Lunch Date

"Rules?!" Auralia exclaimed in confused.

"Yes rules." Alexander rolled his eyes. "Do you think my mother and Aunt Lina asked us to get lunch together so we could get to know each other?"

Auralia opened her mouth to speak up but Alexander cut her off quickly, not giving her a moment to interject.

"They want us to get married and seeing as marriage is the only peaceful route, I want to make some rules about how our marriage is going to work." Alexander continued. "Do you have a problem with that?"

His eyes looked sharply at Auralia, like a predator waiting for their prey to make the wrong move so they pounce on it. She found her body straighten up and she stared back with the same look, showing him that she was no cute little bunny.

But rather a tigress.

"No, I don't have any problems." Auralia answered with confidence. "In fact, I'd like to add a condition in too."

"Oh?" Alexander raised an eyebrow in surprise. "And that would be?"

"Let's get divorced in one year."

It was of course the condition she needed for the contract to end and for her life to go back to the way it was. She didn't really care what his other rules were as long as they didn't affect her job or harm her in any way.

"You want to divorce in one year?!" Alexander looked at her flabbergasted.

"Well, it's not like we're getting married for romantic reasons. We can make both the families happy with the union, make some excuse about the marriage not working out and move on with our lives." Auralia paused for a second. "Unless you think I'm okay with wasting my life in a marriage I know won't give me a happily ever after."

"No, no." Alexander coughed. "I'm just surprised you'd want to divorce so quickly. I thought two years was pushing it."

"One year is fine." Auralia gave a small smile.

"Alright then let's go over the other rules…" Alexander paused at the sound of the door opening.

A waiter came in with a bottle of wine in his hand and two wine glasses. He quickly placed the glasses on the table and uncorked the wine.

He poured a little bit of the wine into Alexander's glass. Alexander picked it up and raised it to his nose before placing it back down and giving the waiter a nod.

Auralia watched as the waiter poured the wine in the glass before pouring a little into Auralia's glass. She picked the glass up and gave a small sniff, a wet corky smell hitting her nose. She placed the glass down and nodded her head to show she was happy with the wine.

While she had a blank look on her face, inside she was glad Mrs. Davidson had explained a little about wine etiquette to her. If she hadn't been taught, she probably would have drunk the wine without knowing that the waiter only wanted her to know that the wine had never been opened.

"Your meals will be here in ten minutes." The waiter said before heading back out.

Once he had left, Alexander pulled out a small notebook and pen from the inside of his jacket. "Let's continue then."

Auralia nodded her head. "Okay."

"So, divorce in one year." Alexander murmured as he wrote something in the book. "Anything else?"

"We sleep in the same room." Auralia said as she tried to keep a straight face. "It'll be easier to get the families to agree to the divorce if they see us sharing a room. They'll think we actually put some effort into the marriage."

Alexander was silent for a moment before he nodded his head in agreement. "Fine I can agree to that. Is that all?"

"Yes, I believe it is."

"Okay then it's my turn now." Alexander paused for a second. "We don't interfere in each other's personal lives unless it affects the other person."

"Okay I can agree to that."

"Good." Alexander jotted it down in the notebook. "Second thing would be social events. We'd attend them together and try to get along."

"However, the person has to make sure that they give the other a heads up about the event."

"A day good enough."

"Make it three."

"Alright."

The two continued going back and forth until the waiter came back with their food. Auralia loved the delicious smell that wrapped around the room as the plates of steak was set down on the table.

As she began to eat the tender meat, she found herself wanting to cry with joy. It soon made her realize that if there was one thing she was going to miss, it was going to be the food.

Throughout her time as Mrs. Davidson's fake granddaughter, she had been spoiled when it came to food. It made her wish she was a better cook so she could at least try to bring the recipes and make the food herself.

But sadly, cooking was one of her biggest weaknesses and it didn't help that she was a total foodie.

Soon the two were finished with their meal and had ten rules for their marriage life. Alexander promised to get the rules properly written out so that they could both sign it and get a copy.

After paying the bill, they made their way back to the café Mrs. Davidson and Maria were staying at. However, halfway through the walk, Auralia noticed that Alexander was breathing a little heavily.

It was then that she remembered Maria telling her about the surgery. He had come home early, not having properly recovered.

"Come with me for a second." Auralia said, taking Alexander's hand and pulling him to the nearby park.

His hand was quite big and rough, like he worked with them frequently. It was warm too and Auralia felt herself enjoying the hand holding.

"Where are we going?" Alexander asked, surprised by Auralia's strength.

"Just sit down here." Auralia said as they got to a wooden bench. "I'll be right back."