Good News

The taxi that took Natalie had dropped her off in front of a small building. The said building was surrounded by other smaller buildings, possibly shops and fast food restaurants. There was a park nearby and a fountain was standing in the middle of the circular driveway. The taxi stopped so close to the fountain and left immediately after Natalie hopped out. 

Kenzo parked his car near the building and watched Natalie step onto the stairs to the front door of the building. He studied the surroundings and realized what kind of place Natalie was living at the moment. 

Her place was one of the cheap places in the city and her apartment, seeing the size of the building, was probably composed of two to three rooms with tight spaces, unlike Kenzo's apartment that almost took up the whole space of the floor where he was living, with even a breathtaking view of the city. 

He realized that Natalie was living on a tight budget, and she could not possibly afford to live in apartments like Kenzo's. It must have been hard for her, but Kenzo felt like he could offer her some help.

As Kenzo watched her disappear inside, he suddenly felt the urge to reach out to her. It was a feeling he could not describe, even coming here to her place in secret was something he could not describe as well. 

There was always something about Natalie that pulled him in, and he had no idea if this was some random infatuation that seemed to stay around temporarily and just died out after months like his other past infatuations, or it could be something more. He was always getting more interested in her and always curious about her life. 

True, she was his step-sister and both their parents wanted them to act as real siblings, but how could he consider her as a real sister when he was looking at her as a woman whose life he wanted to explore? 

It was just so different, and the fact that she had dated his brother Clyde made it even weirder. It wasn't the first time he had felt this kind of emotion towards her, because it wasn't the first time he had seen her too. 

She had shone as brilliantly as the sun. Such a shame his brother had let her go too soon. They would have been married by now instead of their parents. It was sad knowing how someone meant so much to one person and one day they just stopped talking and never saw each other again.

Kenzo started his engine and drove off, back to his own apartment. 

~

Meanwhile, Natalie got inside her small apartment and turned on the lights. Feeling so tired and spent after a long day, she took off her shoes and lay on her bed. She thought of calling her mom, so she picked her phone up and dialed her number. It rang for a while before her mom answered.

"Hey mom, what's up?" she asked over the phone.

"Hey sweetie, you called. How are you?" Her mom answered, the excitement was apparent in her voice, but Natalie knew she must have been busy where she was right now, living her new life and trying to adjust to all the changes it brought to her.

"I'm fine, mom. I just miss you." Natalie stated, feeling like a lost child.

"Oh, I miss you too, my dearest daughter. How's your brother, Kenzo? Are you getting along just fine?"

Natalie did not expect she would be asking about Kenzo. What could she tell her?

"Oh, he's a fine mom. We got along just fine, fortunately. He's a good brother." 

"Good to know, sweetie. You two should spend more time together, you know. Just catch up with each of your lives and have a sibling to sibling talk. Arthur and I would be so happy."

The idea seemed so absurd and Natalie almost laughed. "We do, mom. No need to worry. We're okay." She lied. 

Kenzo definitely didn't look like brother material. He was more of a boyfriend material, and she had to hold herself every time she was with him because it was not nice to fall in love with your step-brother.

"Okay, sweetie. I should probably go now. It's late here, and I haven't got enough sleep yet."

"Yeah, sure, mom. No problem."

"Call me if you need something, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Bye. I love you."

"I always love you too, sweetie. Bye."

When her mom hung up, Monica could feel the loneliness creeping up inside her room. She was alone, and her heart was heavy. Or more likely, she didn't have any idea what her heart was feeling right now. She couldn't understand herself. 

She lay on the bed and kept looking blankly at the ceiling. She thought of Kenzo and how they had spent the whole day together. Despite the endless bickering and his unreasonable wrath towards her, she couldn't help but smile at the fact that it somehow made her day complete. 

She was happy to spend the day with him for some unknown and unexplainable reason. Was she actually falling for him now?

"No!" She shouted, immediately correcting herself. She sat up and scratched her head. "No! There's no way. No way."

She got up from her bed and faced her mirror. Pointing at her own reflection, she scolded herself. "Ain't no way things could happen between you and Kenzo, alright? No way! You just have a one-night stand, and that's it. It's all over. You can't have feelings for him. Understand?"

Natalie was exasperated, but she was determined to control herself. From now on, she was going to treat Kenzo as her step-brother or as her boss. Anything beyond that should not happen at all.

~

The next morning, she got to work early again. She organized her things in her office first, then she saw Kenzo arriving. She looked away but he somehow noticed her. 

"To my office, now!" Kenzo demanded as he passed by.

Natalie didn't even have a chance to object. She ran after him and followed him to his own office. Jay, his secretary, was already there, preparing his schedules for the day.

"Good morning, Mr. Anderson." Jay greeted them as they entered. "And to you too, Miss Lewis."

Natalie nodded her head and smiled at him.

Kenzo sat on his executive chair and motioned for her to sit down on the chair in front of his table. 

"May I ask how I can help you, sir?" Natalie asked. 

"Mr. Arthur, the client we met yesterday, had made up his mind. He's going to sign a contract with us today," Kenzo stated.

"Oh, that's good news!" Natalie responded, happy to hear something productive from their long day yesterday.

"But he wanted us to make a partial design for the building he wanted us to build. That's why we are going back to his place again, so we can illustrate the designs he likes and all the details he wants to add."

"But I only do interior designs, sir." Natalie objected. 

"I know, but you are an architect, right? Of course, you can do it."

Natalie laughed sarcastically. Yes, she was indeed an architect, but her profession lies mostly in interior design. But she did have knowledge of designing a building, but still, it wasn't enough.

"I can't promise, sir."

"What are you talking about? All the other architects we have are busy on their respective projects. This is all on you, and you can't mess this one up. Understand?" 

There he was again… 

"I can't possibly do it on my own sir." She tried to explain calmly.

"Then find a way! Get some help or whatever. Just don't mess it up and ruin the image of our company."

Natalie sighed. There was no chance to argue with him anymore. She just has to do it. Maybe Calvin could help her a bit. He was somewhat good at it. She just hoped he wasn't busy at the moment.

"So what are you sitting here for? Time is running out. We'll be meeting the client later. You have two hours to prepare. Do it now." Kenzo demanded.

Natalie stood up, "Very well, sir. I have to go." She said to him respectfully and took her leave.

Back in her office, she started preparing all the things she needed for sketching the design. She found Calvin busy typing on his laptop, so she figured out she only had to do it herself. 

"Hello Calvin!"

"Oh, hi Natalie. What's up?"

"I want to ask something, but I think you are busy."

"No worries, what is it?"

"Hmm, about the sketch design. Can you help me?"

"Yes, I will email you some sample. And here, take this USB, there is a lot of previous work there. You can check it out too." Calvin said as he handed it to her.

"Thank you, Calvin. This is a big help! See you."

"You're welcome. Bye."

She packed her sketchpads, pencils, and any architects' stuff she had and put it into her bag. She will be designing for a client later. She took a moment to sink it all in, then smiled because she could finally see her passion slowly beginning to take over her life.