"𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑎𝑚. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒."
—𝐸𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝐵𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒, 𝑊𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠

𝒩.

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐀 hand to cover her yawn while using the other to pour herself a cup of coffee. It was five in the morning, and, being far too used to waking up at half-past seven, she was exhausted.

A conference in Syracuse was the cause of her early awakening—it was about a four-hour drive, and she needed to be there in five.

She closed her eyes as she lifted the mug to her lips, hoping that maybe the smell of caffeine would help her wake up. It didn't, but the sweet scent of hazelnut made her mouth water.

As she took a sip, the bedroom door opened.

"Babe?" Diego called, rubbing his eyes as he shuffled towards her. "What're you doing up so early?"

"Work," she sighed before taking another long drink from her mug.

"Work?" he repeated with furrowed eyebrows. "You never get up this early for work."

"I have a conference in Syracuse," she replied as he came to her side. "It starts at ten, so I have to leave a little early."

"A conference?" he questioned, his baffled expression only becoming more confused. "You never told me you had a conference. And Syracuse? Isn't that a few hours from here?"

"I know, sorry, it came up last minute," she sighed. "I just found out last night because someone had dropped out, and you had already left for your street stuff. I'm lucky I even managed to book a hotel so late."

A crestfallen look came over his face. "You're staying overnight?"

"Mhm," she hummed as she took another sip. "The conference is split up into two days, so I'll be home late tomorrow night."

"Oh."

Her eyebrows knit together tightly as she watched him bite his lower lip. "Why?"

"No, I just . . . ," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Tonight . . ."

"What about tonight?" she questioned with slight worry. "Did I forget something?"

"No, you didn't," he reassured her. "I was just, uh, hoping to go on a date tonight."

"Sorry, honey." She frowned before taking a sip. "Maybe Thursday night?"

"Yeah."

She raised her eyebrows. "You'll be able to survive without me for two days?"

He gave her a humoured chuckle as he answered, "I'll try."

She laughed before finishing the rest of her coffee. She placed her mug in the sink before kissing his cheek. "I'm gonna go get ready."

"And I'm going back to bed," he mumbled.

She grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the bedroom, though she released it upon entry so that he could stumble his way back to the bed.

Hearing the sound of Diego adjusting himself to comfort in the bed, Natalia sifted through her closet before settling on a fitting navy dress, which had short sleeves and ended just below her knees.

"That one's nice," Diego mumbled as she changed into it. "It'd be nicer if you weren't leaving me for two days."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," she laughed as she walked over to him and kissed his forehead. She turned so that he could see the open zipper and sat on the edge of the bed. "Can you zip it up?"

Diego hummed and slowly sat himself up. She felt the brush of his fingers against her skin as he zipped the back up, sending a slight shiver down her spine.

Once he finished, he kissed the nape of her neck and muttered, "There ya go."

"Thank you, sweetheart." She turned and kissed him gently before pushing him back down. "Now get back to sleep. Nigel will kick your ass if you show up tired."

"Yeah, yeah."

Natalia got up and headed towards the bathroom, where she then did her hair and makeup. It was only for work, so she kept it simple: hair in a low bun and light makeup that kept attention off of her.

She grabbed her foundation and dabbed it over the tattoo on her left wrist, continuing to cover it in layers of foundation and concealer until it was fully hidden. Whenever she went out for conferences, she usually liked to hide her tattoo; she didn't need the attention to be on her being in the Umbrella Academy.

She entered her bedroom as she grabbed the suitcase that she had already packed, and walked over to Diego, who was still awake.

"I thought I told you to sleep?"

"I wanted to wait until you left," he muttered as she sat down at the side of the bed. "So I could say goodbye."

Natalia smiled and leaned down, pressing a firm kiss onto his lips. "Goodbye."

𝒩.

As soon as Natalia got into her hotel room, she tossed her purse onto the desk and fell onto the bed.

She glanced at the clock to see that it was a little past ten in the evening, and dropped her head back and closed her eyes. She was beat.

The conference had ended around five, but, as usual, a banquet proceeded it. It had been fun, exchanging talk with other professors, both friendly and foreign, over wine and dinner. Still, Natalia would've much preferred to stay home, but work was work.

Before she could start getting ready for bed, she crawled toward the phone and picked it up. After dialling her home phone number, she pressed the receiver against her ear and rested back against the headboard as she listened to it ring.

Her eyebrows furrowed as it went to voicemail and she heard her own voice greeting her. She hung up before dialling again and waiting.

When only voicemail reached her ear, she sighed. Was Diego already out?

It wouldn't hurt to try once more. Third time's the charm, right?

Again, voicemail.

When there was a beep, she spoke, "Hey, honey, it's me. I just got to the hotel, thought we could talk, but I guess you're already out on your street thing. Anyway, just wanted to say goodnight. I love you."

She put the receiver back onto the hook and sighed. She pulled her hair tie off, letting her hair fall around her shoulders, and tossed it onto the desk before running her fingers through her hair.

She got up and walked over to her suitcase, but before she could unzip it, the phone rang.

She quickly walked back to it and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Hi, gorgeous."

"What, were you too busy to pick up?" she teased as she climbed back onto the bed. "You have another girl over?"

"Oh, you know I would never do that," he chuckled, and she smiled in agreement. "I thought you were some insistent telemarketer or something."

"Calling at ten at night?"

"Some of them are crazy," he protested. "Anyway, how was your conference?"

"It was good," she answered, tilting her head back onto the wall and closing her eyes. "Tiring, though."

"What was it about?"

She scoffed. "You wouldn't be interested."

"But I like hearing you talk."

A smile spread onto her face, and she giggled before conceding, "It was on synthetic chemistry. Plus stuff about green chemistry and industrial waste management. Pretty much it."

"Sounds boring."

"To you, maybe," she agreed. "How was your day?"

"It was all right," he said. "Kicked Nigel's ass."

"Doubt it."

"Hey," he chided, eliciting another sleepy giggle from her. There was a short silence before he pleaded, "You can't come home tonight?"

A half-hearted smile came onto her face. "I wish I could."

He let out a long, dramatic sigh that caused her to laugh. "The bed is gonna be so lonely without you."

"Knowing you, this just means you're going to go out until the Sun comes back up."

He chuckled. "You know me too well, princess."

"Mhm." She glanced at the clock before rubbing her eyes. "Well, I should get to bed."

"Sleep well, angel. And don't forget: We have that date day after tomorrow."

"I'm counting down the hours," she reassured him. "Stay safe out there, hm?"

"Just for you."

As Natalia rested the receiver back onto its hook, she couldn't help but wonder what he had planned for Thursday—the date he had been planning for that night, in fact.

Was it something special? By how much reminding he had been doing, and by his reaction when he found out she couldn't make it, it seemed so. Usually, if they had to cancel, he'd shrug it off and say 'another time.'

Was it a special day? It was only Tuesday. February . . . there was nothing special in February. Other than Valentine's Day, but that had been two weeks ago.

It wasn't their birthday. It wasn't any major holiday. It wasn't a milestone in their relationship. Was she just forgetting something completely obvious?

"Whatever," she muttered to herself as she headed back to her suitcase. "I'll figure it out tomorrow."

𝒩.

Natalia had almost fallen asleep at least four times on the way back home. Three times she had to stop for coffee, six times she had to slap herself, and a million times she had to remind herself that if she fell asleep at the wheel, she would die.

She found herself letting out a long sigh of relief as she arrived at her apartment building at nearly eleven, and she used every ounce of energy left to park the car and drag herself up to her apartment.

She didn't even bother to fish her keys out of her bags; she knew Diego would be home. Instead, she let her head fall against the door, and she lazily raised a hand and knocked a few times.

She would've fallen forward when the door opened if not for Diego catching her.

He chuckled once she had been steadied, and wrapped his arms around her. "Tired?"

"Oh, just a little," she mumbled as she relaxed in his embrace.

"Here, let me help you," he muttered as he picked up her legs and carried her bridal style.

He brought her to the bed and gently laid her there before murmuring that he was going to get her suitcase.

Her eyes closed and her movements sluggish, Natalia crawled under the covers and rested her head on the pillow.

She heard the heavy thumps of her luggage as Diego brought them inside the room.

He didn't come to bed, however, and instead, she heard the bathroom door open.

She flinched a moment later when she felt something being dragged across her cheek, and she opened her eyes to see Diego wiping her face with a makeup wipe.

"You still have makeup on," he murmured as he continued to gently rub the makeup off.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she questioned sleepily. "Did you do something bad while I was gone?"

"No," he reassured her with a light laugh. He stopped wiping for a moment to kiss her. "I just missed you, princess."

"It's only been two days," she pointed out as she closed her eyes. "I've been gone for longer than that before."

"I know, but . . ." Diego didn't finish his sentence, and she opened her eyes once again to see that he had pressed his lips together tightly into a small frown.

"But what?"

"Never mind, gorgeous," he said quietly, hesitantly kissing her once again before getting up and tossing the makeup wipe in the garbage. "Get some sleep. I love you."

As he walked away towards the bathroom, her eyebrows furrowed. But what?

Had he done something bad? With this, and the not-special-but-for-some-reason-special date, she couldn't help but feel as though something was up. Maybe it wasn't bad, but something was different.

Once he had come out of the bathroom, he turned towards the door that left the bedroom and headed towards it.

"You aren't coming to bed?" she called.

Diego glanced over his shoulder, sending her a short smile as he shook his head. "I have something I gotta do first."

"You're not going out for the patrol thing, are you?"

"No, baby," he reassured her. "I just have someone to meet."

As the door shut behind him, that's when Natalia knew. Something was up.

𝒩.

"Do you think he's cheating on you?"

"I don't think so, Alli," Natalia sighed as she sat down on the couch, one hand pressing the receiver to her ear.

It nearing half-past seven, and, worried that perhaps she was too suspicious for her own liking, Natalia had called Allison to see if she had reason to worry. She was really hoping that Allison would tell her she was overthinking this, but, unfortunately, it was quite the opposite.

"Who did he have to meet at midnight? And it's suspicious that you called him three times and he didn't pick up, even though he was there."

Natalia shrugged. "He said he thought it was a telemarketer."

"Three times?" she asked dubiously. "At ten o'clock at night?"

"Some call that late! Besides, usually, I'm the one to pick up the phone." Natalia let out a small groan as she massaged her temples. "I don't think he's cheating. I just . . . Something's wrong."

"Then do you think . . . ," Allison was silent for a moment, and, almost hesitantly, continued, "he's going to break up with you?"

Her nose scrunched. "Why would he be overly nice and loving then?"

"To soften the blow?" she suggested.

Natalia's eyebrows furrowed as she leaned back over the couch. "Do you think he'd do that?"

"I think that my brother—all my brothers—don't know the first thing about love."

"God, I hope that's not it," she sighed, feeling tears begin to rise in her throat. She tilted her head back and shut her eyes. "I didn't think anything was going badly in our relationship."

"Maybe it's nothing to do with you."

"I don't know, I guess our work hours don't really correlate well." She shook her head. "But what about the date tonight? Why would he plan a date if he wants to break up?"

"Well . . . I hate to suggest it . . ."

"Just spit it out, Alli."

"Maybe the date is to break up?" Allison sighed. "Maybe he's planning something nice, to remind you that he still loves you and that he's a good person, and at the end of the date, he'll start with a 'listen, it's not you, it's me . . .' I mean, isn't that Kyle did to you? Took you to the beach and had a picnic, and then broke up with you?"

A small breath left Natalia's lips before she raised a hand to cover it. As much as she didn't want to believe that it was true, Allison could be quite convincing (even without the use of her powers).

"Oh, God, do you really think so?"

Allison sighed once more. "I'm just saying it's a possibility."

"I just—" Natalia stopped short as the door opened and plastered on a smile as Diego entered. "Oh, Diego's home, I have to go. Love you."

"Love you too. Talk soon."

As soon as Natalia had put the receiver back onto the hook, Diego raised his eyebrows and gave an amused smile. "'Love you'? You cheatin' on me, baby?"

She forced a laugh. "It was just Alli."

"Yeah?" Diego furrowed his eyebrows, his smile fading as he examined her expression. "You seem kind of nervous."

"Who, me?" she chuckled once more, and she hated how fake it sounded. "No."

"If anyone should be nervous," he sighed, "it's me."

It was her turn to be confused. "Why?"

"Oh, uh . . ." Diego pressed his lips together before cracking his usual smile, though it seemed unnerved. "'Cause I'm taking the most beautiful girl in the world on a date."

"Right." Natalia nodded. She cleared her throat and looked down at her work clothes (a white button-up tucked into jeans). "How should I dress?"

He kissed her cheek. "You look good in anything, princess."

She scoffed. "That's not helpful."

"A dress."

"That's still not helpful," she pushed. "Be more specific."

"A" —his eyebrows furrowed—"nice dress?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Fancy? Sexy? Work?"

"Definitely not work," he answered with a wrinkled nose. "And as much as it hurts to say, not sexy."

"So, fancy?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly."

"Wha—okay, fine," she sighed, gesturing towards their bedroom, "you pick the dress then."

He grinned. "Will do."

She followed him into the bedroom and sat on the bed as she watched him sift through her clothes. He pulled a couple of dresses out, examined them, and then put them back. He did this with a few more until he decided on a tight-fitting, black dress—the one she had worn on their first date.

"This one's good."

"All right." She smiled as she grabbed the dress from him, the memories of the first date flooding back into her mind. "When do we leave?"

He glanced at the clock. "Half an hour."

Diego left the room, leaving Natalia to herself.

As she changed into her dress, she couldn't help but wonder: Why was he nervous? He was never usually nervous for dates—in fact, he was quite confident in himself; bordering narcissistic, if she said so herself.

What reason could there be for his nerves? she pondered as she began to touch up on her makeup and fix her hair. It was bad enough for him to not admit to her, apparently.

Was Allison right? Was he really going to break up with her?

No way. No one was this nice when they were going to break up with someone. This loving. Right?

Well, Kyle was. But Diego wasn't Kyle.

"Ready to go, angel?"

A little startled, and wondering how thirty minutes could've passed so quickly, Natalia cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah."

A smile spread onto Diego's face as she got up and walked toward him. "You look amazing."

Examining the black button-up and matching jeans he had tucked them into, she smiled. "You don't look too bad yourself."

After grabbing her coat, she followed him out of the building and to the car, and as they got into their seats, she asked, "You gonna tell me where we're going? It seems a little late for dinner."

He gave her a small shrug as he started the engine. "Call it lunch, then."

"Lunch?"

He only winked in reply.

Natalia moved her gaze to the window, her fingers nervously playing with the hem of her dress.

Buildings and cars passed by in a blur in the thickening dark of the night, but she paid absolutely no attention to any of them as she let her thoughts stray.

He seemed pretty calm now. Maybe she was reading too much into things. Everything was fine, right? Nothing out of the ordinary.

The car came to a stop about fifteen minutes later, and a smile spread onto Natalia's face as she realized he had parked in front of Griddy's Doughnuts. It had been a while since she'd eaten there.

"Wait here."

Natalia watched through the window as he headed inside, exchanging a few words with the waitress (a woman named Agnes, Natalia recalled from her last visit with Vanya).

A few minutes later, Diego returned to the car with a white box in hand, and he handed it to her as he got into the car. 

"What'd you get?" she questioned as he started the engine once more.

"Lunch."

"Lu—what are you . . ." Natalia's eyebrows furrowed, and she opened the box to see four doughnuts. She closed the box, slowly coming to a realization, and she glanced at her dress before turning to him. "Is this . . ."

He grinned as he left the parking lot. "Can you guess where we're going next?"

She smiled. "I think I have a good idea."

Gripping the box tightly, she turned to the window, and the smile remained prominent on her face.

Everything was fine.

Once they arrived at the same dock as they had on their first date, they got out of the car, and Natalia made sure to keep a tight grip on the box of doughnuts.

It was a little after eight, and the sky was beginning to darken. A deep blue faded into a lighter shade, and that cascaded into a gold that closed around them, settling just on top of the rippling water in front of them.

There was a little snow that littered the ground, though most of it had melted away to leave damp concrete.

"So, why here?" Natalia asked as she placed the box on the hood of the car. "Need to think?"

"Oh, you know I can't think straight around you, baby," he quipped as he leaned back against the hood.

She gave a large nod. "So that's why everything you do is stupid."

"Ouch." He grinned as she came to his side. "Right in the heart."

She opened the box of doughnuts and gestured towards it with one hand as she used the other to grab a chocolate doughnut. "You gonna eat a doughnut this time?"

He scoffed, "You're saying that as if I wasn't coerced into eating two last time."

"Are you going to or not?"

He raised his hands in surrender. "I will, I will."

She peered at the three choices before grabbing a vanilla sprinkle doughnut and handing it to him, and he gave her a kiss in thanks.

She took a bite of her doughnut, melting into the sweet taste. It had been some time since she'd enjoyed a doughnut—especially from a place as good as Griddy's.

She looked toward Diego and felt a sense of satisfaction creep over her as she watched him take his first bite and grin.

"So," Natalia began once she had swallowed her bite, leaning into Diego's side for protection from the chilly wind, "any reason why we're basically re-living our first date?"

Diego's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her. "What, did you not like it?"

She shook her head, sending him a reassuring smile. "It was the best first date I've ever been on."

He pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. "Have you had any bad ones?"

She shrugged as she took another bite of her doughnut. "I've had my fair share."

"Tell me your worst."

"God, there's a few . . ." She leaned back against the car, gazing out into the drifting waters as she racked her brain. "Okay, this guy named Dan, from when we were . . . twenty-six, I think? We met at a party, and he seemed all right then, kinda cute, charming . . . But the date, jeez, it was horrible. We went to a really . . . bad restaurant, he paid way more attention to his napkin than me, and then he gave our waitress his number at the end. He also called me ten different variations of my name, but never actually used my name."

"That is bad," Diego agreed with a scrunched nose. "One thing I don't get, though."

Her eyebrow furrowed. "What?"

"How the hell could he not pay attention to someone as beautiful as you?"

"Oh, shut it," she laughed, feeling her cheeks burn. "How about you? What was your worst first date?"

"Hm . . ." Diego chewed on his bite for a moment as he squinted his eyes. "Does getting stood up count?"

"No." She shook her head before pausing. "Wait, someone stood you up?"

He chuckled, though there was no trace of humour evident in his voice. "Multiple women."

Natalia wrinkled her nose before kissing his cheek. "They missed out."

He smiled before a look of disgust came onto his face; Natalia assumed he had remembered his worst first date. "Oh, God, when we were twenty, I had just started dating again—"

"Wait," she interrupted. "You started dating again two years after you left?"

Diego gave her an amused smile as he raised his eyebrows. "You are a woman who is impossible to get over, you know that?"

She scoffed. "I wouldn't say impossible."

"Trust me, angel," he said seriously, using his free hand to wrap around her waist. "I know from first-hand experience."

She rolled her eyes in amusement before taking a bite of her doughnut. "Just continue your story."

"Her name was Georgia or Gina or something," he began. "Long story short, she pretended to be interested in me so that, one: she could know more about the Umbrella Academy, and two: she—you won't believe this—wanted me to hook her up with—wait for it . . . Luther."

"Luther?" Natalia repeated incredulously, her voice slightly echoing off the water. "Ew! I would never want to date him, even before he—"

Natalia suddenly stopped herself, biting her lip before she could say anything further.

When she had still been at the Academy, far after most of the members had left, missions were still ongoing. Klaus didn't bother with any of them. Natalia went on a couple if her study could permit. Luther went on all of them.

And on one particular day, long after Klaus had left, the mission alarm blared and the red lights flashed.

Natalia was in the middle of writing a test, so she decided against going. And thank God she did.

When Luther came back, he was close to dying. Reginald had only one way he could think of saving him: a serum that would genetically change Luther to have some genetics of an ape.

And the next time Natalia had seen him, she was horrified. To save face (his, in particular), she swallowed the terror down, smiled, and said it wasn't that bad (it was. It was that bad. It was horrible).

She had promised to him, to Pogo, to Grace, and to Reginald. She would tell no one. No one. Including Klaus. Including Allison.

And including Diego.

"Before he what?"

Natalia swallowed, squinting her eyes as she tried to come up with something. "He, um . . ."

Diego's eyebrows furrowed. "What is it, Nat?"

"Nothing. It's . . ." She sighed, shaking her head; her mind was drawing a blank. "Don't worry about it, honey."

His eyes flicked over her face, clearly doubtful. "You sure?"

She braved a smile. "Mhm."

Reluctantly, he nodded. "All right."

"Anyway, that's terrible," she sighed, hoping to steer the conversation far, far away. "I mean, I have to admit, you are the cutest out of the guy members."

She could see that it had worked as a smirk came onto his face. "Yeah?"

She squinted her eyes, making her voice teasing, "Well, I mean, Ben was pretty cute . . . and when we were thirteen, Five was . . ."

"Seriously?"

She grinned as she finished her doughnut. "Just kidding."

"Okay, now," Diego began as he took a bite: "best date."

She laughed. "I think you already know the answer."

"Yeah," he agreed, "it was a pretty good one."

She smiled. "And that brings us back to my original question: Why are we reliving it?"

He let out a small scoff, though his amused expression reassured her. "Do you need to question everything?"

"Of course I do; I'm a scientist."

He raised his eyebrows. "Does a relationship have science behind it?"

"Yes." She nodded, a small grin coming onto her face. "A lot. I mean, dopamine and norepinephrine play a part in—"

He held up a finger as he cut in, "No chemistry lessons for me today, Dr. Kim, thanks."

She shrugged. "You asked."

"I do like when you talk science to me, baby," he remarked. "Man, if I were your student, and you taught me all the time . . . I wouldn't be able to contain myself."

"Diego, there are rules for that," she chided playfully, wagging a stern finger in his direction. "You should be happy you aren't my student."

"Yeah," he agreed, "mostly because that means I don't have to learn chem."

"Chem is fun."

"It most definitely isn't."

"It's more fun than biology or physics."

"I'll agree with that." He nodded as he pressed his lips together. He gave a small sigh, his grip on her waist tightening. "I hope our kid'll be as smart as you."

She smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Well, I hope they'll be as athletic and charming as you."

"They'll be perfect," he whispered. "We should have one soon. The world needs him or her."

She laughed and shook her head, releasing herself from his embrace as she took a step forward. "There are a few steps we have to take before that."

"Yeah?" he questioned. "Like what?"

"Marriage, get a bigger apartment, secure ourselves . . ." Natalia shrugged, folding her arms as she gazed out at the water. "We're looking at a couple of years here."

"Well, let's knock the first step out of the way then."

"What do you—" Natalia suddenly paused as she turned her head to see a sight she hadn't expected:

Diego, on one knee, holding an open velvet box in which sat a glittering ring.

Her eyes began to moisten as she breathed out, "Diego?"

"Nat, I . . . I know I'm not the best with words, but I'm gonna try," he gave a small chuckle, and she could tell by his quivering voice that he was nervous. "I know it sounds cliché, but the moment you stepped into the Academy, I was in love. Really. And the night we kissed for the first time, and you told me you loved me too . . . man, I couldn't think about anything except you and that kiss for the rest of the week. And when I broke up with you . . ." His face grew grim. "God, that was the worst mistake of my life. I thought I had lost you forever.

"The next ten years, you were the only thing on my mind. I knew I had to get you back one day, or I would go insane. And thank God for alcohol, right?" he chuckled, and his voice grew steadier as she rolled her eyes in amusement and gave a watery giggle.

"When drunk-you told me you were still in love with me . . . it was incredible. Over the last year and a half, I've realized that somehow . . . you've become more perfect in every way; your smile, your laugh, your jokes, your intelligence, your . . . well, I don't want to say it out loud, but . . ." He raised his eyebrows suggestively and winked, prompting another watery giggle from her.

"Nat, I can't imagine a future without you, so . . ." He let out a small breath, swallowing as he grew visibly nervous once more. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," Natalia breathed out, on the verge of tears. "Yes, I will."

A smile of relief broke out on Diego's face, and he wasted no time in getting the ring and pushing it onto her fourth finger.

Immediately, Natalia wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips against his, her heart beating faster than ever. They were engaged. They were going to get married. She couldn't be happier.

"Thank God," Diego murmured as he drew back, his eyes greeting hers kindly.

"What, you thought I'd say no?" she teased before kissing him once again.

"You know, I was a little worried," he admitted as he lowered his hands to her hips. "How's the ring? I wasn't sure if you'd like it."

Natalia moved her attention down to the ring that was perfectly fitted around her finger. It was quite simple: a silver band with a gorgeous, glittering diamond that looked to be around five millimetres in diameter sat in the centre.

She looked back up at Diego, who seemed apprehensive about her answer, and her heart swelled as her smile did the same. "It's absolutely gorgeous. I love it."

"I love you," he whispered before kissing her once more.

She cupped his cheeks to pull him back in for another kiss, and giggled as he squeezed her hips.

"Hey," he murmured as he drew away, though he kept his forehead rested on hers, "let's go home, baby."

She grinned. "You have to finish another doughnut first."