Daphne''s POV It''s just another day at school and I wee the familiarity. Taking care of kids and ying with them are things that I can do effortlessly and wlessly. It''s second nature.


    I''m a bit rusty when ites to fending off a persistent stalker though. Thankfully, the aforementioned persistent stalker hasn''t made his presence known, and- Speak of the devil and he shall appear.


    As though summoned by my mere thoughts, Raphael peeps through the window and into my ssroom, smiling widely when his gazends on me.


    "Hey," he mouths, and I quickly whip my head away from the direction of the window and force myself to ignore him as I wait for John''s Mom to pick him up.


    She hardly everes thiste but I think the pounding rainfall that started ten minutes ago probably has something to do with herteness.


    The rain is pounding against the roof of the building and I inwardly try to remember if I brought an umbre with me. I don''t want to wait in this school with Raphael for the rain to go down.


    Heck, I''m contemting running headfirst into the pouring rain if I actually forgot to carry along an umbre.


    I sigh in relief when I head over to my bag at the corner of the room and find my umbre shoved deep inside. Thank the Moon Goddess for small mercies.


    Five minutester, John''s Mom shows up to pick up her son. I''m walking out of the ssroom door a few minutester with my umbre in o ne hand.


    My heart does that fucking annoying thing that it does when Raphael is near. It''s in between a heart attack and a heart flutter.


    "Hey," he greets me and gives me a tiny wave with his other hand hidden behind his back. The hand that waved at me reaches for his nape and I swear his cheeks tint pink. "I got something for you."


    I arch a brow and hopefully appear disinterested.


    The hand hidden behind his backes out and it''s gripping a...bouquet?


    It''s abination of thousands of flowers, some of them unknown to me. Each flower is a different color and form. My brows draw together in confusion as I eye the hideous bouquet in his hand. It looks like a garden of flowers thrown upon his hand.


    He must see the confusion on my face because he starts saying, "You said that you didn''t like the previous flowers I got for you, so I got everything." He thrusts the flower forward. "I got one of all of them for you. I hope you like them." The flower hangs awkwardly between us.


    "I don''t want it. It''s hideous," I say, ignoring the way his face drops and brushing past him.


    I walk towards the exit of the school, quickening my pace when I hear a set of fast-paced footsteps behind me.


    Raphael starts walking beside me, the bouquet absent and I try not to wonder if he threw it away in the trash. It''s none of my business what he did with it. He could shred it into a million pieces for all I care.


    "Are you going to enter the pouring rain?" He asks, his voice chippy like I didn''t just insult the gift he handed to me.


    I wave my umbre as an answer.


    "Didn''t see you holding that," he responds, sounding a little disappointed.


    He probably hoped that I would be stuck in this empty building with him. Hah, jokes on him. Getting to the steps that lead into the heavy rain, I open up my umbre and step into the rain.


    Raphael stops on the steps and I force myself not to feel bad for him as I walk towards the gate.


    "Bye," he yells out behind me because that''s the only way that I hear him over this heavy rain. A rain that didn''t look like it was going to be going down anytime soon.


    It''s not my fault that he''s stranded and can''t leave until the rain stops. No one forced him to show up to my ce of work when he could have simply headed to his pack.


    I''m definitely not going to feel guilty for leaving him there when I have an umbre that is definitely wide enough to fit two grown adults.


    Groaning, I close my eyes, hating my


    inability to ignore people in need. Turning around when I''m just a few feet away from the gate, I start walking back to the school where Raphael is still standing on thest steps, his gaze fixed on the dark sky


    above.


    His head drops down when he hears me approaching. He arches a brow at me in question, confusion etched on his face.


    "You can share my umbre with me," I force out through my teeth and my breath catches in my throat as a blinding smile curves his lips.


    He steps down from thest step


    and into my umbre which I have to


    raise far op because he''s annoyingly tall. He notices my struggles and takes the umbre out of my hold, holding it above our heads with ease.


    "We''ll head over to my house and then you can take the umbre and use it to get home," I exin and he nods.


    "I''ll return it to you tomorrow," he promises and I almost told him to forget about it but what use will that be? Raphael is going to keep showing up at my workce no matter what I say. We start walking in silence, the pounding rain the only sound between us.


    Halfway through the fifteen-minute walk to my home, the rain increases, and my huge umbre struggles under the weight of the heavy downpour. As the rain worsens, my umbre bes useless as it keeps bending over due to the wind thates with the rain


    By the time we get to my house, we''re both drenched from head to toe and we quickly hide under the terrace.


    The rain and wind are so heavy that they are actually blowing the huge trees around my house. There''s no way that Raphael is going to be able to make it to his pack in this state.


    I sigh as Ie to a decision that I''m sure to regret.