Nathalie stared up amazed at her superior who had just made her heart melt like some ice cream in warm weather.

Never has she heard such kind words come out of her boss's mouth.
Yet now as Gabriel was glancing down at his employee lovingly, the woman almost just would've wanted to stand on her tiptoes and kiss him.
Only a tiny kiss, just for a second or two, nothing more...well...if only there would've been the possibility to have more...then Nathalie couldn't lie, she probably would've wanted it.

But as of right now she wasn't thinking such dirty things, rather the opposite.
She only imagined one tiny 'thank you' kiss, but even that was too far out of reach for her to accomplish as Nathalie had to keep that 'professional' barrier between the two of them.

And that hurt her the most, the fact that she had to look into those pastel eyes and stare back coldly, not even allowed to hug him, or tell him how she truly felt.
That tore her heart into a million different pieces.

Anyways, as she focused back into reality the woman realized that she was still staring  at her boss in that mesmerized manner, so with a quick shake of her head the assistant looked away.

"Uhm so-" she cleared her throat "...Those words you said earlier sir were very kind." Nathalie forced a smile onto her face "Thank you."

"Well of course." He returned "It's the least which I can do for you after you've been so kind to me all those years. As a matter of fact I should be doing so much more to thank you...b-but I just don't know how."

"Sir you don't-"

"Would a higher pay sound nice? Or maybe some extra holidays? You know you can take the weekends off, or any other day you'd like. I can also offer paid leave, and-"

"Sir!" Nathalie stopped him by placing a hand on the man's shoulder and making him suddenly shut up "Sir I need none of that! I enjoy my job greatly a-and as weird as it sounds I love working. I honestly hate being away from the office even for just a few days. I mean of course I very much appreciate your kindness to offer paid leave and more holidays, b-but that will be unnecessary in my case. Maybe you could offer it to someone else though, like Gorilla-"

"-Yeah but he hasn't helped me as much as you have." Now Gabriel was the one to cut off his assistant mid speech "Okay he takes Adrien to school every day, but that's about it, meanwhile you helped my family ever since the very beginning, you've always been there for Emilie and even she told me so herself, plus you tremendously helped both me and Adrien to get over Emilie's death. Oh and you even manage my company as if you were the boss, which to be fair, you should be, after all you're better at everything than me. So it's safe to say that we need you and you deserve the world Nath."

"Oh Gabriel." She sighed from exhaustion "I could argue about everything you've just said there but I won't because I'm way too tired, so can I ask if we may sleep?"

"Oh of course we may." He chuckled "Now would you like to sleep here or?"

"I don't mind anymore, I'm too tired to even walk over to the guest bedroom so this will do, just please don't touch me during the night, I'd be very sorry to accidentally kick you."

"Your wish is my command miss," Gabriel smiled, making his employee blush a little, thankfully though both adults were too tired to comprehend anything which was happening, so the designer didn't realize much, he only thought that she was a bit warm, so the man even suggested that he'd bring her something more comfortable to wear whilst she got ready in his bathroom.
And this time, without hesitation Nathalie agreed and accepted her boss's offer.

"Thank you very much sir." She smiled as he handed her a toothbrush and everything she possibly needed for a good night of sleep.
He even asked what exactly she'd like to sleep in.

"So I have shirts, shirts and pants, or...well...these pieces which I greatly doubt that you'd wear whilst sleeping at my house but you know maybe you can take one or two home for that special guy whom you're seeing."

"PARDON SIR?!?!" Nathalie almost choked on her water as she was trying to rise her mouth from the toothpaste. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!" She yelled all blushing and flustered.

"Oh nothing, oh nothing." The man laughed as he heard his assistant's anxious voice "Just thought that if you two were...well...seeing each other...then he might like to look at you in one of these, plus...it is from the new lingerie collection...but-...I'm not sure what your relationship with him is...maybe you're just 'friends'."

"I-uhm-well-no-but-still-....I couldn't just wear THAT!" She spat unable to even just process where her superior must've gotten the idea from.
It was not the usual Gabriel.
Now he acted much less coldly and instead rather boldly.

"Well why not?" He smirked "Is it not the right color or size?"

"N-no-no! I mean...red is a bit wild-...but that's not the main point! I-I mean-...sir! You must be kidding with me!!"

"What? I'm only helping with you two's relationship. Plus red suits you."

"PARDON?!?!" Nathalie almost passed out all over again to the sound of that "How do YOU know such a thing?!?!"

"Well...you have a red strand in your hair, your glasses have red in them, and you literally wear a red turtleneck everyday. Trust me, you look great in it."

"R-right..."

"So?" He wondered "Will you try one on?"

"PARDON?!?!"

"I mean just to see if it's the right size, and know if it suits you."

"S-Sir I-..."
Nathalie couldn't believe her own ears.
Surely her boss wasn't trying to seduce her or something along those lines...or was he?
'Pathetic!' She thought to herself. 'He has a wife'...well...had.
Anyways, wife or no wife the designer was still onto something.

Maybe he just really wanted to help out his assistant in her love life, after all she did mention to him that it was quite boring, or maybe it was simply because he had these lingerie pieces from some new fashion show collection which was about to happen, and since he obviously couldn't put these extras to use, he might as well gift them off.

"Is there one in black maybe?" Nathalie gathered the courage to finally say, and the second she did so, the grey haired man immediately smirked before nodding and happily saying.

"There sure is!"

Then he proceeded to give her the daring looking lingerie set which the woman no longer wanted to try on, but then again, maybe Gabriel was right.
He was only trying to help her and that 'special someone's' relationship, so maybe there was no harm in trying something a little different.

After all the designer was someone who knew a lot about clothes and what goes well together (don't think about his own outfit tho) so even though a little skeptical, Nathalie had to trust him.
And not just because he was a fashion designer, but also because until some extent he was her friend, they've spent together many years working on the same business and putting all their efforts into it.
So the assistant knew that he boss wouldn't ever try to purposely hurt her or anything along those lines, therefore now she had to trust him.
As sketchy as that set looked, she still put it on, and after a few minutes of complete silence, a gasp was heard from the bathroom.

"Holy fuck!" Nathalie exclaimed loudly which instantly made the man jump up from his bed on which he was sitting, and rush over to the bathroom door.

"What is it Nath? Everything okay in there?" He asked but no answer.
Only the constant repetition of "nononono" was heard.
"What is it Nathalie? Did something go wrong? Did you accidentally break something?"

"No sir no...I-I j-just-"

"You just?"

"Sir I haven't seen myself like this in forever, I mean goddamn! I-...it is sure...daring...uhm...I'm not sure what else to say."

"Well does it fit nicely? Is it the right size and color? Would you maybe like to try the red one?"

The woman hesitated again for a bit.

She wanted to try the red one, but maybe asking for it would make her seem 'weird' to Gabriel.
Then again why would it?
He'd be more than happy to hear that she likes something he designed, so with a unsure voice Nathalie asked anyway.

"S-sir...m-may I see the red one? J-just to compare!"

"Of course of course." The designer smiled "glad you like it, I'm sure he will too!"

"W-well...I'm not so sure about that..."

"Why? Is he not that type of a guy to appreciate such things?"

"No sir, he is my enemy." The woman admitted.

To be continued-