So you remember how in last chapter I officially announced Nastasia as the ship name for Anastasia and Nate, well @allthewritethings suggested another one: Natesia ('ate' as in eat because of all the eat comments we always make 😉😋) and I must admit that I really like it, so it might become the new ship name. But YOU tell me!!

"Nice desk!"

Anastasia's concentrated frown immediately turns into a smile at the sound of the now-familiar voice.

"Hey." She blinks a few times to get used to the contrast with her sheets of paper as she looks up and meets Nathaniel's beautiful face. "Is it ironic?"

"No, I'm impressed actually!"

Something you always do, Nate holds back from saying, keeping his smile tucked between his teeth as he gazes down at the delicate woman who always amazes him, surrounded with as many papers and folders as an overloaded businessman.

In the back door way, this is a sight he's never expected to see: his angel in her usual white uniform, sitting down in a corner, on the few hard concrete steps, with papers and documents all over her lap and beside her. This is all so contrasting and almost out of place, yet it looks so right as she proudly says, 

"A messy desk is a sign of a good lawyer, and my signature style is I can make up a desk everywhere!"

"The sign of the best lawyer!" His brown gaze is shining with so much sincerity and assurance that it makes her avert her dazzled eyes down.

Though the corners of her lips are still going up. He always finds a way to make her feel lighter, like the other day when they have texted. She hasn't dared to write to him again, and even if she wouldn't admit it, she has missed him, that smile, those smooth words, and those chocolate eyes in her gloomy days. 

But that other day, they haven't only texted, and what they have shared before – even if they have agreed to forget it – is still haunting her too much, so she knows some distance is for the better with her 'friend'.

"What are you working on?" he asks, sitting down beside her and sweeping her 'friends distancing' resolutions aside as just his warmth so close is creating tingles on her skin, her whole body tickling to get closer.

"Well, I'm not studying. I'm preparing a speech." She frowns at the sheet of paper in front of her. "I'm representing and getting awarded for the shelter I volunteer for at the Charity Awards Ball, since they decided to 'mix things up' this year."

"You're going to the Charity Ball too?!"

Nate doesn't know if it's flutters of excitement or knots of worry in his stomach, but he sure is surprised, once again, and Anastasia, too apparently, as her big eyes find his again.

"Yes, you too?"

"Yes, um, my wife is the host," he replies quieter, yet it still echoes too loudly in the silence following.

'His wife', why do those words always turn her stomach?

"Oh..."  It is hard to find another word to say, or maybe just to pronounce it with the bitter and dry taste in the back of her mouth, but she still tries her best to smile "Then, we'll probably see each other."

"And I'll get to hear your awesome speech." He leans closer, searching for her gaze, which is down, avoiding him, and when he catches it, it's shadowed with the crease of her eyebrows.

"If I manage to come up with something by tomorrow... I'm not good at those things..."

"Come on! Don't tell me you're not good! I saw you the other day, defending your colleague in front of everyone." He offers her a smirk that could convince anyone.

"That was different. I was defending her case, like a lawyer." She shrugs, not understanding why neither his smile, nor the twinkle in his gaze falters, both staying dazzling and... admiring, when even the sigh she lets out is shaky. "But talking at an Awards Ball..." 

"It's the same! Imagine it as defending a great cause, and this shelter is a great cause! Speak with your heart, and it'll be perfect."

Her heart seems to speak another language when his tenebrous eyes are diving into hers like that. Those eyes, their dark intensity and their shining softness, they always have a way to make her feel powerful, yet so weak at the same time, and she can only stare back speechless. Maybe it isn't a good thing that he will be at the Ball too.

"I can't wait to hear it, and I'll be the first to applaud."

"You might be the only one!" She waves her empty, white sheet, and despite the playful smile she offers him, he catches too clearly the insecure glint in her eyes before she averts them down again.

"Then I would be the only one!" If the smirk he has offered her before was convincing, the confident grin he is wearing now is indisputable, and he easily wins with the giggles she lets out. "But I'm sure I won't," he still adds, his expression turning more serious and more intense.

She is getting lost in the tenebrous shades of his eyes as she tries to comprehend the loud beats of her heart and how, why he makes her feel so special. Yet it only raises more questions.

He is wearing a simple navy t-shirt, and she doesn't get how he can still look impossibly handsome. The smells of coffee and mint are emanating from him, and she doesn't know why those bitter scents, which she has never been fond of, are attracting her so much.

Most importantly, his brown curls are once again perfectly tamed, reminding her of when she has seen him at the Honor Ceremony, so heroic, so unattainable, as if from another universe. Yet right now, in his eyes, she sees so much more than the perfect hero: the dark and the light, and he appears so close. It almost makes her forget how different they are.

"How do you do to be so at ease in those events? I mean... I feel so out of place..."

He can hear the faint cracks in her voice, breaking him inside. She should never feel out of place or insecure. She is different, but that's what makes her stand out, what makes him so fascinated.

If she could see what he sees, but she is looking down, and his fingers are itching to lift up her chin, to make her feel how perfect she is. He clenches his fists, speaking up instead,

"You aren't." His sincere, hoarse voice makes her look up. "But I get what you feel..." He sighs, staring back in her soft eyes, as the words come out more easily this way. "I never really liked those big parties either, and I don't feel at ease."

He smiles at her wide eyes, yet there is no judgment in them. "I'm just used to them since I'm little. My parents always went to those events, and I always felt out of place. I remember I would get away any chance I got." 

Those were easier times of innocence where he could escape the rules. He shakes his head, keeping his smile as a tender one is playing on her rosy lips.

"I just learned to pretend with time. I'm still not at ease. I'm just good at hiding it." He shrugs, telling this like it's nothing, though he's never told this to anyone.

It's so easy to talk to Anastasia; she unlocks parts of him he's kept latched for so long, and he feels like she accepts him as he is. Never judging, only defending, he smiles at that thought.

She doesn't say anything. However, she doesn't have to; her eyes tell him everything, the light brown shades warming with acceptance and kindness, and the green shining with complicity and a hint of mystery, as if this confession is another secret shared only between them. 

The air around is different, thicker, yet also so smooth, as it's engulfing them away from the rest of the world, like in all those forbidden moments they've shared, dangerously cozy and dizzying.

He breaks their stares before it's too late, making them fall back to a sharp awkwardness.

"Well, you're really good at hiding..." She finally speaks, looking down to her wringing hands.

"Want to know my secret tip?" He leans closer, the cocoa shades in his eyes shining, and she nods, gladly taking advice from someone so much more experienced in those social gatherings and high society's lifestyle.

"I always take a shot of tequila before." A slow grin forms on his lips, one of those that can even dazzle the sun above, and with just a hint of deviousness at the corner to make it more irresistible.

"Really?!" She gapes at him, blinking a few times before she bursts out laughing, the glow from his smile and in his eyes illuminating her mood more than the midday sun.

This crystalline sound might become his favorite melody in the world, Nate contemplates, watching almost hypnotized the way her nose crinkles up and her eyes sparkle.

"I was expecting a real, serious tip!" She lifts up her eyebrows, staring at him in disbelief.

"I'm serious! That's what I do every time, and it works." He holds up his palms, still with a bright grin, his lips and light mood unable to come down in front of her luminous eyes.

"Yeah, but I was hoping it could help me for some future trials, and I don't know if it would be a good idea." She puckers her lips to the side, a grin quickly stretching them again as he laughs.

"Indeed, it might not be the best idea!"

"I don't know... Maybe I could try!" She echoes his laugh, and for a micro-second, as their sparkling gazes are meeting, the same zing of electricity is tingling his skin as when they're touching, and he's sure she can feel it too, even in the distance, at least until her eyes fall on her watch, and their stares, their laughers, and the lightness are broken.

"Oh! I better get going, if I don't wanna be late!" 

Nate stares impressed as she hurriedly gathers all her papers and packs up her makeshift desk like a tornado, or maybe she's more like a ray of sunshine, he realizes when she gets up, about to take his bright mood away.

"I should go too."

"Thank you for the advice." She has already zipped her bag with all her things, and he's met by that thankful look that makes him chuckle when he quickly gets up.

"If I can help!"

"I'll try the tequila for tomorrow first." She returns his grin with a lopsided smile as he holds the door for her, and he's close enough to notice the faint crease appearing between her eyebrows as she continues, "At least, it will warm me up, since they forecast snow."

"You don't like snow? Why? It's magical!" he lightly gasps; it's mostly playful, though he's never met someone who doesn't like these little glitters of ice.

"No! I hate the cold!" she exclaims, shivering just on that word. "I like the sun and heat."

"Isn't it strange when you almost got killed by the heat in a steam room?" he considers out loud, though it doesn't really surprise him. She is as luminous as the sun and as blazing as the heat; she is a fire, and he doesn't even want to count how many times he's imagined her on a paradise beach.

Already lost in these dangerous images, he doesn't realize that this question is taking her aback as she snaps her head back at him.

She has thought that day in the steam room has been something they have agreed to forget, and that's what is strange for her: hear him mention it casually. Even if he isn't talking about what they have done, just the fact that she could have died. For her, it always brings back the memories of what has happened after, this moment haunting her forever. How can he talk so easily about it, like it's nothing? How can he overlook it like that? 

She puts her considerations aside, afraid he could read her mind as he observes attentively.

"Yeah, I don't know..." She half-smiles. "I guess I'm attracted to the things that could kill me..." Her whispered words are barely audible, yet they hit him loudly, and dazed and breathless, he stares in her hypnotizing eyes, where he can see so much, the wistful glint and the tempting hint of darkness.

"Er... this where I leave." She looks at the door at her left, and he notices now the world around, the people around.

They're in the main hallway, and there are people everywhere, from the front desk to the closing elevator, and to all the people going in every direction, most of them to work. He glances around as if he's just landed there, not knowing how, probably falling down from the cloud his angel has put him on.

"See you." She shyly smiles before disappearing behind the 'Cleaners' locker room' door, and after shaking his head, he quickly continues on his way, pretending everything is fine while he is still stunned by her quiet words, tempting him and scaring him.

So what do you think of Nate's secret tip? 😉 And of course, his sweet encouragements! 😊

This Charity Ball seems really interesting... Any thoughts on what will happen? 😉 Let me know in the comments, and vote if you liked this chapter 😁

Your sweet support and feedbacks mean the world to me. I love you all, my little rays of sunshine ❤