Epilogue Soulmates
Waking up alone that morning had me a little forlorn. Rafael had left a note on the nightstand claiming coffee and breakfast were waiting in the café, and an apology for having to leave so early. The note promised he’d make it up to me. But I’d wanted a kiss and a hug to bolster my spirits.
Whispers cut off as I walked in the door to my department, and a gaggle of excited faces turned to me. Princess, dressed in bright yellow with an expression just as sunny, was leading the pack.
My hackles raised immediately. “Ok, what is going on?”
She hooked her arm through mine. “You gotta go see your cubicle.”
Blinking, I turned the corner. LEGO flowers1 overflowed my desk and cubicle walls. The majority were red roses.
When had he done this? It must have taken days to assemble all the flowers and get them into the office.
“Go on, there’s a note! I’m dying to know what it says,” Princess prodded. “I’m assuming this is from the man you told me about? I really hope it’s not an apology for cheating.”
“Yes, the same guy; and no, he treats me very well.”
I picked up an envelope with a hard, rectangular shape inside it. On the front, in spiky script, it read, ‘If you are not Elaine Parham, do not open this envelope or I will have you fired’.
“Oh my god, Rafael. You’re so dramatic,” I muttered, tearing open the envelope.
It did not contain a note. Instead, it held a jump drive. I showed Princess so she’d back off. She never could resist an office secret.
I sidled around all the brick flowers to get to my workstation and plug in the drive. Luckily, there was an adaptor for my phone. A single file popped up, labeled “Dragonsoul theme.” I put in my earbuds.
It was the first song he’d played for me; the song I had partially inked into my skin, but polished to shining perfection.
Piano dominated the melody, accompanied by cellos and light percussion.
A double-bass added depth. Haunting, melancholy, emotional.
A certain incredibly deep basso profondo singer joined in; an oktavist, one might say.
Once again, my face was streaked with tears when the song ended. I rested my forehead on my keyboard. This man really would be the death of me. I’d always been a crybaby, but I’d never cried so much in one week in my entire life.
“Glad you seem to like it.” That resonant bass rattled my ribs.
I spun my chair so fast I halfway fell out of it. Rafael propped his chin on his hand at the edge of the six-foot cubicle wall, smiling down at me. Of course he was tall enough to do that. The swelling had receded around his eye, but it was still purple and black.
I wiped my cheeks and ran into his arms, heedless of the whispering and stares. “Have you been here this whole time?”
“Since 5am.”
“Five…you drove all the way down here and did all this yourself?” I waved at the flowers.
Rafael tsked, nodding toward the gathered throng. “Of course not. I paid your remaining coworkers overtime to come in and help.”
Princess grinned from ear to ear and did a little dance in place. Everyone else talked simultaneously. The sudden cacophony stabbed into my head. I cowered and covered my ears.
“Quiet,” Rafael rumbled, and the noise stopped. Handy skill to have. “Are you ok?”
I nodded—meltdown averted.
To my nosey coworkers, he said, “Go do something else.”
Most of them cooperated, but Princess only took a few steps back. She was not about to miss out.
Rafael took my hands. “We have already been through so much together, but we have never officially named what we are. This is my bid to rectify that. I cannot ask you to change your lifestyle for me and let you hang in the wind. All the usual labels seem inadequate, but I want whatever you want. If you want marriage, I want a wife. ‘Girlfriend’ sounds immature, but you tell me.”
“Rafael Nazim, you are such a romantic.” I kissed his knuckles.
“You beautiful man. This doesn’t feel like my past relationships at all, and yeah, boyfriend and girlfriend seems too young.
Marriage is something we can settle into down the road if we decide to go there.
We could call each other soulmates, but that’s a little too romantasy-coded even for me. Can we be partners?”
The smile lit up his entire face; eye crinkles and all. “We can absolutely be partners.”
He kissed me, and Princess squealed.
Rafael shuddered at the sound. “If you want to keep the flowers, I will have them delivered. If not, I have a donation in mind. Whatever you want.”
“Maybe not all of them, but I do want to keep some.” I plucked a single rose from the arrangement. “I think one vase is enough.”
“One more thing…” He dug in his pocket and produced another envelope.
I opened it, reading the letter inside. The room wavered.
This couldn’t be real. It was an offer to option Dragonsoul for movie rights.
An animated feature-length film. For an absurd amount of money.
I looked from the letter to his face in shock and made a few nonsensical noises as my brain processing jammed up.
“Seems Kathy spread the word.” Rafael kissed my forehead. “Seems you may also know someone who could write the score. Someone who may have already worked with this animation studio.”
With a whimper, I threw myself into his arms.
“Will you come home with me, my windup girl?” he murmured into my hair.
My heart was so full I had to check I hadn’t floated up to the ceiling. “I’ll follow you anywhere, my feathered devil, my trickster god.”
To be continued in “The Trickster God: Symphony of Scars Book 2”