Chapter 2

Those two words hit Catherine like a thunderbolt, causing her mind to go blank. By the time she registered what had been said, tears streamed down her face before she could even stop them. Raphael was startled at first. But in the next moment, he silently opened the glove compartment in the car and pulled out a piece of candy. When she was little, Raphael would hold and comfort her every time she cried. He did so by holding her close and popping a piece of candy into her mouth. The sweetness would spread, and Catherine would quickly forget why she was sad. Even as she grew older, Raphael would still do this. Out of habit, he unwrapped the candy and gently placed it in her mouth. As the sugary taste filled Catherine's mouth, her tears somewhat subsided due to the familiarity of Raphael's movements. But the next second, she heard Raphael say, "You should head home." In a daze, she got out of the car. Ethan soon returned, and the Maybach drove off. Catherine stood there, and two words kept repeating themselves in her mind—"My girlfriend". Instead of going home as Raphael had asked her to, Catherine hailed a cab and followed his Maybach. The cab trailed behind. Soon, she watched as Raphael's Maybach pulled up in front of an upscale apartment residence area. Not long after, a tall and gorgeous woman stepped out from inside. The woman looked about five or six years older than her. She was wearing a Chanel dress and carrying a limited-edition Hermès bag. From her appearance, she was clearly a socialite. She and Raphael looked like a match made in heaven as she stood beside him. Raphael had always kept his distance from women, but he got surprisingly close to this one. He even took the initiative to hold her hand as they got into the car together. Catherine felt like she'd been stabbed in the chest, leaving behind a gaping hole where the cold wind rushed in. She sat trembling in the back seat of the cab. So, Raphael hadn't been lying after all? Was this woman really his girlfriend? A sharp, bitter pain rose inside Catherine as she watched their car drive off. As if punishing herself, she told the driver to keep following them. Later, she watched as they went to a restaurant for dinner. She was positive it wasn't Raphael's choice because it was a Fyrdean restaurant. Raphael hated the taste of foie gras, so he rarely ate Fyrdean cuisine. Yet, he was dining there with this woman. After dinner, the woman and Raphael walked into a shopping mall with linked arms. Catherine got out of the cab and followed them inside. She watched as Raphael shopped with the woman and even took her to the movies. He had set aside an entire evening for their date. Catherine, on the other hand, silently trailed after them for that whole duration. By the time she returned home, her face was streaked with tears. When she returned to Somerset Villa, her parents didn't notice her desolation as she walked in. They smiled and asked, "How did the blind date go today? Anyone Raphael introduces has to be a good match. You should consider them carefully." Baxter and Katie Tatum were unaware that Catherine had confessed to Raphael on the yacht. They assumed he was setting up blind dates for her out of goodwill as a close family friend and elder. With her head lowered, Catherine hid the tear marks at the corners of her eyes and didn't respond. At first, the people Raphael introduced were all carefully selected. Nearly all the eligible young men in the city had been paraded in front of her, but Catherine always found a way to reject each one of them. Over time, Raphael grew impatient. He did all he could to get Catherine to start dating. The dates became more frequent, and the quality of the candidates began to drop. The one she got that day happened to be one of the worst ones. Catherine was so listless that she didn't even feel like complaining to her parents. She simply commented, "He wasn't a good fit." After that, she locked herself in her room. She buried herself under the covers and cried to her heart's content soundlessly. … The next morning, Katie knocked on her door. "Catherine, aren't you getting up? We're going to the banquet soon." "I'm not going!" Catherine's muffled voice came from under the covers. Katie frowned and scolded, "How can you not go? Raphael has been so kind to you all these years. He'll be upset if you don't show up." At the mention of Raphael's name, Catherine immediately threw off the covers. As she'd been crying the whole night, her eyes were puffy and reddened. She murmured, "The banquet at Lindberg Manor?"