His Favorite Piece Of Art

Chapter 28 | Handcuffs?

"Do you think this is enough?" Nate asks Caroline and Bella unsurely.

They are currently out shopping for gifts for their partners. Valentine's in less than two weeks and they wanted to make sure they get everything by then.

"Yes Nate, we're sure," Caroline answers him almost annoyingly. He's been asking them the same question every few minutes because he is nervous that Cara won't like the gifts. Since she is his first serious girlfriend he wanted to spoil her and show her how much she means to him.

People look at him strangely as they walk around the mall. He has both his hands full of bags and one giant teddy bear in his arms. Some even laugh as they watch him walking unsteadily and some awe at him and wish they got those presents.

"Do you guys want to grab a bite here or go somewhere else?" Bella asks but giggles as she watches her best friend struggling to keep his balance. 

She walks towards his side and takes a couple of bags from him to help him and he smiles gratefully at her. "Please let's eat here. I need to sit down and take some rest." Nate lets out a deep breath but earns a laugh from Caroline.

When they decide what they want to eat, they find their place and have lunch together before they leave the mall. Nate offers to drive them home and he drops Bella off first at Alexander's place. She hugs them both goodbye and then enters the building, greeting Toby in the passing before she enters the elevator.

She is glad to see that the apartment is empty when she opens the door with a key that Alexander gave her so she can come to his place whenever she wants. Since they practically spend almost every day at his apartment it would be hard to pass him without him noticing that she has bags with her so it's good that he's not home at the moment because she can hide his valentines gift.

Just as she found the perfect place to hide it, somewhere she knows he won't pry without her permission, her underwear drawer, she hears the front door opening and closing so she quickly closes the drawer and emerges from their bedroom.

"Oh, you're back, love," Alexander says with a smile.

"Yup." Bella happily goes towards him and kisses him like she always does when he's back home.

"Did you have fun with your friends?" He asks her as he still holds her within his arms. Bella tells him all about her day and asks how his day went as well.

"We finished everything, now all that's left is the exhibition night. Do you want to go and see how everything looks?"

"Yes, of course," Bella answers excitedly and he smiles as he takes her coat and helps her put it on before they leave his apartment again and he drives them to the gallery he just came back from.

Bella's breath hitches when she enters the gallery that is decorated with all of her pictures printed on big canvases. It was so different from seeing those same photographs on a small camera screen.

She can feel the nervousness rising again. The thought of people seeing her makes her feel uneasy, but strangely in a good way. She nor her body is not exposed but just the thought of a lot of people watching those photographs makes her nerves perk up.

"They are beautiful, aren't they." Alexander absently says as his eyes go over from one photograph to the other until his eyes fall on her and she can see everything that he feels for her through them.

It makes her feel like she wants to cry just from the adoration and love she can see in his eyes, and she thinks it's crazy how a man like him is feeling like that with her, and for her.

"I love you." He suddenly tells her and kisses her cheek. 

Her eyes soften at the way he spoke those words like he didn't want anybody else to hear him getting vulnerable, like those words are only meant for her and always will be just for her, almost like he was shy to say them. It made her heart flutter.