𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟏𝟏 | 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌, 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓

"𝐴 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑑: 𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑."
—𝐺𝑟𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑚 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑒, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑓𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟

𝒩.
𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 she entered her apartment, using one hand to lock the door behind her as she used the other to set her hair free from the tight bun it had been in.

Her eyes glanced over to the clock as she slid the hair tie on her wrist, seeing that it was a little after six.

She tossed her keys onto the kitchen counter that went along the corner of the room and put her purse on the glass dining table before running her fingers through her hair, detangling all the knots that had been formed.

She then headed into her bedroom to change into something much more comfortable: a loose t-shirt and a pair of leggings.

Once she had changed and tossed the clothes she had been wearing into the laundry basket, she headed into her bathroom and washed off all the makeup that had endured the day.

After patting her face dry, she gazed at herself in the mirror for a few moments, inspecting all of her features: her cheekbones and jawline were a little more prominent than when she had been a teenager, her skin was growing a little pale from the lack of sun she's been getting, and there were little red indents at the top of her cheeks from the safety goggles she had been wearing all day.

After rubbing at those indents, Natalia shut the bathroom lights off and headed into her living room.

Her ears perked up at the sound of the telephone ringing. She quickly used her telekinesis to pick up the cordless phone that sat on one of the side tables in the living room and bring it to her hand.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Lia!" greeted Allison from the other end. "Have time to chat?"

"For you? Always," Natalia replied back with a small grin. She sat down on her couch, facing the TV as she lounged back on it and asked, "How've you been? I haven't talked to you for a few weeks!"

"Oh, the same," Allison sighed. "Busy with work, and, of course, Claire."

Natalia smiled at the thought of the little girl whose bright eyes always made her day. "How's my favourite niece doing?"

"Well, she's your only niece, so I'd hope she's your favourite," Allison pointed out with a laugh. "And she's doing great! She just started her second year of kindergarten, so she's excited about that."

"Oh, I bet," Natalia agreed. "School is great."

"Says the professor."

Natalia shrugged, a guilty smile playing on her lips. "Okay, I guess I'm a little biased."

"Speaking of," Allison suddenly said, "how was work?"

"The usual. Gave a lecture, helped people in my lab . . ." Natalia trailed off, squinting her eyes a little. "That's pretty much it."

"Ah, and is chemistry as boring as usual?" Allison quipped, causing Natalia to roll her eyes in amusement.

"If by boring you mean awesome and revolutionary, then yes."