THIRD SEQUEL OF THE SINNERS AND SAINTS SERIES!
A lot of time has passed and nothing seems to have changed. Rafael and Olivia are still in an endless battle to preserve their love and romance while Randal's influence gets even stronger.
Yet again, m...
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"Here you go."
Olivia slowly turned to Tony as he slowly dropped her cup of coffee in front of her, and his, right across hers, making himself comfortable in his seat right after.
"Thank you." She forced a smile on her face and reached for it.
"You know, you don't have to keep working at Everyday News if you're having a hard time, you don't have to work anywhere at all, you basically own the place."
"I know." She said, nodding her head. "It's bad enough that I got it handed to me on a platter without having to work for it. The least I can do is try to at least be present in some kind of way isn't it?"
Tony shrugged his shoulders right before Olivia went back to looking into her phone's screen like she was expecting something to come out from it. She was distracted and Tony could see it.
"He hasn't called yet?"
Olivia quickly raised her head to meet Tony's gaze. She forced a smile on her face again and dropped her phone on the table, reaching for her coffee mug immediately to take a sip from it. She did and returned it back to where it was.
"I'm sure he has a lot going on." She said, pretending to put up a strong front, and refusing to have eye contact with him at the same time. Tony could read through her, he could see how sad she was even when she didn't look at him, she could see how every look and gesture her body made screamed how much she missed him.
She had a lot of questions to ask Tony. She wanted to know how he was, if he ate well, if he still had trouble sleeping. The whole situation was killing her and it didn't matter how she tried to hide it, how she tried to push him away by reminding herself of how bad they were for each other, of how it was greedy for her to want him by her side after what his family did to her and her family, and she was about to do to his, yet, she couldn't deny herself the truth of how she felt about him.
Their relationship was...complicated. She knew how her lawyer had advised that they both stayed away from one another to avoid fueling the rumors of the public but she wished she could see him, even if it was just from a distance.
She lowered her gaze on her hands as she squeezed them against each other.
"D-do you think he'd be able to make it for Grace's birthday tomorrow?" She said, still looking at her fingers. Tony exhaled.
"Rafael is on his way to Lagos Olivia."
She raised her head to him immediately. Greedy for her to even ask that, how could she forget so soon?
"It's tomorrow." She scoffed at how silly she was. "I can't believe I forgot about the trial tomorrow." She raised her hand to her head in embarrassment.
"Olivia," Tony leaned closer to her and slowly reached for her hand from her head.
"Olivia, do you think pushing him away, pushing each other away is fair to the both of you?" she raised her head to meet his.
"I mean, I know how crazy things with both your families are insane right now but," he exhaled. "It's pretty obvious that you still care about him a great deal, and I've seen my friend struggle about his feelings for you the past few months, I just don't see how or why you both need to let any of the sins of your parents define your relationship, especially in your condition."
It was better said than done. Even Olivia had wished that it was that easy but it wasn't. In as much as she wanted to be in his arms again, in as much as she wanted to hold him again and do so many things together, a part of her couldn't. A part of her couldn't turn a blind eye to the night of the accident. It was bad enough that she wanted to make his father pay for what he did, by whatever means necessary, it was only going to be greedy for her to want both her happiness with him and her quest to bring justice to her parents.
"It's too late Tony," she told him. "I don't know what is going to happen in the future but right now, bringing out the sins of Randal and his family, showing the world who he is, and making him pay for everything he has done, is all I can think about and knowing Rafael, he's always going to want to put me first, he's never going to be at the side of injustice. I can't make him fight his father because of me-"
"With or without you, Rafael is hell bent on solving the ALCS case. He wants the truth just as much as you do. Admitting your feelings for him, choosing to go through this together won't make any difference."
It wasn't that she never got the chance to see him, maybe not as much as she used to before the trial had started, but they still had their moments every now and then although it was more of text messaging than physical meetings. It was almost as if he was too occupied with the case and no longer had the time to stop by at the house as he used to, she couldn't blame him. He had an entire community, and a falsely accused convict who looked up to him to deliver justice for them. He had a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders and she couldn't imagine how worn out he must have been bearing all that alone.
Ever since what happened, he had blamed himself for everything and made it his life's mission to right the wrongs of his father. Rafael was ridden with so much guilt that he had dedicated all his life the past few months to seek justice for what happened to the people of Apapa. He was going to get her back, to get his family back and he didn't care if he had to work himself to death just to prove to her that he was nothing like his father.
But she knew that already. She wanted to be there for him, to comfort him, to tell him that none of what happened was his fault and he didn't have to work so hard to prove it but she couldn't. It was complicated.
"Everything he's doing right now is just to reunite his family, to be together with you and Grace again and somehow, he has been able to convince himself that he owes you and everyone else justice and would never be good enough for anything or anyone until he does that. He believes that he is responsible for his father's mistakes and that he's the only one that can stop him from ruining more lives. He barely gives himself a break and I'm scared that he might end up hurting himself at this rate. You're the only one that can stop him, that can help him. It's obvious that you are worried about him too. Does it really have to be like this?"
Olivia slowly pulled her hands away from Tony's and let out a weak exhale just as a woman walked out from the little shop with a wrapped gift box. She headed straight to Tony while Olivia let her gaze wander around the area, letting her eyes settle on the blue Camry that was parked right across the street, it was the same one she always saw in the parking lot everyday she arrived at the office, she had even memorized its plate number.
Why was it there? It was a lot of coincidence now and she was starting to get uncomfortable.
"Olivia?" She slowly turned back to Tony who had asked for her attention. He was looking at her earnestly. "I asked what Grace's favorite color was."
"Blue." She said with a smile on her face, Tony smiled right back before he turned to the lady beside him. Olivia watched him say a few words to her before her gaze slowly turned back to the car she thought she had seen earlier but it was gone. She furrowed her brows, confused by the situation.
