~Ayla's POV~
I felt something light hit me on the back of my head, making me scowl in annoyance as I stared at my computer screen. "Pssst," I heard an annoying whisper from behind me, which I continued to ignore—or at least, I attempted to ignore.
"Ayla!" I heard someone whisper shout my name and I set down my pen, rubbing a hand over my face. Another crumpled up paper ball hit me on the back of my head. "What is this? The ninth grade?" I grumbled to myself, still not daring to turn around. It wasn't like this was an unusual occurrence for me—in fact, it happened at least twice a week, but I always hoped that by ignoring it then it would stop eventually. Of course, that wasn't the case. I felt another gentle thud on the back of my head and glared at my computer screen. "Don't ignore me," My harasser whined. By now I was just about ready to slam my head into the desk.
I finally turned around when another ball hit me, glaring at Mitchel, one of my coworkers. "What, Mitty?" I snapped, frustrated. He huffed and pushed his glasses up his pointy nose, before pointing at me with one very long finger. "You have an attitude today." He said, only making me glare at him some more. Mitchel was an interesting guy, and I thought he was okay enough because he was pretty nice, but he was incredibly weird. Everyone else who worked with us was relatively boring, but Mitty was certainly more of a wild card. "Maybe because I'm trying to work and you're throwing crumpled up balls of paper at the back of my head like we're in high school still." I retorted, earning a raised brow as he looked at me.
"Sounds to me like you just need to get laid, because you got a stick up your ass that needs removing." He said, making my face burn as I scowled at him again. "Shut up, Mitty." I said grumpily, embarrassed. He snickered and flicked a broken bit of eraser off of his desk, probably hoping to hit me with it, but it simply fell to the ground after getting about halfway across. "Speaking of getting laid, how are you and your hubby doing? Things are okay?" Mitchel asked, innocently curious.
For obvious reasons, I hadn't told anyone that Soren and I's marriage was fake, so it wasn't like it was unusual for Mitchel to be asking about things with Soren. Still, sometimes I felt a little bit bad when I had to lie to someone's face like this. "Um," I awkwardly mumbled, turning to face him more. "We're fine." I said simply, trying to be as simple and as vague as possible. Making up stories on the spot wasn't my strong suit.
Mitchel had a playfully perverted look on his face, wiggling his dark brows at me. "So you're still getting laid often? You don't act like it." He teased, making me roll my eyes as I fought a smile. I shook my head and slouched back into my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. "That's not your business. If you want some sort of sexual thrill, then I suggest you go find your own, far away from me." I said, giving him a grin. I was sure Mitchel wouldn't exactly have a hard time finding someone to bump uglies with. He was pretty cool, at least.
Although I could admit that I didn't personally think Mitty was attractive, it didn't mean that he wasn't at all. He just wasn't my type. He wasn't at all like Soren. No, Mitchel was thin and kind of lanky looking because he was tall, standing at at least six feet tall. His brown hair was messy and his brown eyes were framed by a pair of prescription glasses that he always wore. Apparently without them he was blind as a bat, or at least that's what he had told me before. I thought he was about average, but I knew that there were plenty of people who liked guys like him—and besides, Mitchel really was very kind, despite the fact that he had some odd quirks. I liked him as a friend, but nothing more.
He laughed and I saw some of our other coworkers glance over at the two of us, annoyed looks on their faces. "Sorry, sorry. Just joking." He apologized, letting out a little chuckle as he stretched out his legs. They poked out from beneath his desk and hit the back of my chair because his legs were so long. "Are there any special people in your life?" I asked him, feeling curious. I hadn't asked this question in a while, because he usually said the same thing: no. Who's gonna want to date me?
"You know the answer is still the same as every other time you have asked me this question." Mitty said, raising a brow. "Nobody wants to date me." He added simply, making me frown deeply. I picked up one of the paper balls he had thrown at me earlier from the floor, and then I threw it square in his face. He scowled, flinching back. "Don't say that." I huffed at him, ignoring his scowling. "You know I hate when you put yourself down. You're a great guy, Mitty." I told him, causing him to roll his eyes and give me an unimpressed look. "I know but people are shallow. Nobody wants to take a second glance if you're not attractive." He responded. I frowned and stared at him, unsure what to say to comfort him. I agreed, to an extent.
Mitty smiled as he stared at me. "You don't have to look at me that way." He laughed, shaking his head. "I know I'm not the most attractive person. It's not a big deal." He said. I huffed and frowned at him some more. "I just hate to hear you talk badly about yourself. Besides, beauty is subjective. The idea changes from person to person." I grumbled, causing him to smile warmly.
"Ayla, you make me feel even more ugly when a girl that looks like you is talking to me about this stuff." He said, making me pause. I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head, unsure what to say to that. "Sorry...? I think?" I frowned, furrowing my brows in uncertainty. Mitty snorted with laughter and simply shook his head, looking at his computer screen in front of him. "Good talk, Ayla. Nice to see you are still the same after marrying that hotshot." He hummed, giving me a playful grin over the top of his computer.
I just huffed and spun back around in my chair, ready to get back to work.
**
I barely got into the house after I got home from work before Soren practically came barreling down the narrow entry hall at me, making me raise my brows as I locked the front door. "Hi..?" I frowned slightly, and he gave me a mischievous grin before he grabbed my arm and led me down the hallway. He dragged me into the living room and I felt my brows shoot up when I saw that we had company over, which I wasn't expecting at all.
There was some random guy sitting on one of the couches in the living room, who stood up when Soren entered with me in tow. He was pretty handsome, but he had nothing on Soren, honestly. The man was only a bit shorter and looked to be about the same age as Soren, though he was not as muscular or broad as the man I called my husband. This man had neatly styled mocha colored curls on his head and was light skinned, with dark blue eyes and full lips.
Soren pulled me into the living room and then let go of my arm, the two men beginning to glance at me. "This is the girl your old man picked out?" The stranger asked Soren, eyeing me closely. I narrowed my eyes and placed my hands on my hips, watching as Soren simply nodded his head. "Yeah." He said, plopping down onto the couch. I waited to be introduced to the stranger, but the two of them just kept babbling at each other, looking at me every once in a while. Naturally, I was incredibly confused. I had no idea who this guy was, why he was here, or what was even going on right now. Not only was I confused, but I was beginning to get rather annoyed that neither of them had explained what was going on to me.
Right as I was about to explode at Soren, the stranger seemed to notice my frustration because he stopped talking with Soren and smiled at me instead. I blinked in surprise when he approached me and was so bold as to grab my hand in his, making me eye him with uncertainty. My eyebrows practically shot off my forehead when he kissed my hand, as if he were meeting the queen of England or something. "Um.." I cleared my throat and felt my face burn in embarrassment. Nobody had ever kissed my hand when meeting me for the first time. He gave me a charming smile and didn't let go of my hand. "I'm Soren's best friend, Luca." He said to me, almost making me cringe when he kissed my hand again. Though it did make me feel better to know that he wasn't just a random man, I suppose.
"But I see that he hasn't even mentioned me to you, apparently." Luca said, sending his best friend a glare as he finally released my hand. I couldn't help but to giggle, causing him to glance back down at me again. "I wasn't expecting you to be so pretty." He said casually, but something about the way he said it made me think he was trying to flirt. Trying is the keyword here. "Uh...thanks." I said, unsure if that was technically a compliment. Did that mean he was expecting me to be ugly? "I just meant Soren under exaggerated. He said you were pretty, but you're gorgeous." Luca explained, making me raise my brows. I didn't know Soren even spoke about me to other people. I didn't think he really cared enough about me to even want to do that.
"Yeah," I laughed awkwardly, glancing over at Soren. "He's lucky he's a good husband, I guess." I said, causing Soren to snort from his place on the couch. Luca, on the other hand, just smiled in amusement as he raised a brow. "Clearly he hasn't told you that I know your marriage is fake, either." Luca chuckled, shaking his head as he sat down a few spaces away from his friend.
My jaw slacked as I looked over to Soren, snapping my mouth shut when I placed my hands on my hips and glared at him. "You didn't think that maybe you should inform me of that? We aren't even supposed to tell anyone!" I huffed, a little miffed. He just smiled slightly, lulling his head to the side. "Luca is an exception, okay? We've been best friends since the ninth grade, so I think it's fine." He shrugged, making me roll my eyes at his carelessness. That wasn't really my point here, at all. I leaned my weight onto one leg, making my hip jut out. "Okay, and that's nice. Still, it wouldn't kill you to just tell me this so I don't make a fool of myself, calling you my husband in front of someone who knows everything already." I sighed, raising my brows at him.
Soren snickered in amusement, his eyes glinting with mirth. "Aw, so you don't think I'm a good husband? How mean." He said playfully.
I rolled my eyes and glanced at his friend, Luca, who was watching our exchange with an amused look on his face. "You guys sure you're not actually dating, because you fight like an actual married couple." He snickered, and I huffed, shaking my head as I turned on my heels. "I'm going upstairs." I said, stalking up the stairs before either one of them could answer. Luca seemed fine enough, but I was annoyed with Soren and I wasn't very good at making friends when I wasn't feeling irritated. Naturally, I didn't want to come across as a giant bitch, and I was sure the two of them were too busy talking with one another anyway.
When I entered my room I gently shut the door and kicked off my shoes, changing into an oversized t-shirt before I crawled into bed with my laptop, ready to laze around.