It was a warm quiet night at the North Pole. Almost all the elves had gone home after an ultra busy day of work. The only

one who was still working was Bernard. He had just sent Curtis looking for Lilly. Lilly was….well Bernard's assistant. Santa

had hired her after Bernard had totally had it with spending so much time with only Curtis. That little elf just wouldn't know

where to stop. With Curtis, Bernard was very irritable, but ever since Lilly had arrived he'd been in better moods. Let me

explain Lilly to you: wavy chocolate brown hair, straight bangs, whitest skin you've ever seen with slightly pink cheeks,

violet eyes with not too long eyelashes, and was slightly shorter than Bernard. Oh and let me tell you Bernard had grow

fond of her. Very fond of her. So anyway, Bernard had sent Curtis looking for her because he needed to talk to her about

what had happened between them earlier in the week. He was currently sorting out his desk when there came a knock at

the door. "Come in", Bernard said, without looking away from his desk and having his back to the door. Lilly gently opened

the door and stepped silently into Bernard's office. She had been avoiding him ever since their little...incident…..earlier this

week. But she knew better than to just hide from him. "You wanted to see me?" she said in an almost too steady voice.

"Yes, please close the door Lilly", Bernard responded without looking at her. She did as she was told. When Bernard heard

the door shut he said in an emotionless voice, "You know what I want to talk about don't you?" "Mhm," Lilly said as her

heart raced with nervousness.

Earlier That Week

"You're a horrible assistant!" Bernard shouted.

"Well, that's because you're a horrible boss!" Curtis shouted back. (Gotcha didn't I?)

"Alright! Enough already!" Lilly came between the two fighting elves, and pulled Bernard into another room.

"Bernard, breath, calm down" Lilly soothed as she closed the door behind her. "How can you expect me to just 'breath'

when that little rat is ruining the shop?!" Bernard said angrily, as Lilly sat him on the couch. "Bernard he's not ruining

everything, he's just trying to help. You know it wouldn't hurt you to listen to him for once" she said. Bernard turned to face

her, to yell some more, but was driven into heaven once his brown eyes met with those deep, crystal, pools of violet. After

a moment he remembered what he was going to say, and his look of awe turned to jealous anger. "Oh sure, just side with

him! You know Lilly you've been taking his side ever since you got here!" he yelled. "Things were better without either of

you here. Just me, myself and I. No stupid assistant elves to bother you with their horrible, wavy hair, ivory skin, and

sickening purple eyes!!" he spat, not meaning any of it. He actually loved everything about her, and would kill to just have

1 touch of that skin, and those waves. "Well, if that's the way you feel then, good bye!" Lilly said this on the verge of tears.

Hearing this from the elf that she dreamt about every moment of every day, tore her heart. She ran out the door. 'Oh, now

you've done it you big idiot' Bernard thought. He ran after her, out the door. He rounded a corner and spotted her just in

time to catch up, grab her by the wrist and pin her a little too hard against the wall. Tears stained her perfect face. "Lilly..."

Bernard started but the other elf wouldn't look at him. He used his other hand to move her face to meet his. She was now

forced to look into his eyes. "Haven't I heard enough already??" Lilly asked through a shaky voice. "What I said back there

I didn't mean any of it" Bernard said. Lilly didn't know whether to believe him or not, and said nothing. And well you know

how Bernard is; he gets hot tempered over everything. "Lilly!!" he practically shouted. "How do you expect me to believe

you?!" Lilly said in a much stronger voice. Her tears had stopped flowing. Bernard gave a small growl. Bernard almost

shouted the next part "oi! Lilly you have no idea what you do to me every single day you walk into my office with that

radiant smile on your face, and you're eyes glistening! When you talk to Curtis, I always wish that were me you were

talking to! I hate, yet love, the way you taunt my with the way that indigo velvet dress looks on you! The way you move

and talk and dance! How you just know what to say to everyone in every situation! And….." He leaned in to her, whispering

the next part, their lips no more than 3 millimeters away, "the way you've got me madly in love with you." Lilly could feel his

breath on her face, the closeness between them, and the intensity of his eyes. They stayed like that, for a minute or two,

letting Bernard's words hang in the air. Bernard then felt unsure about having let everything out. Lilly said, in a small quiet

voice that Bernard had never heard from her, "um… I. um… should get back to… um work now…" she placed a hand on his

chest and weakly pushed him away. She started to leave, but Bernard suddenly didn't want to let her go that easily, and in

one swift movement, he grabbed her wrist again, pushed her hard against the wall and pressed his lips to hers. Lilly was in

complete shock, eyes wide. Bernard's kiss wasn't very soft. It was hard, and hungry. This was Lilly's first kiss. Bernard felt

bad for having have made her first kiss, so…not sweet. But this didn't stop Lilly from kissing back. Bernard was very

surprised when she kissed him back. None the less, the kiss started getting heated, growing with passion, and years of

longing. Bernard wrapped his arms around Lilly's waist. She placed her hands on his chest. Lilly suddenly pulled away.

Bernard looked at her, his eyes questioning her breaking the kiss. Without meeting his eyes Lilly said in a small, uncertain

voice, "I'm sorry, I just can't do this." She had no idea why she was saying this. Perhaps because she unsure about this.

But no, she loved Bernard. More than anything in the world. Why did she feel so awkward…? "I knew it; you love someone

else don't you?" Bernard said through clenched teethe. "No that's not the case…" "Why did you kiss me if you don't love

me?!" "but Bernard…" Bernard looked at her, and she knew she had hurt him. He straightened up. "Good day to you Miss

Wonka" ernard said as he left. Lilly was left to question herself. Did she really love someone else? Why had she broken the

kiss? She was so stupid sometimes….

Present

Bernard was still facing his desk when he spoke, "Just tell me one thing Lilly, who do you like?" Lilly hadn't been expecting

this question. She had thought it'd be more of a 'you're fired' or 'why are you still here'. "It's…….well……."Lilly said in a now

shaky voice having have had an all too vivid flashback of that awkward day. Bernard new she was very uncomfortable just

standing there. "Take a seat", he said. Lilly did as she was told and took a seat on the couch by the fireplace. Bernard

came around and stood next to her, not looking her way. "Well?" Bernard asked. "Do you want the whole truth about it",

Lilly asked nervously. "Yes", Bernard said, tears threatening to pour out any minute. Her answer was a complete shock to

him. "I don't like anyone, but the truth is……. I'm madly in love with you…" she said, thinking he hated her from what had

happened. She had no idea why she'd stopped the kiss. Bernard finally looked at her, shock written all over his face, shock

that could easily be confused by disgust. Thing is it wasn't disgust. Lilly's tears were milliseconds from pouring she started

for the door, slowly, when she felt a pair of extremely warm hands (well compared to hers since they were always ice cold)

wrap around her waist, stopping her. "No, don't go," Bernard pleaded. He pulled her closer and gently whispered in her

ear, "I love you as well." Bernard turned her to face him. Her face was confused. "I thought you would hate me by now,"

she said looking into the eyes of the drop dead gorgeous head elf. "I could never hate you," he said and leaned in to kiss

her. A sweet kiss. No tongues or hard breathing. Just a sweet kiss. Sugary sweet….