Falling, Fallen | ✔️

26

~Ayla's POV~

I got off of work at five PM, and now I was standing outside as I waited impatiently for Soren to come pick me up, like I knew I would end up happening this morning. It wasn't for about thirty minutes before Soren finally pulled up in front of me, rolling the window down.

He peered out the window at me, not seeming to care that he had just made me wait thirty minutes for him. "Are you getting in?" He asked, cocking up a brow. I huffed and yanked open the door, slipping into the passenger's side seat. "We're just going straight home, right?" I asked with a sigh, looking out the window. As it was the beginning of September and fall was now beginning to roll around, I could see that the leaves on trees we passed were beginning to change color, the blowing wind making the tree leaves flutter in the air. It was much cooler today and I knew it was only going to be getting even colder as fall passed, getting closer to winter.

Soren glanced over at me as he pulled away from the curb, his large hands gripping the steering wheel. "No. You and I are supposed to be meeting up with my dad and your parents." He said, making my eyes widen as I looked over at him, alarmed. "Wait, what? Right now?!" I gasped, my lips parting in disbelief. This was the first time I was hearing of this and I couldn't believe that he hadn't even bothered to tell me before now. He had totally sprung this shit on me at the very last second. "Soren, I look like shit. I can't go see them looking like this." I scoffed, shaking my head. I was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black shirt and boots and my hair was up in probably the scariest bun I had ever styled it in because I didn't feel like doing anything with it today. On top of that, I wasn't even wearing makeup like I usually did. But him? Oh, he was wearing a fancy suit and looked like he had just walked off the set for a photo shoot—not like he'd just gotten off of work, like me.

"Look, I can't cancel. My dad said we had to be there. Besides, you don't look any different than you usually do." He huffed, probably annoyed with my griping.

My jaw dropped and I glared at him, offended. "Are you saying that I always look like shit?" I huffed, the tone of my voice giving away how upset I was by his words. He looked genuinely surprised when he turned his head away from the road to look at me for a brief second. "What? No!" He scoffed, shaking his head. "That's not at all what I meant, Jesus. I just meant that you don't look like shit at all. You're just as pretty with makeup on as you are without any on." He clarified, paying attention to the road as he drove.

"Oh..." I said softly, deciding to keep my mouth shut after that. It was embarrassing that I had so quickly jumped to the worst conclusion. I didn't necessarily want to go see my parents and Mr. Maxwell when I looked like this, but it seemed there wasn't much I could do anyways. Soren had said there was no way he could cancel, and I knew by now he meant it when he said something. I'd just have to suck it up. They were only my parents, after all—and Soren's dad, as well. It wasn't a big deal.

I wasn't sure where exactly we were going but it didn't take me very long before I realized we definitely weren't meeting up at my parent's house, like when Soren and I had met a little over three months ago now. The drive wasn't that long, thankfully, and eventually we pulled up to a restaurant where Soren parked the car in the parking lot.

The two of us got out of his car and he slid an arm around my waist once he joined me by my side, so I reluctantly did the same to him. I glanced up at him as we headed into the restaurant, where he glanced around to try to spot both our parents. We approached a table that was at the back of the restaurant, a rather large one that my mom, dad, and Mr. Maxwell were already sat together at. "There you two are...I was beginning to think you weren't coming." My dad said, glancing up at us.

Mr. Maxwell looked up at us as well, sipping on what looked like whisky in a small cup. "Yeah, Soren was a little late in picking me up from work." I told him, sitting down in one of the empty chairs. Soren sat down next to me and Mr. Maxwell smiled in amusement when his son rolled his eyes, nudging my elbow with his. "I can't control when I get off." He said defensively, causing me to look over at him with my brows raised. "You're literally the boss." I retorted, making him narrow his eyes at me. "Bosses still have responsibilities, Ayla." My dad swooped in to defend Soren, an amused smile on his lips that matched Mr. Maxwell's and mom's.

Right as I was about to try to come up with a reply, Mr. Maxwell stepped in, changing the subject. "Did Soren tell you why I asked you both to come here?" He asked me, a curious look on his face. I slowly shook my head, furrowing my brows. "No." I answered, now wondering what exactly it was that he'd felt was so important that he needed to see us in person.

A smile formed on the older man's face. "Well," He began, glancing back and forth between his son and I. "There's going to be this party on Friday evening, celebrating the merge of your father and I's companies, and Soren's takeover of the new company." He said, causing me to raise my brows. I glanced up at Soren, and he just shrugged his shoulders. "I figured you'd hear it from him anyway, so I didn't say anything on the ride over. I only found out today, too." Soren told me, slinging a long arm around the back of my chair as he stretched his legs out beneath the table.

"You still could've told me." I pouted, which only made his lips twitch into a little smile. "My bad." He shrugged carelessly. I looked back at Mr. Maxwell, who was already watching the two of us with a thoughtful look. "I'm surprised that you two don't seem to have any qualms with being around one another, honestly. Or are you just that good at pretending?" He wondered, making Soren and I exchange looks. I didn't know exactly what to say, so I was grateful when Soren took over instead.

"We've worked it all out. She's obsessed with me, and I guess she's pretty okay." Soren shrugged, a mischievous look on his face. I scowled and elbowed him in the side, causing him to laugh and lean away a little to avoid my hits. "What he means is we've become friends." I rephrased it, unsure what else we could be called. I didn't necessarily call him a friend, but I didn't know how else to say it. Nothing more than friends would be okay with him, and I thought anything less than friends wasn't even accurate.

My mom beamed. "Oh, honey, that's great. See, didn't I tell you you'd like him?" She chirped, and I awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah." I sighed. A waiter suddenly came over and we all ordered dinner, which only Soren and I had to order our drinks with as well, since we had only just gotten here.

Once we all had our food and Soren and I received our drinks, I took a sip of the red wine that I had been given and relaxed into my chair a little more. "So, about this party," I began, looking over at Mr. Maxwell. "What time is it at? Do I need to go?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. He swirled the whisky around in his glass and nodded. "Eight PM. Obviously you're going, since you're his wife." Mr. Maxwell stated, giving me a look that just subtly enough told me not to argue with him on this, and I didn't.

"It's a formal occasion, so I hope you'll dress nicely. Soren's reputation is also my reputation, which therefore means your reputation as his wife affects his and mine as well." Mr. Maxwell said. I had the desire to say something a little snarky, but I didn't because I didn't want to be disrespectful. Instead, I just nodded my head in understanding.

Soren leaned over to me suddenly, his arm creeping around my shoulders as his lips brushed my ear. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure there's absolutely nothing you could do to worsen my reputation, anyways." He muttered, causing me to smile slightly. I turned my head and looked up at him, fully aware of how close our faces were. "You're probably right." I whispered, a smile growing on my lips. His lips flicked to my lips and he hummed, eyeing them before he looked back into my eyes again. "I won't be if you keep looking at me like that." He murmured, keeping his voice low enough that only I could hear him.

It was clear by the heavy, hungry look in his eyes just what he meant, making me smile secretly to myself as I turned away.