Just in Fifteen Days

22. The Underground Crockery

Check this beautiful song out that I have used in this chapter. It's one of my favourites and I'm sure it would be yours, too!

All of me by John Legend♡

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Natalie's POV

Sunday - The prettiest day of the week was here and surely, all the pretty things were happening around me, or rather, with me. The weather had been pleasant all day, mom and I watched some romcom movies - high-fiving each other after every other minute and laughing like there was no tomorrow - after we cleaned the house, replacing some old crockery and discarding out the clothes that I didn't wear anymore. I was strictly supposed to drop those and some of my soft toys to the orphanage.

Ashton had texted me in the morning to be ready by six in the evening and that he was coming to pick me up. Apparently, he had a surprise for me. ‘Dress casually’ was all he said when I asked him if it was anything fancy. One of his friends, Cade, who had also participated in yesterday's bike race had dropped my car to my place a couple hours after Ashton left. Ashton insisted on not taking my car, and that he would arrange something by himself. But, I opposed. He didn't have to be so formal and I was absolutely fine with taking mine.

“Hey, you're gonna love that place, considering how much you like to eat and talk.” The kid, obsessed with coffee, chocolate and brownies said.

Ashton literally made me stop by almost all the shops to buy brownies and chocolates. For a moment, I thought it would be for Myra, until I saw him unwrapping the chocolates after every minute. I didn't deny the fact that I ate a little less than half of them. I got heart eyes everytime I saw food. No one could blame me.

You're anyway a voracious little pig.

Stop offending me.

“Well, I'll take that as a compliment.” I chuckled.

“You look great, by the way. Black really suits you.” I had the sudden urge to hide my face under something heavy so that he couldn't see me blushing. There were hardly some people who complimented me and made me blush. Not very surprisingly, Ash was one of them.

“And you look like a money, a white monkey.” I was not going to tell him how I was crazy for his looks. He had this perfect set of eyes and the smile I would hypothetically die for. His freckles beautified his face even more. The way that shirt hung over his chest was something that got my little flirtatious self secretly ogling.

After an hour-long drive, Ashton finally asked me to pull off the car in front of a commercial building. And I had no idea why he would do that. A commercial building? Was he going to ask me to invest in some stocks? Gah.

Can you please talk some sense, at least sometimes?

“Okay, now follow me. And don't worry, I'm not some serial killer or something. Put your thoughts to rest.” He locked his hand in mine, and I could feel the heat already.

He was smelling like a mix of mint and aftershave cologne. And his hair was gelled, not something that he often did. The shirt he was wearing was loose, a perfect shade of white, exposing a little skin which should've been covered by the two buttons. My hands itched to not rip it away.

I never realised when we walked to the back of the building, and through the back door, entered inside. The lights were low, enough to make me feel claustrophobic. There was no sound coming from any side and I became overly conscious about my presence at some unknown, eerie place. My heartbeats had already started to increase the pace. Ashton made his hold tighter, probably after feeling my hands sweating.