Rauf swallowed the response that threatened to leave his lips after June stormed away from him.
"That went exactly as expected," he said, heaving a sigh.
He watched the direction in which the photographer had disappeared, but there was no sign of anyone else.
Maybe he had overreacted, just as June had claimed, but protecting her was more important than what others thought of him.
He followed her to the counter and paid for the groceries they had bought. When he suggested that he would make the payment, June didn’t try to persuade him otherwise.
After all, the groceries were for his house.
Rauf took the groceries back to the car and dumped them into the boot.
June hadn’t bothered to help him, as if she knew he was going to volunteer for the task anyway.
The ride back was even more awkward than the journey to the mall. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked her to be his date at that moment.
Rauf felt a sinking feeling in his chest, as if he had ruined the little progress they had made.
Instead of forcing her to converse with him, he did what he had promised. He kept quiet and focused on the road ahead. He had to force himself not to look at her, directing his gaze towards the side mirror instead.
And that was when he saw it.
A black car was following right behind them.
At first, Rauf didn’t think much of it. He wanted to listen to June and accept that not everything around them was dangerous.
But the car turned at every single junction they passed.
Rauf’s brows furrowed, and he finally stole a glance at June. She was fast asleep.
Her back rested against the seat, and the seat belt crossed her abdomen without pressing too tightly against it.
He looked again to see if the car would follow.
It did.
At that point, Rauf came to the conclusion that the car was following them.
It didn’t speed up as though it wanted to catch up with them. Instead, it maintained a steady pace, as if the driver wanted to know exactly where they were going.
Rauf felt his heart begin to race.
It had been a long time since he had last played a game like this.
In fact, the last time he did, it had caused his blindness.
But Rauf would be damned if he decided to act like a coward and let the enemy follow them home.
He pressed the accelerator, and the car jerked forward.
June mumbled in her sleep before settling down again.
He watched the car speed up behind him.
Rauf chuckled. "Let’s see how good you are."
He swerved in the opposite direction from the one he was supposed to take, cutting off a car that was coming towards him.
With a sigh of relief, he tried to slow down for June’s sake, but the black car turned in the same direction behind him.
Instead of getting angry, Rauf chuckled.
"I guess they wouldn’t send an amateur."
So, he stepped up the game, speeding up while making sure he didn’t drive too recklessly and risk hurting June.
Soon, he entered a maze of roads and began swerving in different directions without checking to see whether the car was still following him.
By the time he reached the last turn, he finally glanced into the rear-view mirror to see if the car was still there.
It was gone.
He slowed down just as June’s eyes fluttered open.
She looked out of the window, the road unfamiliar to her.
"Where are we going?"
"Home," Rauf answered, as if he had prepared the response before she asked.
"But this isn’t the way home," she questioned, pressing her nose against the window to make sure she wasn’t mistaken about the unfamiliar surroundings.
"I took a detour."
June sank back into her seat. She had a feeling something was wrong, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
With the stalker gone, Rauf drove back home.
When they arrived, he handed the groceries over to Henson, but June insisted on helping. With no other woman in the house, she doubted they would be able to arrange everything properly.
So, when she insisted on helping, Rauf had no choice but to agree.
There was no way he was going to let a pregnant woman lift things he could carry himself.
June coordinated them, telling them where to put the things she had bought.
She stood at the kitchen door with her hands on her hips.
"I need you to put that there," she commanded, pointing towards the cabinet above the kitchen counter.
Rauf frowned. "Here?"
Henson looked back at him, a smile on his lips.
This was the first time he had seen his boss doing manual work.
He glanced at June, who looked all bossy with her shirt sleeves rolled up. If not for the bulge in her stomach, he would have thought she was some badass woman.
He knew that if he were in his boss’s position, he would have done the same thing.
When June finally left the kitchen and returned to her room, she was too exhausted to do anything else.
She collapsed onto the bed.
It took considerable effort for her to get up and open the door when she heard a knock.
Henson stood at the door with a box in his hand.
"The boss asked me to deliver this to you."
The aroma alone alerted her that it was food, and her stomach growled. She had been so busy throughout the day that she hadn’t eaten.
And Rauf had remembered that.
"Thank you."
Henson bowed and left her alone.
Once again, she looked through the window to see if there was anything worth observing at the Vassari mansion.
But everything looked just as it had the previous day.
Instead of bothering herself with it, she decided to finish her meal, take her medication, and sleep.
Tomorrow was another day.
June knew she wasn’t supposed to be anticipating it, but for some strange reason, she looked forward to the next day more than she ought to.