𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐁𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞 (𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐡)

chapter 2

Gabriel woke up to a sunny morning in his large, modern room with floor-to-ceiling windows. His head pounded with a headache from the previous day's events.

He remembered his encounter with Nathalie and began to panic thinking about what he did. Did I hurt Nathalie? Was she angry at me? He thought, his mind racing. He decided it would likely be best not to approach her right now, as she may not want to speak with him.

He got out of his large bed and pressed buttons on a screen to start the cool water in his shower, with the jets spraying from many angles. Maybe a nice cool shower would help him start his day off on the right note, he thought.

He exited the shower and dried off. He walked to his marble counter to gel back his hair. He threw on a beige turtleneck sweater with black jeans and Travis Scott 1 Lows to walk around the house in. (Gabriel is quite the fashionista) He fastened his silver Rolex around his wrist to compliment Emilie's ring on his finger. He sprayed on the newest Gabriel cologne, and exited his room.

Gabriel walked down the grand stairs and made his way to the kitchen, where he found Adrien digging cheese out of the refrigerator. Adrien certainly could be peculiar at times.

"Hello Father!" Adrien said with joy in his tone as he made his way to the counter.

"Hello Adrien" Gabriel replied. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"

"I don't have fencing until twelve Father, and the photo shoot was moved to tomorrow."

"I see" Gabriel sat down at the counter, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and examining it. "What has you acting so excited?" Gabriel said with a slightly harsh tone.

"Well, I was going to ask if it would be alright if I go to my friend's concert after fencing? A bunch of my friends will be there, and there's gonna be a party after."

"This whole 'concert and party' thing sounds like trouble...you can go but you'd be better off spending your time doing more productive things."

"Um- thank you, Father." Adrien said graciously as he walked out of the kitchen.

Gabriel could hear a faint conversation coming from the hallway, and as he looked back he saw Nathalie walking into the kitchen. Gabriel began to sweat as he remembered the situation from yesterday. That was something so out of character for him, and he knew Nathalie would be disgusted by his actions. Gabriel knew he sometimes felt some kind of way when he was around Nathalie, but he couldn't believe did that yesterday, even though he was drunk.

"Good morning, sir" Nathalie said in her normal tone, not showing any signs that she was upset.

"Hello Nathalie." Gabriel managed to say as she walked over to the coffee maker and grabbed two mugs.

"Adrien just asked if Gorilla could take him to his friend's concert after fencing, is that alright with you?"

"Yes, he just asked me about it a second ago."

Gabriel was glad that Nathalie seemed normal and wasn't bringing up the elephant in the room, but he also wanted to know that she was okay and wasn't angry at him.

"Alright then," she replied, "I'll make arrangements for that to happen." Nathalie set one of the filled coffee mugs on the counter for Gabriel, and started to exit the kitchen so she could contact Gorilla.

"Wait-" Gabriel said before she left. "I wanted to make sure you were okay from what happened yesterday. I want you to know that I would never mean to hurt you." He said as he gazed into her deep blue eyes from his spot on the stool.

"Oh, it's quite alright sir. I know you weren't yourself at that time." She said, fiddling with the pen in her hand.

Gabriel was relieved at the response. "I want to make sure things stay...professional, and that this doesn't interfere with the work environment, alright?"