NATHANIEL watched the woman poured her glass of wine. She looked so innocent with her bare face. This is the first time that she saw a woman with no makeup at all, but still beautiful.

‘What’s her name?’ he thought as he picked up the wine bottle again. He walked around the table to serve the other’s wine glasses. The woman with a warm smile nodded at him and raised her glass.

“I saw your latest Instagram post that you’ve been featured in a women’s magazine,” she said with a smile.

Nathaniel nodded, then glanced at the woman on the other side. She was not looking at him, but he’s sure that she can hear everything that he says. She must be really impressed with how popular he was, and she was just hiding it. Nathaniel suppressed a smile as he watched her sipped on her wine elegantly. But, to his dismay, the woman started a new topic that diverted everyone’s attention to her.

Even the lady that was occupied by him just a while ago quickly turned her attention to her. Nathaniel shook his head when he left the table. He walked back inside the kitchen in slopped shoulders.

“I have to know her name,” Nathaniel said as soon as he entered the kitchen. He even kicked the soundproof metal doors of their kitchen.

All his kitchen staff looked at him alarmingly. “Chef Nathan… is there a problem?”

Nathaniel removed his apron and threw it to the large marble tabletop. He ignored the employee that approached him. Instead, he pulled a bar stool, sat on it, and crossed his massive arms like a kid having a tantrum attack.

“Hey, Chef, what happened?” Martin asked him with an arched brow. “You looked like a kid who has been dumped by your crush.”

“Fuck off, Martin,” he snarled back. “I can’t believe a girl as fierce as she existed.”

“Who?” Martin asked and went to peek over the glass window of the door. “Who’s your new prospect?”

Nathaniel went to the door also and stood beside Martin. “She’s really gorgeous…” he said and pressed his face on the glass. “Look at that face, Mart. So angelic, yet so fierce like a cat if you would attempt to be near her.”

“Who?” Martin asked. “I can see a lot of beautiful women—”

“But only one woman stands out,” he said and swept Martin away from the glass. “Table number four. The woman with brown wavy hair, bright eyes, and plump lips—”

“Where? Oh, are you talking about Kriszel Mercones?” Martin smirked. “That beautiful woman in red turtle neck topped with a white cardigan?”

“Kriszel? Is that her name? It suits her perfectly,” he said and watched the woman talked with her friends.

“So she’s the girl that caught your attention?” Martin made a ‘tss’ sound while shaking his head.

“Do you know her?” Nathaniel asked, suddenly became interested in what Martin was saying.

“Not really, but I know the guy on her right. He’s Carlos, we’re swimming buddies in—”

“I don’t care about that asshole,” he said and remembered how Kriszel touched his arm a while ago. “I only care about Kriszel.”

“Dude, you’ll be surprised to know—”

“I’m ecstatic to know her,” Nathaniel cut off. “I will date her as soon as possible.”

*

“KRISZEL I’ll see you at the Coroner’s first thing in the morning for the laboratory results that I need in my current case,” Detective Albert told her as they walked towards the parking lot. “Would that be ready by eight?”

Kriszel unlocked her car before she answered the detective. “The results will be released by seven, so yeah, you can pick it up by eight.”

“Great, I’ll bring you coffee,” he said and rode his big bike. “Drive safely.”

All of them waved goodbye at him, except Carlos, because he was still on the entrance, talking with a different chef, who looked like he knew by how they talked at each other.

“Don’t think about it too much, Kriszel,” Dr. Scarper squeezed her shoulders.

Kriszel didn’t bother to hide her real reaction. She faced her deputy with her brows furrowed. “I still don’t understand, Dr. Scarper—”

“That case is complicated,” she cut off. “And, Terence just doesn’t want you to experience again the threats that you received in the case you held four years ago.”

That was her first year as a medical examiner in Manila Coroner’s Office, and the case that Dr. Scarper was talking about was the Case #567, about the murdered man with missing internal organs. Kriszel figured out who the killer was by identifying the debris that she found around the lacerations where the organs were cut. But, they didn’t expect that it will lead her to a much-complicated case that almost caused her life back then.

“But, I can handle it now. I’m not afraid to die,” Kriszel insisted.

Dr. Scarper smiled at her. “Well, Carlos is.” He tapped her arm. “Terence was right of what he said a while ago. That cheeky man likes you—very much.”

Kriszel frowned. “And, I don’t like him.”

Dr. Scarper chuckled. “I have to go. My husband must be home by now.” She called Carlos and waved at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“We’ll get going, too, Kris.” Lalaine kissed her in the cheek. When Terence was about to do what she did, Lalaine pulled his collar and dragged him away. “`Bye, Kris! See you tomorrow!”

Kriszel laughed as she watched her two colleagues got in their shared car. Lalaine and Terence were roommates. They came from a different province and were both scouted from their respective medical schools to be part of their team. Just like her, she was chosen particularly to join the Manila Crime Team from the list of Academy students that participated in a forensic class way back 2013.

She was about to get in her car when Carlos called her. She looked at him and knotted her forehead. “I gotta go.”

“Are you mad at me?” he asked as soon as he approached her. “Kris—”

“I’m not mad,” she said in a neutral tone. “But, I must admit, I can’t believe that you would organize a dinner meeting—with Dr. Scarper just to make me trade posts with you.”

Carlos scratched the back of his head. “Because I know that you wouldn’t give that case to me, and even if I tell you the real reason, you wouldn’t believe me—”

“Because you’re always tricking me just to get the not-so decomposing bodies,” she cut off. “But, if Supergirl’s case was dangerous, then she’s yours. Compared to me, you’re much experienced in handling that kind of case.”

Carlos smiled. “I just don’t want you to be in trouble again,” he said and looked at her intently. “Kris, you know that I—”

“I’m tired, and I want to go home,” she said and opened her car door. “Drive safely, and please don’t send me good night quotes, it’s cringy.”

***