Love Doth Conquer All

RAPHAEL It's the 1st of January. The new year. Raphael Montero stood up from the table after some long hours of deep thoughts and writing. He had just drawn up his projections and resolutions for the year. Christmas had passed, he still felt the thrill of all the things he had been able to achieve the previous year. He had just finished paying off the loan he took to open his restaurant and, after years of hard work on the restaurant, he finally was able to clear his debts, make the venture profitable and now he could now move on to even bigger goals in his business. His girlfriend, Emily, accepted his proposal and now he was engaged to the love of his life. A big smile crossed his face as he thought about all these things. He stared at the new year resolution he had just written, "I'll maintain a strong work ethic, discipline, especially in my diet...". "Do people really just spend the first day of the year dreaming up how they're going to be responsible and throughout the year?". He smiled. It was just all a ritual. Most people won't even be able to find the papers in books where their resolutions are written after a couple of days. It's ridiculous, he thought. Raphael walked to his bed, he pulled off his crocs footwear and climbed up to his bed. Raphael was always busy with work and other commitments. Today, he was totally free, he was going to enjoy it. He lay on his bed just staring blankly. It was going to be a tough year ahead for him. His work schedule would be even more demanding, but it wasn't all bad. He was going to be married to his love. These thoughts crossed his mind all the while as he lay on his bed. He rolled from side to side on his bed, unable to sleep. He was restless. "urggg", he really wanted to sleep but that was not happening. Raphael grabbed his iPhone as he checked what time it was. It was still 3:23pm. He decided to go to the gym and burn out all his energy. A few hours later, he returned from the gym. He was exhausted. This was the first time he had been to a gym in a long while. He picked up his phone from his bag. "Just got back from the gym. I can barely walk right now. Was great tho'. I miss you. Can't wait to see you tomorrow. I love you". He hit the send button and sent a text message to Emily, his fiancee. EMILY Emily pulled up to her parking space at her apartment complex. She had just completed her shift at the Redmond hospital where she works as a nurse. Her phone buzzed. She picked it up to check it. It was a message from her fiance, Raphael. She got engaged to him barely a week ago. He proposed to her right after Christmas. They had been dating for a year. They met when she was helping out with a non-profit organization as a volunteer to distribute food items to individuals who needed assistance. Raphael was one of the donors and she was assigned to his residence to get the items he was donating. That was when they first met. Emily had just gotten her job as a nurse 6 months ago. She was excited when she started. It was what she wanted to do, help people. Since then, her work schedule had steadily been getting crazier and harder to keep up with. She does a 12 hour shift daily and works 6 days a week. The only time of the week she really ever looked forward to now was Sunday. Her free time, the only time she got to spend with Raphael. Emily's eyes lit up with excitement as she replied to his text message. "I miss you too. See you tomorrow then. Love you". She put her phone back in her bag as she opened her car door and got out of the car. She walked to her apartment entrance with her bag in her hand, she opened her apartment door. It was a small apartment. It had a small room, a living room and a kitchen. She walked into the living room and dropped her bag and walked to the kitchen carrying the small bag of groceries she bought on her way home. She arranged items carefully in a cupboard just overhead. She did not usually cook and whenever she went to Raphael's place, they would just order something to eat, but now, she wanted to be the one to make the meal they would eat the following day. Maybe she was just still so excited about getting engaged. "Now I need a hot shower and some sleep", Emily said as she checked her wall clock. It was already almost 10pm. She pulled off her dress and wrapped a towel around her before heading to the bathroom. RAPHAEL Raphael rolled on his bed as his alarm went off. It was 6am on Sunday. His head was pounding like his brains were trying to force their way out, one of the side effects of the gym session he had the previous day. After a moment of lazying, he finally managed to get himself out of bed. He went over to his window and opened the curtains. He squinted as the bright early morning sun's rays pierced into his room. He spent the next hours cleaning his room. After cleaning up, he went in to the bathroom to take a shower and get freshened up for the day. Raphael curled up on his couch while watching a football match. "Knock,Knock". Raphael stood up to see who was at the door. He reached out to grab the door handle, twisting it slightly and pulling back, he opened the door and there she was. Emily. Beautiful as ever, her dark brown eyes still struck him till this day, he could never get enough of it. She had long brown hair, her face was small and cute, her small and slender frame just fit together in one sweet mix of perfection. "Hey babe",Emily said, excited to see Raphael again. "Hey", he replied as he bent down slightly to kiss her. "what are the bags for?", he asked?. Looking suspiciously at the bag, "Well, I thought I'd cook before coming. Today should be different, right?". she asked. "Right", he replied. "Well, I am starving. What did you cook?" he asked as they both walked to his kitchen. Emily started bringing out the food from the bag. "I made some rice and fish soup, some grilled chicken and fries and a little pepper sauce", Emily said. Raphael opened the container with the fries and grabbed some and threw it in his mouth. "Hey, be patient, I'm almost done serving it", Emily said as she pushed him back from the table. "What's the difference? we still going to eat it anyway" he replied. "I know, just wait, I'll soon be done" Emily said. "Fine!", he replied. Emily finished serving the food and they both sat down to eat. Raphael took a big chunk out of the chicken's lap and within moments, he was done and was onto the next. "You're eating like you've been starved for a week." Emily said as she watched him swallow the food that was in his mouth. "Well it just happens like that sometimes, I just get really hungry, then I feel like I can devour a whole elephant. They finished their meal and Raphael went to the couch to lay down and rest. Emily went to lie on the bed while going through her t****k feed. After about an hour resting on the couch, Raphael went up to bed and lay down beside Emily. "Have you decided what date we should pick for the wedding?" he asked. "No, I've not. Still thinking about it. I thought we should put it up at the end of July. That way, anyone invited can have enough time to prepare.". Emily replied. "Yeah, it would also give us enough time to prepare", he replied. "Yeah" Emily said. Raphael held her closer and kissed her gently. "Can't we just skip the whole wedding ceremony? Find a priest to wed us at some parish, and we can run off to our honeymoon sounds better to me. We haven't even started proper preparations yet and I already feel exhausted from the thought of it". Raphael said. "Yeah, we could. Trust me, but the wedding only happens once. The idea of the wedding being less than perfect is a horror to anyone who is getting married. That's where all the stress comes from. Desire to have the perfect wedding. Its not possible anyway". Emily said. Raphael laughed upon hearing this, "That was really blunt" he said. "But it's the truth," she replied and smiled lightly. "I love you", he said. She looked up at his face and smiled, "I know". She leaned her face forward and kissed him as they both lay on the bed, with his arms around her.