"Well you know when we sort of pretended to be together...he knew it was fake all along, he knew I only did it because I was scared of him. He knows basically everything!" Nathalie shouted furiously, but she wasn't mad at her boss, she was in fact more mad at herself and her own 'dumbness' to not already leave the country "This man is inescapable!!" She cried throwing her hands around Gabriel's neck and by that pulling herself close to the man who was just as shocked as her.
"It's alright Nath, I'm sure if we continue to 'act' like we're together he is going to believe it!" The designer said carefully not wanting to hurt his already sobbing assistant even more by saying anything stupid, however as of right now it seemed to be the case that everything threw her off and there was no correct way to treat the crying woman, because just from these couple of word she lifted up her head from Gabriel's chest, and shook it vigorously.
"No he won't!" She began "He knows everything!"
"No he doesn't, he simply pretends to, and by that he really gets to you. So next time Tom utters anything, just brush it off, or better yet, don't even hear it."
"Gabriel it's not that simple!" The dark haired woman now screamed not only making the designer who was insanely close flinch but also causing him to tear up from her strong words and the fact that Nathalie used his actual name instead of sir. This way it felt more personal to the grey haired man, therefore more hurtful.
"I-...ok then." He mumbled turning around and 'breaking' her arms off of his neck. "I guess I don't understand anything!"
"Oh no that's not what I mean! Of course you do! You're great help b-but-...right now the situation is much more complicated than you think."
"Right." Gabriel spat whilst stepping away and almost completely waking away but luckily Nathalie managed to grab his arm before he could've gone far, and so by pulling back her superior, she exchanged a very serious look with him.
"Seriously sir!" The woman said "I never meant to offend you."
However the designer simply rolled his eyes and made it clear that he wasn't at all comforted by the words of his assistants.
"Great now we're back to sir!" Said he "Next thing you know I'm a stranger."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Nathalie!" Gabriel suddenly, without a warning yelled, and then proceeded to grab the innocent woman's shoulders "Look Nathalie you once or twice occasionally say my name, and that makes me feel very...very honored. It even lightens up my day. However now that you've said it in not a nice way I am quite hurt, and also when you switch back to calling me sir I feel even more hurt. It's like we don't even know each other."
"Oh Gabriel." She frowned "I didn't know that. I would've never meant to hurt you if I would've known you felt so much good about me calling you by your name."
"Well...now you know."
"Yes." The assistant smiled "so I'll make an effort to call you by your name whenever we're in private. Is that good sir-I MEAN-Gabriel?"
Immediately the man's eyes lightened up and without hesitation he began nodding at her
"Wonderful." Gabriel whispered before laying a kiss on his employee's cheek unexpectedly, then pretending that nothing happened, but Nathalie couldn't just let this go so easily.
So like before she pulled him back and with that also kissed him back.
"Wonderful huh?" She asked with a smile after, to which her superior couldn't help but giggle as he answered.
"Absolutely right my love. And if I'm right you also enjoyed it."
"Oh Gabriel stop it! You know this meant nothing in reality because we-"
"-we aren't actually together." The designer sighed "Yeah I know." Now he looked at the floor a bit embarrassed, nevertheless he still managed to gather a bit of his courage together and with that he went on to say: "But what if we would be? What if we would have nothing holding us back? Wouldn't that be great?" He asked with a bit of uncertainty clearly caused by Nathalie's skeptical face which couldn't decide if it would've wanted to smile or frown.
It was somewhere in between making her seem almost disgusted, however in reality the assistant simply felt a bit flustered by those words since she had also thought of this many, many times before.
Though from former experience with the man in front of her she knew he wasn't easy, and definitely not good when it came to forgetting about the past, alongside with moving on, so Nathalie knew if she would agree to be with him then she'd be signing up for a whole emotional rollercoaster.
But even then she couldn't help her feelings which basically forced her to smile in an instant and make her nod uncontrollably.
"Sir I-...fuck I love you. Of course I would want to be with you, I-I j-just c-can't. I don't want to torture myself with loving someone who still hasn't moved on-"
"But what if I had? What if I promise to marry you? You know what, Nathalie will you marry me right here right now, I'll organize the wedding ceremony to happen in a week or so, but now answer me with a yes or no. Will you be my wife?"
As Gabriel had uttered that sentence he got down on one knee, and though he didn't have a ring he took off his old one and threw it on the ground making his assistant gasp in unbelief.
"I-...sir-"
"Sir?" He frowned
"G-Gabriel I-" Nathalie couldn't find the right words "...I-..." she looked all around the room searching for an answer which obviously wouldn't be there, despite that she still did it because she had no idea how to reject the love of her life. It almost felt wrong to shake her head 'no', but the dark haired woman couldn't do otherwise.
"I c-can't commit-...I'm so sorry Gabriel, though I truly love you, and I always have I-I am just not fit for loving you until the very end. In fact I'm not fit for loving anyone, I always ruin them instead! I'm simply that heartless no one I was meant to be from the day I was born, and nothing can change me now. Not even your sweet love you're willing to offer, I apologize."
"I-...w-well that's alright." The designer mumbled as he watched his employee turn around and with a final depressed sigh she stepped away to walk out, but before she could've done so Gabriel spoke again and that held her back almost like an invisible barrier which she could never overthrow.
"Nathalie you're not heartless though." He began with a quiet voice "In fact I think you're the one who taught me how to love again and how to move on. You made me see that there's much more than just one chance at love, there's many, you simply have to find your soulmate, and although I have no idea who that might be I'm glad I could meet someone like you, who almost felt like my soulmate."
"Sir I-"
"Sir again? It's alright, don't worry I don't blame you. I love hearing your voice either way."
"Oh no please don't say that!" She cried "You know I want you too Gabriel, I just can't-"
But before she could've finished her sentence the grey haired man walked over to her, hugged the woman, and ended her sentence himself.
"-Can't commit, I know. Me neither honestly, I'd probably also mess up and by that completely destroy our relationship. So I'm happy at least I have you as a...friend...right?"
"Right." She hugged him as tightly as she ever could "and you'll always have me as a friend."
"Thank god, because I wouldn't know what to do without you. That would be absolute torture."
They both smiled there suddenly lifting up the heavy cloud of emotions which was above them and brightening the atmosphere a bit, but only a bit because when an unexpected voice interrupted them everything fell apart again.
"Oh how sad, almost had me in tears." A sinister laugh came from the door which was slightly open, just allowing Tom to peek inside and spot the two 'work partners' hugging.
"You!" Gabriel shouted in frustration "You get out!! Now!!"
"Pleaseeee at least let me enjoy the wonderful sight of you two lovers-"
"SHUT UP!" Nathalie suddenly was the one to make the room go all silent "SHUT UP YOU COWARD!! YOU DESERVE TO BE IN JAIL!! BEHIND BARS!!" She screamed only further angering the black haired man who was almost about to kill the assistant. Or at least he would've wanted to if he could've had the chance to.
However by having the grey haired man hold her close made things very difficult for Tom, so he had to give up this time, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try again. Because they all knew he most likely would very soon attempt to get close to the young woman.
So as fast as he came, he was now gone, leaving the two 'lovers' as he called them all alone.
"Wow Nathalie you scared him away." Gabriel cheered enthusiastically, but his assistant just sadly shook her head:
"I wouldn't say scared is the right word to use here, maybe just got rid of him...for a bit."
"Right, and now I'd say let's enjoy that little bit of time together but-...you probably wouldn't want to."
"Oh Gabriel." She frowned again like before, except this time Nathalie really put in the effort to roll her eyes and smirk "you always have me feeling so many ways, how could I now reject the fun you're offering? So how about a coffee? Or a dinner together?"
"I-...oh well yeah." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck "t-that's e-exactly what I thought of! A-a d-dinner!"
"Gabriel! You couldn't have possibly imagined what I think you did, right!!?!?"
"Well-..." he shyly mumbled before chuckling a little and then staring his employee up and down, just getting a good look "we never actually-...so I thought-..."
"Gabriel!!! Oh you-...you always impress me. Though I should've guessed you would be thinking of such dirty things!"
"Right, right, at this point you could be my personal mind reader, couldn't you? Please don't even answer because I know what you'd say. Anyways so may I have you...for a dinner? Perhaps tonight would be a great time, don't you think?"
"I-...well sir you sure don't waste time." She teased
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes."
"Good" Gabriel smiled approvingly "so then I'll pick you up from your house at-...around 7pm. If that's good for you my...special guest?"
"It's perfect!" Nathalie blushed and without exchanging any more words the woman left to immediately run home and waste no more of her precious time.
However as she made it out the big iron gates once again she felt a bit flustered, maybe it was the fact that she was going on a 'date' with Gabriel or maybe it was the strange feeling of something going wrong.
Like her favorite dress could be in the wash, or her best pair of heels could break right before the dinner, but unfortunately enough those were not the problems bothering her.
Instead it was the familiar looking shadow on the sidewalk which grew over her more and more, almost as if there was no escape, especially not when she turned around to see the person she wanted to see last whenever walking alone.
It was Tom, once again smiling at her with his unsettling glare.
"Keep walking dear, and take me home with you."
To be continued-