Nathalie awoke on a sunny Monday morning to the sound of her phone beeping.

*text from Martin*

(Martin is a guy she met at college .)

"Happy Birthday❤️"-Martin
This immediately brought a smile onto Nathalie's face and suddenly a strange feeling arose inside her that made her heart beat even faster.
Why did this sudden little surprise get her so excited and thrilled, it's almost as if Martin had an impact on her...
"Thanks, hope you have a great day."
Nathalie immediately replied without noticing her smile got wider and wider every second.
Now the only thing that bothered her was if he was the only one who remembered?

Nathalie did her usual morning routine, and by the time it was 6:40am she was fully dressed and ready to leave.
She had to be at the Agreste mansion at 7, so since she had plenty of time the assistant decided to walk there.
Nathalie arrived at 6:55am and right away she made her way into Gabriel's office.
After she had sat down and opened the computer an overwhelming amount of emails flooded her messages, so with an annoyed sigh she proceeded to jump right into work.

After a little while of working the young assistant could hear someone walking down the marble stairs, that special someone couldn't be anyone else other than the man himself: Gabriel Agreste.
"Good morning Nathalie" he said with a tired voice while he sipped his coffee.
Hearing this sleepy mumble Nathalie looked up to see her boss in his pajama and his hair a tangled mess.
"What happened sir?"
"I couldn't sleep last night."
"I see." Nathalie stared him down with a frightened look that wondered what the hell must've this man gone through last night.
As Gabriel sat down onto the sofa he drank his coffee and after a little while he was soo tired that he couldn't even keep his eyes open.
Soon enough when Nathalie had just finished responding to the emails she saw Gabriel fast asleep on the sofa, cuddled together with a random blanket.
"Gabri-I mean sir?"
"Yea??"
"You should go back to your room and sleep."
"No,no I have work-" he couldn't even finish his sentence before Nathalie interrupted:
"Come onnnnm!" She was pulling on his arm trying to get him off of the sofa.
The sight of Nathalie trying her hardest and not getting anywhere made him giggle and suddenly as he quickly stood up the assistant lost her balance and almost fell down to the floor, but he caught her just in time.
"Uhhh thanks" Nathalie blushed as she quickly took his hands off of her and dragged him up to his bedroom.
Gabriel loved how much affection she showed him lately, but in contrast Nathalie still hated how her boss was stuck on the idea of bringing back Emelie.
As they quickly entered the bedroom Nathalie laid Gabriel down, placed a blanket over him, and just when she was about to walk away he screamed after her:
"NATHALIE WAIT!!!!"
With an annoyed sigh she turned back to face him.
"Yes?"
"I am sick." He looked at her with puppy eyes and then proceeded to fake cough a couple of times.
"Gabr-Sir, I would love to look after you but I have plans for this afternoon."
"Plans???What plans?"
Jealousy immediately took over his heart and now Gabriel couldn't help but wonder where his assistant would need to be.
"Martin wanted to take me out to a fancy restaurant and celebrate my birthday there with me."
Now as Gabriel realized that he screwed up real bad he couldn't help but think of how stupid he was for forgetting such an important event.
Before he knew it Nathalie slowly started to walk off and almost left but before she could do so Gabriel managed to mumble:
"I am sorry that I forgot your birthday... I didn't mean to-I know this makes me look bad...but I really wish I could do something to make you happy."
"No,no it's ok...I know you are a very nice person, so you don't need to prove anything. But if you will excuse me I have to go get ready."
"Have a good time-" Gabriel's voice was cut off as the door slammed shut and this just left him feeling bad of himself.

Nathalie ran home as fast as she could because she was incredibly excited for this kind of a  "date".
Well it was just so the two of them could celebrate her birthday but still it could turn into anything.
She took a shower and put on her prettiest dress which was a dark blue prom dress.
Now this dress wasn't any ordinary dress because she had this piece since high school prom which came with many good memories.
As Nathalie put on the dress she felt soooo pretty like she had never felt this way ever before, she also let her hair down and added some mascara to her eyes.
Now the young assistant was ready as she looked fabulous in her pretty puffy dark blue gown.
"Oh Miss Nathalie you look flattering!!" Duusu squeaked in happiness.
"Thank you."
Nathalie looked at her phone and saw that it was still a little early for Martin to come pick her up, so she sat down on her bed, but before she could have a moment for herself someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me Gabriel."
"Come in" she replied and as the handle of the door slowly moved down Nathalie got more and more anxious.
"Oh damn." Those we're the first words that left his mouth as Gabriel saw Nathalie all dressed up elegantly.
The assistant was about to die from blushing right then and there as Gabriel stared her down.
How does one respond to such a comment?
Well not even Nathalie knew the answer to this, so whilst Gabriel was just glaring at her she continued blushing.
Nathalie tried to search for a way out and when the bag in Gabriel's hands distracted her, she began wondering on why he had it.
Soon enough Gabriel himself noticed how her attention shifted to the bag he was holding so he decided to explain:
"You forgot your bag" Gabriel said in a low tone which made Nathalie's eyes spring back to him and now she examined how his hair was messy and he wasn't even properly dressed, the guy was only wearing a coat on top of his pajama.
"T-thanks for bringing it" Nathalie awkwardly took it from his hands not trying to act weird whilst she couldn't help but breath heavily as she stared into his pale blue eyes.
"You're...welcome" Gabriel smiled down at his assistant who was painfully close to him.
"Have fun." he turned around and tried to leave before she yelled:
"Gabriel...wait!"
And as he turned around and Nathalie saw the tears in his eyes.
He looked so hurt she couldn't watch him leave like that, so the assistant grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.
"Sit!" she ordered as she left to get him some warm tea, and in the meantime Gabriel realized how crazy he was about her.
He wished he could just kiss Nathalie and tell her how amazing she looked.
Now as he thought about it more his heart began beating very fast and all of a sudden he felt dizzy, she looked sooo charming in that dress that he forgot how to breathe.
Before he knew it Nathalie came back with some tea and handed it over to him.
"Thank you." Gabriel cleared his throat and acted like he didn't just daydream about his assistant.
Now before he had the chance to compliment her Nathalie began speaking:
"Martin will pick me up any minute now but you can stay here until you feel better. Here is the key to the door. Lock it when you leave." She said as she headed out.
"Bye...Nathalie...She looked ravishing in her dress." Gabriel mumbled to himself as soon as she left.
"Yes, I agree."
"Oh Nooroo what do I do?"
"Follow your heart master!"
"But that has been broken years ago."
"What if she can fix it?"
"I have never felt like this since...since...I don't even know if I've ever felt like this....God damn it she is so addicting!!" he slammed his fist on the table which made the tea pour out.

*meanwhile with Nathalie*

"Nathalie!" Martin waved at her as she jumped in his car and they drove off.
"Long time no see!"
"Yeah it was quite a while ago when we graduated." Nathalie giggled like a school girl as she tough back to the good old days.
"You look just as pretty as you did or maybe even more pretty."
Martin was that flirty type of person and Nathalie just loved it, because after all of the boring people in her life she needed someone who gave her endless compliments.
"Well it's not like you have changed since our graduation."
"Funny, so how is life?"
"Oh you know just the usual assistant life."
"Aaa yes so like dating your boss." He gave her a mischievous smirk and laughed as Nathalie's face became bright red.
"What!?"
"Well you said the usual assistant life so you know just like in every story the assistant falls in love with her boss and they have an affair." He explained to which Nathalie couldn't help but notice how some of it was true, she indeed liked Gabriel a bit but they weren't having an affair, or were they? We're they going behind Emelie's back?
"Oh please...it's not like that. My life is just full of responding to emails all day long." She knew she was lying but she still said it with full confidence.
"Seems fun."
"Well what do you do for a living?"
"Well...I am a painter and I'm also a proud boss of a traveling agency."
"So your dream of being a painter did come true after all." Nathalie smiled back at him as she got an approving nod from Martin.

*meanwhile with Gabriel*

Meanwhile Gabriel was still in her apartment. He was the curious kind so he looked around the small flat and he eventually came across her closet, which was left wide open.
As he reached to close the door he accidentally gazed inside and saw sooo many pretty outfits she never wore or at least he'd never see her in.
Gabriel couldn't help but look through all of the clothing items, after all he was a fashion designer. So without any hesitation he organized her whole closet so that everything was a stylist outfit she would look fascinating in and by the time he was done he noticed it was getting quite late so he left and locked the door just like she'd asked him to do.

*meanwhile with Nathalie*

Nathalie was having the time of her life, she didn't even remember last time she had this much fun.
"Your prom dress. It still looks hella attractive on you" Martin winked at her as he realized what she was wearing.
"Oh thanks. Come on now dance with me!"
"With pleasure" He slyly responded before taking ahold of her hand and dragging Nathalie onto the dance floor.

They danced the night away, and when they left the restaurant Nathalie could hardly even walk because she was sooo tired. And when Martin dropped her off, it was a challenge to walk up the stairs to the 10th floor where her apartment was.
When she finally made it home she immediately kicked off her high heels and fell onto her bed, but as she did that a small letter flew up in the air and Nathalie caught it just in time to read it.

"Dear Nathalie!
I hope you've had fun on your birthday.
I sincerely apologize for forgetting about it and I promise that I will make up for this.
Also I couldn't help but notice the clothes in your closet since the doors were left wide open, and I have organized it so they are outfits I know you would look great in. Please forgive me for being such a idiot and not even remembering you birthday.
Ps: you looked quite ravishing in that dress of yours." -Gabriel Agreste

The letter made Nathalie instantly blush and her face was now a shade of bright red. Even her heart felt sooo full of joy that now not only one but two people showed affection towards her.
But did Gabriel only like her because she could replace Emelie?
Was she only a replacement and nothing else?
It didn't matter because she treasured those words written down onto the note "you looked quite ravishing in that dress of yours." .
She read the letter over and over again imagining him saying those words.

*beep*
This sound immediately made her snap out of her foolish dreams and come back to reality.
She looked over to her phone to see a message from Adrien.

"Hi Nathalie.
I am at Nino's house having a sleepover with him and I wanted to call my father to see if he is okay but he won't pick up. Do you know if he is okay?"
-Adrien.

Nathalie's heart dropped to that question "Do you know if he is okay?" Gabriel always picks up the phone no matter what.
And now that he didn't answer Nathalie didn't know what to do, it was 2 am, she just came back from a party and she was still wearing a huge prom dress, plus she was extremely tired.

"I will find out what is happening, don't worry"
After responding to the kid the assistant also viewed as Adrien's half mother grabbed her high heels, slipped them on and ran to the Agreste mansion at 2am whilst still wearing a prom dress.
She pushed open the big iron gates and hurried up the marble stairs making a horribly huge sound with her heels.
"Gabriel!"
"Nathalie?" A tired voice answered.
The poor assistant was sooo tired that she collapsed onto to the marble floor before she could make it to his room.
"Gabriel are you okay?" She asked as she was out of breath but thankfully Gabriel was already there, and he also fell down to the floor next to her so he could hold the shivering woman in his arms.
"I would be lying if I would say yes. I can't do this anymore...I want to give up on Emelie and love you instead."
"Gabriel even if we both loved each other it couldn't work. I am your assistant and you are my boss, it is unprofessional. This is what happens in every other movie."
"But the movies always have a happy ending!" Gabriel mumbled as he carefully stood up with Nathalie in his arms, and he began to carry her back to his room.
"Stop. Put me down. I can walk home."  Nathalie protested, but Gabriel just ignored whatever insult came out of her mouth.
"Yeah I don't think so."

To be continued-

Hello there!
Those people who have been following me from the start: does this book look familiar? *wink*

Anyways I hope you like this new story, and yep it's much longer than my usual chapters but I guess that's just a benefit for you guys.
That's it, have a wonderful day!❤️❤️❤️