𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟏𝟔 | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

[WARNING: SMUT]
"𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑡."
—𝑁𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑠 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑠

𝒩.

𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐖𝐔𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑 purse over her shoulder and kept her keys clutched tightly in her hand as she opened the front door that led out of her apartment building.

She gave a startled step backwards as she was immediately greeted by someone standing just in front of her. Upon seeing who it was, she pressed a hand over her heart and breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Nutella!"

"Klaus," Natalia greeted with a small groan as she ran a hand through her hair. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm so cold," he whined as he rubbed his arms and dramatically shivered. "It's almost December, and the snow is falling, and the wind is freezing, and the ground is chilly, and the air is—"

Natalia had an amused smile on her face as she reached into her purse and handed him her spare key (she always kept it with her; this wasn't the first time Klaus had bumped into her before she needed to leave). "Just go."

"I love you so much," Klaus sighed as he took the key from her and kissed it.  

"You better," she scoffed. She checked her watch before sighing. "Listen, I have to head to work now, just help yourself to anything."

"Will do." Klaus winked.

She kissed his cheek, grinning at the red print that came onto his skin and gave a quick goodbye before leaving.

She sighed as she got into the car, and she checked her makeup one last time before starting the engine and driving out of the parking lot.

Luckily for her, Columbia University was only about a twelve-minute drive away from her apartment building, so she arrived in no time.

She had a lecture to give, and throughout that one hour and a half, she found her mind mostly wishing that she had taken at least one bite of food before starting. And now that she had finished with that lecture and she had the time, she went up to her office so that she could dig through her stash of granola bars.

She entered her office and flicked the lights on, a smile coming onto her face as her eyes met the drawing of herself and a Christmas tree that Claire had given to her the previous Christmas.

She sat down at her desk and pulled open her drawer, revealing the plethora of snacks that she restocked every month (and she was currently running low). She grabbed a granola bar and unwrapped it before closing the drawer, and turned on her computer as she began to eat it.

She could only get through five minutes of work, however, before her telephone rang, and she sighed.

"Hello?" she greeted as she picked up the phone.

"Dr. Kim!" came Santiago's voice through the speaker, his urgent tone causing her to straighten up. "Uh, not saying there's an emergency in the lab, but I definitely think you should—Henry, use that!—you should, uh, come down."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, God. I'll be there in a minute."

She immediately got up and rushed out of her office, praying that maybe the emergency was that someone had forgotten to restock the water bottles or something (though she knew it definitely wasn't that).

Her nose crinkled as she entered the lab, and her eyes became a little watery for some unknown reason. Her eyes widened as she inhaled the scent of smoke.