He's Perfectly Imperfect

    Rafael sighs as he enters the office. He has had a terrible morning today. His Starbus coffee was the wrong order, his favorite bagel shop had just sold out when he arrived, and he had missed two stops on the train due to crowds of people pushing him, making him late. He knows for sure that his boss can easily deduct his salary for today. He quietly sits on his chair, starting his pile of work immediately.     About 2 hours later, he finished three quarters of his paperwork. He took a quick stretch, moving his sore back as well as tussling his light blonde hair and is about to do more paperwork before he hears it. “Rafael”     His heart almost jumps out of his chest. He turns his head slowly towards the voice, straining a weak “yes?” out of his throat. His boss was right behind him, six-feet and five inches tall, wearing a sleek black designer suit and a beautiful golden Rolez watch. His dark brown hair is tussled in a light ruffle, but it only accented his hazel eyes.     “Did something happen this morning?” his boss, Rodriguez asks him authoritatively, concern swimming in his beautiful grey-flecked yellow eyes. Rodriguez seems to be staring right into his aquamarine eyes, losing his thoughts in their beauty.     “I’m so sorry sir” Rafael squeaks out a little meekly, “I got caught in the crowd during my train ride” He lowers his gaze to Rodriguez’s expensive-looking leather shoes that he seem to never be able to afford. “It won’t happen again, I promise”     “I see. That’s a relief. You should really be careful on the train” Rodriguez says, smirking slightly.     Rafael nods lightly, blushing at the fact that his boss seems to care about him. “I’ll be more careful next time sir, thank you for your concern.” He is about to turn around and get back to working before Rodriguez suddenly holds his hand and sparks shoot to his skin, making Rafael widen his eyes in shock.     “Call me Rodriguez, Rafael” Rodriguez says, smirking at the shorter man. He chuckles slightly when he sees Rafael’s face flushes, nodding his silent yes. “Come on, let’s go to lunch. You can do those later”     Rafael gets so flustered that he barely nods and doesn’t even comprehend what he just did when Rodriguez pulls him by his hand to the elevator. As soon as they enter the elevator though, he can feel daggers coming from two ladies who were already in the elevator. He nervously shifts around and glances in different directions during the elevator ride.     Rodriguez, noticing this, glares at the ladies disapprovingly. His eyes turn a shade darker as he steps closer to Rafael as if protecting him. The ladies got pretty terrified by his glare, and hurriedly escaped the elevator. Rodriguez huffed proudly as they run off, then looks over to Rafael.     “So, Raf” he says, looking straight into the younger man’s face, “What would you like to eat?”     “U-uh, eat?” Rafael can feel his heart skipping every other beat. His face flushes a deeper red, realizing that his hand is still being held by Rodriguez. “I-I’m not sure, si-Rodriguez.” He changes mid-sentence from the slightest glare Rodriguez gives him. “I-I don’t really mind anything”     “I see” Rodriguez says, smiling. “Why don’t I take you somewhere I love then?”     “That would be wonderful si-Rodriguez.” Rafael answers with a smile of his own. He can feel butterflies fluttering in his stomach, and then suddenly he frowns, thinking, ‘This isn’t a date, is it?’ He feels his hand sweat slightly, and he can feel his heart racing. ‘He’s not gonna use me like…. her, will he?’     Rodriguez seems oblivious to Rafael’s nervousness though, and proceeds to take him to his Ashton Marten Vintage Roadstir, opening the passenger’s seat door for Rafael before motioning him to sit. Rafael barely had time to register the beautiful car when he sits down on the velvety leather seat.     After Rafael sits comfortably on the passenger seat, he fastens his seat belt as Rodriguez closes the door for him and then turns around to sit in the driver’s seat. He starts the car and then put on some soothing instrumentals. He fastens his own seat belt before driving silently to a restaurant nearby.     Rafael keeps fidgeting throughout the drive, mostly because he’s reminded of his ex-girlfriend. The girl was seeing him everyday and she took him to nice drives just like the one he’s having, only for him to find out that she only used him to rob everything he had; his car, his house, even his family. Yes, his ex actually murdered his whole family using poison before fleeing to a different country, probably to fool another man.     Rodriguez parks his car into a small parking lot, smiling proudly at Rafael. “My favorite place to eat lunch” Rodriguez says with a smile, “Come on, let’s go inside” He turns off the car, opens his door and turns around to Rafael’s side to open the door for him. Rafael quickly unfastens his seat belt and refuses Rodriguez’s extending hand, much to the taller man’s disappointment.     They walk into the restaurant and instantly a friendly looking old man greets them, “Ah, Roddie! Come, have a seat here.” The old man guides them into the best seat in the restaurant by the window. Rodriguez thanks him with a huge smile plastered on his face before staring into Rafael’s aquamarine eyes.     Rafael noticed that Rodriguez is staring, so he lifts up his menu book, choosing to focus on what to eat instead. “What do you usually have, Rodriguez?” his voice sounds slightly colder than what he intended to, making Rodriguez flinch.     “I love the pizzas here” Rodriguez says with a small smile. He doesn’t know why Rafael suddenly looks like he’s in a bad mood, and it crushes him seeing the younger man look gloom. “I recommend us getting the carbonara pizza. My sis and I used to order it daily when we were young.”     Rafael looks up from his menu in surprise, “I didn’t know you have a sister”     “Oh, she lives in Chicago. She runs another company she owns” Rodriguez says, “She likes to come over every other weekend, and we often argue about where we go to for our weekly vacation”     “That sounds nice” Rafael says, “I’m an only child, so I never know what it’s like to have a sibling”     “Oh, really? I thought you had a big family” Rodriguez asks him.     “No, my dad always wanted another one, but could never get mom pregnant.” Rafael says with longing in his eyes, “In the end, when they both died, I ended up having to live on the streets” Tears start to pool in his eyes, making the writings on the menu look blurred, “I don’t have anyone else to call a family since then”     “I’m sorry” Rodriguez says, dipping his head slightly, “I didn’t know”     “It’s okay” Rafael says, wiping his tears away and sniffling. “Anyway, let’s order”     They decided to order the carbonara pizza, pesto fussilli for Rodriguez, and spaghetti bolognese for Rafael. Their lunch continued in an awkward silence, before Rafael took a bite of the carbonara pizza and groaned loudly.     “Oh my God” Rafael says as he’s chewing, “No wonder you love this! This is the greatest pizza I have ever had, hands down!”     Rodriguez chuckles softly as he watches his employee eat enthusiastically. “I am so glad you like it” he says, internally sighing because he can see that Raf’s mood improved. They finish the food before Rodriguez calls out to the old man who greeted them, whispering into his ear.     Rafael raises his eyebrow at this, but shrugs it off as he takes a sip of water. A short moment after, a waiter comes over with two beautiful small portions of tiramisu, placing each of them in front of Rodriguez and Rafael respectively.     Rodriguez smiles like a five year old as his eyes brighten at the dessert, quickly grabbing a spoonful and took a small bite, relishing its flavor in his mouth. Rafael chuckles slightly when he sees his boss, a man seen as intimidating in the office acting like a child at his favorite dessert. He was about to take a spoonful himself when Rodriguez suddenly takes his bowl of tiramisu, leaving his own unfinished bowl on his side, saying “let me” with a smirk     Rodriguez grabs Rafael’s dessert spoon, takes a small spoonful of the dessert before proceeding to feed a blushing Rafael. “How is it?” Rodriguez asks with a grin.     “It’s amazing” Rafael says, closing his eyes, forgetting slightly about his embarrassment, noting the mascarpone cheese, rum, cocoa powder and espresso flavors dancing in his mouth, “It’s nothing like any other tiramisu I’ve ever tried before” Rodriguez continues to feed Rafael the dessert as he sneakily takes his own bite in between Raf’s. In a short time, the dessert is finished by the two men who have content smiles on their faces.     Rodriguez walks over to the cashier, paying for their lunch when Rafael was in the washroom. “He looks like he’s been through some stuff, boy” the old man says to Rodriguez. “You better try to take it slow with him”     “I will, tio” Rodriguez answers with a smile, “Wish me luck.” He walks back towards his table, waiting for Rafael to get back from the washroom.     Rafael splashes some cold water into his face and stares into his reflection. ‘What does he want with me, I wonder?’ Rafael steadies his breathing before thinking, ‘I have nothing left. All I have is this job. I haven’t even got a flat to live in.’ Tears form in his eyes, and he wipes them off again. ‘I just hope he doesn’t do what Heather did…. I don’t want to be crushed anymore’     A few moments after he steadies his breath, he walks out of the washroom to find Rodriguez looking out of the window, deep in his thoughts. He clears his throat when Rodriguez didn’t seem to notice him returning from the washroom, startling the older man.     “I’m sorry, I was thinking about something” Rodriguez says apologetically, and holds Rafael’s hand, feeling sparks where their skin touches.     “No, I’m sorry I took so long” Rafael answers, “how much is it?”     “Don’t worry about it, Raf” Rodriguez says, “I paid. Do you have anywhere else you’d like to go before we head back to the office?”     “No si-Rodriguez, not really” Rafael says, his mind slightly wary of his boss. “Thank you”     They drove back to the office in silence, the soft music enveloping them throughout the ride. As Rodriguez parks his car, he notices that Rafael seems to be in a daze. Before Rafael even notices the car had stopped, Rodriguez took Rafael’s hand and places a light kiss on it, sparks erupting throughout Rafael’s skin making him almost jump at the gesture. Almost.     “We’ve arrived, Raf” Rodriguez smirks at flustered Rafael. “Wait for a moment, I’ll get your door”     Rodriguez walks out of his car, goes around it and opens the passenger’s door, and offers his hand to Rafael who once again refuses it silently. Rodriguez frowns slightly at this but decides to not comment on it. They rode the elevator back to the office floor quietly. Rodriguez stares fondly at Rafael whenever Rafael isn’t looking, and quickly shifts his gaze to the elevator numbers whenever Rafael does.     They walk back to their respective offices without a word, but Rodriguez would steal glances to Rafael every now and then. He smiles as he enters his office, thinking of ways to tell his mate of what he is without having him freak out. After all, he’s an Alpha werewolf, meaning that his mate will become his Luna for life.