The truth was that Nathaniel wouldn’t even think about all that when his emotions heightened and judgment clouded. Still, I wanted to verbalize everything and remind him of my past. I saw it as a smart move because it would prevent me from having to bite my tongue again.
Nathaniel’s expression took a sharp turn immediately after he heard that. His tone carried a hint of anger when he said, “Don’t try to get under my skin.”
Not wanting to back down, I challenged, “Oh, I’m the one making a fuss? Who was the one who dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night and made me travel several hours by car just to take a fleeting look at the site? Just be honest and say that you don’t trust me. You didn’t need to put on a show like this.”
After saying all that, I turned around to ignore him and put a stop to that argument.
The reflection on the window showed me that Nathaniel had parted his lips as if he had something to say, but he didn’t say anything in the end.
It was three in the morning when we returned to the villa on the mountain. The silent treatment lasted the entire trip.
After opening the door, I tossed my shoes at a random spot and walked barefoot on the icy floor. It was so cold that my entire body trembled.
“Stop it right there,” requested Nathaniel in exasperation.
“What?” I was standing on the spot, but I didn’t turn around because I was pretending to be mad and had to behave that way.
Surprisingly, Nathaniel didn’t reply. All I heard were some shuffling sounds before I sensed him getting close to me.
“Get your leg up,” instructed Nathaniel. He sounded like he was crouching at the time.
That got me to tilt my head down, and that was when I saw him kneeling on one knee. He was holding a pair of slippers and was testing the waters by pushing my leg a little. “The floor is cold, so put these on.”
“No, thank you,” I replied stubbornly and held my head up high to show zero respect.
I felt myself levitating at the very next second. Nathaniel had lifted my foot and slipped one slipper onto it before he did the same for my other foot.
After doing all that, he stood up slowly and stared calmly at me. He sounded like he was teasing me when he pointed out, “You’ve been giving me the silent treatment for over two hours. Aren’t you tired?”
Stubbornly, I refused to look at him anyway, but then I thought about the laptop in the room, and inspiration hit me. I immediately changed my mind, turned to him, and said, “I am tired, but that’s not enough to get me to stop being angry. That might change if I have some pasta with me, though.”
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