I knew it was a mistake getting in the car with him. I should have just taken a cab home or stayed over with Kat. Now I’m stuck with him in the car until we returned to the mansion. “You should go back home. It’s not too late. If you go back now, I’m sure Lucien will take you back. We all make mistakes and wrong decisions; he won’t hold it against you. He might punish you some but, in the end, he’ll be more than happy to have you back,” Reiner stated with certainty. Lucien would take me back. Even I knew that without him needing to tell me. However, that wasn’t the problem here…“I’m not going back,” I spat without a second thought. “Don’t be so stubborn, Natalia. You were raised as a Rosenhall. You were not born one but that was how you were raised. You had everything and an easy life. You were given the best education and all the comfort in life that money could buy. You can’t survive here on your own like this and there is no need for you to put yourself through so much hardship
He was already walking by my side, but I decided to ignore him and continued walking forward. Suddenly, he grabbed my arms and pulled me against him. “Where do you think you’re going?” Reiner asked as he stared down at my face. The grip he had on my arm tightened as his worried expression turned into a scold. He’s getting mad…like I care. “Away from here…just like what you’ve always wanted…” I hissed as I tried to shake my arm free of his grip. I screamed and Reiner had no choice but to let go of my arm. I continued walking and he followed close to my side. “Come back, Natalia. Let’s go back to the car. It’s not safe here…” Reiner continued talking to me. “Stay away from me…” I muttered. “Natalia!” Reiner called my name loudly. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms. Automatically, I began struggling but his arms around my body tightened, pulling me even closer against his body. He hugged me tightly as his large hand pressed my head against his hard chest. I could fee
“Good morning,” I replied politely. “You’re up extra early today,” Queen commented before smiling gently at me. It looked like she had countless questions that she wanted to ask me. On my end, I didn’t want to talk to her or anyone else for that matter right now. “Yeah. I’ll be leaving first. See you later,” I replied vaguely as I shifted to go. “Umm…did something happen?” Queen asked with a sad and worried look in her eyes. “No. Nothing happened,” I replied in short. Queen gave me a troubled look, but I decided that I didn’t have anything else to discuss with her about. I turned to leave in a hurry before she could ask me more about what happened last night between Reiner and me. I wouldn’t tell her anything even if she asked anyways. I felt her eyes following my movement as I quickly walked away and exited the mansion. …Queen sat on the sofa in the living with a magazine in her hand. She had no idea why she was holding the magazine because she wasn’t even reading it. Natalia
“Basically, these places fit the criteria based on the information that you’ve provided but personally, I would recommend these three places first because it’s ready for you to move in as soon as tomorrow if you need to. You did mention that you were sort of in a rush, right?” the woman said before smiling at me. I scanned the information and photos of the three places that she mentioned, and they all looked fine. Honestly, I wasn’t picky at that point. As long as the place fit the location requirement, was decently clean, and fits within my budget, then I was fine with it. “Can we visit these places today?” I asked. “Of course. I can take you there. They’re all within the same area anyways based on your requirement so it shouldn’t take too long for us to cover them all,” the woman said encouragingly. “Let’s go then, what are we waiting for?” Kat said excitedly. Just like that, we were on our way to visit the first apartment. This one was the cheapest from the three options and w
“No problem. I’m glad you got a place. Honestly, I didn’t think that you would decide on it that fast,” Kat replied with a laugh. “It’s getting late now, you should head back and get some rest before work starts at the bar,” I suggested. “You’re not coming tonight?” Kat asked. “Umm…I don’t know…” I mumbled. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I should work there tonight or not. I was very tired because I didn’t sleep at all last night and going around to see the apartment left me feeling tired. I probably didn’t have enough stamina to pull off another night at work at the bar. Then again, I might run into Reiner if I went back to the mansion early. I did succeed in avoiding seeing him at work by taking the day off, but I knew that sooner or later I would have to face him again. He’s my boss after all and I needed to keep my job. “Sorry, I guess I won’t be going after all. Please say hi to Jamie and the gang for me,” I told Kat after making my decision.“Awww…so sad. You better come help
The door closed behind me with a small thud as my body froze in place and my face felt numb. “Good…morning…” I replied softly after regaining my composure. That was all I could come up with to say to him. Why was Reiner standing here in front of my door? “Good morning, Natalia. Are you going to work today?” Reiner asked flatly. Is that another way of asking me why I wasn’t at work yesterday? I took in a deep breath and stood up a little straighter. “Yes, of course. Umm…thank you for waiting for me. Shall we?” I said as I tried to act natural. I didn’t wait for Reiner to say anything in response before walking past him along the hallway that would lead us to the stairs. My mind screamed all the way to the stairs as I wondered why he had to appear in front of my bedroom like that. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on avoiding him or anything. I had work to do, and I was going to do it. Act natural, Natalia. I repeated this to myself with every breath that I took until we got into the
“No, actually, I was wondering…if you want to have lunch together with me?” Reiner asked bluntly. “Lunch…with you?” I repeated questioningly, unable to believe what I had just heard. Reiner is asking me to have lunch with him? Huh? Why? Why this all of a sudden?“Yes, lunch with me,” Reiner repeated with his eyes still on my face. I blinked rapidly as his words started to sink in. Is this really happening? Honestly, if he had asked me to join him for lunch a few days ago, I would have jumped up and cried for joy. However, I wasn’t sure what I should be feeling now. My feelings were completely messed up. I didn’t feel any happiness at all…I just felt uncomfortable and anxious. Pushing my messy thoughts and feelings aside, I decided to concentrate on the facts. It doesn’t matter why he asked me out, a lunch is just lunch. It’s probably not strange for a boss to invite his subordinate to eat lunch with him. Don’t read too much into this, Natalia.“Sure. What would you like to eat? I
It wasn’t the first time that I started thinking of people back home. I knew that I didn’t miss home and that I didn’t want to go back. However, recently, I’ve been thinking of the people back at home more and more. I shook my head a little to shake away my thoughts. Perhaps Reiner’s words telling me to go home was finally getting to my head. “Natalia…” Reiner called my name softly. My chopstick stopped midair in my surprise. I lifted my eyes to look at Reiner. “Hmm? What is it?” I asked curiously. Reiner glanced away as if he was hesitating to say what he had in mind. I cocked my head to the side curiously as I watched him and waited for him to continue. “Actually, never mind…” Reiner said emotionlessly. He continued eating just like nothing had happened. I picked up my teacup and sipped at the warm green tea as I peered at his face over the rim of my teacup. I wondered what he was about to say…Lunch came to an end without us sharing any more conversation. To my relief, lunch