met; a flood of raw emotions swept over her.
Disbelief. Shock. And then this unexpected warmth.
"Hello wife," his deep, heavy voice rang in the room, with a small grin on his lips. His ass perched on the edge of the couch, "I’ll happily carry you to your room." He offered.
Marissa was trying to believe if it wasn’t a dream or if her senses weren’t playing with her.
Her hand raised slowly, reaching out to touch his face, feeling the roughness of his skin. Her fingers trailed over his nose, his strong chin, the angles of his cheeks, even the slight crinkles around his eyes that weren’t there before he...
Died? Disappeared?
While Marissa was avoiding meeting his gaze. She knew that look. It was the same look he used to have whenever he wanted her.
The man who was her husband, was sitting at the far end of the room with Joseph and Dean. Yet he was almost a stranger to her. He didn’t remember anything. Dean and Joseph tried to remind him about his past, about his social life, his kids, and the office.
But he wasn’t paying attention to any of it. He was busy staring at her.
"What would I tell kids?" Marissa asked her friend. Before Sophie could answer her, they saw Valerie tossing her phone aside and stretched. In doing so, her t-shirt raised a bit, showing her pierced belly button.
She was the only one who had no one to talk to, "I just sent a message to Nina," she informed Marissa with a smile, "I typed, ’your son is back’. But she didn’t reply. Maybe she is too drunk and doesn’t want to return."
Marissa saw her walking to Rafael.
"Don’t worry about kids, Mar," Sophie patted her shoulder, "let them stay longer at my place. Joseph and I can take care of them and try our best to prepare their mind for Rafael."
Upon reaching him, Valerie tapped Rafael’s shoulder, "Do you remember me?" Rafael had to struggle to look away from Marissa.
"Hmm?" he asked absentmindedly.
"I was the one, you dated and married," she told him with a mean look, "I was the one you fell for."
Rafael was listening to her with almost zero interest, his eyes snapped to her face, and he started shaking his head with a side smirk.
"I might be the one who dated you and married you," he gave her a sharp look as his eyes swept over her, "But falling for you?" He leaned in, his voice dropped to a whisper, "I can never do that!"
She was no longer that old Valerie who wanted to fight over something this petty. She knew him better.
He was never hers.
His heart never belonged to her.
He was always Marissa’s. He had always been in love with her younger sister.
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