Scream Me a Dream

“So we just keep walking until we hit the water?” Ville asked as they finally emerged from their hotel room later that night and started walking down La Rambla towards the port.

Soya laughed as she wound her arm around his waist, hooking her finger through the belt loop of his jeans, so they wouldn’t get separated in the crowd that was coming out to see the night performers that usually filed down the long street.

“I remember that Hugo’s apartment is near the port, you could see the Maremagnum from his windows.”

“The Maremagnum, it’s that floating mall right? In the water?” Ville asked, wondering if during the week he would find himself in the floating mall, indulging Soya’s shopping whims.

“Yes, that’s the one.” Soya laughed, looking up at him and seeing the cogs start working in his head. “Don’t worry; you don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to.”

“I never said I didn’t want to.” Ville grinned down at her, before kissing the top of her head.

Soya rolled her eyes. “You’re too sweet for your own good Ville, if you don’t want to go shopping with me, that is fine, I’m sure I can drag Rosalind to go with me, and then you and I can do something later.”

“I don’t mind going Soya.” Ville assured her. “I told you that you had my undivided attention this week, and if that means carrying your shopping bags, then I will.”

“Again, unbelievably sweet.” She said stopping and tugging him down to kiss him lightly. “But I know better than to torture you like that.” She teased against his lip. “Tomorrow I’ll shop with Rosalind and you can reap the benefits of it at night when I show you what I bought.”

Ville couldn’t help but wrap his arms around her waist and bring her closer, their hips meeting as he pushed his lips against hers harder, deepening the kiss from teasing to demanding. While he loved his innocent little Soya that didn’t quite catch double entendres, he had to admit that this Soya, his Soya, with her modeling her underwear, kissing him in the middle of a crowded street, groping him in an elevator, and her open curiosity of sex, had him twisted in and out.

He loved that he was the one to witness her coming out of her shell. That he had helped with that change. That she’d changed from being unsure of herself and her standing with everyone around her, to being strong willed and actually stating what she thought instead of mulling it over wondering if what she said would offend anyone around her. All this change and she still kept that loving personality that he so adored about her, the kind heart that couldn’t hurt a soul and took teenagers into her home because they had nowhere else to go.

“Rakastan sinua, niin hemmetin paljon.” He whispered against her lips, nearly groaning when the tip of her tongue escaped to wet her lips. (I love you, so damn much)

“Because I offered to model you my clothes?” she asked, her eyes closed as she rested her hands on his chest.

Ville laughed, resting his chin on the top of her head, “No, just because I do.”

Soya pulled back lightly rising on her tip toes to kiss him, “In that case, I love you too.”

“Come on,” He groaned, tucking her back into his side, feeling her fingers trail across his back before hooking onto his belt loop again. “Rosalind will probably kill us if we’re late.”

“Probably,” Soya agreed with a laugh as they continued walking.

“All right how about this,” Ville proposed. “You go out with Rose tomorrow, and I’ll hang out with Impi, have a date with my third favorite girl.”

Soya frowned, “Who are your first two?”

“You and Aida of course.” Ville said simply, grinning down at her.

Soya laughed, “Your mother is going to be so mad that she falls fourth on your list.”

Ville chuckled, “How about dinner, just us, tomorrow night?”

“No where fancy, Ville,” Soya warned.

Ville laughed. “All right, define ‘fancy’.”

“I want to be able to wear my converse without getting glared at for breaching a dress code,” She told him, knowing that if she didn’t set limitations he would end up making them reservations at some restaurant that neither of them would feel comfortable at, just because he thought she’d enjoy it, and in the back of his mind he felt the need to impress.

“No heels?” he pouted, causing her to laugh.

“No heels,” she nodded, “Converse.”

“Fine, so dinner?”

“Dinner.” She nodded as she opened her ivory clutch, a new one she’d bought in Berlin, as she pulled out her cell phone to check the message Rosalind had sent her earlier with Hugo’s address. Ville took her in as she stopped to read the text and gather her bearings to lead them in the right direction.

The black tight skinny jeans that encased her long legs, the white sheer top with a stylized feather print on it, and the black vest that hung open loosely. He knew that underneath she wore a black lace bra, as well as the matching boy shorts, as she’d warned him that if he dared to rip this set she’d be using his credit card for her shopping sprees instead of her own. She also wore the black lace heel booties he’d gotten her, proving that she did in fact match her shoes to her underwear, at least some of the time.

“I think we go that way.” She said pointing to the left.

“You could always call and ask.” Ville pointed out, looking down at her phone to read the message before looking up to look at the street signs.

“Left, I’m pretty sure it’s left.”

Ville went along with her; if they got lost, which he had a feeling they would, Soya would cave and call Rosalind to come and lead them the right way. Surprisingly, they’d only walked for a good five minutes, before Soya pulled him towards an apartment building, a door man opening the door for them, Soya smiling at the man.

“Told you it was left,” Soya gloated as she walked them to the elevator.

“I never doubted you.”

“Sure you didn’t,” Soya laughed rolling her eyes. They reached Hugo’s floor, and stepped out of the elevator, Soya, finding the apartment with ease and knocking. The door flew open, and revealed the middle brother of the Riviera clan, Hugo. He grinned as he pulled Soya into a hug, talking rapidly in Spanish.

“Mira no mas, todavia tan hermosa! No! Mas hermosa que la ultima ves que te vi!! Vamos, ahorita mismo y nos casamos!!”(Look at you, still beautiful! No! More beautiful than the last time I saw you!! Let’s go, right now, and we’ll get married!)

“She doesn’t understand Spanish, Hugo,” Rosalind said, teasing her brother as she pulled Soya away from her grinning brother. “And I’m pretty sure our little Soya is prepared to marry Mr. Valo over there.”

“Ah! Ville!” Hugo laughed, pulling Ville into the apartment and closing the door. “It’s good to see you again!!”

Where Luis rarely spoke English, leaving the talking to his siblings; when he did, his English was more broken and his accent thick. Rosalind of all the siblings spoke it the most, as she didn’t know Finnish so English was the only way she and Jyrki communicated, while her English was very much fluent, her accent was more lilting, only thickening in anger. Hugo’s on the other hand, was a mixture of both. He spoke mostly Spanish while in his home country, but English while he was in others.

While his English wasn’t fluent like Rosalind, he still spoke it with confidence, sometimes thinking out his words before saying them. But every word was said with a grin. Ville had learned quickly, in the few time he’d met the man, that Hugo was very slow to anger, even when it was his sister that was the one goading him.

For the most part Hugo was content to lean back with a grin, and watch his siblings do the arguing, only coming in between when it looked like it would come to blows. Which according to Soya, arguments between Luis and Rosalind often did, unresolved issues, she’d told him with a shrug.

Hugo was an inch shorter then Rosalind, wide shoulders and lean body like his siblings. Also like his siblings he had dark brown eyes that always glittered with amusement. His dark hair fell to the tips of his shoulders, much like his brothers, but unlike Luis’s who just let it grow, Hugo’s hair was always neat and trimmed and kept styled.

“It’s good to see you again too,” Ville said with his own smile, clapping the man’s back as Hugo brought him into a hug.

“You are a very lucky man to have a woman like Soya; I have tried getting her to marry me since I met her,” Hugo teased, Ville watching as his fiancé blushed, but rolled her eyes in Hugo’s direction.

“Trust me; I know how lucky I am.” Ville said, winking at her, before letting Hugo pull him further into the apartment.

Dinner mostly consisted of Hugo cooking in the kitchen, while Ville, Soya and Rosalind talked in the dining room, keeping Hugo entertained. Rosalind explained that Luis and his wife had gotten a babysitter and were having a very rare date night, while Impi was in Hugo’s room sleeping, having passed out during her nightly cartoons.

They caught up with Hugo, Soya explaining to him how she knew Ville and how they had gotten together, at least the condensed version, before asking him if he had anybody. At that Hugo had laughed and proclaimed he was a very happy bachelor and let his siblings do the settling down and having babies part of life, he was happy with just being the uncle.

They’d stayed at Hugo’s apartment nearly two in a half hours, eating dinner, talking and laughing, before finally taking their leave, Rosalind offering them a ride back to their hotel as she’d driven her car over to her brothers. Ville and Soya declined, not minding the walk back, taking their leave but not before Soya made plans to go shopping with Rosalind that next morning and for him to take Impi.

They walked back to their hotel, Soya leaning against his side, her fingers crawling underneath his shirt to slowly run her fingers in small circles around his hip just above the hem of his jeans. When they reached their room, he watched as Soya grabbed her pajamas out of their suitcase before changing and crawling into bed. Ville did the same, changing out of his clothes, and crawling into bed after Soya in his boxers.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he buried his face in the crook of her neck feeling himself start to fall asleep. It was Soya’s whispered sigh of ‘I love you’ that made him pull her even closer to him, whispering the same to her before letting himself fall all the way.

XxxxxxX

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
1:45pm

“So are you ever going to ask me to be your bridesmaid?”

Soya blinked, before sighing, wondering how long Rosalind had been holding off on asking her. “Rose.”

“Sorry, was it presumptuous of me to assume you’d ask me to be a bridesmaid?” Rosalind teased, looking at her friend. “Come on Soya, that ring on your finger is not an heirloom from your grandmother, your grandmother left you much flashier and colorful rings then that, no offence to your fiancé as this ring is…very you.” Rosalind said pulling Soya’s hand towards her so she could see the simple silver band and small round diamond that sat in it.

It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t big, and it was simple and said what needed to be said. That Soya was Ville’s and that was that. It was obvious that Ville knew that when it came to rings, it was the meaning behind the ring that got to Soya not the size of the stone of the price attached to it.

“I haven’t asked, because Ville and I aren’t planning anything yet.” Soya said with a shrug, not bothering to hide the fact she was engaged, it was pointless to hide anything from her friend.

“Is that the reason you guys haven’t told anyone either?” Rosalind asked, letting Soya’s hand go.

Soya chewed on her lip and shrugged. “We just want this to be ours for a little while, that and we’re pretty sure Linde might have an aneurism if he finds out we’re engaged after we both told him we had no plans to do so.”

Rosalind shrugged. “What does it matter?”

Soya blinked. “I’d like my friend alive…” She said slowly, causing Rosalind to laugh.

“No, I mean what does it matter if Linde is upset, if he really loves you guys, he’ll be happy for you no matter what. And it’s a little hypocritical of him to judge you guys for getting engaged, when he just got engaged himself.”

“He’s been with Toni for a few years now Rosalind, I’ve been with Ville for four months.”

“So?”

“Rose.” Soya sighed again.

“So you and Ville are going fast in your relationship…” Rosalind started with a shrug.

“Like….warp speed.” Soya muttered causing Rosalind to laugh.

“Yes, warp speed, but we would all be lying if we said we didn’t think you guys would be married within the year.” Rosalind grinned. “Plus…” she tapped her temple causing Soya to roll her eyes.

“You did not ‘see’ anything Rose.” Soya snorted.

“Still don’t want to know how many kids you and Valo are going to have?”

Soya laughed. “I’m still fine in not knowing.”

“I just think that if we’re truly your friends, we’re going to be happy for you no matter how long you both have been together. It’s that you’re both happy that matters….you are happy right?”

Soya laughed and nodded. “Very happy.”

“That’s all I care about monada, what do I care if you’ve only been together four months. Soul wise you’ve been together forever.”

Soya winced; she wasn’t much for religion or Rosalind’s talk of soul mates, though it was a nice thought to think that no matter where they were, Ville and her were meant to be together.

“You wince, but you know you like the idea.” Rosalind laughed as she grabbed a dress off the rack and went to the dressing rooms.

Soya sighed, looking after Rosalind, “Sometimes I hate that you read me so well.”

“It’s a gift.”

“A curse!” Soya laughed following her to the dressing rooms.

“So, are you going to ask me or what?” Rosalind asked with a teasing grin, before closing the door to the dressing room as Soya leaned on the wall next to it.

“We’re not planning anything yet, Rose!” Soya laughed. “We haven’t even officially told our friends, and if we haven’t told our friends why should we plan anything?”

“I know you” Rosalind sang, “You want to tell people, you want to plan, and you want to try on wedding dresses.”

Soya thought about it and shrugged. “Not really.”

Rosalind poked her head out of the door to look at her friend in disbelief. “You don’t?!”

Soya shook her head. “No, I don’t, I want to start getting ideas, sure, what bride doesn’t? But actually sitting down and planning a wedding.” Soya cringed. “I think I have enough on my plate as it is.”

“You have nothing on your plate!” Rosalind exclaimed, coming out. “Zip.”

Soya zipped up the dress. “I only have two months left in my vacation, and even then that’s going to be focused on making sure the studio is up and running, and all in order before I leave, figuring out exactly what to do with Emmy and Regan, I still have Aida, and I don’t have any idea when my mother is coming back to be…well.” Soya rolled her eyes. “I just don’t know when my mother’s coming back, so if I have her in January still I have to figure out what to do with that situation. And then there’s Ville who has the crazy notion of following me back to New York, since apparently he has nothing better to do.”

Rosalind laughed. “He doesn’t as they’re on a break until Daniel Lioneye stops touring. Do you not want him to follow you?”

Soya shrugged. “You’ve seen me when I’m on tour Rose.”

Rosalind laughed. “Yeah, you can be kind of a bitch.”

“I don’t think Ville believes me.”

“For better or for worse,” Rosalind sang going back into the dressing room.

“What?” Soya asked with a frown.

“It is part of your vows, look it up!” Rosalind teased as she started changing back into her clothes. “I think it’s good for Ville to see all sides of you.” Rosalind said pulling her yellow cardigan over her aqua blue summer dress and slipping her matching aqua flats back on. She grabbed her yellow clutch off the small chair that sat in the dressing room before leaving the room.

“I mean you’ll be marrying the man, so he better figure out that you’re not so sweet all the time.” Rosalind laughed, having seen the side of Soya that people rarely got to see. Sleep deprivation and Soya really did not mix.

Soya nodded slowly. “True.”

“Take advantage of the fact that Ville has the time off, monada, because once this little reprieve you both have is over, who knows when the next time you guys will have it again. Probably not until you retire from the company in two years.”

“God I hope not,” Soya groaned, following Rosalind out of the store, pushing the sleeves up on her light grey cardigan. Underneath she’d worn a taupe sleeveless top, with a ruffle accent on her side, along with a pair of flare leg trousers that fit her loosely falling a bit past her feet covering the grey pair of flats she’d chosen to wear.

She looked at Rosalind as they walked around the mall, and had to admit it was nice to talk to her friend about her engagement.

“Rose.”

“Hmm?”

“I know you know about me and Ville.”

“I do.” Rosalind said, looking over at Soya.

“But you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“Done….but….”

“But?” Soya asked stopping and clutching her ruffled clutch in her hand.

“Well, Jyrki sort of knows too.”

Soya frowned. “You told him!”

“No…” Rosalind said slowly. “Your fiancé did.”

Soya opened and closed her mouth before shaking her head. “What?”

“When he yelled at Bam, Jyrki said that Ville nearly let it slip, though Jyrki doesn’t think Bam caught on to it, he did.” Rosalind grinned before telling Soya the rest. “Jyrki also said he called Aida his little sister.”

Soya turned and watched Rosalind flitted into another shop leaving her standing in the middle of the mall staring at her in disbelief.

XxxxxxX

Ville held the five year olds sticky hand as they walked around the Barcelona Zoo, he looked down to see her licking her ice cream cone he’d bought her, only to wince when a cold drop hit their joined hands. Ville watched amused as Impi looked at the drop, before shrugging and leaning in to lick his hand and the vanilla liquid.

“Oh, come on!” Ville laughed, stopping and pulling a napkin out of his pocket, he’d learn to carry when babysitting Impi and crouched down to wipe the mess she’d made on her face.

“Sorry,” She giggled.

“I should have gotten you a cup instead of the cone,” he said with a small grin.

“But I can’t eat a cup!”

Ville laughed and nodded, “Very true.”

“Can we go see the tigers?!”

“We already saw them.” Ville pointed out, as it’d been the first thing Impi had wanted to see when she’d dragged him into the entrance of the Zoo.

“Mutta pidän siitä, kun he menevät ‘RAWR!’” She growled, making clawing motions with her hand, nearly whipping the ice cream in his face. (But I like it when they go “RAWR!”)

He wiped the vanilla that had splashed on his chin, watching as she continued to lick her ice cream, most of it ending up on her face rather than in her mouth. He was always left amazed with the five year old, the fact that she switched from Spanish, to English, to Finnish with ease, never mixing languages, and somehow able to remember which people spoke what language.

She’d never spoken to him or his friends in Spanish, keeping it Finnish or English, and from Rosalind had told him, she never spoke Finnish at home with her, only Spanish and English. From what he’d been told, mostly by Gas and Rosalind were that kids were like sponges and absorbed every word said.

Gas’ daughter was much like Impi, learning and speaking three languages because of her parents. Finnish because of Gas, Croatian because of Natali and English because of the cartoons and words they spoke to the girl. It never failed to amaze him.

“Alright,” he finally agreed, wiping her face again, causing her to giggle. “We’ll go see the tigers, but you promised me we could see the red pandas.” he told her.

“We will!” Impi giggled. “Can you carry me?”

Ville nodded, “Are you done with your ice cream?”

She nodded, handing him the dripping cone, letting him throw it away, before wiping her hands and picking her up. “All right, tigers, then pandas.”

“Okay,” Impi nodded, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Don’t fall asleep on me,” he teased, knowing that once Impi asked to be carried and got comfortable in ones arms, it was likely that she’d fall asleep; it never failed with the girl.

“I won’t,” she promised, but he felt her yawn and shook his head amused. Rosalind and Soya had left around ten that morning to start their shopping, though he knew it had more to do with them spending time together before Rosalind locked herself in the studio with her brothers the rest of the week then actually going shopping.

So he’d been left with Impi and when he had asked the little girl what she’d wanted to do that day, she responded with an excited squeal and yelled ‘Zoo!’ and since he didn’t know the area that well to know if there was a children’s park nearby to take her too, he’d agreed.

He’d taken her to breakfast and listened to her wild jabbering, talking nearly as fast as her mother did at times and an imagination that he was positive she’d inherited from both her parents. Once noon hit, he’d gotten them a cab to take them to the zoo, and had been walking around for nearly two hours. He wasn’t surprised the girl was dead on her feet, she’d run from exhibit to exhibit, squealing and jumping whenever she saw a new animal.

So when he reached the tigers again and looked over at Impi and found her asleep, he wasn’t surprised. Instead he rubbed her back, walked towards the exit, only stopping at the gift shop to get a stuffed tiger for Impi and debated between a stuffed flamingo and stuffed dolphin for Aida, before rolling his eyes at himself and just getting both.

He exited the zoo with the sleeping five year old and a bag with stuffed animals, catching a cab back to the hotel.

He had just laid Impi down on the bed when he heard the door to the room opened, going out to the small living room he met Rosalind and Soya at the door.

“Hey you,” Soya said smiling at him. “How was your date?”

Ville grinned, “She passed out on me, as well as dripped ice cream on me.”

“Did she lick you?” Rosalind asked.

Ville nodded with a laugh. “She did, is it another phase she’s going through?”

Rosalind laughed. “Yes, luckily her phases tend to only be with family; thankfully she hasn’t licked or bitten any strangers. I’ll grab her and get going.” Rosalind said, going to the bedroom and picking her up, cooing at her daughter in Spanish when she started to stir, only for Impi to drop her head back on Rosalind’s shoulder.

“Thanks for watching her today Ville, she got into a pretty vicious argument over the placement of Barbie and Ken’s dream kitchen with her cousin the other day, so they’re not talking,” Rosalind said with a laugh.

“My pleasure,” Ville nodded with a smile, before moving to the couch where he had dropped the purchases he made. “Here, I got her this,” He said handing Rosalind the stuffed tiger.

“Wonderful.” Rosalind laughed taking it. “It’ll join the other six she has.” She accepted the bags Soya handed her. “I’ll see you guys Saturday!” Rosalind called as the door closed behind her.

“How was shopping?” Ville asked, looking down at the two bags at Soya’s feet. “You didn’t buy much.”

“Not really.” Soya said with a shrug, “Mostly I found a coat and tights for Aida.”

“You look tired.” Ville pointed out.

“I am, Rosalind dragged me in and out of every shop,” Soya said quietly as she walked towards the bedroom and fell onto the bed. “I tried on way to many shoes and dresses, and didn’t fall in love with one, I think I’m broken. You look tired too.”

“Impi dragged me around the zoo like I was a rag doll,” Ville groaned falling next to her. “She’s really strong for a five year old, I think she broke me.”

Soya laughed turning on her side to look at him. “Do you still want to go out tonight?”

Ville nodded. “There’s a café we can go to, small and very Converse worthy.”

“Perfect.” Soya murmured, moving closer to him, and closing her eyes.

Ville rubbed her back, before taking his phone out of his pocket and setting the alarm to give them enough time to get ready and go to dinner before pulling her closer and falling asleep himself.

XxxxxxX

It had taken them a good hour to wake back up and get ready for dinner. Though it was a bit chillier outside then it had been in the afternoon, the night was clear, so they’d decided to walk the twenty minutes to the Textil Café . The couple had walked with Soya tucked under his arm, her fingers interlaced with the hand he had over her shoulder, while the other was hooked to the belt loop of his black jeans.

True to her word, she’d worn her classic high tops, along with a pair of black leggings and a black and white striped sweater dress that fell just above her knees and hugged each and every one of her curves perfectly, her black ruffled clutch tucked underneath her arm.

They walked towards the little café that was tucked beneath a set of stone stairs, tables and heater lamps sitting outside, lighting the area. They went inside to order, before taking a table outside and sitting down to wait for their food.

“See, perfect,” she teased, setting her purse down.

Ville nodded and leaned back, watching her with a smile. “Fine, you were right.”

Soya grinned at him, thanking the waiter when he came and set their coffee down in front of them. “So, Rosalind and I talked.”

“I assumed you guys would,” Ville said as he took a drink of his black coffee, Soya had gotten some type of flavored coffee with whipped cream and caramel, which just meant they’d both be wired the rest of the night. “I doubt Rosalind can stay quiet for five minutes let alone an afternoon spent with you.”

Soya laughed. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s physically impossible for her.”

“So what did you guys talk about?”

“You yelled at Bam?”

Ville blinked. “What?”

“Rosalind said that Jyrki told her that you yelled at Bam.”

“For one, I did not know we were back in high school playing telephone.” Ville said, a bit annoyed at the roundabout way information was going around. “And for two, I didn’t yell at him.”

“Ville,” Soya said calmly, leaning forward to run her fingers over the top of his hand. “You came back to the room angry.”

“I was annoyed.”

“Ville,” Soya said again, “He’s your friend.”

“I have the right to be annoyed at my friend, especially when he’s butting into something that’s none of his concern. You get annoyed at Josef and Rosalind.”

“Well yes, but that’s Josef and Rosalind.” Soya laughed. “It’s impossible to go a week without getting annoyed with at least one of them.”

“Well, that’s Bam,” Ville muttered.

“Have you talked to him since you left the restaurant?”

“No.”

Soya stared at him as he looked at his coffee mug, still trailing her fingers over his hand, “He’s one of your best friends.”

“Eventually we’ll talk and everything will work itself out.”

Soya chewed on her lip, “Ville?”

“Yes?”

“Before seeing him in Berlin, when was the last time you’d talked to him?”

Ville frowned at her, automatically smoothing his features when she reached out to smooth them for him. “I don’t know, August I think?” He thought about it. “I think it was before Sonisphere, I don’t know it’s been a while.”

Soya nodded slowly, having a feeling of what was happening. “Usually how often do you talk to Bam?”

“What do you mean?” Ville asked.

“Before me,” Soya laughed, “how often did you speak to Bam?”

“There was a time before you?” Ville asked in mock shock, staring at her wide eyed.

“Ville!” Soya laughed, both of them looking up when their food was placed in front of them, they thanked the waiter before Soya turned back to Ville. “So, how often?”

Ville shrugged, picking at his food. “Maybe once a week, Bam likes to call to make sure I’m not some rotting corpse lying in my tower.”

Soya snorted. “So you’ve gone to talking to Bam nearly once a week to…almost no contact since August?”

Ville blinked as he thought about it, “I guess so.”

Soya smiled at him, “He just misses you, Valo.”

Ville started to speak, only to close his mouth and frown at her, this time she didn’t reach out to smooth his features, letting the frown stay. “Well…”

“Ville, you’ve known him for….years!” Soya laughed. “I mean, he’s an annoying little bastard,” Soya laughed, causing Ville to grin at her. “But even I realize that the man just misses you,” She bit her lip before continuing. “I don’t think he’s use to seeing you like this.”

Ville blinked at her, “Like what?”

“Happy…I think.” Soya said tilting her head to look at him. “You’re not his drinking buddy anymore.”

“But I haven’t been that for a while, and he’s always understood.”

“I get that,” Soya nodded patiently, knowing that Bam was probably one of the people that urged Ville to get help and for that she was thankful. “But after getting sober, you were his single friend.”

“But Bam’s not single,” Ville pointed out.

Soya nodded, “But he’s use to having you all to himself, to just call you up and just hang out with you.”

“He still can,” Ville argued.

“But not without hearing the words ‘let me ask Soya first.’”

“I never ask you for permission.”

Soya chewed on her lip, “The other day, one of your friends called you and asked if you wanted to have lunch with them, I was sitting on the couch and instead of saying ‘of course’ you turned to me and asked if it was okay.”

“Well…”

Soya raised an eyebrow, “Now, did you ask me because the friend that called just happened to be a woman, or did you ask me because you wanted to make sure it was all right to go out, because either way you know I wouldn’t have cared.”

“I just…we had plans,” Ville defended.

“For later that evening!” Soya laughed. “Ville, you know I’m right, things have changed and I have a feeling Bam doesn’t do well with change, especially when it comes to you. You called Aida your little sister.”

“I…” Ville frowned at her again. “I…did?”

Soya nodded. “Jyrki told Rosalind that you did, you didn’t even notice it. Ville…” she leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “You’re growing up.”

Ville leaned back and laughed. “So, I am.”

“I don’t think Bam is use to seeing you like this Ville.” She bit her lip and tried not to wince when she said the next part. “Not even with Jonna.”

“That hurt, didn’t it?” he smirked, knowing that she really didn’t like hearing his ex’s name.

“So much,” she said with a shake of her head.

“It was different then though, Soya.”

“I get that, but it’s different now too and I don’t think Bam knows how to handle that. He doesn’t know what to do when he sees you with me,” she shrugged. “I don’t think he has anything against us or me in particular, at least I’d hope not, and I think that may be the reason why he told half the restaurant we’d slept together.”

Ville nodded slowly, still picking at his food, while Soya sipped on her coffee. “I think you should call him,” Soya said with a shrug. “But ultimately that’s up to you.”

“While you’ve cleared things up, as you usually do,” he teased. “I’m still annoyed, but I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Soya nodded.

“Now, let me ask you something.”

Soya looked up at him. “Alright?”

“Does it bother you?”

Soya blinked. “That you’re not talking to Bam? I think I made it clear that it does.”

“No, that we haven’t told our friends we’re engaged.”

Soya frowned at him, only for him to reach over and smooth her features much like she did with him. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Over the last few days you’ve mentioned that we haven’t announced it a couple times, and you’re starting to look at wedding magazines.”

“I just wanted to look!” Soya laughed. “I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

“It’s not!” Ville said quick to assure her that he wanted to her to look at things for their wedding, loved that she was looking at things for their wedding. “I just want to know if it’s bothering you, because if you want to tell our friends, we can.”

“Do you want to?” Ville shrugged, causing Soya to sigh. “You don’t.”

“My parents know, my brother know, Aida knows…to me, that’s perfect, those are the people that should know.”

Soya shrugged. “I don’t mind not telling our friends, Ville, whatever gave you the impression that it bothered me, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t.”

“Do you want to start planning it?”

Soya shook her head with a laugh. “Not really, I mean, who knows how long it’ll be before we actually get married that-”

“I don’t want a long engagement Soya.” Ville cut off.

“What?” Soya asked, looking at him wide eyed.

“I don’t want a long engagement, I don’t want to be in this…limbo for two, three years waiting until our schedules to align again just to marry you.”

“So…you want to get married soon.”

“May.”

“May!” Soya choked out. “Ville, that is in seven months!”

“It is.” Ville nodded. “I want to mark our year.”

Soya shook her head. “No, our year would be in August not in May.”

“No.” Ville corrected. “Our year is in May, when we first saw each other again.”

Her heart pattered wildly at the romantic sentiments of his words, but the fact still remained, “You want to get married in seven months?”

Ville nodded. “I do.”

“I…but I’ll be in…”

“New York.” Ville nodded.

“And my tour…”

“I get that.” Ville said patiently. “When do you get your schedule?”

“My schedule?”

“Your dancing schedule?” Ville asked, knowing that Josef wrote their rehearsal schedules and turned it into their boss for review, before she sent it out to all the dancers.

“I…Josef should be submitting it this month; Rebecca usually sends it out in December so we all know ahead of time when we’re expected back in the studio.”

“Then we’ll take a look at it when you get it, look to see what day in May you have free and choose that way.”

“And if I don’t have a day free in May?”

“Then we go for June,” Ville said with a shrug.

“You really want to do this; you really want to get married in May, even though we have yet to tell our friends?”

“Hey! Fun way to tell them! Let them find out through the invitations!” Ville grinned.

“Ville!” Soya laughed.

“I really want to do this in May,” Ville nodded seriously.

Soya took a deep breath and nodded slowly, loving the idea more and more as she thought about it. “I can’t promise you that I’ll have a free day in May Ville, and I’m pretty sure realistically we’d need me to have a free week, and that’s damn near impossible.”

“We’ll work something out.” Ville assured.

“All right then, let’s get married in May.”

Ville grinned and leaned forward, cupping her cheek before kissing her softly, “May it is.”

Soya blushed as she looked back down at her plate as Ville resumed his seat, only for Soya to look at him with a teasing grin.

“By the way, two more people know that we’re engaged.”

Ville looked at her. “Who?”

“Rosalind and Jyrki,” Soya laughed.

Ville groaned, “Wonderful, with Rosalind in the know all our friends will know by the end of the week.”

Soya laughed because even though Rosalind had promised not to tell anyway, it was a great possibility that she would.