MALIA’S POV
We chatted for hours on end, with him doing most of the talking while I just listened and discovered just how much of a mystery he was. When he said he didn’t sleep, he meant every bit of it. He mostly just uses the night’s rest and gets ready for a new day.
He told me how it had initially been a night full of nightmares and it progressively became sleeplessness until it turned into a full blown insomnia. Who would have thought that he had been operating in no sleep at all?
When it was finally time to retire back to bed, we did, together, on my bed. I have no idea why, no explanation for it. We just did. No word was exchanged between us. We just knew that was just what we both wanted and we did.
The next morning, I was awakened by the beaming rays of sunlight coming through my window and beaming directly on my face. I had to blink rapidly to get my eyes used to the unwanted lightening.
I tried to move my arm but was restricted by a another arm on my shoulder. I didn’t need to think to know who it was.
“Ryder?” I mumbled, my voice croaked from all the sleep. “Ryder?!” I called again, this time louder causing him to stir in his sleep mumbling incoherently under his breath.
“Ryder, get up! You are crushing me” I managed to let out again, tapping his side a bit to get him to wake up. Thankfully this time he did, still mumbling under his breath.
It took him some time to come to terms with the fact that he had just slept. He stared at me for a good uncomfortable minute without any words, then he got down from the bed and left the room, just like that.
“Well, whatever” I muttered under my breath and got up. I performed my usual morning routine before stepping out of the room. I hardly took a few steps toward the stairs before I was approached by Ronan, who had been resting his back on a wall and gazing at me the whole time.
“I knocked on your door earlier, but there was no response, figured you might still be asleep” He inched forward, his hands casually dipping his hands into his pockets like he usually did.
“Oh, I had no idea. I slept a bit late yesterday which is why I wasn’t able to wake up early as usual.” I shrugged and tried not to look as tense as I was feeling inside.
I had no idea why but the thought of him finding out that I slept on the same bed with his brother wasn’t appealing to me so I tried as much as I could to change the route of the conversation. I couldn’t even picture how he would react if a simple act such as having dinner with Ryder got him that riled up.
“I thought of that. What’s your schedule for the day? I have a function to attend with the park elders and I wanted to see if you were interested in going?”
The sun was too bright for me to wallow around the training ground. I thought of just heading to the garden.
“I have no interesting stuff to do. I think I’ll just go with you. When are you leaving?” I tucked my hair behind my ear and noticed how he was refusing to look me in the eyes.
“Now” He said.
“Alright. Let me get into a better outfit” I looked down at the casual dress I was currently wearing.
“No, this will be fine.” He quickly prevented me from retreating toward my room as if scared I might not come out again.
“Let’s go then. I hope we aren’t walking ’cause the sun is quite harsh today and that is the sole reason I don’t want to go to the training ground” I explained, walking behind him.
“No, I have the driver waiting outside, we are taking a ride” He responded. Only then did I notice how well he was dressed unlike his usual washed jeans and tee shirt. He had a complete set of suit on today.
“You are sure I don’t need to change my dress?” I asked, noticing how different my outfit looked from his, not in a good way.
“No, you don’t need to. You will be fine in this, nothing is wrong with it” He waved away my question and continued down the stairs hot on his heels.
We walked outside, side by side and got into the car, parked just outside the front door. The drive to the conference hall wasn’t as far as I had thought it and I felt like telling the driver to not stop, enjoying the morning air hitting my face softly.
Ronan had his door opened by the driver and he didn’t hesitate to step out, come around the car, and open mine.
I was expecting to walk into a hall filled with elders of the Pack, but contrary to that, I walked to a decorated hall, filled with flowers and everything beautiful in between.
Except if this was some festive stuff, the decoration was too extra for just a function and I swerved around, ready to make that fact known to him only to spot him still standing by the door.
“You like that?” He asked looking around the room and then finally landing his eyes on me.
“I do, it is exceptionally excellent. But isn’t this supposed to be a function? Why is there this much amount of decoration?” letting my curiosity guide me, I inquired.
“That is because I lied” He stated.
“What?” I asked, confused.
Before I could pinpoint what was happening, he was already standing in front of me, holding my hands in his.
“Yes, I lied. This isn’t a function Malia, this is specially made for you, alone” He confessed, the smile on his face genuine at the same time, uneasy.