"Oh, hey, Nova. Almost didn't see you there…"
Ayla gave her one of her full blown smiles as if she was genuinely pleased by seeing her when in reality that wasn't the case at all.
"Ayla." Nova gave her a curt nod in acknowledgement to keep up appearances.
"Don't you look lovely tonight." Ayla threw in a praise, keeping her lips strained in the same position. "Doesn't she, darling?" She turned her attention to the man she was clinging to like her life depended on it. Blinking her eyes a couple of times, she tried her best to come off as innocent as she could manage to. But it was pretty much impossible to fool Claude as he saw right through her.
Smiling down at her, Claude decided to play along.
"Of course, she does." He gave a small smile to Nova who was now only observing their exchange from where she was standing. "When does Nova don't look gorgeo
Ayla sneaked a glance towards Claude who had a big goofy smile gracing his lips. He was clearly enjoying her misery and taking pleasure in it.She glared in his direction before shrugging off her annoyance. "It's good meeting you." She muttered out as she continued to pat the old man's back rather awkwardly since he was still refusing to let her go."And it's lovely meeting you. I have always asked your father to bring you out more to these events but he never listened to me, not even once." Liam finally pulled back, keeping an arm against the back of her shoulders."I can't really blame him. It was all on me. I have never been a social butterfly." Ayla gave him a small smile from the side before glancing in Nova's direction. She could feel her eyes boring into her face as an ugly snarl was plastered across her face. She didn't even bother keeping her discontent to the bare minimum even though her fathe
"I don't snore!"Ayla couldn't stop herself from speaking up in her defense as she crossed her arms across her chest. She was giving Claude the stink eye, showing her displeasure."Oh, I know, my love." This time he didn't bother to push forward with his teasing remarks. All he wanted was to have her back in between his arms, not liking the distance she had put between them."Then why would you say something like that before Nova." She humphed out a scoff. "You do realize that sounds so off putting.""It wasn't for Nova, for one, wife. It was more for Uncle Liam. That, and the fact that I just love teasing you." He wiggled his eyebrows a little before reaching out to pull her into his chest."You really had to go that low, huh?" She rolled her eyes but wrapped her arms around his lower back just at the same time, enjoying the warmth his body was providing her.&n
"It's a surprise."Ayla fought the urge to roll her eyes at the man's words and continued to follow his lead out while downing down the rest of her drink."I know you'll like it." Claude could feel her reluctance to go through, but continued to practically drag her out. He would glance over his shoulder every now and then to make sure that she wasn't too behind. His every step was placed cautiously as he walked through the crowd. There was an exchange of occasional nods as he passed by a couple of familiar faces but he only did so half heartedly. Claude was a little too eager to spend some alone time with Ayla since they barely got the chance to do so these days.----------------"They look like they are so much in love, don't they?" The man spoke under his breath, but more to himself than to his assistant."Boss, they do. B-but…," he trailed off, n
"How are we not normal?" Claude couldn't hold himself before bombarding her with his questions. "I thought this is what normal couples do. Sit together and eat."Ayla raised her eyes at the man before rolling them forward. She didn't know where to start with the list, but she surely had a couple of points to put forward."We are anything but normal, Claude." A small smile graced her lips as she stared into the distance.The car was parked by the edge of a cliff with the headlights facing forward. Claude had left them to dim out the oncoming darkness as the day was coming to an end."Why would you say that?" Claude wasn't particularly happy with her comments. He thought they were finally heading on the right track, but her words were implicating otherwise."No need for you to pout. I don't mean it in a bad way." Ayla muttered out as she began to dig t
Three weeks later…"How do I look?" Ayla stared back at her own reflection as she tried to fix her hair."Gorgeous as always."She frowned at the halfhearted reply, and looked a little further to her right into the mirror. Her eyes came to rest on Claude's figure as he was lying in a half resting, half sitting position."The orange for sure brings out my eyes, no?" She added while keeping her eyes glued to his reflection, crossing her arms across her chest."Yep." He popped out, his fingers never stopping once as they clicked away the keys of his laptop."I should definitely wear it more often." She continued on, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "And the neon green heels go along with it so well.""Yes, yes, and definitely." Claude hummed out a reply without tearing his gaze away from his laptop's
Ayla felt her phone vibrating inside the pocket of her dress, but she kept her eyes focused on the stage where the valedictorian was giving her speech.A sigh left her lips as she felt the vibrations slowing down to an end, but her relief was only momentary because it wasn't long before that it started to vibrate again. She was somewhat thankful for putting it on silent as soon as she arrived on the campus premises, having a hunch that a certain someone would soon be blowing it up with notifications. She didn't have to check the identity of the caller as she already knew who was constantly calling her.As the minutes ticked by, her frustration only grew as her phone kept vibrating. The constant calling was also earning her deadly glares from the girl who was sitting on her right. When she couldn't take it any longer, she pulled out the phone and declined the call. Her fingers skimmed over the screen as she hurriedly type a messag
"Your wonderful husband made it possible."Ayla took her father's words into consideration, her eyes staying glued to her husband's brooding figure. Despite the little traces of annoyance in his expressions, she couldn't help but notice the proud smile which was itching to tug at the corner of his lips."Hey." She let out a muffled greeting as she pulled herself out of her father's embrace. Her attention immediately shifted to her in-laws and as soon as she walked up to them, she was engulfed in hugs as they took turns in congratulating her."Thank you so much guys. I wasn't expecting you all to be here. Heck, I wasn't even expecting to see you here!" The last few of her words were directed at Ethan who feigned a hurtful look in response."You hurt me, Ayla." He spat back at her before huffing out a frustrated sigh. "I had to put a lot of my work on hold just to be here, you know. But her
"You can't just act out like this when I am busy with work, Ayla." Claude snapped back at her. "It's not my fault that you don't have anything better to do."As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his eyes widened in realization about how curt he was sounding. "I am so sorry, love." He took a step forward but stopped himself when he saw her retreating back. "I swear I didn't mean to sound like a mean bitch, Ayla." He sighed to himself, running a hand through his hair; he was frustrated with himself."It's alright." Ayla shook her head, refusing to look him in the eye after their not so polite exchange. "You are right. I have nothing better than to stay at home and nag at you for not giving me enough attention. You clearly have better things to do than watching your wife getting ready for her graduation day." She muttered the last part more to herself as she brought her hands up to her arms, rubbing them over her bare skin hoping t