I will love again

Part 12 - Breakfast

When Gabriel entered his office the next morning, she was already at her desk, a giant coffee mug right in front of her. By the look of the several brown stains on the outer surface, that was at least her third refill.

He furrowed his brows, and watched her for a moment, as she had not yet noticed him standing there. She had her tablet in her lap and was working simultaneously on the device and her computer, while she held her phone with her shoulder to her ear. The designer shook his head in disapproval and cleared his throat, then he looked directly into her eyes and said quietly:

"Good morning, Nathalie."

She flinched and looked up.

"G-g-good m-morning, Sir", she stuttered.

"Care to explain, what you're doing?", the tall man gave her a furious look. "I remember, you agreed to get some rest. Why are you already here?"

"Because I didn't get to finish my work yesterday and as I was awake early and couldn't go back to sleep, I thought, I could just as well have an early....", she was interrupted by him with a dangerous tone:

"Please stop lying to me. I can see how many coffee you already had, still you can barely keep your eyes open." His voice grew softer now.
"Why can't you just learn, to take better care of your own health? I...", he didn't know what to say anymore.

Nathalie inhaled deeply. Then she placed her tablet on the desk and looked at him sadly.

"If I do just one thing at a time, can I at least continue, now that I'm here anyway?", she pleaded.

For a moment he just stared at her, her pale face, the dark rings around her eyes, the trembling of her hands, when she reached for her mug.

"How long have you been here already? And Nathalie, I beg you, tell me the truth."

"Fine! Since five o'clock maybe a little earlier.", she admitted and looked to her feet.

Gabriel approached her and laid a hand on top of hers.

Tears were glistening in her eyes, when she lifted up her head to look at him. "Please, Gabriel, you're only making it harder for the both of us!", she muttered and tried to pull her hand out of his grasp. But he closed his fingers around hers and squeezed them softly.

"If you promise me, to have a proper breakfast before nine o'clock and take at least two hours to rest after lunch, I won't say anything else today. But, one last thing, no alarm for tomorrow morning. You let your body rest until you wake up all by yourself. Can you do that?"

Gabriel was still holding her left hand in his right. With his left hand he wiped the tears off her cheeks.

Nathalie agreed. "I-I think, I can d-d-do that, Sir."

For a moment she lost it and leaned into his touch, before she rolled her office chair a little back to bring some distance between them.

"What would you like?", he asked quickly, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Sorry, but I don't understand", Nathalie replied with a confused look.

"I was asking what you would like for breakfast", he chuckled, "because I'm getting something for myself and as I remember you like sweet, unhealthy things for breakfast, so..."

"Oh", her blush deepened. "I'd be happy with anything that has a chocolate filling", she murmured.

"Great, I will be back soon", he gave her a smile so full of love, that she almost started to cry even more.

"Say hi to Adrien and Marinette for me, if they aren't at school yet!" she blurted out, when he was almost through the door.

"How...", he started, but then he looked at her face. "Yeah, you're right, it's not only the closest but as well the best bakery in this city, so where else should I go. Considering, that they will probably be family in a couple of years anyway!"