Chapter 191: Grandmother? (1)
"Is this a game to you, Annalise? To say you want to leave and then change your mind so quickly?" Rafael asked.
Annalise knew how it might have come off that she wasn’t considering his feelings. To say she wanted to leave after his confession, but then turn around and say she wanted to stay was like she was taking his feelings for a joke.
"It is not a game. I don’t want to run away now. If you are upset by it, I will leave. I didn’t mean to offend you. At the moment, I honestly thought that was the best for us since I do not feel the same way. Please forgive me," Annalise said, lowering her head to show how sorry she was.
"There is no reason to ask for forgiveness just like there won’t be any reason for me to send you away. Not when I want to have you near. Forget about the kiss, but I want you to remember my feelings. I will not do anything with you to make you uncomfortable, but I want you to remember that I care for you more than others," Rafael said, turning around to face her now that he composed himself.
"I hope you don’t think you made me uncomfortable with the kiss. The confession was a surprise since I do not see it possible for you to like me-"
"Stop doing that," Rafael stopped her before she could touch her hair. "Why do you always seek to touch your hair? Do you not like it?"
"I love my hair, but sometimes it has a mind of its own and blows in all sorts of directions. I have heard comments about it being wild and dislike that word. I try to keep it pinned or braided to avoid hearing about it. The manor is where I mostly tie it up in a ponytail or sometimes when I walk the market and don’t care about anyone’s words," Annalise answered.
She loved her hair. It was the comments from the people here she hated. She had spotted many women with hair similar to her own, but somehow, she heard the same comment that she looked much different than others.
Rafael wanted to know more about why she hated the word why. With many of the things she did, he might have called her wild in the past, but he wouldn’t mean any harm by it.
"There is nothing wrong with your hair so stop reaching for it. Why can’t I like a woman like you? There is not a single flaw I can find about you. Well," Rafael said as he remembered something. "The spiders and the snakes I happen to not like, but I am crazy to stomach that to be near you."
"My love for spiders and snakes is not a flaw. It is not my fault that you might be secretly scared of both. What I said about you liking me, I meant because of my status. We are far out of reach of each other. You are Rafael Callahan. I am your maid," Annalise reminded him.