Indecision is Hurtful

Chapter Seventeen

   Gabriel watches as Nathalie sits beside him while the other three situate themselves near the railings of the bridge with Gorilla listening to the two teens' tales about some rather odd anime they watched. Nathalie noticed the way he was spacing out and decided to put down her tablet to give him her full attention.

   "Sir?" the man swiftly turned his attention back to her.

   "Yes, my dear? Anything the matter?"

   "I was about to ask the exact same thing, sir."

   He sighed and spooned a bit of the ice cream to feed to her. She accepted it, but her concern still evidently lingered.

   "It's nothing. It's just that... what he just said... it was impressive. He wasn't wrong at all, and..." she nodded as she fed him the ice cream as well. "I just... y'know."

   "Are you bothered by it, sir?" she lowers her head, her hands falling to her lap. "Are you bothered by... me?"

   He immediately held her hand with his free one which urged her to direct her gaze to his own.

   "Never in a million years, my dear," he pressed his forehead onto hers. "It's just that... I'm not worthy of you."

   She sighed and gripped his hand tighter as she pulled her forehead away from his.

   "Sir. You're worthy of me and I just... I just want you to see that for yourself. I still don't know how in the world we ended up in this situation but... for what it's worth, I reckon I wouldn't trade this for anything. Would you?"

   "No. I wouldn't. I'm happy now and so is the rest of this family. I wouldn't trade this for anything either."

   "Oh my god! It's Gabriel Agreste and Adrien Agreste with his girlfriend!" the older Agreste snaps his head towards the distant shouting apparently coming from a large crowd at the other side of the bridge.

   "Sir, what's wro— ahh!" He immediately slings Nathalie over his shoulder while he held the ice cream in his other hand as he dashes off towards the car. He called the Gorilla's attention when he reached them as his hand points at the people excitedly running towards their direction. The bodyguard acted immediately and expertly placed the two teens on his shoulder where they sat with a laughing fit.

   "S-sir! This position is highly inappropriate!" Nathalie protests as she gripped her tablet tightly while she hung over his shoulder.

   "Hush now, Nathalie. Believe me, this is oddly the most convenient way to run away from large crowds. You'll get used to it," he chuckled as she squirmed.

  "Used to it— There's a next time?!" she groaned, dragging her palm down her face.

   "The future isn't set in stone, my love," he laughed as he placed her on the driver's seat with Gorilla doing the same to the two teens who still haven't stopped laughing.

   "Drive, Nathalie! Step on it!"

   "There is no way I'm going over the speed limit, sir," she remarked then veered off.

   The entire ride was filled with undying joyous laughter as Adrien recalled how Nathalie was insouciantly hung over his father's shoulder despite looking so unprofessional.

   "I could have ran by myself, you know," she pouted as Gabriel fed her the last piece of the cone.

   "Ah, but you didn't entirely resist," he smirked as he found the blush of embarrassment wash across her face despite the strict expression she put on.