The restroom was quiet for a while, for a long while.
Why wasn't he saying anything?

Olivia couldn't help but think maybe it was better Rafael just stood there, backing her, his eyes glued to the wall, one hand on his hip with the other over his mouth, while he took deep breaths.

He was angry.
Of course he was, who wouldn't be after witnessing everything that had happened? Especially since he was responsible for her as his "date".

She let out a sigh, trying to pretend like the awkward silence wasn't frustrating her. She watched him squeeze his fists into a ball and take another deep breath right before he turned. Olivia quickly turned back to the tap, trying to avoid his eye contact. He turned completely to her, she began to wash her hands as fast as she could, pretending not to notice him walk towards her even as she took quick glances at intervals until he was right beside her.

Rafael placed a hand on the tap quickly, not taking his eyes off her for a second. She stared at his hands as he turned it off. She shut her eyes in frustration. She knew exactly what was going to come next and she knew she couldn't avoid it.

"What on earth were you thinking?" Rafael asked her in the calmest tone ever "Why did you do that? embarrass me like that out there?" Olivia held onto the sink. She could see he was trying so hard to bite back his frustration.

"You were supposed to be my plus one. Do you have any idea what those people out there think about me now? How much of a blow this has become to my reputation?"

Olivia kept her eyes on the sink, she didn't look sorry though. Rafael scoffed

"You're drunk aren't you?"

"No."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her with it till she was looking at him.

"How many shots did you take? Two? Three?" He glared at her "Five?"

"I'm not drunk!" She pulled her wrist away from him as hard as she could. She wasn't in the mood for any of his arrogance, Rafael could see that. He could tell how sad she was just by looking at her, it made him a little bit sensitive and calm.

"I'm sorry if my actions affected what people thought about you tonight, I should leave before I cause any more trouble." She picked up her purse from the sink and turned to go before Rafael grabbed her by her arm.

Not yet.
He didn't want her to go, not like that, not with the way she looked like she was about to break down in tears. He could see she was trying to hold back, to stop herself from letting him see just how hurt she was, he couldn't let her go.

"What do you want from me?!" Olivia yelled turning back to meet his gaze. Rafael narrowed his brows at her, why was she getting upset with him? She had so much anger in her eyes, so much pain he had never seen before, she was showing him a part of her he had never thought existed.

"H-hey," he said noticing the drop of tears that fell from her face.

"First you ask me to stand up for myself!" She kept yelling at him "To speak up when I feel I'm being mistreated, to never let anyone step on me and that was what I just did out there." She pointed at the closed door "And then you asked me to stop apologizing for everything, especially when I didn't do anything wrong, now you want me to apologize for defending myself?"

"I didn't ask you to."

"I'm not going to." She snapped back.

"Good," Rafael said to her "Then don't."

Olivia looked at him for a while. What on earth was wrong with her? What was wrong with them? Why was she being extremely mean to this man that had done nothing wrong to her at all? Maybe she was just tired, tired of all of it. Tired of being taken for granted.

They heard one of the bathroom doors open slowly. Olivia exhaled as the lady walked away from it, staring at the both of them. Unfortunately for her, none of them seemed bothered by her, they had no idea they even had company to start with.

Olivia sniffed and placed a hand on her chest. She knew she needed to breathe, she needed air. She drew a deep breath.

"Are you done?" Rafael asked her calmly, monitoring her every expression.

"No." She shook her head.

"Okay," he slowly let go of her hand "Go for it." He told her. Olivia slowly raised her head to meet his. "Tell me how you really feel, yell if you have to, let it all out."

She scoffed.

Did he really mean it? Was he really asking her to use him as her verbal punching bag?
She wanted to jump at the opportunity so badly, she did but she couldn't help but wonder if it was really the right time.

"Go on." He folded his arms on his chest "I've been told a lot of things, trust me, I can handle it."

Olivia rolled her eyes. She had a lot to say and she didn't even know where to start.

"I'm just tired." She told him "I'm sick and tired of everyone treating me like a fool," she said, almost going back to raising her voice "Making fun of me when I'm not there and raising curses on me when I'm there, and the worst thing is they do these things, and they think it's so easy for me. They think I'm not affected by Andrew's death. I mean he was a horrible person but I never wished something so awful on him much more initiating it. I served six years, six long years in jail for a crime I did not commit, I was depressed and separated from my daughter the second she was born. I get to live the rest of my life with everyone calling me a murderer and a killer even when the court found me innocent of every charge. I don't even have a criminal record and yet I can't get a job, not even the easiest. I can't walk into a room filled with people without them thinking I'm a big joke or a monster."

She scoffed, trying to force her tears back.

"I can't even say hi to children on the streets without their mothers pulling them away from me and then someone just tried to kill my daughter above all these things and somehow everyone expects me to be cool with it. I'm not supposed to get upset, I'm not even -" her voice broke as a drop of tear fell from her face.
"I'm not even allowed to cry in public without everyone thinking I'm weak and being dramatic or just trying to get everyone's attention and pity and while I'm still struggling with all of this, while I'm still trying to make something reasonable from what's left of my life, whoever it is, whoever it is responsible for all of this gets to walk freely like they did nothing wrong. I am broken, I am pathetic and weak and I don't think I can ever be fixed, and then there's you,"

Olivia paused for a while.

She could tell how Rafael's gaze suddenly became more concentrated. Him? What did he do?

This was it. This was her telling him how she felt. How she really felt about him just like Benita and Amy had suggested. She knew that was her only chance, while she still had all that alcohol in her system, while he still cared to listen, that was her moment of truth.

"Me?" He asked her

Olivia drew a deep breath and turned to him

"You're always so mean to me." She continued "Nothing I ever do is enough for you. You get upset when I try, and you get upset when I don't, the worst part is through it all, through everything you've said I can't walk away from your annoying, selfish and arrogant ass. At first, I thought it was just because I'm extremely grateful to you for all you've done but then after you jumped into that bullet for me, I realized that it wasn't it at all, that it was more than that. When you left and never called or replied to any of my texts, I was worried to death, then you showed up again and it was just - " she paused for a while. Rafael twitched his brows, he was waiting for her to get to the point.

"I just-"
She couldn't say it, she didn't know how to.

The door to the bathroom opened immediately. Olivia exhaled.
Saved by the bell.

She wasn't ready. She didn't think she was and what was worse, she wasn't ready for the person who had walked in, closed the door and stood right in front of it.

"Olivia," Olivia scoffed at the sound of Amanda's voice. "Can we talk?"

Olivia drew a deep breath, cleaning her eyes slowly, she sniffed.

"God, I can't believe this." She said.

"I just want to talk Ollie, that's all."

Olivia turned to her.

"Olivia I know I have wronged you a big deal." Amanda said hurrying to her. Olivia scoffed in disbelief "What I've done, what I did to you not just in that courtroom but in the past, when we were kids, it's unforgivable."

She sniffed as tears fell from her face. She lowered her hands to Olivia's and grabbed them slowly.

"I should have been there all those years you needed me, I should have never done that to you in court, I was wrong and I'm sorry." Her voice broke "I'm really sorry Olivia. I don't know what came over me, I just- "

"How much was it?"
Olivia asked, cutting her off. Amanda paused for a while. pretending like she didn't hear, she was very good at that. Olivia raised her eyes to meet hers.
"How much did Victoria offer you to betray me?" Olivia repeated

She watched how Amanda struggled to speak, shame evident in her eyes, she couldn't even look Olivia in the eye but she wanted to. She wanted to be free from the guilt that was eating her from within, she truly wanted to.

"Now you won't talk?"

"Six million," Amanda answered "And a seat in the legal team for ECOWAS."

Olivia scoffed.
Wow.

"But I'm going to turn it down." Amanda added immediately.
"I'm going to turn down the offer and return her money, just please-"

Olivia placed a hand in front of her to stop her from getting any closer than she had already pushed, or wasting her time with saying anything else. Was that it? Was that really the price of their many years of friendship? So she was right after all, Amanda betrayed her for her own benefits after all.

"Don't." Olivia told her and then raised her eyes to her
"You worked so hard for them seeing how you sacrificed your relationship with the only person who was capable of ever loving you for everything that you are. You should keep it, every single penny so that every time you spend every naira, every time you sit in that new office you were promised, you'd have to remember just how much you sacrificed to get there-"

"Olivia," Amanda's voice broke as she burst into more tears. Olivia pulled her hands away quickly. She wasn't doing it anymore, she didn't want to. She was trying so hard not to cry already, she wasn't going to cry on front of Amanda.

"Don't appear in front of me ever again or I don't know what I would do." Olivia told her and waited for a brief moment before she walked as fast as she could to the door. Amanda turned quickly

"Olivia please!" She rushed to go after her but she wasn't fast enough.

Olivia rushed out of the bathroom and shut the door with a thud behind her. She cleaned her eyes just as she hurried to the rest of the crowd. That was it, she wasn't going to stay in that party anymore. She wanted to leave, to go back to the hospital. She bumped into Austin.

"Olivia?" He called grabbing her arms gently and then pulling her head away from him so he could see her face.

Rafael exhaled as he watched Amanda stand there, really confused and pitiful and she wouldn't just stop crying. Why now? Why did it take her so long to apologize?

He exhaled and walked towards the door, he needed to leave too, to find her. Amanda grabbed his hand the moment he got closer to her. Rafael turned know what she wanted.

"She listens to you doesn't she?" Her voice was shaky as she wrapped both hands on his arms. "You're the only one she listens to, that means you can talk to her on my behalf."
She tugged his arm, she looked so desperate.

"Please, talk to her for me. I beg you."

Rafael exhaled. He took a minute to reach for her hands with a finger, he pulled them gently away from his arm.

"You're a very horrible person." He told her "And I don't think you deserve her or anyone else's forgiveness."

He threw her hand away from his. Amanda inhaled sharply, just as her tears got worse. Her eyeliner and mascara were mixing with her tears now and leaving black tear trails down her face.

Rafael reached for the breast pocket of his jacket. He took out his handkerchief and handed it to her.

"Here," He told her, as she looked at him, tears still rolling down her face, sniffing hard "You'd be needing this by the end of tonight especially since you'd realize that you chose the wrong side from the beginning. you've actually lost everything."

Amanda slowly lowered her gaze to the handkerchief, she kept sniffing so hard. She didn't even understand what he meant. She looked so sad. She slowly reached for his handkerchief and took it from him, not bothering to ask him anything else.

Rafael exhaled with a tiny smile on his lips then walked to the door. He opened it and then walked out, closing it slowly behind him, he turned to leave.

"I wonder what you're doing walking out of the ladies' room."

He came to an abrupt halt at the sound of the hostile voice, and then looked up.
Rafael let out a loud scoff

Amazing.

Just who he really wanted to see.