novelraw Chapter 228: Have We Met Before?
Chapter 228: Have We Met Before?
Natalia narrowed her eyes at the man who had just asked her to dance as if to fathom something from his mysteriously dark eyes.
But the music was quick to resume, and without warning, he pulled her waist closer, Natalia let out a subtle gasp as she felt herself grasped close to a large, bulky, warm body, the sturdiness of his chest told of the rippling muscles that must lay underneath.
The song was a romantic tone but a slightly upbeat one, the sounds that required one to move sultrily with a dance partner.
The man seemed to be quite the well-versed dancer as his moves went fluidly, he twirled her swiftly, then had her fall into his arms where he caught her with just one arm before he pulled her up again, as she landed against his body, her nose was filled with a strong masculine fragrance that spoke of elegant masculinity, the scent reminding her of dusky sand on a rainy day, she had no choice but to breathe him in.
Natalia wouldn’t consider herself as much of a dancer, however, the man was quite skilled enough to be able to hold her on to go in sync with his moves.
The music changed again to a more mellow romantic one, with soft sounds that didn’t require too much movement but for a couple to sway softly, holding each other.
Following the music, he wrapped both his arms around her waist, the firmness of his muscled arms holding her made her feel frail in his arms, blinking while still trying to catch her breath from the dizzying dance that they just had, Natalia slowly wrapped her hands around his neck as well, and their feet moved slowly, gently in sync with the soft melodies of the music.
The man lowered his eyes to look at her, once again, Natalia felt like she was going to get lost in their depths, there seemed to be something within the depths of his eyes that seemed to draw her in, maybe it was an inherent sense of familiarity, but she knew she’d never met him before, if she’d ever met someone like him, she was sure she’d remember.
He also seemed to have noticed something as his eyes widened slightly, he looked into her bright brown eyes, then something like disbelief and recognition flashed in his dark eyes.
Natalia tilted her head curiously, wondering why he had that look in his eyes.
"I’m sorry, have we met before?" He suddenly asked. Natalia felt like something in the pit of her stomach was going to melt, his voice was deep yet mellow like the sound of a smooth cello.
"I doubt that." She replied slightly dazed, it was the inevitable effect incredibly good-looking men had on women, this subconscious pull that they also can’t handle.
Looking into her eyes as if to assert something, he said, "Are you absolutely certain? Think again, have we met before?"
With how he asked twice, Natalia couldn’t help but wonder if he knew her from somewhere, but she knew that was unlikely, "I don’t know, have we met before?" She asked him instead to confirm.
But instead of replying, he frowned, he parted his beautiful lips as if to say something but then stopped himself, then for some reason, a look of deep disappointment flashed in his eyes, making her wonder what happened. She asked again.
"Have we really met before?" Searching his eyes for the answer since he didn’t speak in time.
He looked at her silently for some time before finally saying, "No, if you don’t remember it, then it is of no importance, we haven’t met before." His voice was deeply firm.
Hearing what he just said, Natalia was confused, what did he mean by if she doesn’t remember? Does that mean that they have met before but it was her who doesn’t remember it? Then why was he saying it was not important?
She was just about to ask him just that when the music suddenly came to an end, he slowly stepped back from her, "Thank you for the dance." He said politely before turning around to walk away.
Natalia frowned as she watched him walk away, what was that all about?
At the high table where the newlyweds were seated, Tristan, who was looking at the dance floor for some time, before his lips pulled up subtly at the side,
"Would you look at that?" He said as if to himself when Celine, who was beside him, asked,
"What is it?" She asked curiously.
Tristan pointed towards a certain direction on the dance floor and her eyes lit up a bit,
"Isn’t that your cousin Christopher?" Celine asked, looking at the man Natalia had just danced with. She had been introduced to some of Tristan’s maternal family members, Christopher was Uncle Henry’s son if she remembered correctly. Her husband took great care of his late mother’s family members, it was evident he deeply loved his mother a lot more than his father.
"That’s him, I didn’t actually expect him to show up, when I sent over the invitation he told me he was going to be busy today and might not get to attend the wedding, who knew he’d show up on time?" Tristan chuckled softly, he could recall some good childhood with this cousin of his whenever he came to visit. Tristan’s mother adored him a lot back then and Tristan could recall feeling quite jealous about that a few times.
Chris, as he was fondly called was a naturally quiet and being, Tristan had asked the groomsmen to dare him into dancing with someone tonight, and if he knew Christopher, he never backed down from a good challenge.
But watching his dance with Natalia, Tristan seemed to see something familiar in his eyes, "Interesting." Tristan laughed lightly.
"I think she probably likes him." Celine commented, watching them talking, the dance had been over but Natalia followed him to the side to talk to him, though they couldn’t tell what the conversation was about, Celine couldn’t help but wish that sparks would fly.
"Well, for Chris to look at her like that, I’m sure the feeling’s not one-sided." Tristan looked sideways at Celine with a smile,
"Congratulations, Mrs. Grayson, a new couple might just have met at your wedding, and maybe someday on their own wedding, someone will ask how they first met, and they would recall this day, so you see, your wedding day will be unforgettable." Tristan remarked.
Celine smiled, "Thank you, Mrs. Grayson’s lovely husband, and the best part is, my best friend might have just found true love."
Celine felt excited for Natalia, so many times Celine had asked about her love life, but she would repeatedly say that she wasn’t ready for a romantic relationship any time soon, though Celine could sense hurt from her sometimes, the type that was due to a heartbreak, but she never tried to probe, if it was still bitterly etched in Natalia’s heart, then the wounds must still feel fresh, and Celine didn’t want to be the one to poke at those wounds until Natalia herself would feel ready enough to open up about it, but finding true love might just be the antidote to that painful past.
"Honey, do you think we should do something to push them together?" Celine asked with an excited glint in her eyes.
"Slow down, sweetheart, let things progress naturally, I don’t think they need any help at this point."
Celine pouted and said, "Alright then, but if your cousin hurts my best friend, I’ll make sure to punish you for it."
Leaning closer, he smirked, asking softly, "And how is my sweetheart going to punish me?"
"Just you wait until then first, but believe me, the punishment is not going to be subtle."
"Really? Then I’m looking forward to it." He winked.
She smacked him on the arm, "So are you looking forward to your cousin breaking my best friend’s heart?" She asked displeased.
"Of course he won’t break her heart, he doesn’t even have it yet."
"Hmph! And whether or not he’ll get her heart depends on how good he is for her." She crossed her arms under her chest, watching them where they stood in the distance.
"Sweetheart, don’t interfere, just let things happen naturally, I’m sure if they are meant for each other, then they’ll be together, no matter what."
Celine turned to look at Tristan, she could see the soft emotion in his eyes as he added, "Just like us."
She gazed into his eyes and smiled softly, he smiled back.
From the audience’s eyes, they could only watch how the lovely couple seemed to be deeply in love. Even after all the obstacles they’d had to overcome, in the end, they still ended up together.
---
After the dance, Natalia had been confused by the man’s words, so she quickly went after him to ask.
"Wait!" She called, and he stopped walking but didn’t turn around to look at her.
Natalia walked up to him, coming to face him, "What do you mean by it’s not important, if we have really met before, I’m sorry I can’t remember, but you could at least remind me of it?"
He had on a straight face as he said, "Like I said earlier, if you don’t remember..." He looked steadily in her eyes and added, "Then it’s not important."
Natalia looked at his unfathomable dark eyes, trying to find a memory related to it, no wonder she had felt something the moment she saw him, it turned out he was someone that she had likely met before, but...why couldn’t she remember?
And the more she looked at him, the more her memory seemed to try to grasp something but then again not, it was like a memory at the deep end of her mind, but she couldn’t grab a hold of it.
Christopher stood there for some time, the look in her eyes still clueless. "I believe we have nothing else to talk about." Saying that, he was about to walk away again when she called,
"Wait!"
Once again, he stopped,
"And what if I later remember? Then will it be of some importance?" She asked.
"Perhaps." He said softly without turning around, "If you remember, perhaps then it will be of some importance." Saying that, he walked away without another word.
Natalia had a confused frown on her face, she just couldn’t figure it out no matter how deeply she thought about it.
Where could she have met this man before?
As she stood watching the tall back that walked away, far at the other side of the hall, Peter, who was standing with his fiancée, had been watching her for a while now, following her view to see her looking at a man walking away, he frowned deeply.