Chapter 22:

"Did you have a good day?" Margaret then asked once she was completely settled.

"Excellent…" smiled Julia. "I haven't seen the time pass."

"You were with this gentleman?" Thomas winked at the young woman before turning to his employee to gauge his reaction.

Unfortunately, William was far too accustomed to hide all his most spontaneous emotions and his face showed absolutely nothing, much to the chagrin of his employer.

"Magnus?" the golden blond-haired doctor asked unnecessarily. "Nope. I don't know where he is anyway."

"Oh...it's just that we've seen you with him a few times, so we thought...maybe..." Margaret began, a mysterious look on her face.

William cleared his throat uncomfortably. Did his friends do anything to put him to shame? Or were they just doing it on purpose? Which would be rather worrying, actually.

"Oh…"

William noticed the young woman's discomfort and could not help but feel curious, his heart beating faster.

"I…we…well, we get along fine, but that's as far as it goes." the young woman finally declared, looking down at her plate now filled with a refined dish.

He looked up at his superior and saw him giving him a very inconspicuous wink. William grimaced. No but really...

The evening passed wonderfully. The subdued atmosphere of the luxurious restaurant of the hotel gave the feeling of having spent a classic night. Yet when, after dinner, they returned to the lobby, they were dazzled by the still-bright sunshine of – William looked at his watch – 11:21 p.m. The Brackenreids quickly said goodnight to William and Julia and slipped away to go back to their rooms to put their children to bed. With the sun shining, Bobby and John were excited like it was 10:00 a.m. What put their parents on the nerves.

William and Julia smiled kindly at each other and walked silently to their rooms. The detective offered to take her home and thought during the trip about a way to suggest that she go for a walk.

Then, when they arrived in front of the door of the young woman, William opened his mouth, and closed it. He had to invite her! It could not be that complicated. She was intimidating him, that was clear… but finally, he could do it.

"Thank you for this evening, William. It was really nice of you to invite me."

"No I…" he cleared his throat. "We were happy to have you at our table." he smiled almost admiringly at her.

"Okay…I'll…Good night." stammered the young woman.

"Good… good night." William replied mechanically, frozen in place. He could not move anymore.

Pathetic… He was pathetic.

Julia smiled at him, and she subtly approached him. She put a hand on his forearm and lightly kissed his cheek. She then slipped into her room and closed the door behind her, not without a last look at William.

The young man remained on the spot, the cheeks a little reddened. She had kissed him on the cheek. He smiled slightly. He felt stupid and childish. She had the gift of putting him in all these states.

Note: Funny how William loses all his means haha!