Ana was really enjoying the walk to the cottage, while Christian enjoyed her company just as much. The cottage was just five minutes away, more or less.

When they arrived at their destination, Ana's eyes widened.

"OK, Christian. This is not small. Your cottage is huge! Do you even know the definition of small?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckled at that, and opened the front door for her.

"This place is beautiful!" she exclaimed.

"Glad you like it." Christian replied.

The living room was modern, while the kitchen was cute and old fashioned. There was a fireplace and a small T.V.

"How many rooms are there?" she asked.

"Three." He replied.

"Mr. Christian Grey, your cottage is too small for me. I can't live with small, not my style." She teased.

He chuckled at that, and began to light the fireplace. As the wood caught fire, Ana began to feel the cold of her body disappear. It was really nice and warm in front of the fire place.

"OK, let's get you some warm clothes. I need it too, considering you are wearing my shirt." He teased.

As Christian's eyes darted towards Ana, he thought that his shirt looked better on her than on him anyway— way better...

"Hey, but you were the one who offered me the shirt! I didn't ask!" she exclaimed, while placing her hands on her hips, and as her pretty eyes twinkled.

At that, Christian smiled and raised his hand towards her, trying to brush off a lock of hair that had fallen in her face. But just as he was about to do so, Ana pulled away, gasping lightly. The look on her face changed instantly from a smile to of a person who was startled and afraid. Christian noticed that and also saw how her body instantly had tensed up.

"I am— I'm sorry, Ana. I just wanted to— to brush off a lock of hair from your face. I didn't mean to do anything bad." He apologized, while locking his eyes on hers.

Ana shook her head at that, and cleared her throat." No, it's OK. I don't know why I was startled. It's OK, really. I'm fine." she nervously said.

"Are you sure, Ana?" Christian asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah. So, where exactly can I get some warm clothes?" Ana asked, attempting to change the subject. She just hoped that Christian wouldn't pressed the matter.

He was concerned, but still decided to let it go. For now. "OK, up here. Follow me, please?" he asked, and led her the way.

Ana followed him until they reached a bedroom. "You can freshen up here. And you can pick out whatever you like to wear, Ana. There are a lot of clothes in the closet. I'll change in the next room." Christian suggested.

"Thank you." Ana said, a small smile on her pink lips.

At that, Christian closed the door behind him, giving Ana some privacy. As a sigh escaped her lips, she went to the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She let out deep breaths, attempting to calm herself down. He was just trying to brush off a lock of hair! Why did she think that he was going to— to hurt her? Guess it was just her body reacting to those kind of movements.

Ana tried to forget, but without her accord tears began to roll down her cheeks. What had happened to her a couple of months ago was still haunting her. Ana just wanted to move on with her life! Three months did she not come out of her apartment! Three whole months! At that, she wondered if it will keep haunting her for the rest of her life. Will it? Ana didn't have the answer to that particular question though.

After a while, when Ana finally was able to collect herself, she removed Christian's shirt from her body and freshened up. She grabbed a towel and picked out a white skirt and a dark blue blouse from the closet. But before she wore the blouse, Ana lightly traced the only scar she owned on her body with her fingers. Her body was nice and smooth— except for that particular scar.

At that moment she decided to suck it up, pulled the blouse over her head, and wore the skirt. Ana looked at herself in the mirror again, making sure that she looked presentable. Before walking out the bedroom door, she ran a comb through her shiny hair.

When Ana walked into the living room, Christian was already in the kitchen. He was making coffee and looked up the moment he heard her.

Christian smiled at her, and said."Aahh, I knew that you're her size. You look very nice, Ana."

"Thank you, so do you." she replied, as a pretty smile graced her face.

"Take a seat." He offered.

'He looked very handsome.' She thought, while she grabbed a stool and sat at the kitchen counter.

At that, Ana silently watched as he worked in the kitchen. A man in the kitchen was always attractive was Ana's opinion.

"So, uhum— who's clothes am I wearing?" Ana asked curiously.

Christian turned around to look at her." They used to belong to my ex." He said.

"Ooh, won't she mind?" Ana asked.

He shook his head at that, and said. "No, she has A LOT of clothes. She won't be missing these."

"She's your ex—?" she asked curiously, while raising an eyebrow.

"My ex-wife." He added.

"Ooh! Your ex-wife." She replied, and nodded, while the wheels in her head turned.

"Yes." Christian replied, while giving Ana a soft smile.

Christian had finished making the coffee, so they decided to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. Ana took a seat right next to him, and drank her coffee silently. 'He sure could make one hell of a coffee!' Ana thought.

After a couple of minutes, she broke the silence. "So, Christian. I didn't expect the coffee to taste this good! Do you cook too?" Ana asked curiously, while pulling one leg up to sit more comfortably.

He nodded at that." Yes, I do. What? You really think that because I have a lot of people working for me, that I cannot even cook an egg?" Christian asked, very amused.

"Well, no… uhmm, yes." She laughed, as her eyes landed on his.

"My grandmother was old fashioned. She and Calinico raised me and they made sure that I could do some cooking for myself." He explained.

Christian just blurted that out. He never talked about his personal life like that. But with her, he felt so comfortable.

"Well, I really like Calinico." Ana commented.

"Well, he seems to like you too— very much if I might add. Because he told you what I was trying to keep from you." Christian stated, his brows furrowing.

Ana laughed at that, and said." Well, I'm glad he likes me too."

Ana wanted to ask him about his grandmother, but was reluctant to do so. So she decided not to. For now.

"So sorry to say this, but your cottage looks very feminine." Ana simply said.

He chuckled at that." Yes." he began, then sighed deeply. And then continued after a few moments.

" I , uhmm— I build this cottage especially for Leila, my ex-wife. It was uhm— a birthday gift. But, she really didn't like it very much." Christian explained.

"What? Why? How? She didn't like this place?! But it's beautiful! I like everything about it, from the living room to the fire place and the kitchen to the bathroom. It's amazing! She didn't like it? Why?" Ana blurted out, giving him a look of disbelieve.

Christian laughed at her reaction and said." I know, right! I never understood that also. Guess she likes other things?"

"Like what?" she asked without thinking.

Oops! Ana had a feeling that she was on 'sensitive grounds', but she boldly asked anyway. Will he answer the question though? Or will he change the subject?

When her question reached Christian's ears, he hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath and decided to just tell Ana. What the heck, right?

"Well, my ex-wife liked the jet set life. To be in the public eye; she demanded attention to mostly herself. She likes to… to party all night long and get drunk. She loved designer clothes and really liked clubs and… Let's just say she was a big party girl who doesn't like nature or this… simple cottage." He explained.

Christian was surprised at himself— very surprised indeed, how he was able to talk about Leila that way, and that he was able to tell Ana about his past with his ex.

'I guess that's just the effect she has on me.' he thought.

"Oh, but did you party with her too?" Ana asked.

Christian burst out into laughter at that. "No, I had other stuff to do, Ana. More important stuff." He replied.

"Like managing your empire?" she asked.

"Yes." He simply said.

Without either one of them noticing it, they slowly closed the gap between each other. At a certain point, Ana's eyes were locked on Christian's.

"You don't like parties or clubs?" she asked.

"No, I just love the beach and the ocean and nature and…" Christian replied, his voice trailing off.

At the moment the fire had warmed up their bodies. Ana felt so safe with him next to her. She felt like she was in a fairy tale in the forest with all the trees and the birds singing and Christian…

His eyes darted away from her for a second, and landed on the blouse she was wearing. "That blouse looks so good on you… Dark blue looks good on you, Ana." He uttered, then locked eyes with her once more.

At that very moment two pair of beautiful eyes were locked on each other, like they needed to do that in order to breathe…

Ana broke the silence, because it was so quiet in the cottage. "Dark blue is my favorite color. Like my evening dress from last evening, you remember that one?" she replied, her voice also trailing off.

"OK, there's this lock of hair over your face. Can I brush it away? I don't wanna startle you like before." Christian carefully asked.

Ana nodded at that. "Yeah… you have my perm—" she began, but was cut off by a phone ringing loudly.

Before the phone rang, they both felt like they were hypnotized by each other. But they got out of it, the second they heard the phone ring.

"Sorry, I have to take this. It's Calinico." He apologized.

"It's OK, I'll take a look around if you don't mind?" Ana asked.

"Yes, you do that." He said and grabbed the phone.

When Christian was sure that Ana was out of sight, he answered the call.

"Hello." He said.

"Mr. Christian, you have to come home now!" Calinico exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Calinico? What happened?" he asked concerned.

"Yorgos. Yorgos is here!" he exclaimed. Calinico sounded frightened and very worried.

"What? What does he want?" Christian said, the look on his face becoming expressionless.

"You know! You know what he wants…" the butler said.

"Are you sure? And how in the hell did he ever find out that Ana is here and that she looks like Agathe?" Christian growled, as he gripped the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"I don't know, sir. All I know is that he's determined to break the curse!" the older man replied, his voice trembling heavily, because he was afraid.

"Yorgos." Christian growled, and began to curse out loud in Greek.

Calinico had told Ana the rest of the story, but he himself had left some very crucial things out. Calinico did not tell Ana about 'The Niarxos family secret'. He did that, because he didn't want to scare the young woman.

"Mr. Christian sir, please come home now! Yorgos shouted in my face, saying that he's sick and tired of living like a prisoner. He doesn't want to live anymore the way the two of you have been living. I really think that he's going to do everything in his power to break the curse, sir." The butler said.

"But he has been able to control it up until now! Why is he doing this? I don't want to drag Ana in all of this, Calinico. My life is too messed up! Didn't you try to convince Yorgos that the curse isn't real?" Christian said.

"I tried sir, I really did! But he just doesn't want to listen, sir. He says that he wants a normal life… he wants to be free." The butler whispered.

In that moment, Christian knew that he had to protect Ana. He was determined to keep her from harm. He was determined to protect Ana from his own cousin.


Note: Hi guys. :) Thank you so, so much for the feedback, and the support! :)

So... what happened to Ana in the past?

And why must Christian protect Ana from his own cousin, Yorgos?

And what did you guys think of the couch scene in front of the fireplace?

I hope you guys enjoyed... let me know what you think of the chap?

Thanks in advance.

J