On Natasha’sst two steps, both Lucas and Alexei held their breath. Lucas saw hope of reconciliation, while Alexei’s eyes darkened, plotting something unknown.
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Then, Natasha suddenly stopped and turned a corner. Under Lucas’s disbelieving gaze, she squatted down. She picked up a wooden gnome from beside the cab and dusted it off. <fn2a5d> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? find~novel</fn2a5d>
“Good thing it’s wood,” she snapped, ring at a momentarily stunned Alexei. “If it were porcin, you’d be in trouble.”
‘So she’s mad at me just because I knocked over her wooden gnome when I kicked Lucas,’ he thought. Alexei’s expression instantly brightened.
“I’ll buy you a hundred,” Alexei offered, grinning as if murderous rage hadn’t gripped him moments
ago.
However, Lucas’s face turned ashen. His lips moved soundlessly. He was unable to believe that in Natasha’s heart, he mattered less than a wooden gnome.
‘She saw Alexei’s violence, so how can she still talk to him so calmly, almost yfully? This isn’t right,’ he thought, his heart gnawed by anxiety.
“Natasha,” Lucas tried again, desperate to shatter their harmony. “I’m hurt.”
Natasha used to rush to him when he was injured. In college, after a dirty foul left him injured, she’d nearly fought the offenders herself.
‘She should be furious and concerned–not this detached calm,‘ he thought. ‘I can’t ept it.’
Natasha carefully ced the wooden gnome back. Her gaze, when it met Lucas, was t. “Oh, go to the hospital then.” She emphasized, “Don’te back.”
Lucas felt his heart shattered. Alexei strode over, dragging the devastated Lucas out with a deceptively pleasant smile.
“Sorry, Natasha still needs her soup, No more hospitality.” His tone was gentle, nothing like his earlier ferocity.
The door mmed shut. Natasha hadn’t intervened. The light in Lucas’s eyes died. Pain, physical and soul–deep, consumed him.
Lucas didn’t know how he stumbled downstairs and got in the car. Sitting in the dark like a lost ghost, he longed for their happiness with envious eyes.
‘Bless them? Impossible. I don’t believe Alexei. How could such a man have genuine feelings? Let go? No way, that’d be like tearing out my heart,‘ he thought.
4:35 pm PS
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Hours passed, and the rain still poured. Alexei never left the apartment. Lucas didn’t go to the hospital. He stared at Natasha’s window and dialed. “Mr. rk? Yeah, I met Natasha. She’s fine.
“I heard about the birthday party in three days. I’d like to announce our engagement then.” Lucas would use any means to keep Natasha.
Upstairs, neither mentioned Lucas. “Happy Birthday,” Alexei murmured, fastening a ne around Natasha’s neck.
A delicate, beautifully crafted rose entwined with thorns–elegant, striking, and perfect for daily wear. Natasha loved it.
It was her second gift this year. Sadie had sent a painting before leaving the country. Unable to return, Sadie had texted birthday wishes at midnight.
Alexei admired the rose resting against her neck, satisfied. He’d chosen it himself–it suited her.
“Thank you,” Natasha said, turning to him, utterly sincere. “Not just for the gift. But foring to be with me today.”
Without him, she might not have made it back from the cemetery. Whatever Lucas said about his being dangerous, Alexei had shown more kindness to her than any supposed family or lover.
Her clear, guileless eyes held pure gratitude. Like a guarded hedgehog, disarmed by small kindnesses, it bared its soft belly to the wolf. So easily soothed and fooled.
Alexei’s heart skipped a beat. He turned her chair to face him, closing the distance until their noses almost touched, breaths mingling. “Then finish what we started earlier?”
Natasha flushed red, recalling the charged atmosphere before Lucas barged in. But she stole a nce at his smiling eyes. ‘If this is what he wants, I don’t have much else to give in return,‘ she mused.
A feather–light kiss brushed his cheek, gone in an instant–almost an illusion. “This is enough. Sex would be too much. We’re not that close yet,‘ she thought.
Natasha quickly turned back to the table. “That’s enough. Soup is getting cold.”
Alexei, one hand on hisp and the other on her back chair, looked at her profile and stiffened.
What the hell? This isn’t my style. I should have kissed her fiercely or had sex, not gotten flustered by a chaste peck, he mused.
Dissatisfied, Alexei forgot his earlier teasing–he’d never imagined what it’d be like if someone
kissed him. Nor that she’d be so innocent.
4:35 pm P∞∞∞
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It was Alexei’s first kiss, and he sat up straight ufortably. No disgust came. He med it on her quick movement–he hadn’t felt a thing.
They finished the soup in silence. Natasha thought, ‘Who’d have thought the famous Alexei could cook so well?<b>‘ </b>
Living with him these days, she must have gained weight. Lost in the delicious food, she forgot the almost–kiss.
Alexei, however, felt profoundly unsettled. After eating, Natasha moved to clear the table. Alexei stopped her. “The birthday girl doesn’t work today.”
Natasha rested her elbows on the table, chin in hands, watching him wash dishes with a smile. “You’re so sweet, Mr. Turner. Makes me wish todaysted longer.”
A day meant for darkness had found unexpected peace because of Alexei. Natasha knew she’d never forget the figure walking towards her through the downpour, an umbre held steady.
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