Rachael slowly stretched herself on the bed that she was lying on. It didn't actually feel like hers, so she slowly opened her eyes to see where she was. It was only then that the memories of the day before came back to her.
The mild sun rays coming through the window gave her a clue that it was still early in the morning. She felt her phone beside her and saw that it was 7:30 am.

Sitting up on the bed and taking a better look at the room, she couldn't help but notice how neatly arranged it was. Some of Vincent's school books were neatly stacked at a corner of his reading table. His school bag was perfectly hung on a corner of his room which was painted white. She wondered who had carried her into the room because she could remember that she was cuddled up with Vincent before she had slept off.

"Sleeping Beauty is awake," Vincent said with a beautiful deep voice and smile as he moved into the room, bringing Rachael's attention to him. He was putting on a white singlet and sweatpants. Rachael quickly checked him out before saying, "Good morning."

"Good morning babe. Hope you slept very well?" Vincent replied.

"Yes I did."

"If you're wondering how you got here, mum suggested that I carried you to my room when she had returned from the shop," Vincent explained to Rachael who was still seated on his bed.

"So where did you sleep?" Rachael asked out of curiosity.

"We slept together. Don't tell me you don't remember," Vincent replied and Rachael's face was filled with shock; her brows raised high and her mouth wide open. Vincent noticed her reaction and he started laughing.

"You seriously believe me? I actually slept on the couch in the parlour. Mum wouldn't even let me try that," he said after having his fill of laughter.

Rachael sighed a sigh of relief before saying,   "You joke with everything."

"Isn't that why you love me," Vincent said and gained an eye roll from Rachael.

"Rachael!" Daniel's voice came from the hallway before he finally appeared before them, and immediately ran into Rachael's arms. He was still on his Micky Mouse pyjamas.

"Hey Daniel! How are you doing this morning?" Rachael asked him with her hands still holding on him.

"I'm doing fine," he said with a small voice.

"I've missed you so much," Rachael said.

"Me too," Daniel replied with a another small voice.

"Rachael I'm sure you would want to be going soon. Let me go and get your top from the washing machine," Vincent said to her and left her with Daniel.

Vincent came back with her top, which was now neatly washed and dried, to find her tickling Daniel who was loudly laughing.

"Here you go." He handed the top over to Rachael who had stopped tickling Daniel immediately she heard Vincent's voice.

"Thank you so much."

"Come here Daniel. Let's allow Rachael to change," Vincent said, giving his hands to Daniel who took it before they both left the room.

Rachael quickly changed into her top before neatly folding the sweater that Vincent had given to her. She left the room and went to the living room where she met Vincent and Daniel seated.

"I'm done," she announced as she walked in.

"Where is your mum? I need to tell her that I'm leaving, and thank her too," she said.

"You don't need to worry about that. I would send your regards to her. She left for the shop just some minutes before you woke up," Vincent said to her, standing up.

"Oh, too bad. Anyways, just tell her thank you for me," Rachael said.

"You're really leaving," Vincent said before going over to engulf her in an intimate hug.
"I should escort you to the road," he said but Rachael protested. "You don't have to. It's not even far from here," she told him.

"I want to. I insist... Please," Vincent begged.

"Okay okay. Let's go then," Rachael finally agreed.

"Daniel stay here in the house. I'm not going to take long," Vincent said to his brother who only nodded at him.

Vincent walked with Rachael to the concrete road where she stopped a taxi and got in after saying goodbye to Vincent.

"You are going to school today? I thought it's a public holiday." The taxi driver started the car.

"No I'm not. I'm actually heading home," Rachael replied before giving the driver her address. They drove for some minutes before she finally got home.

Opening the door to the house, she peeped inside to find the living room empty. She walked upstairs, heading to her room, but decided to stop by at her parents' room.
She opened the door and got in after knocking and getting a reply from her dad to go in.
Her dad was seated over his bedside table and going through some files before bringing his gaze to his daughter.

"Good morning dad," Rachael greeted.

"Good morning dear. You're back," her dad acknowledged.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier that I was going to sleep over at Vincent's place, I never planned for it either," Rachael said.

"It's okay. I hope everything is okay with you? you sounded a little bit strange and worried when you called," her dad inquired, looking deeply into his daughter's eyes.

"I'm okay dad. I just felt like visiting," Rachael replied.

"It's alright," her dad said.

"What are you up to?" Rachael asked as she studied some of the papers on his desk.

"Just sorting out some stuff at work," her dad replied.

"Alright dad. I would be going to my room now. I need to take my bath."

"Alright. And how is Vincent and his family?" her dad asked.

"They are all fine," Rachael replied before leaving the room to hers.

She lazily dropped her schoolbag on her bed before taking off her clothes and heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth and have her bath. She got out of the bathroom after she was done and went ahead to rub her lotion on her skin before putting on a blue singlet and a short jean skirt that stopped mid-thigh.

She decided that she would go over to Rita's place later in the day so she could tell her she was sorry for accusing her falsely. She went downstairs to eat her breakfast of pancakes and tea before going back to her room after she was done with eating, and picked up her guitar to play, absentmindedly pulling at the strings as she played to no tune in particular.

As she played she thought about the idea Rita had given to her on the day she had visited her. The one about making videos of her guitar playing sessions and uploading them on YouTube. As the memory came back to her, she thought it might be the perfect distraction for her. A knock on her door brought her back from her thoughts and she went over to open the door.

Standing in front of her was Rita, while Rachael just stood there in surprise.
She got even more surprised when Rita went on to hug her tightly.

"I'm sorry for what happened with Cyril and Diane. Vincent told me all about it," Rita finally spoke and broke the hug.

"Yeah... Please come in," Rachael said and invited her into her room, still in shock. She expected Rita to be very angry with her.

"I'm so sorry Rita. I was a fool for not believing you when you warned me," Rachael quietly said after they had both sat down. "You are supposed to be angry with me right now. I chose you over someone I had just started talking with. That was ridiculous."

"You made a mistake and you are sorry about it. I can't say I was not hurt and angry about it but everyone makes mistakes. I would be a bad friend if I remained angry at you," Rita said with calm.

"You are such a wonderful friend Rita. I actually have everything I need. I really don't know why I decided to hang out with the wrong people. I guess I just wanted a distraction. I felt that the more friends I had, the less I would think about my mum," Rachael went on while Rita silently listened to her with pity.

"It's okay dear. I'm just happy that nothing bad had happened to you," Rita calmly said.

"Yeah. Thank you for coming, I was actually planning on coming over to your place to apologize to you," Rachael said.

"I decided to come after Vincent called me very early this morning. I figured out you would need someone to talk to," Rita said.

"I'm really grateful Rita," Rachael said with all honesty.

"He also told me about the both of you," Rita said with a wink and Rachael blushed.

"So you liked him all this while and you never told me about it," Rita said, feigning a sad look.

"I didn't want to ruin our friendship," Rachael said.

"It's not ruining anything. I'm okay with it. Besides, I actually got him to reveal to me who his crush was when you left us to go meet Diane and Co on your birthday," Rita revealed.

"Seriously! And you didn't let me know!" Rachael said in surprise. The awkwardness that was present between them slowly starting to get replaced with excitement.

"He actually asked me not to. He wanted to let you know himself," Rita replied.

"I see now," Rachael said before they both fell into a peaceful silence.

"I'm still wondering why Diane would use Cyril to get close to you. I'm guessing that she wanted something from you," Rita broke the short silence.

"I don't know too. What could she even want from me?" Rachael thought out loud.

"I actually saw an old post on her Instagram account that is making me to suspect a reason for her action. I think I know how you would get the truth from her," Rita said with excitement as a planning was quickly forming in her head.

"What would I do?" Rachael curiously asked.

"You are going to lead her into a trap, which I'm sure she would fall into. Just listen to what I'm about to tell you," Rita instructed.

"Alright," Rachael said in reply as she waited for Rita to unfold her plan.

                              ~•~