Witness Protection ✔

Hoes and spades

The garden center had only just opened and the only people that could be seen were some employees watering plants and restocking shelves.

With her shopping list in hand, Nathalia grabbed a cart and set out to gather the ingredients for her perfect garden. A few steps behind her walked Darius, who didn't seem too thrilled to be outside at all.

Sucks for him, she thought, he's the one that offered it.

She was glad he walked behind her. Ever since her dream, she found it hard to look at him without blushing like a middle schooler. She hoped the feelings would cool down in time.

Being in love with your bodyguard is such a cliché, who am I? Whitney Houston? Didn't think so.

"Kat"

This time she turned to him immediately, finally starting to learn she's called Katherine now.

"Yeah?"

"Just grab one, I'm sure they're all the same. No need to think about it for 10 minutes."

It's then she realized she was staring at a small array of spades in front of her and she had zoned out again.

No way it had been 10 minutes though, he's just being dramatic now.

Suddenly a tall, red-headed employee appeared from behind the rack with her sight set on Darius. "Good morning, can I help you with finding the right spade?" She asked with a big smile on her face and a hopeful glint in her eyes.

Despite Darius looking like he was trying to burn down the garden center with just his eyes, he was the one she asked.

"She can't decide what spade to get," he said, pointing at Nathalia.

She briefly looked at Nathalia, her smile somewhat wavering before returning her gaze to Darius. "Well, a plastic spade is lighter so it's easier to carry around but a metal one is more durable, less likely to break, and won't rust if you take good care of it."

An utter look of rejection swept over her face when Darius didn't even pretend to listen. Instead, he had turned his back to both of them so he could look around the store again.

"Yeah, right. I'll just get this one then," Nathalia said as she awkwardly grabbed the metal one. "Er, thanks."

She quickly threw it in the cart and walked towards the plants, passing Darius and hearing him follow her. She had decided to plant some fruit trees and plants and a few decorative plants as well to liven up the yard.

After grabbing some tomato seeds, cucumber seeds, strawberry seedlings, and a small lemon tree she moved towards the next section. She had thought about what to get and eventually she settled on this small selection. However, she hadn't thought about what decorative plants to get and found it extremely hard to choose.

She turned to ask Darius but found him already looking at her. But where most people would look away when caught staring, he just continued to stare.

"Darius, what do you think?"

For the first time since she'd met him, he appeared to be caught off guard by one of her questions.

"Wh- about what?"

"Which one should I get?" she asked while holding up two plants.

"What does it matter? Just take both."

"No I can't, I want to leave some space for a bird feeder."

"Okay, take the blue one then," he said impatiently, just wanting the trip to be over with seeing that more and more customers started coming into the store.

"No, you didn't think about it. Which one would be better for the backyard?"

At this point he was getting even more impatient, trying very hard to let her lack of decisiveness not get to him but finding it harder by the second.

"Hm okay let me think," he said while rubbing his chin in fake thought. "Yeah what was I thinking, the red one is better."

"But the blue-"

"Just get the f-ing plant, Kat" he cut her off, hoping she'd just pick one and move on.

Well alrighty then, she thought, I should've asked the redhead I guess.

"Okay, the red one it is," she said while putting the blue plant back.

"How much more do you need?" he asked, sounding calmer this time.

"Just some fertilizer and I'm done."

He nodded and gestured for her to start walking.

Not knowing the difference between the types of fertilizer she just grabbed one as she didn't want to have to ask Darius again. But it was heavier than she'd expected and she dropped it back on the pile again.

She braced herself and prepared to pick it up again but was stopped by two strong arms reaching for it, picking it up like it was a pillow.

"Alright let's go to the checkout now," he said while walking off, leaving her no choice but to follow.

Since she walked behind him now she got plenty of time to stare at his arms. He'd left his jacket in the car so he was just wearing a black T-shirt.

How can he wear simple clothing like that and wear it so well?

His muscles were barely straining as he carried the bag of fertilizer and to her left, she saw the redhead from earlier ogling him. Nathalia felt a sick kind of satisfaction knowing he was with her, even though he was more or less forced to.

After paying for the items and loading them into the car they drove back to their place. For the past few car rides, she'd been trying to fix the car radio, with no success yet. But Nathalia was determined and refused to give up. There had to be a way.

"If you want to listen to music so much you could just wear earbuds or something, I'm pretty sure you pushing random buttons isn't going to fix it," he said eventually.

"Yes I could, but it's not about the music anymore, I just want to fix it," she retaliated, pushing the big round button for the 40th time.

"Let me see for a sec."

"No, you're driving so keep your eyes on the road," she said while batting his hand away from the radio.

"Kat," he warned.

She moved away this time giving him a full view of the radio, doubting he could do more than her.

Until he smacked it. Hard.

And it turned on.

"Wh- I- How?" she asked him with wide eyes. Had he known it was this easy to fix for a while now or was it just pure luck? But her surprise about the radio was overshadowed by a far more surprising phenomenon.

He laughed.

It was only a short laugh, but it was genuine and Nathalia could hardly believe it.

He laughed.

She had thought about what his laugh would sound and look like, but nothing in her mind came even close. His laugh was gravelly, as though he wasn't used to laughing at all, but it added to his manly charms.

"You knew this whole time?" she asked incredulously.

"I had my suspicions," he stated simply.

"Then why'd you let me struggle for so long?"

"You didn't ask me."

She didn't know how to respond to that so she started looking for a good radio station, stopping when she heard one of her favorite songs play. Leaning back in her seat she looked outside, admiring the blurry scenery as they sped along the highway.