The Perfect Marriage

Marry me

The next morning Cheyenne went to work very early. She cleaned up and finished when the first customer came in. She took their order and later her colleagues came as well. Noone really liked her there, maybe because she was disadvantaged. She painfully smiled to herself and went to sit at a table by the window while the other five stood at the counter gossiping about her, they didn't even mind to keep their voices down nor not looking at her with malicious gazes.

"Like, can you believe Raphael Quinn announced her as his wife. That's just fucked up."

"I don't even know how a mute like her managed to climb into a guy like Raphael's bed. She must have done something to him."
"You bet and did you hear how she got insulted by Tina? Wish Raphael weren't there maybe she could have known her place"

"Urgh I don't like this orphan mute one bit like look at her geez I feel like I wanna throw up right now."

"Well you won't be seeing her face from now on. Guess what? Mr Harrison was transferred to the restaurant branch in City B yesterday night itself meaning someone else is in charge. Someone who doesn't favor this mute."

"Well no doubt Tina is behind it. She probably won't get away with insulting Tina. She's probably gonna get fired."

"But I feel bad for her. What will a mute like her do without this job."

"Quit it! Since she's 'Raphael's wife' that won't be a problem at all."

They all erupted into laughs and Cheyenne clutched her dress hard. What was she gonna do now?

Hours went by and every time someone came in her heart would skip a beat expecting it to be Tina. At lunch time when the restaurant was full Tina came in looking as elegant as always.

"Cheyenne!"

She barked out her name attracting people's attention. She waited for Cheyenne while looking at her nails playing perfect Barbie. The girl came with her head hung low and her colleagues also came out to witness the fun.

"I'm pretty sure you heard of the change in management. I'm the owner of this branch now so basically you're my employee. I wanted to fire you cause you can't do anything here since you're a mute, no offense but I don't think that will be right, right? So you are going to be the toilet cleaner. You salary will go down by 10% but if you like you can work as the store's mascot you know and the 10% will not be deducted."

Tina watched Cheyenne nervously play with her fingers, something she did when she was afraid or on the verge of tears. With a smirk on her face she asked,

"What's it gonna be Cheyenne? You could quit too that's definitely an option."
Cheyenne raised her head. Lucky for her Tina understood sign language. She wanted to sign that it was okay for her to work as a toilet cleaner and a mascot. She was desperate and there's no way her broken pride would put food on her table and a roof over her head. Come to think of it, she really was useless. She should've just agreed to be with Raphael. She sighed and signed,

"It's ok I-"

She didn't get to finish as Raphael walked in with Damian and their assistants. The smirk on Tina's face quickly disappeared as she looked at the man who had just entered. Cheyenne's colleagues were also shocked to see him. They thought he had just said what he said at the bush to defend her and since there was no trace about it on the news or social media they thought he had covered it up to keep the world from knowing. He walked up to Cheyenne and looked into her eyes. He saw traces of tears. He gave her a reassuring smile and said,

"Was I dreaming or something when you said you want to come here to quit imperson because the manager liked you?"

The audience gasped in shock. That simple statement spoke something for the wise ones to understand. He had just declared that they spent the night together. Even if nothing happened between the two it wasn't their concern, all they wanted was a spicy gossiping. A tear ran down her cheek and Raphael quickly wiped it away embracing her in a tight hug. Why did he always have to save her?

"Hey it's okay. I'm here."

Cheyenne sniffed in his chest while Damian whispered something in his ear. He nodded slightly and said,

"Ms Gina right?"

"Tina actually. " Tina corrected trying to maintain her cool.

"Right Gina I'd like to quit on behalf of my wife. Seeing that the old man got transferred we won't show our faces here again."

With that he walked out carrying Cheyenne in a bridal style with her burying her face in his chest. She was determined to repay him.

***

After letting her rest on his shoulder without saying anything for a while he told the chauffeur to start the car and they left the area headed to his villa. She waited for him to say something but he didn't, so she slowly raised her head and took out her phone. She typed something and put the phone infront of Raphael's face. He looked at her briefly before reading the text.

"Will you marry me?"

Raphael chuckled.

"I'm the one who asked you that yesterday. "

She typed again,

"No honestly. You are a rich heir and you were right. You are setting your standards low by being with me. I literally don't know how to talk or even stand up for myself. I'm not even good at anything and we come from two different worlds. We're so different be it social status, lineage, i can't even think of anything we're both similar at. "

He slowly read that and felt a tinge of guilt. He shouldn't have said what he said yesterday.

"Forget about what I said, don't lower your self-esteem. No one is perfect. We just have to get through it together so yes I'll marry you."

She innocently hugged him which caught Raphael by surprise, when he wanted to hug her back she pulled out with flashed cheeks probably just realised what she had done. She didn't say anything more and looked out the window avoiding Raphael's gaze.