Against you

22

"How are you feeling?" Asked the concerned voice of a scared man who Nathalie loved so much and couldn't ever lie to, yet as of right now she did.

"I'm fine." The young woman replied before forcing a smile onto her face to hide all the pain, however, somehow, her boss managed to see through all that fakeness.

"Are you now really?" Gabriel asked again being more firm this time with his voice, and so Nathalie shook her head.
"No, I'm honestly in a lot of pain."
"Though so." He scoffed "...Well I guess then you'll just have to stay here for a while, or at least until you're in a condition in which it's safe to take you home."
"But sir-"
"No Nathalie! Don't even think about it! Me and Adrien will be completely fine, and my other employee can take your place until then! Trust me, you need to heal!"
"Fine." The young woman sighed feeling hopeless, after all, it was quite useless to argue with Gabriel Agreste because he'd get whatever he'd want either way, so Nathalie just had to obey "...but then at least can I heal at home? I really hate the hospital, and if I would need to be here all alone for a long time then I'd go crazy, so please-"
"I'll ask! But if the doctors say no then I won't argue! Understand?"
"Yes sir." The assistant agreed but she didn't look so happy about it, maybe it was the fact that she knew she wouldn't be allowed to go home or perhaps the fact that Nathalie was almost exactly sure that her boss wouldn't at all visit. In fact, he'd most likely forget about his woman in the hospital and just leave.

So Nathalie, understandably, wasn't very glad, but as her superior realized that, he almost immediately hurried to fix it:

"Now don't look so sad, I only want good for you!" Gabriel whispered whilst leaning closer and taking her hurt face in his palm "And trust me I'll visit you as often as I can, even with Adrien if you'd mis him! Okay?"
"Okay, that sounds nice...but will you actually do it?"
"What do you mean actually?!?!" He stared at her, offended, incredibly offended "Of course I will!! Don't have any doubts in me Nathalie, because trust me this will only motivate me to do so, even more forcefully."
"Good! Then I'll keep my doubts and we'll see if you can keep your promises!"
"We'll see!"
He reinforced, and with that their little 'competition' began.

...

The first time Nathalie felt alone was tonight.
It had been raining and thundering for hours, plus since almost everyone was asleep the hospital appeared to be creepier than ever.
And even though an adult like her shouldn't be scared of such childish things the woman still curled up under the blanket and tightly shut her eyes hoping that this way she'd be saved from whatever horrific creature was hiding in the dark.

Maybe it was just her imagination, or maybe it was some viscous beast which was making all that rambling sound outside in the hallway, but something was definitely not right.

The assistant looked to her left, and the to her right, yet she couldn't see anything hiding in the dark, so she just sighed hopelessly and pulled the blanket over her head, but right before Nathalie could've fallen into her peaceful slumber another close sound flung her eyes open.

"Please don't get scared." Whispered something and in that same moment the woman felt a pair of arms wrap around her in such a way that now this monster was behind her, hugging her, and holding onto her tight.

"It's me Gabriel...I mean Hawk Moth...you know,  I simply came to visit!"
"Oh-oh god-" she sighed in relief falling back and now looking up whilst tilting her head back to see her boss's face "It's just you!"
"It's just me, dear. No one came to hurt you. Just me to hold you!"
"God. There's still no need to scare me like that!"
"Like what? Was I scary?"
"Well a little-"
"-Really?" He chuckled "Or are you just afraid of the dark?"
"Sir!" Nathalie shook her head in an annoyed manner whilst giving her boos a weirded-out look. "Don't be pathetic!!"
"What?! I'm asking a simple question!! And it's completely fine if you are, we all have our fears."
"Okay so then what's yours? I'll only admit that I'm afraid of the dark if you tell me your fear, and be honest!"

The grey haired man sighed before not at all thinking this through yet acting as if he was in some deep thoughts, but realistically he was just doubting himself.

However after a few minutes Gabriel finally managed to gather himself and tell Nathalie the honest truth:

"Well it's probably loosing someone close to me, like you or Adrien, then I'd go crazy. And you even remember that that's the exact reason as to why I didn't bring back Emilie. Because I couldn't let go of either of you, I need you both!"
"You do? I mean...of course you need Adrien but me?" She hesitated for a bit before eventually gathering all her courage to say: "What for?"

The grey haired man once again scoffed and shook his head before grasping the woman tighter:

"Nathalie I-...I couldn't live without you."
"You couldn't?"
"No...I honestly value you a lot, even if you don't realize it, and truth is that as time passes I value you more and more."
"You do?"
"Nathalie of course I do!! Why else would I be sitting here in the middle of the night holding you in a hospital?! Do you think I transformed into Hawk Moth and risked being caught by those pesky kids all for nothing?!?! Of course not! Of course not! I-I lov-like you, I really like you! And I want to love you, soon!"
"You do?" Asked the assistant with tears brightly sparkling in her eyes just from those few words that the designer said.

And to her question, he nodded.

To be continued-