As you might have surmised reading EMR, Carlise and Rafa dated briefly in high school. Although there was mutual respect, and love, it was the turning point for each of them. “Are we each other’s beards?” They remained close and although Rafa would not admit this aloud: Carlise is his best friend. She is the only one who can reach Rafa when he is almost unreachable (example) and one of the only people (besides his sisters) who isn’t afraid of Rafa’s anger, bad moods, and violence. They remain close, confrontational, fighting, arguing friends for the rest of their lives. Elan turns to her many times to understand his mercurial boyfriend.
Carlise goes to Design School but switches her concentration from fashion to interior design. Her road to success is long, as she has to intern for free and work for a short while after graduation. And her love life was an upheaval – she breaks up with Cinnamon (who Rafa never liked) and has a series of bad affairs. She also comes from a broken home, so she had no examples of a good relationship besides the one she had with Rafa (which was not very romantic) and Carlos does his best to be a father figure to her (as he does with everyone). She opens up her own little interior design studio with Pandora Evans. Of course, you know it, she rocks her suits and learns the business side of design with the help of Pandora and Scott. She eventually finds true love with a sweet and stable client.
On to the update…