I'm so tired, I can't write more.
Hope you like this, I'm absolutely drained👍

The morning wasn't easy either.

As Nathalie got up she instantly regretted living another day because she remembered that it wouldn't just be her and Gabriel in the office.
Someone else would also be present, unfortunately.

But she couldn't let this break her down once again, so acting as if she was fine, the woman rolled over to her side and shook awake her still sleeping, boss.

"Sir! Sir...wake up!" Nathalie whispered softly, not at all waking up the man, in fact only making him more sleepy. "SIR!" She now shouted instantly alarming the grey haired man who in a split second woke up.

"WHAT?!" He jumped "Is everything alright? Are you hurt Nath?"

"Oh no." She laughed looking at his concerned face "I simply wanted to wake you up...it's time for work."

"Ugh." Gabriel rolled his eyes before burying his face in a pillow and grabbing the assistant beside him as if she was some plush animal.
"I don't want to do this, and neither do you."
He stretched up in bed, lifted his face, and brought Nathalie into his arms. "Right?"

"Right." Her depressed voice agreed with his "But we don't have a choice."

The woman sighed alongside her boss who knew she was right and hated it, but it's not like now they could change anything, the contract has been signed and Tom therefore officially became a part of their business, so even though neither of them wanted to, they simply had to accept it.

And so without any further arguing, Nathalie freed herself from the designer's arms and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's better if we just get it over with." said she whilst hesitantly standing up "After all it's not like I could ever forget him anyway."

With that, the assistant was about to enter the bathroom, but right before she could Gabriel grabbed her wrist and sprung her back around, so now they were staring at each other.

"That's true, but if he dares to-"

"-I know, I know" she cut him off "If he dares to touch me then I will ask for your help."

"Not just that Nath but I also want you to tell me how each day went and what he did at work because I have this strange feeling that he wants something other than you, after all, why would he just randomly start working for me? I bet his last jobs weren't paying too bad either." He explained to which his assistant smiled and unexpectedly hugged the grey haired man.

"Thank you, sir, I'll be careful." She exclaimed in such a cheerful mood that it even brought a smile onto the cold-hearted man's face who suddenly didn't even notice how protectively he laid an arm around her, and how caringly he ran his fingers through her hair.

"You better be!"

-

After getting dressed and prepared for the day Nathalie adjusted her work attire whilst she waited for her boss to put on his blazer, and after that, they could finally head downstairs.

However, as she was waiting she couldn't help but notice how her boss didn't exactly tie his tie the correct way so without wanting to bother him much she walked over to the man and was about to reach up to fix the piece of fabric when the bedroom door flung open causing the assistant to flinch and accidentally poke Gabriel's eye instead.

"Ow fuck!" He cursed, but before Nathalie could've apologized the blond boy's voice cut her off.

"FATHER!!!" Adrien yelled "THERE'S A RANDOM GUY IN YOUR OFFICE!!!"

"WHAT?!?!" The designer also freaked out completely forgetting about his new worker, but luckily before anything could've gone totally wrong the assistant spoke.

"Oh, it must be Tom." She suggested making Gabriel realize she was right, however confusing the boy who has not heard this name before, and now that he has he didn't like it.

It sounded too 'fake' and even made Adrien feel worried about Nathalie, just like when he found out about Martin, except this time the child's curiosity grew stronger and his suspicion was greater than ever.

Adrien was skeptical, that's for sure.
So much in fact that he couldn't help but wonder:

"Tom?!?? Who is that Nathalie?!"

"A new worker we employed yesterday." She explained casually turning back to her boss and after adjusting his tie giving the man a slight smile. But before she could've earned a smile back the teenager's voice once again interrupted:

"Why? Weren't you two good enough together?"

"Well-...it's complicated..."

"Right I bet." Adrien rolled his eyes ignorantly, not at all convinced with Nathalie's 'fakely' sounding answer, and then leaving the two adults to themselves by walking out of the room.

"He doesn't understand." Gabriel sighed as he turned away ashamed of his own son "I'm sorry."

But instead of agreeing the young woman simply laughed as she shook her head and explained:

"No don't be, he's just a teenager. He's not mean to understand."

"But still! He's being so ignorant it puts me to shame!"

"It shouldn't, you didn't do anything wrong! And now we should go...you know who is waiting!!"

Nathalie didn't even need to say anything further as her superior already knew who she thought of, so without exchanging any more words he reached for her hand, and once he was holding it, the designer dragged her downstairs with him.

To no one's surprise just as Adrien had told the two work partners Tom was indeed in the office waiting very patiently for his colleagues to arrive.
And as they did he gave the woman a sly smirk before walking around the desk and taking a seat dangerously close to where Nathalie usually sat.

"You don't think you're gonna sit there, do you?" Gabriel suddenly spoke surprising his assistant but also at the same time comforting her. "I can't allow it!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Tom asked acting all innocent only angering the designer further who couldn't quite control his manners, especially not around someone as disgusting as Tom.

"WHATS WRONG?!?! Oh I don't know you tell me!! Maybe I just don't want MY Nathalie to be in danger, so as your boss I order you to move and find another spot in the office! Do as told, you're my employee who's made to follow orders!"

"And if not?" He laughed "Will you...fire me?"

"I-...I will get rid of you so well that not a person on this earth will know that you've ever even existed! Trust me I have the power to do so."

"Right...but surely your daughter won't forget me. I mean could she?"

As Tom asked that Nathalie knew her boss would no longer be able to keep his calmness, and just as predicted Gabriel did indeed snap at the disrespectful comment the black haired man made.

"ENOUGH!" He yelled "Move your chair and work!"

With that the designer grabbed his assistant's arm and pulled her towards his working space.
There he sat her down and told her to work.
After all it would be more safe than sitting right next to Tom, so even Nathalie accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you sir." She whispered before beginning to answer some emails and basically run the business like she always did.

...

After a bit of work though the grey haired man decided to get coffee, and so this caused Nathalie to be trapped with Tom all alone in the office and though the first few seconds were completely fine, after a minute or two the black haired man broke the silence and by that made everything awkward.

"So Nathalie, how long have you been working here?"

"Why should I tell you?" The young woman replied, almost instantly offending him by that, nevertheless he still didn't give up with the questions

"Well fine don't tell me then, but you and Gabriel are close, right?"

"Right. Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing," he chuckled in a teasing tone "I just find it funny how you said you were almost more than two 'work partners', however here as I observe you, you seem to be...quite distant."

Nathalie immediately sighed once hearing that not only because she knew Tom suspected that her and the designer's 'relationship' was only a play but also because she herself hated the fact that it was a lie.

She wished that she could truly call Gabriel hers, but as of right now that was far beyond impossible.

So with the quick shake of her head the young woman fakely smiled and then explained:

"Well we are working which requires us to stay focused and professional, therefore we do not have time to play around!" She lied completely, but it felt good. Especially to pretend that the grey haired man was her boyfriend. That felt better than anything.

"Right." Tom's evil voice brought her back into reality, and there he was again, staring at her with a wicked grin "But you're not lying and only pretending to be Gabriel's girlfriend because you're afraid of me, right?" He asked, and after hearing the assistant gasp he knew he was right, however he still didn't stop with the words "You wouldn't do that, you wouldn't lie would you, would you Nathalie!?"

"I-...I-..." she was about to give in an spill the truth but thankfully right in that second the office door opened and in came the designer with two mugs in his hands.

"Nathalie! I got coffee!!!" Gabriel cheered, but after seeing the anxious expression on the woman's face he knew something was not right, so well before anything could've been done or said by the others, he quickly sat beside her and pulled Nathalie into his arms.
"What's wrong love? Are you tired?" He kissed the top of her head and then glared over to the desk which Tom sat at. "Did you do anything? Did you, you monster!?!?!"

"Did I?" He asked "Did I Nathalie? Did I hurt or offend you in any way?"

The assistant shook her head but that wasn't a good enough answer to the grey haired man, he needed more conformation that his employee was safe. So before she could've stopped him, Gabriel stood up and furiously walked over to the black haired man's desk.

"What the fuck did you do?!"

"I don't know, ask Nathalie, she's the one crying."

"You-"

"HE DIDNT DO ANYTHING!!" The young woman cut her boss off with a scream, then after realizing how loud that was she repeated herself, much more quieter this time. "He didn't do anything..." Nathalie now was staring at her superior with teary eyes that totally destroyed Gabriel, but he couldn't help her, and that's what hurt him the most.
Having to watch every move of Nathalie, not being able to help, just observe. Observe her painful reality.
That cut the deepest wounds for the designer.

Despite that the man still managed to contain his already raging anger and step back a bit from Tom's desk so that he no longer was 'close'.
And after he'd done that he grabbed ahold of his assistant's arm, then excused both of them out the room.

-

"Nathalie you must tell me everything that happened!! Everything you hear me?!"

"Y-yes sir." She nodded weakly

"Good. So what did he say or do which had you in tears?"

"Nothing really sir. He was simply talking about when we first met in London."

"Yeah and what about it made you tear up?"

Nathalie sighed because she knew she didn't want to admit her greatest weakness, not even to her trusted boss.

But the way he was looking at her and the fact that he spoke so gently absolutely melted the woman's heart, so now she couldn't lie.

Therefore with a deep breath the young assistant cleared her mind and finally admitted was she was most scared of-

To be continued-