Villain Transmigration: Author Transformation

What seemed like the anomaly that Nathalie thought of, for this whole time, now threw out of the window once again as Jonathan posed a bold statement.

He was more than glad to go for her jugular, so to speak.

At that moment, her mind went blank and ended up staring at him in disbelief.

"Speechless?" Jonathan chuckled, and with his body giggling from her reaction, got caught off guard. "Maybe Keith worked like some black magic to you."

Nathalie raised her eyebrows, neck leaning away with a scoff. [What are you talking about?]

"I'm not so sure, what do you think?" 

She gritted her teeth, and her mind drowned with thoughts of wanting to punch his face to crush that smug smirk in him. But then, she knew she wouldn't be able to lay a finger on him.

[So cheeky of you.] Helpless, she rolled her eyes. [I don't have feelings for nobody—]

"You do though… Quite evident for you to push away Keith for quite some time now, for no reason at all." He crossed his arm, pacing slowly back and forth. "Are you seeking advice from me?"

[Oh, sure, mister know-it-all love guru; pray tell, and enlighten this damsel.] She let out her tongue as she dwindled her head ever-so-dryly.

"You can fool anyone, Miss Quinn; but that won't work against me." 

His gaze almost pierced so deep in her, akin to skinning her alive, and nothing but a layer of the facade would protect her from admitting whatever she had bottled up from within.

In the end, it was even harder to keep up such a contest for gazing when it did put up so much trouble in her heart.

She then pulled out her smartphone, seemingly typing with swiftness.

[That's not really what I brought you here, but he's fine…]

Jonathan tilted his head while tapping his feet monotonously. "What?"

[Well…Never mind, can you not?]

"I don't know why you're pressed, shouldn't you be glad that your endeavors still worked in your favor?" 

He then shuffled to the nearest lounge; sitting languidly, he leaned his arm to the leftmost side. 

"I've heard you've been doing 'IT' with him for a long time. So, how did I do?"

Nathalie almost collapsed in her stead, blushing, as she gawked at him. "...Are—Are you— serious?!"

With a shrug, he said, "Don't I look like him, technically?"

It was as though a hard lump stuck in her throat as soon as his words raked her ears, over and over again. She ended up nodding as she lost the ability to speak with her mind.

Keith bore great resemblance to Jonathan, but it wasn't all but his physique and the suave look that swooned him over, for the most part.

[...Well, I had you in it as an inspiration for Keith.]

"Yeah, and I don't mind that. But I wonder why..." he pondered aloud; after which, he leaned forward with elbows on his thighs with a stern gaze all for her. "Perhaps, you did have feelings for me back then, didn't you?"

Nathalie fidgeted her fingers, squeezing her phone occasionally, from his queries that were rather confrontational; though, it wasn't like she didn't know it was coming for certain.

[...I did…]

"So, I don't get why you're so nervous." Jonathan pressed his lips thin as he glanced with a deep concern for her. "To be fair, Daisy knew…"

'What?' 

Her jaws got nowhere to be found as her limbs shuddered, in no way she stopped anytime soon. Thoughts crashed like waves, throbbing inside her head non-stop.

"Even so, she was confident as she believed in you." The corners of his lips quirked up with warmth. "You might've had the days of mischievousness and playfulness, but you neither had the ill-will or malicious intent to do so… You're not that kind of woman she believed you to be, and I saw it as well..."

Nathalie nibbled her lower lip, thinking about her best friend, Daisy, who always had her back for whatever problem arose and all of the endeavors she had. So much that she would've asked her boyfriend to make time and help her for as long as it was within her power.

While it did look good to be true, Nathalie never had an ounce of doubt on her as she believed in Daisy—both on mutual respect and trust for one another—despite it was as though too good to be true.

She covered her mouth, closing her eyes, when myriad emotions began to swell her heart, with crazy palpitations going through her. 

While Jonathan had his fair share, his gaze screamed that he was once there, and learned to adapt rather earlier, as he knew what he signed up for…

"I'm sorry I put you in a position like this. I wanted you to know that it could be the reason for your hesitation. All's good, I'll tell you that."

[Just partial,] she clarified. [Foremost, I needed a lifeline, as you know it. The complicated thing as well would've been… These lingering feelings I have for Athan, to begin with, and the other I'm afraid to lose all that I am…]

A twitch came from the right side of Jonathan's lips. Her confession was rather hard to imagine and made him think in retrospect how she was the same as getting caught in a crossfire.

[I know it's not my place… But Keith will have his… you know...]

"True, but does it matter? Are you planning to give it up?"

[I—]

"What about Athan? He's also been going for you lately—a change of heart?"

[... I can't answer them with strong conviction as I'm stuck…]

"Stuck?"

[Here…] Gesturing her palms around the room, and even the furthest of the expanse of billowing white mounds. [This world; I only wanted to live safe and alone, enough a warrant to go back… Haven't you missed her?]

For many reasons, Nathalie found it hard to shake off the dilemma she was in, and he kneaded his forehead from the crisis. The inevitable dread came, how she became deeply attached to the characters on a personal level.

"Don't you think I didn't already... That long ago?" Then, Jonathan's face went a tad grim, scrunching his forehead with wrinkling lines; after which, he sighed again. "Through my immense wealth and power, I sought for different clues and all—None!"

Before Keith died, he was already aware of the promises and words he left behind, like one brave soldier, and so was Daisy…

A slight ache twinged her heart, hearing how many times he had to keep up with it. Moreover, he understood as much as she was to herself in this case. 

Torn apart from her authentic self from a caricature in the popular novel she wrote.

They essentially live in this world henceforth.

Speaking of manuscript, it hauled Nathalie away from the hot seat she was in recently, for the sudden anomaly came that Jonathan must also know beforehand.

'Right! The manuscript advances!'