From that day on, everything became more… complicated.

I couldn’t walk down a hallway without expecting to feel a steady gaze on me. I couldn’t sit down to read a report without a soft, familiar laugh breaking my concentration. And I definitely couldn’t trust that a closed room would stay that way for long if Navia knew I was inside.

Like now, for example.

The archive door had barely closed behind me when I heard her footsteps.
Light. Almost innocent. Almost.

“Clorinde?”
she called, in that voice I could no longer separate from a mischievous smile. I took a deep breath and turned around.

“What do you need this time?”
I asked. Navia laughed softly.

“Information about last night’s transport. But also…”
She stepped closer.
“I was bored.”

“I’m not an entertainment hall.”

“No, but you entertain me just the same,”
she replied without hesitation, moving a little closer. We were between tall shelves, folders and boxes stacked like improvised walls. A perfect place not to be disturbed… or for someone to take advantage of that.

“Clorinde?”
she whispered.

“What?”

“You know you look prettier with your hair down?”

I raised an eyebrow slightly.

“I don’t wear it down.”

“I know. That’s why I’m imagining it.”

I held back a sigh. At this point, I wasn’t even sure arguing with her made sense anymore.

“Are you going to keep this up all day?”

“Maybe,”
she said with a shrug as she stepped closer.
“Unless I get what I want.”

“And what do you want?”

Navia smiled—but this time it wasn’t brazen. It was… softer. A different shade, barely perceptible, and far more unsettling than any joke.

“I want you to stop pretending it doesn’t affect you.”

My heart stopped for a second.

“What are you talking about?”

“This,”
she whispered, closing the distance even more.
“How you avoid my gaze every time I touch you. How your cheeks color when I speak close to you. How… you don’t really push me away.”

My back hit a shelf. There was nowhere left to go. I could feel her warmth, her breath nearby, her eyes fixed on me.
I could have escaped. I could have moved her aside.

But I didn’t.

And that was all she needed.

Navia tilted her head slightly, and for an instant I thought she was going to kiss me.
For an instant, I thought I wouldn’t mind.

But then—

“Mademoiselle Navia! Are you in here?”
a voice called from the far end of the archive. We sprang apart instantly. Fast. Awkward. Like we’d just been caught stealing classified documents… or something far more personal.

Navia cleared her throat, fixed her hair with false casualness, and turned toward the entrance.

“I’m here! Just… reviewing some documents with Clorinde.”

“Documents?”
I muttered, barely audible. She winked at me before walking toward the exit.

“I’ll be back later,”
she whispered over her shoulder, that tone thick with intention.
“Don’t run away.”

And she left.

Leaving me alone, folders still in my hands and my heart pounding hard in my chest.

I couldn’t keep ignoring it.
Because no matter how much I tried to deny it…

Navia was starting to matter to me.

And that frightened me more than any criminal with a gun.