@kaihiwatari99 The reaction you show about the ending of the story is absolutely reasonable, and in fact all I ever anticipated. I know, a lot of people might not exactly like the way it ended, but I am now making even more changes to the story to ensure people don't feel fooled when reaching the epilogue. My goal was to partially confuse the readers, to partially make them go "uhm...what? no way"...because I know, if I told them to go back to the beginning of the story and re-read certain scenes, they would feel foolish for not noticing sooner. THIS is what I wanted to achieve with the story, that the readers eventually become so blinded (kind of like eli...makes sense cuz it's his POV) by the romance that even the most obvious hints might go unnoticed.
And I am SO, so happy that you feel the way you do about the ending. The open questions were intentional, and although I don't have a chapter-to-chapter planned out plan for the sequel, the questions you ask are also on my radar for the foundation of story number 2. I am not set on how Eli will feel about this entire spiel and...things that might happen in the course of the sequel.
As of Rafael's side, I do not want to give away too much of his side (as you might get to see more of that in the sequel)....but what I will say, is that he WAS engaged.
For now, I will remain with the very best wishes for you and your studies, I hope you are always taking good care of yourself. Once more, I want to thank you for taking the time to write this, I appreciate you so, so much<33