The house was extremely quiet for a Sunday morning.

It had been exactly two hours since she and Grace had returned home from church but nothing had changed since the night before. Everywhere still felt very lonely. Olivia let her gaze wander around the kitchen's entrance like she was waiting for him, like she was hoping he just walked in and at least spoke to her.

Ever since the fight at Sam's birthday, it had been very difficult for her to get a hold of him. He was relatively scarce, more like he was doing his utmost best to avoid her even when she didn't know why.

She had a lot of questions to ask him, a lot of things she needed to know and could have sworn she could see the lights in the room come on early that morning but he never took the door no matter how long she knocked. It was almost like he had pretended to be asleep.

She let out a tired exhale.
She was worried about him and she just wished he at least talked to her about it. She wanted to listen to him and hear him defend himself. The Rafael she knew would never do what he did that night without reason, she wanted to hear those reasons, she needed to.

It was a long walk to his office and even if she took the conversation right there and interrupted his meeting with the other lawyers, it wasn't going to make much of a difference.

She felt so sad for him, it was like a lot was happening to him at once and he didn't even know what to do about them. She wanted to be there for him, to help him and what hurt her was she didn't know how. It was just as Randal has said, there was nothing she could do for him besides of course, preparing gift packs and lots of food for the victim of his outburst .

Olivia exhaled as she returned her gaze to the basket of snacks waiting for her to wrap them in front of her.

"You're going to make your throat sore if you keep sighing like that Olivia."

She raised her head to where Ivory stood across her, wrapping the other gifts. Ivory raised her head to look at her and then smiled right before she returned her gaze to the basket.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I can't help myself, I'm worried about him."

"Aren't we all." Ivory told her. She noticed how quiet Olivia had gotten by her response and could see how she had not in any way made the situation better. She exhaled.
"Well, I think for what is worth, we are doing the best that we can to make the situation better." She said in an attempt to lighten Olivia's mood. "I'm sure whatever it is going on, or whatever it was that happened between them, he would talk when he is ready. It's not the first time Rafael has been in a disagreement with his friends, friends fight all the time, they'd get over it."

She had never seen friends fight the way they did the night before.
It was easy for her to say when she wasn't there.

Olivia wanted to say those words to her badly but she didn't know if she even needed to. She just hoped he was okay, and she hoped Ivory was right, she hoped that sooner or later, Rafael would open up to her and speak to her at least.

It was less than twenty-four hours until trial and Rafael sure did have a lot to worry about. His head had been occupied with work so much so that he could barely think of anything that had happened the night before.

He was aware of the situation, he was aware of the rumors and how fast the news about his fight with Victor had spread among their circle and among many other people that didn't even belong to the circle of friends at the party.

He couldn't help the situation he was in and he most certainly couldn't help the fact that his phone didn't stop ringing. Everyone suddenly wanted an explanation as to what had happened and he wasn't sure he had the luxury of time to give them any, he didn't want to. He didn't want to have to explain the reasons he hit one of his best friends so brutally, he didn't want to have to tell her all the nasty things his so called friend thought about her. He didn't know how to face her, not after the way she found him, not after what he did. He didn't regret it either.

There was a lot of awkwardness in the room. He could feel how uneasy the three lawyers in front of him were to be around him. Just like everyone else they had heard the rumor and it had happened way too soon for them to accept.

"What's the update on our witness?" He left his eyes on the file in front of him, not bothering to look at them. He could see how they fought silently amongst themselves about who would speak first. They were all scared of him, extremely terrified.

Victoria rolled her eyes at the incompetency of her male colleagues, and their inability to keep their personal thoughts separated from work especially since they had a deadline to meet. Rafael raised his eyes to look at them all, waiting for one of them to respond to the question he had asked.

"He's ready to testify tomorrow." Victoria said just as Benita approached them with a tray filled with mugs of coffee. She started to place them one after the other in front of them, as gentle as possible.

"We had a few police officers guard his hotel room just in case. I'd stop by the hotel before trial tomorrow morning to prepare him once again for the questions we'd ask."

Rafael nodded in satisfaction.

"And his confession? Did you get it on record?" He asked her just as she nodded and reached for her bag. They all watched her pick out a flash drive from it and gave it to him.

"It has records of everything he did for Randal group. All the details about the bus and the incident were also recorded."

Benita watched Rafael take the flash drive from her and take a good look at it right before he opened his first drawer and gently put it inside, he closed it right after and swallowed hard.

"Sir," one of the men in the room asked for his attention just as he raised his gaze to him sternly. "I'm curious, why do we need a recorded confession of the witness when we'd be questioning him in trial tomorrow?"

"Don't you know why?" The other man asked him. "A lot of strange things happen before trial, having a recorded confession is just a precautionary measure, just in case the unforeseen happens."

It was good that at least one of them could explain the situation to the other. Rafael swallowed hard and turned to Benita.

"Nanny?"

She stood straight and smiled when her gaze met his.

"Could you please make sure that no one comes in here while I'm away? Always keep the doors locked would you."

She nodded. She understood perfectly what she needed to do.

"Also let the driver know that I'd be needing him to get one of the cars ready, I'd like to pay our witness one last visit before trial." He looked away almost sure that she understood what he had asked for.

"Nna," she cut him off abruptly before he said anything else, Rafael turned to her again, wondering what it was she had to say. She was holding back like she didn't know how to say the next words she needed to.

Olivia wrapped the last basket and heaved a sigh of relief. She was done wrapping all the get-well-soon packages and smiled realizing how satisfied she was just looking at the filled counter between them both.

She turned to Ivory and appreciated just how equally excited she was too.

"Do you think he'd like it?" Olivia asked her, pressing her thighs in front of the counter so she was relaxed enough . "I feel like it's not enough."

Ivory laughed sarcastically.

"What are you talking about Olivia, no one would get all these gifts and not walk on their heads the next day. It's more than enough, trust me, almost enough to get the attention of a blind man."

Olivia chuckled.

"You think so?"

"Definitely." Ivory said. That was her confirmation to go ahead with the plan. She slowly turned to Lucy who was arranging the gifts on the counter.

"Lucy, could you please tell the driver to bring the car around? Let him also know that we'd need an extra hand with taking all these gifts outside."

"Yes ma'm." Lucy smiled in excitement right before she turned and started to hurry towards the door while Olivia turned back to the counter to stuff herself up with pride in what she had done. She froze the moment she heard Lucy's loud gasp.

"S-sir?"

She raised her head to the door just as Ivory turned too. They both met Rafael's glare. Lucy swallowed hard, walking away from him immediately and bowing her head, making sure to avoid his gaze as Rafael took a good look at the little occasion in front of him. He didn't believe what Benita had told him and he wanted to go see for himself, he didn't feel any better when he did.

He couldn't believe it, it was true, Olivia was really planning to pay Victor a visit at the hospital and what was worse was that she had prepared all those lovely get-well-soon gifts for him. She was going to just walk obnoxiously into his hospital room and hand all those things over to someone who didn't even think of her as a human being.

It had to be the most pathetic thing Rafael had ever seen and it made his blood boil even worse. He was furious at the thought of it, and the fact that she didn't tell him, made everything even worse.

"What are you both doing?" His voice was very hoarse and it left shivers down her spine, especially when her gaze met with his. He had a huge frown on his face and a lot of frown lines on his forehead.

"Hey," Ivory took it upon herself to lighten the really tight atmosphere. She tried to take a step to him but he tightened his jaw and ignored her.

"I asked a question."

He didn't even bat an eyelid. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting that way all of a sudden? He had barely said a word to her all night and morning and that was the first thing he could say?

Olivia let out a sigh and leaned on the counter.

"We are sending gifts to the hospital." She told him just as he raised his gaze back to her. "To Victor," she went on. "Remember him? The man you almost killed in front of tens of people?"

Ivory looked away from Olivia and returned her gaze to Rafael. She exhaled and narrowed her gaze on him.

"Ralph." She slowly reached for his hand just as he lowered his gaze to her. "What really happened? Why did you do what you did?"

Rafael held his breath.
He really wished he could speak about it, that he could tell her what really happened but he was scared, he was scared of hurting Olivia's feelings and even scared of what would have happened if Olivia went to see Victor at the hospital after what had happened.

He could imagine a lot of ways everything would have gone wrong. It was bad enough that Victor, his friends and family thought that Rafael had turned on him because of a woman, just like everyone else did, he didn't want all that anger and disappointment to be transferred to Olivia. He wasn't ever going to let that happen, and that was why he knew stopping her was the right thing to do.

"That's not going to happen." He announced just as he turned to Lucy who left her gaze on him the moment he had said those words.

"Get rid of all of that." He ordered her.
Ivory exhaled weakly.

"What?" Olivia asked him.

"Immediately." Rafael went on and then turned to leave just as Olivia walked briskly away from the counter and hurried as fast as she could to catch up with him while he walked away from the kitchen.

"Get rid of it?" She said hurrying after him as fast as she could just so he didn't get away to where she couldn't. "It took me the whole morning to put all that together and you're just going to ask that they be thrown away?"

"If you'd not have it disposed then you could put it to better use, visit the orphanage and let them have it instead. That way, your effort won't go to waste."

Olivia scoffed at him. She couldn't believe what her ears were listening to.

"I can't believe this, I can't believe you."
She stormed behind him all the way to the stairs and came to a stop at the first one the moment he climbed the fourth one. She exhaled, she didn't want to go after him anymore.

"What on earth is going on Rafael?" She said after him while he stopped walking immediately, realizing how she had also stopped chasing him.

"What happened at the party last night? Why won't you talk to me about it? Why have you been avoiding me? Why can't I take gifts to Victor? And why can't I ask your other friends about it?"

Rafael held his breath immediately, folding his hands in a fist just by thinking about what had happened again. He didn't want to talk about it, he couldn't.

"The least you could do is tell me why."

Olivia was breathing heavily. She waited for him, it didn't matter how long he needed, she wasn't going to take a step away from him until he explained himself. She exhaled.

"I forbid you from visiting Victor at the hospital." He said, not even bothering to turn to her. "And that's final."

Olivia took in a sharp breath in disbelief as she watched him walk the remaining stairs away from her. Was that it? Was that all he was going to say to her?

She scoffed and placed a hand on her forehead.
She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe any of it. She watched him walk away until she couldn't see him anymore.

She let out an exasperated exhale just as she turned slowly to meet Ivory's gaze on her.

What do I do?

Those were the exact same words her eyes asked Ivory.
A question Ivory wasn't sure she had the answers to.