Forbidden Heat

Reiner - Alone Together

The next morning, I woke up with renewed motivation thanks to Charles’ words. I got up early and

prepared everything well with the target to do well at work today. I’ll get along with Reiner and I’ll find a

way to be of use to him no matter what. Charles gave me confidence and I knew that I had to get my

act together before I start to lose my confidence once again. He was right, it was too soon for me to

give up on anything. Today will be the day that I turn over a new leaf!

I opened the door of my room with a loud and proud bang. So much for my dramatic entrance, the only

thing that greeted me outside of my room was the empty and long hallway. Laughing a little at my own

silliness, I made my way to the staircase so that I could head to the first floor. When I walked past thenovelbin

living room, Queen called out to me.

“Natalia!”

I turned around when I heard her call my name. Once again, I thought it was weird that Queen was up

so early in the morning. I smiled at her and waved my hand. Knowing that I still had some time left

before I needed to leave, I walked towards her because it seemed like she had something that she

wanted to say to me.

“Good morning,” I greeted her warmly as I sat down on the sofa opposite from her.

“Good morning. You’re up early again today,” Queen said sweetly.

“You’re up early too. Morning yoga?” I asked.

“Not today. What about you? How are things going at work?” She asked and her eyes seemed to

sparkle with interest.

Well, it wasn’t going well but…

“I’m trying my best. I need to work on a lot of things to catch up. It’s not easy but I’m sure that I’ll get

there eventually,” I replied, trying not to lose my determination.

“Wow! You sound so committed which is great but don’t work too hard,” Queen said.

I was about to excuse myself so that I could go to work but Queen lifted her arm and waved.

“Knight!”

This was the first time that I heard Queen call Reiner by his alias, and it felt quite strange. That’s not

the point! Why is she calling him here?!

My heart skipped a beat, and it wasn’t for a good reason. Slowly, I turned around and as expected,

Reiner was standing there in the doorway to the living room. He hesitated a little before sighing and

making his way over to where we were seated at the sofa.

He looked at Queen and then he glanced over at me before his gaze returned to his mother once

again. The look on his face was clearly asking ‘What do you want?’

“Are you going to work now, Knight?” Queen asked in a sweet voice.

“Yes,” Reiner replied curtly.

“That’s great. What a coincidence! You see, Natalia is also going to work now. So, what about you two

go to work together?” Queen suggested gleefully.

I knew that she could be quite meddlesome, but I had to say that I didn’t see this coming. The weird

look on Reiner’s face told me that he didn’t anticipate this either. Queen was full of wild moves.

“Umm…that’s ok. I can drive. It’s not a problem…” I quickly turned down her suggestion.

Judging from Reiner’s reaction, the last thing he wanted was a ride in the car alone with me. I’ve

bothered him enough already and I didn’t want to be a burden to him.

“Well, you see…I need to use the car that I lent to Natalia today, so she won’t have a car. Since you’re

going to the same place anyways, why don’t you give her a ride?” Queen pressed without backing

down.

Great. Now she’s using the car as an excuse. There’s no way that she needs the car today, plus, there

are so many other cars in this mansion. One glance at Reiner told me that he also knew that the car

was just a poor excuse for him to take me along with him to work. She was right about us heading to

the exact same destination, though. Reiner didn’t say anything, but he sighed uncomfortably. I decided

not to say anything more as well.

“There’s this go green trend going on to save energy for a better planet, right? I believe carpooling is a

smart move to achieve that. Let’s all do our part for a better world, ok?” Queen said cheerfully before

winking at her son.

I bit my lower lip and glanced over at Reiner to see his reaction. He was silent as he seemed to ponder

something. After a few seconds, Reiner closed his eyes and sighed loudly as if he had admitted defeat.

“Let’s go…” Reiner said to me before he turned and walked out of the door.

“See? I just got you a free ride. Don’t forget to come back home together too!” Queen called after me

as I headed for the door.

Seriously, she’s very meddlesome…

I hurried after Reiner before he would change his mind and leave me behind. Although I knew that he

didn’t really want to drive to work together with me, since we were going to spend some time alone in

the car together, I might as well try to make the most of it. Opportunities should not go to waste.

Somehow, I managed to catch up to him and we walked together in silence as he led me to his car.

Now that I was seated in the passenger seat of his car, I didn’t quite know what to say. After I had

fastened my seatbelt, Reiner started driving to the office while I tired my best to figure out how to start a

conversation with him. Unfortunately, it had become hard for me to even talk to him. I truly missed how

things use to be between us. Back then, I could tell him anything and he would listen to me so patiently.

I glanced at his emotionless face that was watching the road ahead and wondered if we could ever

return to how things were.

--To be continued…