"They surely hate me." Ayla mumbled out in a whisper as she picked up an invisible thread from her trousers before tossing it away, wishing she could do the same to her problems.
The couple had freshened up right after stepping into the comfort of their room. Ayla was reluctant to head downstairs but didn't have any other choice as she quietly followed Claude down to the dining hall where everyone was waiting for them. Well, almost everyone. She was yet to meet Claude's grandfather.
She couldn't say that the dinner went remotely good. Either an eerie silence loomed over the long, stretched table where, occasionally, low murmurs and snickers took over. Each one of them directed at her. She didn't stay back for a fleeting second and excused herself as soon as she was done with her dinner.
Only when she was within the warm confines of the room, was she finally able to breathe. Claude's presence also helped her calm her nerves down.
"N
"Umm.. excuse me?" Ayla cleared her throat lightly, announcing her presence as she eyes the old man. "I hope I am not disturbing you." He was sitting on a wooden chair with his back facing her, too focused on the variety of food sprawled across the circular table to pay her any attention. "Yeah, yeah." He mumbled out a reply under his breath, his words filled with annoyance. "Make yourself at home." He was clearly not pleased by her sudden appearance and didn't bother to hide it. "Uh… thank you." Ayla kept her spirits up and walked around the table to settle down on one of the empty chairs. She chose to sit across from him so that she could have a better look at him while keeping the distance between them. It wasn't hard for her to tell that he was not fond of having company this early in the morning. "Claude was still sleeping when I left the room so I decided to grab a bite or two in the meantime and get myself familiar with the pl
Under the warm hues and pale lighting, the bustling only grew more and more dense. Everyone seemed to be in a rush, focusing on finishing the assigned tasks just in time for the event to start. The guests had already started arriving while the final touches were being made. "Are you sure it's only your grandfather's birthday that is being celebrated today?" Ayla mumbled to the man who was standing next to her. She turned her attention to him, eyeing him. "I may seem a little over the top, but that's how it is every year." Claude replied to her, keeping his gaze trained on the people downstairs. "You got used to it." A sigh escaped her lips. "I don't know how long it's going to take me to be so casual about things like it." It wasn't breaking news to Claude. He knew already how much she despised being the center of attention, and tonight's party was not going to be anything but that. Even though it was being arranged for his old
"Behave!"With a warning glare, Ayla smacked his chest with the back of her hand."Give me one good reason." Claude didn't seem to be minding the drop in her tone. He continued to tease his little wife."People are staring…," she trailed off as her eyes darted around them. Despite the fact that they were merely occupying a corner since neither of them wanted to be around the family members, there were still too many eyes trained on their figures."That's not good enough for me to keep my hands off of my gorgeous wife." Claude bemused with a twinkle in his eyes. "Do you not realize the effect you have on me?" His eyes trailed down from the curve of her neck to her bare shoulders. "I like this." He breathed out in a whisper as his hand tightened around her waist."Like what?" Ayla failed to follow his words and found herself questioning the man. She w
After a whole bunch of introductions and exchanges, Ayla found her eyes looking around in search of a certain man who was still nowhere to be found.She was starting to get worried about his sudden disappearance. What could have held him up for so long? She was pretty sure that there was no way a couple of greetings could take this long."Ayla?" A deep, aged voice pulled her out of her thoughts, bringing her attention back to her surroundings. "You alright?""I am fine, Gramps." She passed the old man a forced smile, not knowing what else to say to him."You are missing my idiot grandson, are you not?" The old man scoffed before taking a small sip of his drink. "How dare he ignore you for this long?""Gramps…," Ayla drawled out as she reached forward to give him a side hug, "Claude can never ignore me." She spoke out loud with utter faith. "Something must have come up." She added after a second as her eyes darte
"Claude!"The voice was shrill enough to make Ayla's eardrums ring in its wake. A figure rushed closer to her as she forced herself to stand straight without Claude's support. It wasn't long before his warmth was swept away from her as the lady in red squeezed herself in between the two of them."I can't believe you are here." She began to ramble about it as she threw her arm around Claude's neck, hugging him close without any reservations. "It's been so long since the last time I saw you." She continued as she leaned back to have a better look at the man's face who had his attention focused elsewhere."I heard about what happened to you. I am so sorry. I still can't believe it that they forced you into marrying a complete stranger." The young woman in red was clearly oblivious to the presence of the other three people who were only glaring daggers into her back."It was not l
"I thought he would have at least mentioned me before tying the knot with you. After all, I was the only one he was in a serious relationship with. It was serious enough for him to propose to me…""Selene!" Claude let out a warning growl as he stared down at the lady in red, his hold around Ayla tightening as if he was scared of letting her go."What?" Selene scoffed. "I am only stating the truth here, Claude. What are you so scared of?" She rolled her eyes as she took a step closer to the couple, her eyes focused on the man in black, "don't make it sound like you are actually scared of losing her because I am not buying that sh*t. If you are forgetting, I actually witnessed the fear in your eyes firsthand when I said no to you." Her chin was raised up in the air as she looked down at Ayla who seemed to be least bothered by her sudden declaration."Claude…," a soft mumble escaped her lips, deman
"I wasn't ready to settle down back then. We were barely adults at that time with no future of our own. I wanted to wait, but Claude wanted to make us permanent. That's why I said no to him when he asked me to marry him."Ayla continued to stare down at Selene as she pursed her lips together, her mind processing Selene's words. After a good minute, her pursed lips finally broke into a smirk."In that case, I owe you a thank you it seems." Ayla mumbled out with a scoff. "If it wasn't for you turning him down, I would have never been able to marry him.""Don't act like you had a choice. You might be able to fool him, but I know better." Selene refused to back down even after seeing how her words didn't affect the couple at all."You can think whatever you want, Selene." Ayla rolled her eyes as she took a step back, finding herself back into Claude's arms. "It only matters to me if he's the one thinking the same about me." She was only spea
"If I wasn't here with you, if we weren't together and married, would you have given her a second chance? Would you have said yes to her today?"Claude watched her lashes flutter around as she kept her gaze locked on his chest, watching it as it rose and fell with each of his breaths. He contemplated her words, thinking through his own reply. It wasn't that he didn't have an answer for her already, but he wanted to make sure it was what he would have wanted.It took him a while before he was able to come up with a reply. Drawing in a deep breath, he muttered out. "If I am being honest here, I don't know what I would have done if that was the case." Claude was speaking the truth. "As much as I would have wanted to jump at the opportunity, I couldn't have done it. I don't think I would have been able to make myself accept her and pretend that she never left me. How would I know that she wouldn't do the same to me again?"&nb