Ophelia sipped her hot tea and met Nathaniel's burning fury with her absolutely icy calm. Despite his anger and clear resentment against Colby, Nathaniel was sipping tea with her, not saying any of the horrible things that flashed behind his eyes so clearly. It astonished Ophelia to realize how offended he was on her behalf. It wasn't excatly Colby's fault that he was oblivious to her attatchement to him, she had done her best to make sure no one knew. But she knew that Nathaniel was protective of both her and Grace, so this strange situation must just eat at him. He'd even turned off his cell phone the moment they'd entered her apartment so that the concerned Grace couldn't interrupt or interefere. She knew she had to get his mind out of whatever angry loop it must be in and there were a limited number of ways Ophelia knew how to do that.
"I know what the doctor is going to suggest to me." She finally stated, the knowledge a cold weight inside her core.
Her words got Nathaniel's immediate attention, the intensity of his focus making Ophelia wonder just why so many people were willing to believe the facade he put on of being a buffoon. But unlike everyone else, she was never decieved, and unlike anyone else, Nathaniel didn't press her to continue. He just gave her his complete, undivided attention and waited. It was not dissimilar to staring at a tiger through the fense of it's enclosure. The animal knows it cannot reach you, yet. But it'll be prepared for the moment it can.
"Right now my best chances at survival include going through with a double masectomy." Ophelia stated, the words being said outloud for the first time to anyone but her doctor. It had been suggested to her once before from the oncologist, but only in a worst case scenario. Worst case had happened though and now she was going to lose her breasts, like she had her hair. All the things that had made her a woman were being stripped away, piece by piece. Ophelia expected some kind of horror or shock to show on Nathaniel's face, but he just continued to look at her, as if the news was nothing new to him. It actually left her feeling a little offguard. "I'm not sure what I'll choose to do yet." the words came out even though Ophelia hadn't intended to say them. She didn't want anyone to know that she was just so tired of fighting. Everyone wanted her to have some kind of miracle, to pull through and be bright and happy and healthy. But Opi knew her chances and she was just so tired.
Nathaniel just stayed silent, sipping his tea. It made Ophelia tense for a moment, because she was expecting some kind of outburst on how she had to keep pushing forward, keep the fight to survive going. But he didn't and the longer he stayed quiet, the more Ophelia was able to accept that he wasn't gonig to try and tell her what to do. Which allowed her to relax, let the tension seep from her muscles until she came as close as she ever did to slumping over.
That seemed to be what Nate was waiting for, her small visual cues that she had come down off of her guarded state. And he didn't do anything expected, instead just pulled his ever present portfolio out of this satchel he often carried, and he slid the portfolio across the table to reset in front of Ophelia. "Don't look at it now. And don't let anyone else see it. But hang on to this for me." his voice was firm and Ophelia was a little surprised to hear how emotionless it was. "The project you know about, but my choice in topics... it's not something I easily expose to anyone. I trust you to keep it safe. Even from me." he added in and Ophelia almost smiled.
Well played Nathaniel Spade Vega, well played. He was giving her a task, a challenge that wasn't about her illness. She looked up from the cover of the portfolio to catch Nathaniel's gaze and the urge to smile perished. He looked...agonized, even though he was doing his utmost best to hide that fact. "Why should it be at risk in your possession?" she asked, figuring that if he was so concerned for it, it would be safest with him.
Nate broke their eye contact and looked down and away, his body language becoming uncomfortable for the first time. "It's not easy being exposed. Which was the whole point of this damn project. Get into the photographer's head and show what they think, what they feel, about a topic. I know most of my classmates think it's an abstract, pain in the ass, project but I understand the point behind it. So I did exactly that. I exposed something that I am not comfortable leaving out there. The temptation to eliminate that exposure, to simply do something safe and mundane..." Nate sighed. "I'm not a strong enough man. I don't think that protfolio will survive until I have to hand it in." his confession surprised Ophelia.
YOU ARE READING
Aces Wild (House of Cards Series 4)
Teen Fiction(Sequel to Queen of Spades/King of Hearts stories) Nathaniel Vega grew up in a less than conventional family. His mother and father had once been student and teacher, his best friend was also his adoptive sister and his family seemed to include peop...
