The Brightest Stars ✨

Chapter 20

Hi guys! Sorry for the delayed update. I had serious case of writer's block, I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit... :/ let me know y'all's thoughts anyways.

(Also if you're looking for a new read please check out my new story "Things Left Unsaid" I'd love it if you did).

Okay, enough chat, let's get on with it...
———————————-

"What?" she said and then rolled her eyes at the expression on his face. "Can you stop staring at me? You're making me feel like I've got a second head growing out of my neck," she hissed low enough for only him to hear in the staff meeting.

Natalia was back at work after a few days off with a cold. She sat next to Gabe in a rare feat of coincidence.

Gabe held her hand under the table but averted his eyes from her with a grin playing on his lips. He couldn't take his eyes off her when she was in the vicinity.

He was attuned to every small change her body was undergoing, the slight plumpening of her lips and how dewy and glowing her skin looked in the early spring light. He couldn't wait till she was rounder and showing with his child. It was all he thought about when he looked at her.

After the meeting, Gabe insisted on walking her to her first class of the day. She rolled her eyes at this too, but didn't shrug off the slight pressure of his hand at the small of her back guiding her down the hallway to her class.

He had given up any pretence of remaining professionally distant from her during the work day and around their colleagues; she wore his ring and was now carrying his child, there were no more stakes of claims he could make until she legally changed her last name to his.

The hallway was full of students rushing to their class, a busy hum of throbbing noise. There was some sort of scuffle developing, between a group of boys near the door of Natalia's class.

She immediately went to investigate. It put her in the direct path of a tall hulking body of a teenage boy crashing into her.

Gabe instantly and reflexively grabbed her by the waist. He moved her swiftly between his body and the wall of the corridor away from the line of fire and what was now a fully fledged fight.

"Have you lost your mind?" he snapped at her when they were inside the silence of her empty classroom.

She recoiled slightly from the intensity of his words.

Just a few months ago, Gabe had been used to having no ties and to being emotionally independent of anyone. He had the privilege of detachment and aloofness. His life had been devoid of any labour of the heart.

But now his love for Natalia and their unborn child felt all-consuming, overwhelming at times to the point of pain. Anything happening to them would mean the end of him. An end he couldn't come back from.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," she chewed her lower lip, regarding him with worried eyes. He could feel his heartbeat in his fingertips.

She hugged him around the waist, laying her head on his wildly beating heart. "I'm okay," she assured him.

"Maybe you shouldn't work?" he mused, carefully running his fingers through a selection of curly strands in her hair.

"Maybe you shouldn't suggest things you know are crazy?" she countered.

"We're going to talk about this later," he warned.

Natalia groaned and rolled her eyes. "Go away before I vomit on your shoes."