NURA

Chapter 22

Nate

Apr. 2014, New York

Nate parked the car at the assigned place and looked to the side to see Nura looking at the private jet in front of them with her jaw hanging open.

"No way!" she squealed, making Nate laugh before nodding his head and getting out of the car with the girl following close behind.

"Is that for us? Please tell me it is waiting for us!" she blabbered, jumping around Nate like an overexcited puppy.

"Yes, it is," Nate said and then had to cover his ears for a second at how loud Nura squealed.

"Fuck Habib, you are loaded!" she exclaimed, not even caring that other people were there and could hear her. Nate shook his head at her antics but kept silent, happy to see her acting more like herself. These last few months had been extremely hard for her, and finally seeing her smiling and carefree warmed Nate's heart to no end.

"Mr. Robins." a tall, dark woman greeted him as soon as they were close enough, and Nate extended his hand to shake hers.

"Captain Moor, it's good to see you again. I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Nura," he said, and I could almost see Nura purring at being called that.

"It's nice to meet you," Captain said to her with a polite smile before turning back to look at Nate.

"Everything is ready, Sir, so let me know whenever you are too."

Nate nodded his head in acknowledgment, and she turned around and climbed into the jet while he took Nura's hand and pulled her with him as they followed the Captain inside.

"Wow!" Nate heard her breathe out and snickered as he made his way toward his usual seat and sat down, leaving Nura to roam around the jet until it was time for them to take off.

"What do you think?" he asked as soon as she finished her perusal and sat beside him.

"What kind of question is that!? Of course, I like it. It's amazing. I can't believe that you actually own a private jet." Nura said while looking down to her lap. Nate frowned at the sudden change in attitude; Nura's excitement from just a second ago disappearing completely in a blink of an eye.

"Is everything okay, Habibi?" he asked her, confused as he scooted closer and threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah, of course." the girl mumbled, giving him the fakest smile Nate had ever seen.

"Don't do that. Don't lie to me, Nura." Nate said in a stern, quiet tone as his hand gripped her chin and forced her to look up.

"I am sorry," she whispered, apologizing and looking down again in shame.

"If you don't want to talk about something, then tell me. I will not force you to say something you don't want to, okay?"

"Okay," Nura said, her beautiful eyes trained on Nate's face and her bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

The only thing Nate wanted at that moment was to pull her into his lap and suck on that abused lip until he had her begging for him to stop, but he knew that those particular fantasies had to wait. Something was obviously troubling her mind, and Nate needed to find out what.

He had planned this trip with Nura's happiness as his primary goal, and he would be damned if he couldn't make that happen. So, he let go of her chin and took both hands in his as they just sat there, waiting for her to start talking.

"I just..." she started and almost immediately stopped, her eyes again falling to the ground, and Nate quickly squeezed her hands to reassure her that everything was okay.

"I guess I just never really thought about your success. I mean, I knew that you were a big shot surgeon and crazy smart, but to see to what extent had taken me by surprise a bit, I guess," she said quietly, and Nate just nodded, unsure where she was heading with all of this.

"Okay. And, does that bother you, me being rich?" he asked her, worrying about what he could do if Nura said 'yes,' but she immediately huffed and shook her head.

"No, no, of course not. I just cannot help but wonder what are you doing with someone like me?" she said and held up a hand as soon as she saw Nate getting ready to argue.

"I know what you are going to say, and don't get me wrong, I love who I am, and I am damn proud of myself, but it still intimidates me; this whole thing. I am just a student who works at a club and barely manages to keep ends meet and has the emotional baggage the size of Atlantic behind her, and you are, well, you. It just doesn't make sense. Don't you want to be with someone more like you? Someone who knows what she is doing?"

They sat side by side for a few minutes in silence as Nate thought about Nura's question before he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap to face him.

"It may not make sense to other people, us being together, but I don't care because to me it does. We may be different, but that is exactly why I like you so much.

The first time I saw you, I knew that you were special; something about you instantly drew me in, and that's probably why I ran. It scared me to death. It still scares me to death, Nura, because as much as I tried to resist, I still fell for you. I...I've fallen in love with you." Nate whispered as his hand softly caressed her cheek.

Her eyes widened slightly at his quiet confession and became unfocused for a second before she launched herself at him and hugged him tightly, the only sound breaking the silence around them, her hushed sobs.

She didn't say anything after that, and Nate didn't expect her to. He wanted her to know that he loved her, but he was aware that she was not yet ready to say it back, which was fine with him because Nate already knew the truth, and that was the only thing that mattered.

~

Apr. 2014, Madrid

"This is crazy, Nate! This room is bigger than my whole apartment and probably Mrs. Jackson's, the old lady that lives in the one next to mine, combined." Nura exclaimed, making Nate snort and roll his eyes.

They had arrived an hour ago and were just shown into their room to freshen up before they had to head out for lunch, but it was taking them a bit longer than Nate had expected since Nura couldn't stop checking and awing over every corner of the room like she was in a museum.

Nate felt anxious for them to get going since he had a surprise in store for her, and after five more excruciating minutes, he finally managed to get her out of the damn room.

"Where are we going?" she asked him a few minutes later as they joined the flow of tourists, Nate looking at her and barely holding in the smirk that wanted to break out.

"Lunch." he simply said, and she nodded before going back to watching the streets of Madrid, her eyes wide with wonder.

They stopped at the little bistro near the hotel and took a seat, Nate pretending to listen to her blabbering while his eyes scanned the place in search of the waiter. He finally found him, talking to an older couple, and waived him over, his excitement building with the young man's every step.

"Are you okay?" Nura asked him with an eyebrow raised as she bent down to take her bag from the floor. Before Nate had the time to answer, the waiter was already there with a big smile on his youthful face.

"Hello! What can I get you?" he chirped happily in a slightly broken-up English, and the only answer he was given was a big thump before the entire content of Nura's bag spilled over the floor beneath their feet.

Nate looked up to see her stand completely frozen, with her wide eyes glued to the waiter in astonishment.

"Mehmet?"