Chapter 9 Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Nicole stood in front of Gabriel s room. Is this a good idea? She internally asked herself. It won t hurt knowing what his room looks like, or will it? She shook off her doubts and took the bold step of knocking on the door. After a few seconds, she heard his voice. "Come in" he instructed Taking a deep breath, she slowly reached for the knob. Opening the door, she saw Gabriel buttoning his shirt. It looked like he just had a shower. He was casual this time, wearing a white long sleeve button down shirt with denim pants. "Hey" she greeted, taking Gabriel by surprise. He wasn t expecting to see Nicole here in his room. He thought his administrator had been the one knocking, probably to inform him about something. "How did you know this was my room?" he asked "I got a little help from the house administrator" she replied. He nodded in understanding. "Your room… it s lovely" Nicole complimented. She wasn t just trying to strike up a conversation. She meant what she said. Gabriel s room was in a way similar to hers, but his was massive. It was bigger than Nicole s whole apartment. His room was colored blue, white and cream. It had a lounge inside with a bar. It was the kind of room fit for a king. If Nicole had thought she couldn t describe hers, this one made her completely speechless. Gabriel watched as Nicole took in every detail of his bedroom. He didn t want to be rude by interrupting her thoughts. When he noticed she was done staring, he spoke up. "Why are you here?" "Geez! You don t always have to be rude, okay?! I only came to pay you a visit… being your fiancée and all. I don t want to look stupid being in the same house with you and not have any clue where your room is or what it looks like." She was right. He was acting immature. Gabriel hasn t lived with someone for a long time now, so he wasn t used to being disturbed. He guess he should start getting used to it now. "So… what is it you actually do?" Nicole asked, making herself comfortable on one of the couch. Although, his bed looked really tempting, but she ll stick with the couch. Gabriel was glad she chose to change the subject because he wasn t used to apologizing to someone over trivial matters. "I m an engineer" he began, joining Nicole on the couch. "It s a family thing. It has been on for generations." "Wow! That s pretty cool" Nicole commented. "We have our construction company in almost every part of North America. We re also into real estate." "So, you guys are like aristocrats?" Nicole asked, trying to make sure she understood what he just said. "Yeah." He replied. Nicole took in the information, nodding her head as a sign of understanding. "So.. you ve got any…siblings?" "It s just me" "Wow! Don t you get lonely?" she asked, wondering how he had coped growing up alone. Gabriel blankly stared at Nicole, wondering if she was expecting an answer to her question. Nicole soon realized that he wasn t planning on saying anything. "No wonder you re like this." She thought. Gabriel looked at her with a hard face, making her realize she just said that out loud. "I didn t mean to say that." She quickly said. "Okay, okay. I m sorry" she apologized with her hands up in surrender. She noticed he had relaxed a little. So, he was easy to pacify. She thought to herself. That s a good thing. "What about you?" Gabriel asked. Nicole was surprised at his question. She didn t think he d want to go on with the conversation. Although, she didn t like talking about her past because it always saddens her. It s only fair to tell him, since he just shared his with her. "Well…" she began "I have no idea who my father is… I grew up with my mom. She was the best thing that happened to me, but unfortunately, I lost her on my eighteenth birthday. She got involved in an accident. All efforts to save her proved abortive. I couldn t go to college because of her death, then I realized that I had to fend for myself since I had no relative to help… That was how I ended up doing multiple jobs, before ending up at the pub." Nicole could feel tears threatening to fall. She blinked a few times, taking them back in. She shouldn t cry, not in front of Gabriel. "So, that s my story." She concluded with a smile, as she tried to conceal her true emotions Gabriel could see how hard Nicole was trying not to cry. She must have been through a lot. Just as he was about to speak, they both heard a knock on the door. "Come in" he said His house administrator walked into the room. He came to inform them that dinner was ready. "Shall we?" Gabriel gestured Nicole. He hoped she was in the right mood to eat. Nicole quickly nodded in reply, not wanting to stay in his room any longer than she already has.