000d, 00h, 00m, 00s

"You're meeting my family on Saturday."

The second try worked out a lot better than the first one. This time I managed to direct my words towards the right person; His confused look immediately turning into annoyance.

Comfortably propping my arms up on the backrest of the couch — my whole body turned and sitting on it the wrong way around — I looked up at the archway into the living room, Esmond standing in it with his brows furrowed as they darted back and forth between Arley and me.

Unlike he had predicted, it took the brunette quite a while to get back here; a few hours, at least. Though, with the company I kept, I hardly minded.

"Who's that?" Tilting my head, my eyes shifted towards the unfamiliar voice, landing on a girl who must've been around my sister's age. Her hair was longer than my sister's short one, though, and rather messy as she, as if to emphasise, ran a hand through it.

The scowl on her face resembled the one on Esmond's face as she scanned me intently.

"No one who should be here," He snickered. "Just head to the kitchen. I'll be right there, yeah?"

I rolled my eyes at his explanation, though didn't feel the need to set the record straight. In all honesty, I'd rather just get this over with and get home, now that he was here.

"But—" She went to argue, though his stern voice cut her off right away.

"—Ellis," He hushed, a warning undertone in his voice that made her sigh in defeat before she trotted off, her middle finger high up in the air— not that he noticed; his eyes were trained on nothing but me.

"What are you doing here?" His gaze was almost intimidating, though his voice laced with that lazy indifference I was used to by now.

I sighed, turning back around and looking out the window in front of us. In the time that had passed, the sun had set behind the trees, and the darkness had taken over.

It never got this dark in the city. You never saw the stars there, not like this, anyway.

"To tell you you're meeting my family on Saturday," I shrugged. "Family and friends, actually."

"I'm most definitely not."

"I didn't ask, Esmond." He was stood in front of me now. Not only blocking the view but ruining my mood, too. The whole point of my wording was so that he wouldn't have room to argue. Yet, here he was, arguing.

His brows furrowed at his name coming out of my mouth, eyes dragging over to his friend still sitting on the opposite side of the couch. "Welcome back," was all Arley said, a different kind of indifference in his tone. He still sounded cheery, like nothing in the world would be able to upset him.

The man in front of me shook his head at the gesture, otherwise ignoring the words before looking back at me. Before he had the chance to speak again, I got up. "Look, I'm not about to argue about this. It's the absolute least you can do."

His brows raised at my words, lips slightly parting though no sound escaping them. "If you insist on being nothing but a twat to me, the absolute least you can do is pretend you're not when you meet my family so they can stop pestering me about you," I huffed, walking past him and up the few steps to his right. "Believe it or not, I don't enjoy talking about you, either."

Humoured, he snorted at the words and with my brows knitted together tightly in annoyance, I turned around before I exited the room.

"That really is hard to believe." Eyes batting open, he looked up to me, head slightly tilted and a faint smirk gracing his features. In the corner of my eyes, I saw even Arley rolling his eyes at the comment. Yet, he was watching our interaction with an amused grin on his lips.

A low groan escaped my mouth, though I quickly straightened my back and pointed my chin up just slightly. With a small, faked smile, I muttered, "I wrote down the address." I nodded towards the round table that stood in front of the couch where I left the piece of paper. "Saturday at five."

I left, then, navigating my way out of the house as best as I could.

I only noticed how dark it really was when the door already closed behind me, leaving me standing in complete darkness with not a single light to guide me.

Careful not to trip, I walked down the short path leading off their property, now standing in front of a dark forest leading into nothingness, while Arcan City in the distance gave me a sense of direction. Though, the light coming from it wasn't nearly bright enough out here to make me feel any safer.

My heart rate picked up, and there was nothing I could do about it. The few bushes to each side of me started to look like crouching people rather quickly, the rustling of the trees behind me surely caused by the wind.

Though, my ears perked up at the sound of footsteps following me, causing me to pick up my own pace as my heart threatened to jump out of my chest.

"It's your fault, you know."

I gasped loudly at the voice behind me, twirling around in an instance, relieved I didn't scream out loud when I recognised the face. My hand still grasping at my chest, hoping to calm down my raging heartbeat, I cursed loudly.

"Jesus fucking christ—" I muttered, face distorted in disbelieve, fear and anger as I watched Esmond tilt his head at my reaction. For a second, we just stood opposite of each other; my breath still heavy while he just looked at me with his brows raised.

When I turned around to keep on walking, he repeated his words as he caught up with me. "It's your fault."

"Excuse me?"

"It's entirely your fault your family keeps pestering you about me." My head turned to my right forcefully, sending him a look of disbelieve. He was looking in front of us. "You're the one making this whole soulmate-thing a big deal. If you wouldn't have, then—"

"It is a big deal!" I all but shrieked, his words doing nothing but aggravating me further. I watched him swallow thickly, though couldn't make out his facial expression due to the darkness. He was quiet.

And for a while, we walked in silence together, my eyes no longer on him but pointed straight ahead, just like his were. After a while, I muttered, "One more bad word about The System, and I will have to report it. And they will have to take you in."

"And you don't think that's fucked up?" His voice was calm, though his words laced with poison as they shot at me like daggers. Once again, my eyes landed on him; the difference this time was that he was looking right at me, too. "Taken in for not wanting them to dictate your life?"

"Because they're not dictating it. They're making it easier for you. Life is structured because of The System. Orderly, easier to navigate. It gives you a sense of comfort— puts things into perspective—"

"Fuck," He laughed lowly, almost in disbelieve. "That's not what life is about! Don't you see that?" I remained quiet. "It's not supposed to be all planned out, or orderly, or structured. It's supposed to be messy. You're supposed to find your own way around it; your own place in it."

"Your place in the world is by your soulmate's side—" He interrupted me with a humoured scoff, shaking his head before he took a deep breath.

"Yeah," he exhaled. "Believe it or not, I've been taught the same thing. Probably more so than you."

"That really is hard to believe."

He huffed in amusement at that, diverting his eyes off of me just like I had. "Tell me," He began once more. "Do you think for yourself, Amidelle?"

This time it was me who scoffed, not bothering to answer his ridiculous question.

Of course I thought for myself.

"What are you even doing here?" I asked instead, noticing the way Arcan City was a lot closer now; close enough for the bright lights to illuminate the way.

"Not even I would like to have the death or disappearance of a young girl on my conscience," He shrugged, looking around once. "It's dark out here."

"Ah," I nodded. "He's concerned now, is he?"

"Hardly." Eyes locking once more, I came to a halt right by the first tall building of the city; the streets finally familiar again. We were close to the bakery now.

"Right," I huffed. "Well, it's not dark here. I'll be fine now."

Looking around the streets, he wetted his lips before his eyes fell on me again, hands buried in his pockets. "Right," He copied my words, giving me a single nod. His gaze lingered on me for another second, the bright light making both of us squint just slightly as we scanned one another in silence.

"Right," He repeated, voice quieter before he turned around at once, walking back into the darkness.

My eyes lingered on his back only for a moment before I, myself, turned around and hurried home. 

- 

I'm very much looking forward to the following chapters!! 

I hope you liked this one. <3