We had just landed in San Francisco when I heard Y/N talk to someone on the phone, something about picking her up.

I wanted to be the one to take her home, but I knew that I could only dream of that. After what I did, I wasn't even sure I was going to talk to her ever again if not for work.

I didn't do it because I wanted to hurt her, I did it for her own good.

I knew that there was something special about her from the day that I saw her for the first time, but I couldn't allow myself to care too much.

Every time I did it, someone always ended up getting hurt because of me.

I knew I messed up. It was just like after our encounter at the bar, I knew that I had to fix it.

So, I started being less Mrs. Maximoff and more Wanda with her, because that's what I wanted her to see.

I didn't want her to be afraid of me, I wanted her to see me as I was, not as her boss.

I wanted her to see me as Wanda, but I knew that it couldn't happen without her also knowing of what it was like being in my place.

The flight, the paparazzi...those things hurt her, and I didn't want her to deal with that more than she should have to, at least for now.

I know she will go places, I can only expect that someone like Y/N has high expectations for herself, and she was going to make it because never in my life I have met someone as promising and talented as her.

Her resume came to me with a bunch of her pieces, and I was stunned by them. I knew I wanted her to work here, but I never expected that it would go further than that.

I knew she was good for me, but I couldn't possibly be good for her.

I had way too much shit to deal with before I could trust myself being with someone and not involve them in it too.

The only constant people in my life were my brother Pietro and my best friend, Natasha.

I never had a good relationship with my parents, they weren't the ones to hug and kiss us when we needed them to.

Every time we tried talking to them about it, they always complained about the fact that they provided everything for us, even our future lives.

I watched my father work almost every day, and that was why I was made CEO. I knew what he did.

Pietro was never interested in working at our father's publishing house, he wanted to discover the world, and so they let him.

They gave him absolute freedom and helped him with whatever he needed.

But it was never affection, it was always something material.

If it wasn't a hug, it was a dollar bill.

They thought that was enough, being rich.

Feeding us, buying us clothes, sending us to school, they thought that was it, but they were wrong.

I still loved them, though. How could I not?

They shaped me into the person I am today, and that's a woman who is in charge of one of the most famous publishing houses in the United States, because that's who I was supposed to be.

I couldn't see myself being with someone, especially not after seeing my parents fight most of the time they spent together, but they still loved each other. I do think that if they didn't have Pietro and I, they both could have had better lives.

Y/N deserves more than me, and I deeply regret having realized it after I tried making up for how I treated her.

I regretted it, I regretted it a lot.

If only I hadn't tried to deny how special she was and how attached I was becoming, this wouldn't have happened.

If I had been the outgoing and kind boss, maybe we could have developed better.

Thankfully my phone was there to rescue me, or better, Natasha was.

I read her name on the screen and put her on speaker while I drove home.

"Wands, how was the trip? How come you're back early?"

"Can you come over? I'm five minutes away from my house."

"Oh, Wands, sweetheart. I already sensed something was wrong, you could never come back early from a trip, especially a work trip. I'm already outside."

"Thanks, Nat. I'll see you in a couple of minutes."

And just a few minutes after I ended the call, I was home and Natasha was waiting by the front door.

I took my suitcase out of the coffer and walked toward her, they met me halfway, greeting me with a hug.

I really needed it. Nat was one of the two people that could comfort me after every kind of situation.

We stayed like that for a few moments before Natasha took my suitcase (without letting me protest) and I opened the door to my house.

The first thing I was used to doing after coming home from a trip was put all my things back, but this time I really couldn't.

I jumped on the couch and Nat followed me shortly after.

"It's about Y/N, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"I'm all ears."

I filled her up on everything she didn't know and just by their face I could tell that I was going to get scolded.

"So you just put an end to whatever was about to happen? Are you crazy?" Natasha raised her voice, oh boy.

"I can't let her get hurt. You know that I'm not used to this, Nat." I argued.

"You could be! The first day you met her, when you told me about her, you sounded so...excited. Like something came into your life and refreshed it, Wands. And that night at the bar, when you told me about it and you regretted it so much, that was the first time I saw your eyes lighten eup!"

"I told her that I was sorry about how I made her feel, but not about how I acted."

"And you gave her flowers. Really. After you said that." They mocked me.

"Actually, the flowers came before."

"You can't play her, Wands. I know it's hard for you to deal with your feelings, but remember to consider hers. You can't act tough and then give her flowers the next day!"

"That's...exactly what she said."

"Because it's the truth!"

"I let her go, it's better this way."

"It isn't if you're hurting."

"I'm not hurting."

"Sure, and I'm not a lesbian."

"That was so uncalled for!"

"Another truth. Make up your mind, Wanda. If you don't, you're going to be too late when you'll eventually want to."

"I hate it when you're right."

"Same, but only when you're being a fucking asshole."