CHAPTER THREE

“Screeeech”, a green low car halts on getting to the front of the airport. A fairly handsome man gets out of the car, and the moment he gets off the car, a lot of people present in the airport notices his appearance.

“Wait, isn’t that...?”, a man says on seeing this young man. “Is my eyes deceiving me?”, “I never thought that I would see him up this close in my life”, “That’s Raphael”, lots of voices were being heard on Raphael’s appearance at the airport.

‘It’s always the same’, Raphael thought with an awkward smile on his face. He seems to be like a superstar at this moment. It wasn’t easy to be this young and rich after all. He was just thirty-one this year and had enough wealth to handle up to the third of his future generation no matter how much they spent. He was sure that his parents would be proud of him now.

“Hey, you are late and you are still zoning off thinking of another lady, right? Bet it was another girl that made you forget about me”, a fairly mature lady comes closer to him with just a simple roller box and a handbag. She seems very much like Ella in her university days, just a bit more beautiful and her charm at this moment was perfect. She wore a blue light shirt on which the bottom was tied and her flat stomach was shown off with black jeans and black heel sandals, although her dress was simple, it didn’t reduce her beauty one bit.

The reason Ella was acting this way was that their relationship wasn’t a secret, the whole world knew about it and they didn’t bother trying to hide it, but they just prevented too many talks about their relationship, and those they cannot prevent, they ignore it. Years have already taken a toll on their relationship, they have had their share of quarrels and laughter. But their relationship has still stood strong and way better than before.

Ella’s parents had not initially agreed with their relationship since they didn’t see any future in Raphael, but they all of a sudden approved of it. Ella happened to end up a model and movie star at the same, obviously with the help of Raphael who put a lot of resources into her career.

So, although she wasn’t as rich as Raphael, she was still pretty rich way more than her parents which wasn’t an easy feat. And although she was helped by Raphael to get to the position she is in right now, she still had the skills and thus she was able to rise higher in the ladder quickly.

Raphael did not bother answering her questions, he just lifts her while he hugs and kisses her on her lips. This action of his put a frown on the faces of some ladies as there were a lot of people who wanted their relationship to end so they could have a go at Raphael and Ella.

“I missed you”, Raphael says after separating his lips from her. “What are you doing outside?”, Ella behaves shyly, noticing the many eyes on them.

“Ohh, am just showing how much I missed my baby. Or don’t you like it?”, Raphael says with love in his eyes. Seeing him this way shows that he has been poisoned in love and there wasn’t anything that could stop him. The funny thing about this whole issue was that it wasn’t a one-sided thing. Who could have done such a ruthless thing to these two people one couldn’t help but wonder.

“Not here”, Ella quickly snaps out of the reverie and gently pushes Raphael away, to which he just smiles, picks up her luggage, and throws it inside the trunk of his car. He also opens the car for Ella to get in, such a true gentleman.

They drive towards a hotel that occupies a large span of land. On the top of the hotel were the huge initials “A.R”. From the initials, it wasn’t that hard to guess who owns the hotel. It was just one of the hotels owned by the two richest brothers in the country, Raphael and Andrew.

While talking they get to the reception and the moment the receptionist sees Raphael, she just passes a key card to him. Immediately, they take an elevator to the top floor of the hotel.

On the elevator opening, Raphael and Ella could be seen kissing. It just so happens that there was just one room on this floor. While kissing and romancing, they clumsily open the door to the suite. This room looks quite furnished with all the necessities perfectly in there.

After a while of romancing from chair to chair, Raphael finally frees himself from her embrace.

“You just had a hectic day. Why don’t you just rest while I go back home to get some things done? I would be back here in a few hours”, Raphael says. Although there was a bit of reluctance in the eyes of Ella, she still listens to him and let go.

Raphael knows she was a bit reluctant this time around, so he adds, “I would take a leave from work this period to spend this little holiday with you. Since we are able to have some bit of free time to ourselves, we should make the best of it”.

On hearing those words, Ella beams with joy as she asks, “Really?”. “Yeah, really”, Raphael replies.

“Okay then, you can go. I need to rest. Go on and finish all you have to soon”, this time around Ella pushes Raphael out of the room while saying.

Raphael didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this moment due to the sudden change of Ella, but he still allowed himself to be pushed out.

On getting outside the door, Ella adds, “Do come back early though”, to which Raphael smiles before saying, “I sure will”, then he gets into the elevator like someone who was leaving his wife to fight a dangerous war, waves goodbye to her while the elevator closes.

Raphael smiles while going down, picturing how they will get to spend their time together. While Ella has closed the room door and carried her luggage into one of the rooms when her phone starts ringing. She hurries to the phone, the name on the phone was blurred, but she answers it immediately as she sees the name with all seriousness as if being a second late will spell doom for her.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

A sinister sound is playing in the background at the moment as she waits for the person on the other line to speak. “Have you gotten in?”, a voice sounds out from the other side of the phone. “Yes”, she answers. “Hope you have not forgotten what you have been told to do?”, the voice asks once again. “No, not at all. I can’t dare to”, she replies immediately. “Good, good. Go to the lobby, the package is with the receptionist, just tell her exactly what I am about to tell you, then she would give it to you. Don’t forget to use it exactly as I have told you to and leave no trace, or else you will be implicated and I won’t be able to save you”, the voice says once again. Ella's eyes dim slightly before replying, “Okay, I will follow your directions till later”. “You better. So, all you have to tell the receptionist is that.....”, the voice says while trailing off.

Next, we see Raphael driving into his compound. He seems to be in an absolutely happy mood, oblivious to what is being conspired behind his back, and that his life is at total risk.

He gets into the house, in a good mood, and looks for his brother, but after searching for a while in the areas his brother is usually in, he still can’t find him. This was very unusual of Andrew, but he doesn’t think of it too much and tried calling his phone to know what was happening or where he was. But, he hears the phone ringing in the sitting room which he was currently in.

That was when one of the maids comes in and handed over a letter to Raphael. “Hmm”, Raphael was surprised at this, taking a good look at the letter, it seems to be addressed to him.

“Did my brother tell you to give this to me?”, Raphael asks the maid. “No, we found it while cleaning the house”, the maid replies politely. “Did any of you see my brother leaving the house?”, Raphael couldn’t help to ask, as although none of the cars were missing, maybe he made use of their private copter to leave the house for an important meeting or sort like that.

“No. None of us have seen big boss today”, the maid replies on behalf of the other workers. “Okay then, you may leave”, Raphael says. The maid bows politely before taking her leave.

Raphael just shrugs everything off before taking a seat in the sitting room, turning on the tv before opening the letter, to read its content while murmuring, “Who still leaves a letter in this time and century?”.

But as he goes through the letter, his expression changes swiftly. He quickly stands up from the chair he was sitting on and he seems to start sweating although the air conditioner was functioning properly.

The contents of the letter were as thus,

“Hey kiddo,

Guess when you would be going through the letter, I would be long gone. It has been a rough ride since our parents died, but I am happy that I at least had you to keep me going.

You have been my greatest joy since then and my motivation to keep on going. But all good things must come to an end, isn’t it?

I have been going through a lot of stuff recently, probably the fact that I have always been over-stressing myself is now taking its toll on me. Nevertheless, I have been diagnosed with some kind of brain tumor, or that’s what the doctor said. I have been on meds to suppress the pains while hiding them to prevent you from worrying too much. When I was diagnosed, I had only three months to live, didn’t know that I had such a short span, and I didn’t know how to spend it with you.

I didn’t want you to suspect anything since you have always been quick in your thinking, so I finally decided to just be normal as I always am.

Well, you might be thinking that since I had three months, why would I be leaving such a message? But the three months have been exhausted long ago and I have been living on borrowed time.

Recently, the drugs are no longer able to suppress the pain, so I guess, this is it for me.

We have come a long way from where we began. Don’t worry about the shares of the company, they are safely in your hands, and all the documents have been signed over to you. I made sure of that.

Don’t mourn me for too long. I won’t want to see a single teardrop on your face kid bro.

I would always live beside you.

Bro4life,

Andrew”.

After finishing the letter, Raphael was devastated and his heart has already started beating wildly. “No, no, no, no, no, no”, he screams while shaking his head. Tears have already started flowing down his eyes. “I don’t believe this. There is no way I would believe this”, he says.

He quickly cleans his eyes while he starts his search all over the house for his brother. “There is no way you can leave me. It can’t even be possible. You can’t leave me now”, he says while looking around.

Although he was trying to console himself, teardrops were already escaping his eyes in a wild manner. It was to be expected after all. Although being a man, he just couldn’t accept any of this. He anxiously searches for Andrew, while hoping in his heart that everything was a prank.

But no matter how much he searched for Andrew, he could not find him. He was slowly sinking into depravity. This was too much for him to handle right now. He even made an effort to double the places he had already checked, while searching even the smallest places that a newborn baby can’t even fit in, all to search for Andrew.

For the first time in a long while, Raphael went through every corner of this very big house all in search of Andrew.

He even called the attention of the maids and bodyguards to search for him while even wanting to transfer aggression to them. He keeps on wondering how a full-grown man is nowhere to be seen in his own house and no one knew how he disappeared. This was all too shocking.