Episode 7

Rafael observed Keyza suspiciously and couldn't understand why his sister let this problematic woman stay at his house when all he wanted was to be alone, sink into his misery, and drink all the alcohol in his house. But Susie was always stubborn when she made a decision.

"Shall we go in?" Rafael asked.

Rafael had to admit that there was no other option but to let her stay at his house for the night, as unfortunately she didn't bring her car and her residence was located in a very remote place. The only bus stop in the entire area was over an hour's walk away, so they had to wait until tomorrow for Susie to return so that the unpleasant ex's sister would leave.

"I guess I have to do it," Keyza said, feeling ashamed.

Keyza looked around and didn't want to go in because she felt very uncomfortable being with her sister's ex-boyfriend. If Rafael had resented her before, he must hate her now.

"It's only for tonight, so don't think for a moment that you're staying here," Rafael said angrily.

"Rafael, that wasn't my intention. This was all Susie's idea," Keyza said.

"Sometimes Susie can be very..." Rafael said irritably.

"Stubborn," Keyza said, completing Rafael's sentence.

Keyza sighed resignedly and held her two suitcases with both hands. She started walking towards the entrance, but Rafael immediately took them from her.

"I'll take care of it because it's too heavy for you," Rafael said.

Keyza looked at him in astonishment because her ex had never been so considerate towards her.

"Thank you, Rafael, for everything you're doing," she said.

Rafael was surprised that she was thanking him because he had always seen her as a conceited and arrogant woman.

"You brought a lot of luggage," Rafael joked.

"Today, I left my parents' house because they're supporting the relationship between Kenya and Antonio, and I won't forgive them," Keyza admitted.

Rafael imagined that she was very hurt because she was betrayed by her fiance with her sister. But for her parents to take Kenya's side must not have been easy to accept, let alone forgive. He felt a little respect for her because if there was one thing that bothered him about Keyza, it was her lack of self-respect when it came to her family.

"I see that you finally found a little self-respect," he said.

"I guess I've had enough of all of them," Keyza said, with a lump in her throat.

"What do you plan to do now?" Rafael asked with interest.

"I'm going to move in with Susie for a couple of days," Keyza replied.

"It's the first place your parents will look for you since you don't have any friends," Rafael said.

"I know, but right now I can't afford to rent a place," Keyza admitted.

Rafael observed her with astonishment because Keyza belonged to an upper-middle-class family, and her parents owned several supermarkets. So it wasn't about a destitute person who couldn't afford to rent a place.

"I can't believe that a Bagirova can't afford a simple rent!" Rafael said sarcastically.

"Well, you better believe it because it's my sad reality," Keyza said.

Keyza hated talking about finances because unlike Kenya, she lived on the bare minimum, and even though the university paid well, she had invested in her own business, which was still in its early stages.

"The truth is that canceling a wedding is more expensive than you can imagine," Keyza said with frustration.

When Antonio canceled the wedding, he left all the responsibility of handling the paperwork to her, as he was too much of a coward to face the vendors. Ivana blamed her, and her father, as usual, didn't have time to listen to her. Not to mention her former in-laws, who were never in favor of that engagement. That's why she had to use her savings to pay fines and cancellation fees, and now she had to wait for several weeks to receive the respective refunds.

"Antonio canceled the wedding and you're assuming the costs?" Rafael asked in astonishment.

Keyza shrugged her shoulders and was deeply ashamed, she felt very used by her ex-boyfriend and Rafael realized that she was very sad to have to talk about this topic

"I'm apparently the biggest idiot in history"

"I don't think you're a bigger idiot than me," Rafael said consolingly.

"My sister is a narcissist, and she is very good at manipulating people,"

Can you believe that for two months she comforted me when she was the reason that

Antonio broke up with me, I really feel like a fool.

"I don't think you're a fool, I just think you're very naïve and trust in the"

wrong people.

The conversation aroused in Keyza feelings of great anger and because of this she did not want to talk more about it.

"Rafael, I don't want to talk about the traitor dog and my sister's bitch."

Rafael laughed out loud because of his foul and derogatory language and liked to know such a casual side of this enigmatic woman.

"A beer?" asked Rafael.

"Yes please" Keyza replied.

Rafael went to the kitchen, put two glasses on the counter and took out a bottle of Porter beer from the fridge uncovered it and began to serve it, Keyza watched as he did it with such style and smiled very much proud because she was the owner of that brand.

(Photo by Natasha Kapur on Unsplash)

"I hope you like craft beers."

"They are my favorites"

Rafael took a sip and you could tell he really enjoyed the taste because they were of very good quality.

"This is a new brand that I would like to promote in my pub, but the person I am promoting it to is"

The owner of this brand is very selective with her customers.

Keyza at this time needed to recover from the financial setback caused by the breakup with Antonio and if a pub such as Rafael's, which was currently in the fact that a booming company was interested in promoting its brand was a blessing.

"I can help you with that," Keyza assured.

"Do you know the owner of the brand?" Rafael asked with interest.

Keyza was secretive about it because she didn't want her parents to find out that was the owner of a brewery, as she wanted to rub it in his face when he succeeded.

"Yes, we are very close friends" Keyza said with an enigmatic smile.

Raphael did not understand her words, but if this unfriendly woman could help him it would be excellent due to the fact that at present his business was in a good momentum, but needed an additional boost and to obtain the exclusivity of that brand that had good reviews were free advertising for the pub.

"You should prepare a business proposal to present to the brand owner."

Rafael was surprised because Keyza was a historian and according to Kenya she was very clumsy in matters of finance, although now that he thought about it he realized that the image I had of Keyza was biased, as it was based only on the opinions of his ex-girlfriend.

"I thought you didn't know anything about finance."

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***