Chapter 3
The afternoon had been almost uneventful for the chief of Psychiatrics of the Hillside Hospital and her new assistant. They had gotten a call from ER to evaluate a homeless man who had been found wanting to climb to the Statue of the Liberty, and besides the normal rounds to check on the other patients, there had been nothing but a nice chance to talk. Mary Ann had come to really appreciate the little angel that was helping her, especially because of the peace she seemed to bring with her words either talking to a disturbed patient or just chatting with a nurse or any other employee. Monica was telling her about other times when she had worked on a hospital when a phone call interrupted them.
"Hello?" the doctor said picking up. "Yes, one second, please. It's for you." She handed the phone to the surprised angel.
"Hello?" her tone was quite uncertain.
"I just wanted you to remember that you're always on my mind," said a voice on the other end of the line that she recognized at once as Andrew's.
"Really?" she said smiling and for the moment unaware of any other thing around her.
"Yes, and I'm making up things for today later. So, wait for me after work. I'll pick you up there."
"You don't have to make up anything."
"Maybe I don't, but I want to. And until later, I'll be counting the minutes to see you again, as I miss you every and each minute we're not together, angel." She felt emotion welling up on her throat, her smile and her slightly blushed cheeks talking lots about the happiness in her heart. "I love you," she murmured.
"I love you too, baby. Now go back to work, ok?" his voice was tender and almost a whisper, just as if he were murmuring on her ear.
"Ok", the little angel whispered. "Bye." When she turned to hang up the phone, she found the smiling face of her temporary chief. "What, Mary Ann?" she asked feeling certain that that smile was about the conversation she had just had.
"Looks like someone is feeling guilty for spoiling a surprise visit for lunch."
"He shouldn't have to..."
"But he's in love and now you'll have a lovely night with him instead of a short break between your hours of work." The doctor saw Monica smiling tenderly and felt happy for her. Then, she leaned back to her armchair and released a heavy sigh. "Your boyfriend seems to be a great guy. Tess told me he's like a son for her."
"Yes", the Irish angel replied. "Tess is like a mother for both of us. I don't think God could've given me better friends."
"He sounds all the contrary of my daughter's boyfriend."
Seeing an opportunity to learn more about her assignment, Monica took a seat in front of Mary Ann and tried to keep on the conversation. "Why don't you tell me about him? You said early he's quite mysterious and I have the feeling you don't like him much."
"You're more than right, Monica. I don't like him a bit. The funny thing is that I don't even know him!"
"You haven't met him?" the little angel asked.
"No. Natalia has found all kind of excuses. He never goes to our house, he never calls her. I think he must be one of her classmates at the ABA, but she doesn't want to tell me. I'm really worried for her, sometimes even scared."
"How long have they been dating?"
"Two years, I guess. Since she first went to the ABA."
"It's quite a long term. But why are you scared?"
"Because I have the feeling that this guy is abusing her and she doesn't tell us. Natalia is not the same girl she used to be two years ago. I can understand she's under a big pressure but she doesn't smile anymore, she never goes out with her friends. If her teachers didn't say she's the best of her group, I would be sure we were wrong on letting her go to the American Ballet," the woman confessed.
"But being a ballerina is what she wants to be..."
"But I'd rather prefer to have a happy daughter than a famous one. Besides the stress, I've noticed she's losing weight too fast, but I can't find a way to make her eat."
"Have you tried to talk to her?"
"Millions of times! She doesn't trust me anymore. I wish I could have the right words, just as you seem to have with the patients. Isn't that funny? I'm a psychologist, I help people to deal with their problems and I can't help my own daughter!"
The little angel took Mary Ann's hand to try to comfort her and the effect was clear in a minute. The doctor looked at the angel's eyes and she could feel a peace that seemed to be irradiated by her Irish assistant. "Maybe because you've been trying to be her psychologist instead of being her mother," she offered softly.
"I'm afraid, Monica," the doctor confessed with a low voice and eyes full of tears. "I would give anything to have my daughter back, to have that happy girl she used to be. What can I do?"
"Pray, Mary Ann. You can pray," the angel said patting the woman's hand. "Ask God to help you to get to your daughter and trust Him with her. I promise He'll see her through."
Mary Ann whipped her tears away before she could smile and answer. "Thank you, Monica. See? I was right, you always have the exact words to say."
"Not always," she chuckled lightly to try to cheer the woman up. "But I always ask God to help me to say what people need to hear."
Monica was quite distracted looking at the parking lot in front of the hospital main entrance and she didn't notice Andrew coming behind her until a beautiful red blossom appeared in front of her face. "A rose for your thoughts," he murmured on her ear and then kissed her on the cheek.
"All my thoughts are about you," the Irish angel said wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down for a long kiss.
"Are you ready to go?" the angel of death asked when they parted.
"Yes. Where are we going anyway?" she answered walking hand in had with him towards the red Cadillac.
"It's a surprise," he said opening the door for her.
"Where's Tess?" the little angel asked when he got in the car.
"At Home, I guess. She just lent me the car and told me this night should be just for the two of us. And you know what? I don't have any complaints," he blinked an eye mischievously.
"Neither do I," Monica replied leaning forward for another quick kiss.
Martin's, the restaurant he had picked up was built at the end of a long dock so the customers felt they were in the middle of the ocean. They picked up a table next to a large window where they could see at the distance the shinning form of the Statue of the Liberty over the dark night sky. They were already waiting for their order when Andrew reached for her hand and stroked it gently before taking it to his lips. The Irish angel watched him and felt herself melting under his delicate touch.
"Monica," the blond angel started, "I'm really sorry for today. I hurt you and..."
Two fingers over his lips made him stop. "Please, don't say more you're sorry. You were working and your assignment is what matters most."
Andrew took her other hand and cupped them between his own hands. "You are what matters most to me, angel. I'll never forget the flash of pain I saw in your eyes."
"Then, try to remember always what you see in them right now," she said looking at him straight on the eyes. There was joy and understanding in her dark eyes, but over all there was a deep, unending love.
"I love you so incredibly much," he murmured kissing her palms again.
"I love you so much too," she whispered back gently freeing her right hand and caressing his cheek. "And this moment alone is all I needed today."
The street along the coast wasn't too crowded when the two angels finished their dinner and started to walk, Andrew wrapping Monica's little shoulders and she encircling his waist. The cold air of the night brought the smell of the sea and some ships still crossed the dark waters. They walked in a comfortable silence for some minutes until they arrived to another dock and walked to the end of it. Feeling the cold air, Monica cuddled in Andrew's warm embrace and closed her eyes. She had decided not to push the issue with him and let him talk whenever he was ready when she heard him start to talk. "I'm really worried, you know?"
She remained silent but pulled away a little to look at him. "For your assignment?" she finally asked.
He nodded, yet he didn't meet her gaze. "William White is abusing her, Natalia Rosenberg, I'm pretty sure about it."
"So is her mother," she said quietly at the end understanding what she was doing in his assignment.
"Yesterday, before I left the Academy I hear him insulting her. he told her she was stupid." He met her dark, surprised eyes and understood what she was about to ask. "She doesn't want to tell me. I tried to talk to her today at lunch, but when I was trying to make her talk, he came and took her away. Has her mother told you anything more?"
Monica sighed and shook her head. "Not really. Natalia's parents don't even know this boy."
"He's not a boy!" Andrew said in surprise. "William White is the choreographer of the ABC!"
"Mary Ann thinks is one of her classmates!"
"Well, he isn't. And what makes it worse is that I think this guy has threatened her, with her weight for example." He sighed heavily and ran a hand over his hair. "I feel I'm running out of time. I haven't been told yet but I feel I have her life in my very hands."
Monica looked at him attentively. She had known him long enough to know that what he was showing her was just the third part of how worried he was. Whatever he had seen and listen must've been serious enough to upset him so much. He had his forearms over the banister, his sight lost in the distance. She wrapped her arms around one of his and rested her head over his shoulder, hoping that showing him her love would calm his troubled heart a little. "I'll help you," she murmured, "and we will help her, I promise." She closed her eyes and prayed for guidance to do so.
"Stop! Stop again!" William's angry voice filled the studio next morning by the tenth time in the day. "Natalia, could you please remember it's a triple turn not a double? How many times I'll have to tell you?"
"I'm sorry," the girl murmured with almost a teary voice.
"You're sorry! You should be sorry with your fellow students! They don't have all your time!" He was clearly yelling at her and none else wanted to participate in the discussion. "Let's go again." He waited until everybody was on their places. "One, two, three, rond brisé, one, two, three, turn! What the hell are you doing, Natalia?" he yelled. "Triple turn! You know how to make that 'cause if you don't, then you have nothing to do in this studio!"
"I-I'm sorry" she started to whimper.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Mike Jackson, Natalia's partner tried to stop the choreographer's scolding.
"You concentrate in your dance, Mike. I'm running this group, understood?" William answered angrily. "Let's go again. To your places! Triple turn, Natalia! One, two, three, rond brisé, one, two, three, turn! Natalia!"
This time the girl couldn't finish the turn because she collapsed, only avoiding the soil by Mike's arms, who reached her just in time. "Natalia, are you ok?" he said helping her to take a seat.
"Now what?" said William coming closer to her.
"I don't know what happened," she murmured weakly.
"Get out of here," the choreographer told her angrily.
"You can't do this!" Mike snapped willing to defend his classmate.
"Get out, Natalia. Go take some air. Don't come back until you feel perfectly fine" William's words were more an order than the polite request he was pretending to give. Natalia stood up and left the studio quietly, all her classmates' sights focused on her. "To your places again. Let's start with the Benvolio and Romeo's part," the choreographer ordered.
Natalia walked slowly through the desert corridor until she reached the stage door of the main theater. She walked towards the end of the stage and sit down wrapping her arms around her knees and burring her face between them. She never noticed Andrew walking behind her until she heard the muffled sound of his footsteps, yet she didn't move. The angel took a seat besides her and offered her a handkerchief. "Are you ok?" he asked softly.
Natalia whipped her tears and tried to smile before she turned to face her teacher. "Yes, thank you. I'm just too tired and I couldn't concentrate on the class."
"You sure? You look rather pale."
"I got sick in William's class, but really it's nothing. I'm just tired."
"Your father is a doctor, isn't he? Why don't you ask him to check you up?"
"Yeah, I'll do," Natalia answered looking away.
"Ok," the angel said and tenderly tilted her face to make her see him again. "There's much more than tiredness in your face. Please, tell me or I'll call your mother."
"No!" she shouted. "Please, she doesn't know anything!"
"Anything about what?"
"About me and William White," she murmured blushing deeply. "We've been dating for two years now," she continued after some seconds. "But I haven't told my parents anything about it because he's forbidden me to do so."
"Forbidden you?"
"He doesn't want anybody knowing about us."
"Why?"
"He says it wouldn't be good for either mine or his career, that it would sound he's favoring me."
""You're an excellent ballerina, Natalia, he wouldn't be favoring you," the angel of death offered.
"Sometimes he makes me feel I'm not that good... and sometimes I think he's right," she wasn't crying anymore but her voice was deeply sad. "I used to enjoy ballet, you know? I never thought about how good I was until my teacher sent me here. I made the auditions, I went through the summer workshop and then I had my place in the academy and everything seemed fine. I even think I was happy then."
"That's when you met William White," the blond angel stated to make her continue.
She nodded and kept on talking. "He worked with us for about three weeks during the workshop. God! I thought he was the best dancer I've ever seen. We performed a little part of The Swam's Lake, and I was playing Odette. I remember he was teaching Mike how to play the prince and he looked at me with such a deep love in his eyes that I felt my heart had stopped beating. We continued with the class and at the end he asked me to see him in his office. He told me he was proud of the way I'd been dancing and he invited me to have dinner to celebrate what he said was a sure success. We went to Martin's, the restaurant over the dock and after dinner we walked along the street. You may not believe it but I haven't dated anyone before." She chuckled slightly remembering the next things she'd say. "I was so nervous when he held me that I could feel myself shaking. He held me for a long time, we talked a lot and at the end he told me he thought I was a very beautiful woman. You know what that meant to me? Not only was I holding a famous dancer, but also he was telling me I was pretty. I almost wanted to thank him for saying so, for making me feel so special when he leaned down and kissed me. That was our first date and I think it's been the most beautiful night I've had."
"When did he ask you not to say anything about it?"
"Right the next day. After the class, he asked me to go to his office. He said it wouldn't be good for me that every other teacher knew about us as they hadn't made the last decision about the new members yet. It seemed logic and I accepted his conditions. I just wanted to keep on feeling special. But after some time he started to change. He wasn't as tender as he used to, he yelled at me often, he got angry easily, he even started to criticize my job at the ballet."
"Why didn't you break him up?" the blond angel had started to feel a boiling anger deep inside of him at finally knowing the truth of his suspicions.
"It's not that simple It's been two years, Andrew and things happened. Besides, every time I said I was tired of this, he made something cute and loving to ask for my forgiveness. He promised once and again things would be different... and I believed him. I still do." Natalia turned to see Andrew and the angel could read in her eyes the true deeps of her feelings. "I want to believe him. He's made me feel things that I had never imagine I'd feel being with a man, and I'm not sure if I want to give them up."
"I don't think you have to give them up. I just think he doesn't love you as you think he does. If he loved you, he'd never treat you the way he does." She looked away once more and the angel of death saw the bright path of a tear crossing her cheek. "You said he made you feel beautiful and special and deserving to be loved, and, Natalia..." he cupped her cheek with a tender hand to force her to meet his gaze once more, "...you are beautiful and special and you certainly deserve to be loved. God made you so. Please, never, ever think other way."
The ballerina was speechless, but somehow she managed to whisper a teary "Ok." Andrew's words had really touched her heart and she couldn't help but feeling a knot forming in her stomach when her Drama teacher kissed her on the other cheek.
The afternoon had been almost uneventful for the chief of Psychiatrics of the Hillside Hospital and her new assistant. They had gotten a call from ER to evaluate a homeless man who had been found wanting to climb to the Statue of the Liberty, and besides the normal rounds to check on the other patients, there had been nothing but a nice chance to talk. Mary Ann had come to really appreciate the little angel that was helping her, especially because of the peace she seemed to bring with her words either talking to a disturbed patient or just chatting with a nurse or any other employee. Monica was telling her about other times when she had worked on a hospital when a phone call interrupted them.
"Hello?" the doctor said picking up. "Yes, one second, please. It's for you." She handed the phone to the surprised angel.
"Hello?" her tone was quite uncertain.
"I just wanted you to remember that you're always on my mind," said a voice on the other end of the line that she recognized at once as Andrew's.
"Really?" she said smiling and for the moment unaware of any other thing around her.
"Yes, and I'm making up things for today later. So, wait for me after work. I'll pick you up there."
"You don't have to make up anything."
"Maybe I don't, but I want to. And until later, I'll be counting the minutes to see you again, as I miss you every and each minute we're not together, angel." She felt emotion welling up on her throat, her smile and her slightly blushed cheeks talking lots about the happiness in her heart. "I love you," she murmured.
"I love you too, baby. Now go back to work, ok?" his voice was tender and almost a whisper, just as if he were murmuring on her ear.
"Ok", the little angel whispered. "Bye." When she turned to hang up the phone, she found the smiling face of her temporary chief. "What, Mary Ann?" she asked feeling certain that that smile was about the conversation she had just had.
"Looks like someone is feeling guilty for spoiling a surprise visit for lunch."
"He shouldn't have to..."
"But he's in love and now you'll have a lovely night with him instead of a short break between your hours of work." The doctor saw Monica smiling tenderly and felt happy for her. Then, she leaned back to her armchair and released a heavy sigh. "Your boyfriend seems to be a great guy. Tess told me he's like a son for her."
"Yes", the Irish angel replied. "Tess is like a mother for both of us. I don't think God could've given me better friends."
"He sounds all the contrary of my daughter's boyfriend."
Seeing an opportunity to learn more about her assignment, Monica took a seat in front of Mary Ann and tried to keep on the conversation. "Why don't you tell me about him? You said early he's quite mysterious and I have the feeling you don't like him much."
"You're more than right, Monica. I don't like him a bit. The funny thing is that I don't even know him!"
"You haven't met him?" the little angel asked.
"No. Natalia has found all kind of excuses. He never goes to our house, he never calls her. I think he must be one of her classmates at the ABA, but she doesn't want to tell me. I'm really worried for her, sometimes even scared."
"How long have they been dating?"
"Two years, I guess. Since she first went to the ABA."
"It's quite a long term. But why are you scared?"
"Because I have the feeling that this guy is abusing her and she doesn't tell us. Natalia is not the same girl she used to be two years ago. I can understand she's under a big pressure but she doesn't smile anymore, she never goes out with her friends. If her teachers didn't say she's the best of her group, I would be sure we were wrong on letting her go to the American Ballet," the woman confessed.
"But being a ballerina is what she wants to be..."
"But I'd rather prefer to have a happy daughter than a famous one. Besides the stress, I've noticed she's losing weight too fast, but I can't find a way to make her eat."
"Have you tried to talk to her?"
"Millions of times! She doesn't trust me anymore. I wish I could have the right words, just as you seem to have with the patients. Isn't that funny? I'm a psychologist, I help people to deal with their problems and I can't help my own daughter!"
The little angel took Mary Ann's hand to try to comfort her and the effect was clear in a minute. The doctor looked at the angel's eyes and she could feel a peace that seemed to be irradiated by her Irish assistant. "Maybe because you've been trying to be her psychologist instead of being her mother," she offered softly.
"I'm afraid, Monica," the doctor confessed with a low voice and eyes full of tears. "I would give anything to have my daughter back, to have that happy girl she used to be. What can I do?"
"Pray, Mary Ann. You can pray," the angel said patting the woman's hand. "Ask God to help you to get to your daughter and trust Him with her. I promise He'll see her through."
Mary Ann whipped her tears away before she could smile and answer. "Thank you, Monica. See? I was right, you always have the exact words to say."
"Not always," she chuckled lightly to try to cheer the woman up. "But I always ask God to help me to say what people need to hear."
Monica was quite distracted looking at the parking lot in front of the hospital main entrance and she didn't notice Andrew coming behind her until a beautiful red blossom appeared in front of her face. "A rose for your thoughts," he murmured on her ear and then kissed her on the cheek.
"All my thoughts are about you," the Irish angel said wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him down for a long kiss.
"Are you ready to go?" the angel of death asked when they parted.
"Yes. Where are we going anyway?" she answered walking hand in had with him towards the red Cadillac.
"It's a surprise," he said opening the door for her.
"Where's Tess?" the little angel asked when he got in the car.
"At Home, I guess. She just lent me the car and told me this night should be just for the two of us. And you know what? I don't have any complaints," he blinked an eye mischievously.
"Neither do I," Monica replied leaning forward for another quick kiss.
Martin's, the restaurant he had picked up was built at the end of a long dock so the customers felt they were in the middle of the ocean. They picked up a table next to a large window where they could see at the distance the shinning form of the Statue of the Liberty over the dark night sky. They were already waiting for their order when Andrew reached for her hand and stroked it gently before taking it to his lips. The Irish angel watched him and felt herself melting under his delicate touch.
"Monica," the blond angel started, "I'm really sorry for today. I hurt you and..."
Two fingers over his lips made him stop. "Please, don't say more you're sorry. You were working and your assignment is what matters most."
Andrew took her other hand and cupped them between his own hands. "You are what matters most to me, angel. I'll never forget the flash of pain I saw in your eyes."
"Then, try to remember always what you see in them right now," she said looking at him straight on the eyes. There was joy and understanding in her dark eyes, but over all there was a deep, unending love.
"I love you so incredibly much," he murmured kissing her palms again.
"I love you so much too," she whispered back gently freeing her right hand and caressing his cheek. "And this moment alone is all I needed today."
The street along the coast wasn't too crowded when the two angels finished their dinner and started to walk, Andrew wrapping Monica's little shoulders and she encircling his waist. The cold air of the night brought the smell of the sea and some ships still crossed the dark waters. They walked in a comfortable silence for some minutes until they arrived to another dock and walked to the end of it. Feeling the cold air, Monica cuddled in Andrew's warm embrace and closed her eyes. She had decided not to push the issue with him and let him talk whenever he was ready when she heard him start to talk. "I'm really worried, you know?"
She remained silent but pulled away a little to look at him. "For your assignment?" she finally asked.
He nodded, yet he didn't meet her gaze. "William White is abusing her, Natalia Rosenberg, I'm pretty sure about it."
"So is her mother," she said quietly at the end understanding what she was doing in his assignment.
"Yesterday, before I left the Academy I hear him insulting her. he told her she was stupid." He met her dark, surprised eyes and understood what she was about to ask. "She doesn't want to tell me. I tried to talk to her today at lunch, but when I was trying to make her talk, he came and took her away. Has her mother told you anything more?"
Monica sighed and shook her head. "Not really. Natalia's parents don't even know this boy."
"He's not a boy!" Andrew said in surprise. "William White is the choreographer of the ABC!"
"Mary Ann thinks is one of her classmates!"
"Well, he isn't. And what makes it worse is that I think this guy has threatened her, with her weight for example." He sighed heavily and ran a hand over his hair. "I feel I'm running out of time. I haven't been told yet but I feel I have her life in my very hands."
Monica looked at him attentively. She had known him long enough to know that what he was showing her was just the third part of how worried he was. Whatever he had seen and listen must've been serious enough to upset him so much. He had his forearms over the banister, his sight lost in the distance. She wrapped her arms around one of his and rested her head over his shoulder, hoping that showing him her love would calm his troubled heart a little. "I'll help you," she murmured, "and we will help her, I promise." She closed her eyes and prayed for guidance to do so.
"Stop! Stop again!" William's angry voice filled the studio next morning by the tenth time in the day. "Natalia, could you please remember it's a triple turn not a double? How many times I'll have to tell you?"
"I'm sorry," the girl murmured with almost a teary voice.
"You're sorry! You should be sorry with your fellow students! They don't have all your time!" He was clearly yelling at her and none else wanted to participate in the discussion. "Let's go again." He waited until everybody was on their places. "One, two, three, rond brisé, one, two, three, turn! What the hell are you doing, Natalia?" he yelled. "Triple turn! You know how to make that 'cause if you don't, then you have nothing to do in this studio!"
"I-I'm sorry" she started to whimper.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Mike Jackson, Natalia's partner tried to stop the choreographer's scolding.
"You concentrate in your dance, Mike. I'm running this group, understood?" William answered angrily. "Let's go again. To your places! Triple turn, Natalia! One, two, three, rond brisé, one, two, three, turn! Natalia!"
This time the girl couldn't finish the turn because she collapsed, only avoiding the soil by Mike's arms, who reached her just in time. "Natalia, are you ok?" he said helping her to take a seat.
"Now what?" said William coming closer to her.
"I don't know what happened," she murmured weakly.
"Get out of here," the choreographer told her angrily.
"You can't do this!" Mike snapped willing to defend his classmate.
"Get out, Natalia. Go take some air. Don't come back until you feel perfectly fine" William's words were more an order than the polite request he was pretending to give. Natalia stood up and left the studio quietly, all her classmates' sights focused on her. "To your places again. Let's start with the Benvolio and Romeo's part," the choreographer ordered.
Natalia walked slowly through the desert corridor until she reached the stage door of the main theater. She walked towards the end of the stage and sit down wrapping her arms around her knees and burring her face between them. She never noticed Andrew walking behind her until she heard the muffled sound of his footsteps, yet she didn't move. The angel took a seat besides her and offered her a handkerchief. "Are you ok?" he asked softly.
Natalia whipped her tears and tried to smile before she turned to face her teacher. "Yes, thank you. I'm just too tired and I couldn't concentrate on the class."
"You sure? You look rather pale."
"I got sick in William's class, but really it's nothing. I'm just tired."
"Your father is a doctor, isn't he? Why don't you ask him to check you up?"
"Yeah, I'll do," Natalia answered looking away.
"Ok," the angel said and tenderly tilted her face to make her see him again. "There's much more than tiredness in your face. Please, tell me or I'll call your mother."
"No!" she shouted. "Please, she doesn't know anything!"
"Anything about what?"
"About me and William White," she murmured blushing deeply. "We've been dating for two years now," she continued after some seconds. "But I haven't told my parents anything about it because he's forbidden me to do so."
"Forbidden you?"
"He doesn't want anybody knowing about us."
"Why?"
"He says it wouldn't be good for either mine or his career, that it would sound he's favoring me."
""You're an excellent ballerina, Natalia, he wouldn't be favoring you," the angel of death offered.
"Sometimes he makes me feel I'm not that good... and sometimes I think he's right," she wasn't crying anymore but her voice was deeply sad. "I used to enjoy ballet, you know? I never thought about how good I was until my teacher sent me here. I made the auditions, I went through the summer workshop and then I had my place in the academy and everything seemed fine. I even think I was happy then."
"That's when you met William White," the blond angel stated to make her continue.
She nodded and kept on talking. "He worked with us for about three weeks during the workshop. God! I thought he was the best dancer I've ever seen. We performed a little part of The Swam's Lake, and I was playing Odette. I remember he was teaching Mike how to play the prince and he looked at me with such a deep love in his eyes that I felt my heart had stopped beating. We continued with the class and at the end he asked me to see him in his office. He told me he was proud of the way I'd been dancing and he invited me to have dinner to celebrate what he said was a sure success. We went to Martin's, the restaurant over the dock and after dinner we walked along the street. You may not believe it but I haven't dated anyone before." She chuckled slightly remembering the next things she'd say. "I was so nervous when he held me that I could feel myself shaking. He held me for a long time, we talked a lot and at the end he told me he thought I was a very beautiful woman. You know what that meant to me? Not only was I holding a famous dancer, but also he was telling me I was pretty. I almost wanted to thank him for saying so, for making me feel so special when he leaned down and kissed me. That was our first date and I think it's been the most beautiful night I've had."
"When did he ask you not to say anything about it?"
"Right the next day. After the class, he asked me to go to his office. He said it wouldn't be good for me that every other teacher knew about us as they hadn't made the last decision about the new members yet. It seemed logic and I accepted his conditions. I just wanted to keep on feeling special. But after some time he started to change. He wasn't as tender as he used to, he yelled at me often, he got angry easily, he even started to criticize my job at the ballet."
"Why didn't you break him up?" the blond angel had started to feel a boiling anger deep inside of him at finally knowing the truth of his suspicions.
"It's not that simple It's been two years, Andrew and things happened. Besides, every time I said I was tired of this, he made something cute and loving to ask for my forgiveness. He promised once and again things would be different... and I believed him. I still do." Natalia turned to see Andrew and the angel could read in her eyes the true deeps of her feelings. "I want to believe him. He's made me feel things that I had never imagine I'd feel being with a man, and I'm not sure if I want to give them up."
"I don't think you have to give them up. I just think he doesn't love you as you think he does. If he loved you, he'd never treat you the way he does." She looked away once more and the angel of death saw the bright path of a tear crossing her cheek. "You said he made you feel beautiful and special and deserving to be loved, and, Natalia..." he cupped her cheek with a tender hand to force her to meet his gaze once more, "...you are beautiful and special and you certainly deserve to be loved. God made you so. Please, never, ever think other way."
The ballerina was speechless, but somehow she managed to whisper a teary "Ok." Andrew's words had really touched her heart and she couldn't help but feeling a knot forming in her stomach when her Drama teacher kissed her on the other cheek.