First Meeting

Auralia turned her head to the glass door at the sound of the small bell above it ringing. She watched as Maria Ezra entered the small café with a tall man who looked to be in his late twenties following closely behind her.

He seemed to be about 6ft and had a lean build. He had short, dark brown hair and similar greens eyes to Maria. In fact, he almost looked like the younger, male version of Maria in his black suit, making Auralia immediately guess that the man was Alexander Ezra.

Her soon to be husband….

Auralia felt her mouth go dry at the thought. She hadn't really thought about the man's looks when she got herself into the contract with Maria but for some reason she was glad Alexander was good looking.

No that was an understatement. He was drop dead gorgeous, like Michelangelo had sculpted the man himself.

Auralia shook her head at the thought and turned to look at Maria. She watched as Maria's green eyes instantly fell to where she and Mrs. Davidson were sitting, a smile curling on the older woman's face. Everything was falling into place despite the sudden changes to the schedule.

Maria quickly walked over to where the two women were sitting in a booth, guiding her son through the empty café and making him take the seat next to Auralia.

"Maria, I'm so glad to see you could make it!" Mrs. Davidson exclaimed as the two older women hugged each other.

"Thank you for inviting me. And I'm so sorry for the delay." Maria let go of Mrs. Davidson and turned her attention to Auralia and Alexander who were sitting opposite her. "Someone had a change of plans."

"Oh, it's no worries. The more the merrier." Mrs. Davidson chuckled. "Besides, it's been too long since I've seen Alexander. How have you been doing kiddo?"

"I'm doing well Aunt Lina, thank you for asking. I see you have also been doing well." Alexander said with a slightly deep voice as he gave Mrs. Davidson a small smile.

The sound of his voice made Auralia feel tingling, the warning sirens going off in her head. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have such a good looking man as her fake husband.

"That's good. And yes, I have been doing well. In fact, I'd like for you to meet my granddaughter, Auralia Davidson." Mrs. Davidson said.

The sound of her name jolted Auralia out of her thoughts and she quickly blurted out, "Um…hi. It's nice to meet you Mr. Ezra…"

"Alexander is fine." The man drawled. "And it's nice to meet you too Miss Davidson."

"Auralia…You can call me that."

"Alright Auralia." Alexander nodded as he stared at her, almost as if he was trying to look deep into her soul.

"Awww…Look at you two getting along." Maria suddenly clapped her hands in joy. "I'm so happy to see you two together…"

Maria paused for a second, looking down at the expensive silver watch on her wrist. She then looked back up at the two, musing a little.

"It's a little past lunchtime and Alexander, you probably haven't eaten…"

"No b-"

"Then it's settled. Auralia could you be a darling and take my son out for lunch?" Maria turned to look at Auralia.

"Um…sure…" Auralia murmured.

Just as she agreed, Alexander glowered at his mother. "Mother are you-"

"Come on darling…"Maria pouted. "I want to spend some time with Lina and do some catching up. It'll be boring for you two younglings to watch some old women gossip. You also need to eat and a slice of cake with coffee isn't going to be enough for you. Besides, I'd like for Auralia to be my daughter-in-law."

She winked at Auralia as she said the last part, Alexander sighing in frustration. Auralia watched him stand up and hold out a hand.

"Let's go." He muttered.

It took her a second to figure out what he was trying to do. Grabbing his hand, she let him pull her up and place her hand on his arm.

"We'll be going to the restaurant I saw earlier. It's a block away from here so we'll walk." Alexander said gruffly. "We should be back in two hours. Let me know if you want to leave earlier."

"Sure darling." Maria nodded.

With that Alexander turned away and headed out the café, dragging Auralia along with him. The two walked to the restaurant Alexander had mentioned in silence, neither one wanting to talk about what had happened in the café.

When they finally got to the restaurant after a few minutes' walk, Alexander quickly ordered for a private room. The hostess upon recognizing Alexander swiftly showed them to a private dining room reserved for the restaurant's VIP guests.

It was a medium size room with cream colored walls and a view of the street below. There was a small square table in the center of the room and two wooden chairs.

Once the hostess had handed them the menus, Alexander picked up the menu and browsed through it. He seemed to be in deep thought as he looked over it.

"I hope you're okay with steak." He murmured without bothering to look up from the menu.

"That's fine…" Auralia sighed, wondering what she was going to do.

She knew Maria had planned to introduce her and her son but getting lunch together was moving a little too fast for her liking. It didn't help that Maria's intent was to make this a date.

"Alright." Alexander nodded, handing the menus back to the waiting hostess. "Two steaks done medium rare with both side dishes. Oh, and bring your finest red wine."

"Um…sir. That wine is by the bottle…" The brown haired woman said nervously.

"That's fine. You can bring one bottle."

She nodded her head in understanding and quickly left the room, closing the room door behind her. As she did, Alexander turned to stare at Auralia for a few moments. Auralia felt awkward not sure what to do or say.

Finally, the man shook his head and said, "Let's make some rules."