ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪᴠᴀʟꜱ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛ

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𝘞𝘙𝘌𝘕 𝘑𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘚

WALKING INTO THE CAFÉ IS LIKE walking into a war zone, except the soldiers are crunchy granola teens and middle aged men with briefcases.

When I see Rhys sitting in my usual spot, a flicker of warmth evades my chest. Immediately I realize i'm having a heart attack and try to breath normally as I step in line.

My eyes gravitate back to Rhys on their own and I see him scrolling on his phone. He's wearing dress pants, a fitted black sweater and a necklace. He's scrolling on his phone with an unreadable expression on his face. It's not anger that I see, but it's something along the lines of confusion, maybe?

I step up to the cashier and order my drink. I look back over at Rhys and scan the table. He doesn't have a drink near him, so I order a black cold brew coffee. In his fridge the day I went over, I saw a coffee press in his fridge, and the day he sat next to me at this coffee shop, I saw the writing on his cup.

Once i'm done paying for the two drinks, they're already made. So I grab them from the cashier and make my way to the table.

Rhys looks up when I place his coffee in front of him. He doesn't say anything as I take a seat in the chair opposite him. I take out my laptop and phone from my bag and sip my drink, I got a matcha latte with vanilla foam. It's good.

"Evening, Miss James." Rhys's deep voice breaks into the thoughts about my latte.

"Evening." I don't look up as I log onto my laptop. I pull up my email to see I have a new email in my inbox. It's from Fernando himself.

My eyebrows crease when I read it, and I can feel Rhys watching me as I do.

𝘛𝘖: 𝘸𝘫𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴@𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘦@𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
𝘍𝘙𝘖𝘔: 𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰.𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯@𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺.𝘤𝘰𝘮
𝘚𝘜𝘉𝘑𝘌𝘊𝘛: 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱
𝘊𝘊: 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘯𝘦.𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘴@𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘒𝘪𝘥𝘴,
𝘈𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘦𝘵𝘤. 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘯𝘦.

𝘍𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴.

I look up to meet Rhys's curious eyes. I tilt my head and turn my laptop to him, not certain he's seen the email.

"What is it?" Rhys asks. I motion to the laptop but Rhys uses the toe of his shoe to pull my chair toward him. Then when i'm close enough he closes the distant between us by grabbing onto my seat and pulling me to him.