Scream Me a Dream

Wednesday December 29, 2010
9:45 am

“Ville!” Soya laughed as she fell on the couch on top of Ville, she’d been walking past when he’d reached out and grabbed her by the waist. Smiling over at him, she rearranged herself so she was straddling his waist, leaning down and kissing him. “I have to finish getting ready.”

“Are you really going to wear a dress today?” he asked, running his hands up underneath the dress she had on.

Soya laughed quietly against his lips as she felt his hands on the back of her bare legs, running her fingers through his hair. “I am, but I have some thick knit tights I plan on wearing, a thick coat and boots, just like you’ll wear the button down shirt I left on the bed…”

“I saw,” Ville nodded. “The black jeans and the matching shirt.”

“I really do need to finish getting ready Ville.” Soya whispered, feeling his hands run higher up her thighs only causing her to push down against his hips.

“Are you sure?” Ville asked, leaning up to kiss the hollow of her throat.

“God you are so hard to say ‘no’ too.” Soya groaned, tilting her head to the side, her fingers threading through his hair.

“Then don’t.”

“But we-” she didn’t have time to finish her sentence as Ville flipped her over on the couch, his fingers having already unzipped the dress she’d just put on.

“We have time, we don’t have to get to lunch until 1 and we were just going to the bookstore before that.” He murmured pulling the ivory dress down her shoulders, letting it bunch around her waist. Only to scan her body, taking in the tight ivory dress slip she wore, the middle of the slip was inlayed with black lace that went up the bodice. “What is this?”

“It’s a corsetlette.” Soya said as she kicked her dress off the rest of her legs and letting it fall to the floor. “It’s a corset, but just in a short little dress.”

“You wear this shit on purpose don’t you?” Ville asked as her hands ran up his chest and pushed his shirt off.

“Sometimes,” she teased throwing the shirt over the couch, letting it land somewhere on the floor.

Ville smirked as he kissed the center of her chest. “Good thing I love it then.”

Soya laughed as she wrapped her legs around his waist, “I tend to wear things like this with you in mind, now on your back.”

Ville chuckled and turned so Soya was straddling him again, her fingers running down his chest only for her to lean down and take his mouth with hers in a kiss as her fingers unbuttoned his jeans. He lifted his hips for her, never taking his mouth off hers as her hands shoved his jeans down.

“Doesn’t take much foreplay to get you going, does it?” She teasingly whispered against his lips as her fingers stroked him.

“I have to say you have me in a perpetual state of arousal Soya.” He groaned his fingers traveling further up her legs as he kicked his pants the rest of the way off, letting them drop off the coach as his fingers reached her inner thieghs. He grinned when he felt the wet heat coming from her.

“I’m not the only one who can go without the foreplay.”

Soya laughed, only for her laugh to turn into a strangled gasp as his fingers stroked her. “You’re a very attractive man Ville.”

“Just attractive?” he asked moving the scrap of lace away from her.

“Oh so much more then attractive.” She muttered as her head dropped onto his shoulder, groaning against his skin when she felt him enter her. Her fingers dropped from his hair to the base of his neck, rubbing lightly as she felt his own hand run up and down her back.

They moved against each at a leisurely pace, taking their time. Soya exploring his upper chest with her lips and Ville’s hands wondered over her back, sides and front. She rocked against him, gasping against his chest at the slow building orgasm that started at the pit of her stomach. Ville’s fingers found the sensitive bundles of nerves causing her orgasm to erupt feeling a rush of heat fill her body as she tightened her fingers against his neck, her mouth open in a silent gasp against his chest.

She felt his own fingers tighten around her back, his groan muffled against her shoulder as his own orgasm rushed through him, before he fell back into the couch, Soya following him and letting her forehead rest against his chest.

“I need to get dressed.” Ville said quietly, running his fingers down her back.

Soya gave a quiet laugh against his chest as she sat up on him slowly. “I see how it is, you get what you want and then you toss me aside?”

“Pretty much.” Ville laughed, only to groan out a curse when she slid off him, squeezing her inner muscles while she did so, before she got off of him and the couch.

He watched in amusement as she adjusted her panties and the slip she wore, before bending down to pick up her dress from the floor. “Fine.” She said going towards the stairs. “I have to finish getting dressed anyway. Since you’re still down here, take the dog out.”

Ville blinked as he looked towards the fireplace to see the new little dog house Soya had spoiled her dog with, and the ball of whire fur that was curled up sleeping in the corner. Sighing he got off the couch, grabbing his jeans off the floor and putting them back on before going over to the dog house.

Soya had claimed that the little crate he’d gotten at the pet store wasn’t pretty enough for Austen, and as they planned on keeping her crated while they weren’t in the house they’d needed to get her a new one. So he’d been dragged to nearly every pet store in Helsinki looking for a damn dog bed-slash-house that would be perfect for the dog.

They’d finally found one at the last place they’d gone to. It’s a silver circular little dog house that fit perfectly in the corner next to the fireplace, it had a star burst design all around as the air holes for the dog, while the door slid into place and locked so the dog would stay in. It had a cushion inside that Soya padded even more with a dog blanket.

Austen had taken to it immediately. When the pup wasn’t playing with Soya or Hubert, she was in her little house sleeping or with one of the many toys that now littered the tower.

Sighing he leaned down and took Austen out, as her door was open, causing the pup to blink up at him.

“Yes, I know I’ve woken you up, but you need to go out.” He said opening the back door and putting her down. Two minutes later Austen was trotting back to him, he didn’t bother picking her up as she walked past him and shook off the snow from her coat before going back to the warmness of her little house.

“I don’t blame you.” Ville chuckled as he closed and locked the back door and headed upstairs to change.

XxxxxxX

He held her gloved hand as they walked down the snow covered sidewalk, both of them ignoring the photographers that were across the streets snapping pictures of them. Ville knew what a rarity it was to see him out and about, especially out with Soya. When around Helsinki, they tended to have their own things to do, which meant he was either by himself or Soya was running around town running her own errands.

Though he did have to admit that he’d been playing the hermit role, a few days before Christmas, other then finishing up a small bit of Christmas shopping for Soya’s gift he’d stayed in, only going out to be with his friends but for the most part he’d spent the days leading up to Christmas with Soya. In the three days following the holiday he’d locked himself in his studio with his notebook and guitar and had rarely come out, only coming out when it was time for Aida to go to bed.

Soya hadn’t minded his work; she’d gone and visited with Jyrki and Rosalind, taking the dogs so that Aida could show Impi the new members of their little family. She’d also gotten together with some of her other friends as well as worked in her studio to tie up loose ends before they left on the 2nd of January. It was only today that he’d had to drag himself out of his studio as she’s specifically told him they were doing some wedding things before they met with her mother.

So he’d dressed in the nice black button down shirt she’d found in the closet, a pair of dark wash jeans, black dress shoes and the new black coat his mother had given him for Christmas all of which Soya had set out of the bed for him. He wore it, mostly because he knew that had he dressed himself he would have gone to the lunch with a pair of his worn jeans, most likely a long sleeved t-shirt that was questionable in its cleanliness and his snow shoes.

He’d left the comfort of his warm tower to trek through the snow to the small used book store so he could help her find books they could use for their wedding invitations. He also ignored the photographers who would speculate as to what they were doing, mostly because Soya was talking to him about her visit with Rosalind and Impi keeping him entertained as she used her free hand to show him just how explosive the apartment had been with two young girls tormenting the puppies while Jyrki, Rosalind and Soya had tried to have a conversation.

His focus was completely on Soya, forgetting completely about the pictures being taken, forgetting about his work that use to be in the forefront of his mind nearly 24/7 and forgetting that in a couple of hours they’d have to sit down in a restaurant with her mother and endure that pure awkwardness.

Instead he laughed as she told him how the girls had nearly collided into each other as they chased after the dogs, how Jyrki’s neighbor from below had actually come up and told them to keep the noise down since the girls running around could be heard quite loudly a floor down, and how they’d lost the dogs for a few minutes only to find them sleeping under Jyrki’s bed, most likely hiding from the girls.

“I’m serious!” Soya laughed as she looked up at him, “The poor puppies! I swear Hubert looks at Aida differently now, and Austen was so mad at me for letting the girls chase her around.”

“I’m sure they’re fine, Austen doesn’t look any worse for wear and Hubert follows Aida around like a…well like a little puppy.” He laughed.

Soya rolled her eyes as she pulled open the door to the bookshop and pulled him inside. “Had you not been so busy working, you could have seen all this with your own eyes.” She teased, causing him to grin at her as they both took off their gloves stuffing them in their jacket pockets before they wandered into one of the aisles in the bookstore.

“So how are we doing this?” Ville asked taking his beanie off his head and stuffing that in his pocket as well, before running his hand through his hair. “Did you want to do some type of theme? Books with the word ‘love’ on the binding?”

Soya scrunched her nose as she took one of the books off the shelf. “Not really, I mean don’t you think that’s a little corny?”

Ville shrugged. “They’re wedding invitations Soya; I think it’s supposed to have a ‘love’ type theme.”

“Why?” Soya asked.

Ville laughed. “Because we love each other, which would be the reason we’re getting married.”

“Really? Because I thought you just wanted me for my money?”

Ville laughed. “So now I’m the one marrying for money? Here I thought you were after mine.”

Soya grinned as she put the book back on the shelf. “What I meant was why should the books be a ‘love’ theme? Why should we be bound to that theme?”

Ville raised an eyebrow, putting his own book back, “I have a feeling you already know what types of books we’re getting.”

“You know me well.” Soya grinned, “We can do this two ways.”

“All right.” Ville nodded, curious to hear the ways she had come up with.

“I have a list of the 100 guests we have coming to the ceremony,” Soya started. “We could go through the list and pick a book that best represents them and-” At Ville’s groan Soya laughed, having expected that response. “What?”

“That seems like so much work Soya, going through the list and then having a discussion about what book would best fit that person, it’s our fucking wedding, why should it be about our guests?”

Soya nodded. “Or we could pick books that best represent us.”

“See, I like that idea much better.” Ville said. “Now what books represent us?”

“Well, if we go that route, we have to get The Sorrows of Young Werther.” Soya said causing Ville to raise an eyebrow.

“Why?”

Soya blinked up at him. “That was the book I was reading when we met.”

“You weren’t reading a book when we met.” Ville said, remembering the day he’d met her at his father’s sex shop, she’d had her gym bag with her and her ballet shoes, but no book, not that he could remember anyway.

“No, not the moment we met.” Soya laughed. “I mean in general, when we met, I was reading it.”

“Oh.” Ville said with a frown, “In that case, I was reading…” He thought about it before shaking his head “Fuck if I know what I was reading when we first met.”

Soya chuckled. “You were reading Poe’s short stories again.” Soya said. “We had a very long discussion about them when we met for the second time.”

“How do you remember all of this?” Ville asked with a frown.

Soya reached up and pinched his cheek. “Oh kultaseni, I remember everything from the time we spent together, pity you don’t.” she teased, before turning and walking into another aisle.

“I remember the important stuff!” Ville called finding her in the other aisle.

“What day did we meet Ville?” Soya asked with an amused smile.

“You know I’m horrible with dates, be thankful your birthday lands on Christmas, otherwise we’d both be screwed on that front.”

Soya laughed. “You would be, I’d be angry and it was in March of 1995 Ville.”

“I’ll be sure to remember that.” Ville smirked.

“What day did we reconnect?” She quizzed.

“I know it was in May.” Ville grinned.

Soya laughed, “I’m going to spend the rest of my life reminding you when our wedding anniversary is, aren’t I?”

“Probably.” Ville chuckled. “So books?” He asked redirecting their conversation.

“Do you just want to get books we like? I mean between both of us, I’m sure we can find 100 books that we both love and wouldn’t mind cutting into.”

“I think that’s the best idea.” Ville shrugged. “We both enjoy the same types of books, so there won’t be any arguments about them.”

“Where as if we pick them individually for each guest there will be?” Soya asked.

“Seems much more stressful to do it that way Soya, I figure it’s our wedding and the invitations should represent us.”

“But I’m sure that if we sat down looked over the list we could come up with books that best fit our guests. I mean the 100 that are coming to the wedding are our closest friends.”

“Would you prefer to do it that way?” Ville asked with a sigh.

“I think if we sat down and really looked at this list, you’d find it was a much easier task then you think it is.”

“Soya, if this is the way you want to do it, then let’s do it.”

“But only if you agree.”

Ville shook his head, knowing that he would give in on anyway Soya wanted to plan their wedding. “Come on, let’s grab a cup of coffee from upstairs and look through the list you have.”

“Coffee?” Soya asked looking up at where Ville pointed, finding that there was indeed a small coffee shop upstairs. They walked up the stairs, Soya finding a small table they could sit at and unbuttoning her grey wool trench coat, revealing the cream embroidered chiffon smock dress she’d decided to wear underneath. The dress fell to the top of her knees revealing the grey knit tights she’d worn to keep the winter cold off her legs and had a low, but modest v-cut neck. She’d worn her black flat boots, as she really didn’t want to have another incident with her heels and ice.

It wasn’t a dress she wore often, but she figured it was modest enough to wear to lunch with her mother, especially since her mother enjoyed dining in restaurants that she and Ville tended to avoid.

“Hot chocolate.” Ville said setting a mug in front of her, “I figured you didn’t need the added caffeine before we met with your mother.”

Soya smiled, cupping the warm mug in her hands. “Thank you, what did you get?”

“The same.” Ville winked, taking a sip. “Do you want to talk about the list first? Or do you want to talk about what’s really on your mind?”

“And what’s on my mind Mr. Valo?” Soya asked, crossing her legs as she leaned her elbows on the table her hands still cupping the mug as she took a sip.

“Lunch.” Ville stated.

Soya sighed, setting her cup down. “Ville.”

“What’s bothering you Soya?”

Soya shook her head, “I just, I know my mother, I know what may come out of her mouth. I also know you and I know how fiercely protective of me you are.”

“Caught on to that, have you?” Ville teased leaning back in his chair.

“I just…whatever she says Ville, I really just need you to stay calm and let it roll off your shoulders.”

“You’re asking me to stay silent?”

“I’m asking you not to call her any bad names in front of her.”

“I have better tact then that.” Ville scoffed.

“Do you?” Soya asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m offended you think I don’t.” Ville admitted staring at his fiancé in surprise.

Soya shook her head. “For me, Ville,” she sighed leaning back in her own chair before running her hands through her hair. “I’ve come to realize that 90% of the things she says, she says just to get a reaction out of me, and I’ve come to figure out that if I don’t react she tends to lose her steam. She doesn’t have my father egging her on and I don’t have him mediating. I just…is it so wrong to just want to get through this lunch without any type of argument?”

“Of course not.”

“Then I need you not to react.” Soya said. “Please.”

Ville blinked and sighed. “Fine, I’ll hold my tongue.”

“I swear it’ll be worth it Ville, lunch will last an hour in a half tops and after that we’ll go home and I’ll let you work the rest of the day uninterrupted.”

“Really?” Ville asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Really.” Soya nodded.

“Soya, I’ll stay quiet and be polite because you asked me to, not because you’re bribing me with uninterrupted work time. I’ll do it because I love you, and because I know that when we get home you’ll let me rant and rave about the conversation we have at that table. I’ll do it because you don’t need the added stress in your life.”

Soya nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Ville nodded. “Now let’s see that list.”

Soya smiled as she opened up her clutch pulling out the typed list they’d made of their ceremony guests and unfolded it, turning it towards Ville to look at.

Ville chuckled as he scanned the paper and Soya’s neat writing next to some of the names. “You have half of these already done Soya.”

“Told you it would be easier then you thought.” Soya teased. “If this is the way we want to do it, then it’s already half done, if you don’t agree with any of the books, then just let me know and we’ll decide something better. The ones I left blank are mostly friends and family of yours that I don’t know well or at all, so I figured you’d be the better judge on what books would be best for them.”

“What if it’s not the way we want to do it?”

“Then we go back downstairs, look through the books and find the ones that represent us.”

Ville sighed. “If we go that route, no one would understand our morbid sense of humor would they?”

Soya smiled, she knew that if she and Ville were left to pick their own books, a lot of them would be of a more depressing or dark genre as that was what she and Ville both enjoyed and while they would try to keep to the lighter of books it just wouldn’t work that way. She knew Ville well and knew herself better, it would not work out the way they would set out to do it. “I think a lot would, 90% of the list is Finn’s, and we all have a bit of a morbid sense of humor, but a lot wouldn’t get it, no.”

Ville sighed. “Why is this so fucking hard?”

Soya shrugged. “No idea, it’s not meant to be…we could go back to the ‘love’ theme if you want.”

Ville shook his head, a small smile on his lips. “No,” he said looking back down at their list of guests. “I think we should just do books we like.”

“Why?” Soy asked wondering about his logic.

“Because a lot of these books that you have written down are going to be more difficult to find in hardback, we’d have to go searching for them and even order some online, which would probably break the budget you set for the invitations in the first place.”

“They’re not that difficult.” Soya said leaning forward to look at the list.

“You actually have the words ‘first edition’ written next to some of these books, and I for one refuse to pay money for a first edition only to cut into them. We’re not gifting the books Soya, we’re making them into our invitations. We’ll spend more time looking for some of these then actually fixing them up to put our invitations inside.”

Soya sighed. “All right, what if we just look for the books themselves? Not the edition I have marked.”

“Even then we’re sticking to used bookstores and not new ones, some of these are still going to be difficult to find.” Ville shrugged. “If you really want to do it this way, then we’ll get started, but I’m trying to think of this time wise. Even if we start today, we may not find all the books that are just on this list, which means we’ll have to look in New York when we go and we both said that invitations wasn’t something we were going to focus on when we were down there.”

“Well if we push back when we mail them out…” Soya started.

“We’d have to push back all the invitations Soya, we need to get these mailed out by the end of January and we need to send them all together, we’re not going to send one batch and then the other. We need to consider our friends that are on tour or working during the time we’re planning on getting married.”

Soya nodded, they had in fact taken that into account when they’d decided when to send out the invitations. Because they wanted all their guests to be able to attend their wedding they’d decided to send out the invitations earlier so their guests had enough time to save the date. Especially those that were on tour or had demanding work schedules, which most of their friends did.

“I think it would be less time consuming, easier and cheaper just to find books that we enjoy and from there decide which of those books represents these guests best.” He said holding up the list.

“I never thought about doing that.” Soya murmured.

“If anything, we can break our rule and just get the invitations over and done with when we get to New York, I’m sure Josef wouldn’t mind helping us gut some books so we can send them out by the end of the month.”

Soya nodded slowly. “So we’ll do that then.”

Ville nodded. “I think it would be best.”

“All right.” Soya said taking the list from his fingers and putting it back in her purse. “Then that’s been decided, see not that hard.”

“Not hard at all.” Ville laughed, drinking the rest of his hot chocolate and looking up at the wall at the time. “It’s a quarter to one, we should probably get going.”

Soya turned and looked at the time herself before sighing. “Yes we should.” She agreed, drinking the rest of her hot chocolate, and handing the mug back to Ville as he stood to take them to the counter. She stood herself, shrugging her trench coat back on and following Ville down the stairs back to the book shop and out the door. Both of them slipped their gloves back on, Ville slipping his beanie back on his head before they started down the sidewalk towards the restaurant Soya’s mother had told them to meet her.

“It’ll be fine you know.” Ville said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and kissing the top of her head.

Soya nodded, knowing he wasn’t talking about the invitations. “Yeah, I know.”

They walked up to the front door that was Chez Dominique, Ville pushing the door open, letting Soya in before following her. He watched as she scanned the restaurant briefly before turning to the hostess.

“Olemme täällä tavata Elizabeth Toivonen.” She said with a small smile. (We’re here to meet Elizabeth Toivonen)

“Tietenkin juuri tällä tavalla.” The hostess smiled back before leading them into the restaurant. (Of course, right this way.)

She led them to a table in the back of the restaurant, Elizabeth already sitting in her seat, obviously waiting for them. Before the hostess could even announce them, Elizabeth was already speaking.

“Now that the rest of my party has arrived, you can bring the food and drinks out.”

“Yes ma’am.” The hostess said with a weak smile, scurrying away from the table. Soya didn’t blame her; she would have done the same thing.

“Mamma.” Soya said as Elizabeth stood, because the social customs called for it, Soya kissed her mother’s cheek, while Elizabeth and Ville acknowledged each other with a short nod. Soya smiled lightly back at Ville as he gestured for her coat, she slipped it off, letting him fold it over her chair before taking her seat. Her smile became much more genuine when Ville pushed her chair in before taking his seat.

“How are you Mamma?” Soya asked politely, though she knew her mother hated small talk.

“I’m fine Soya, I took the liberty of ordering salads for lunch.”

“That’s perfectly fine.” Soya nodded, knowing that she and Ville weren’t the only ones that wanted to get the lunch done and over with.

“When are you leaving Helsinki?” Elizabeth asked, her attention staying on Soya.

“We’re leaving on the 2nd,” Soya said. “We’re spending New Years here and then heading back.”

Elizabeth nodded slowly. “You’re starting your rehearsals late.”

Soya shrugged. “I haven’t even been sent my schedule yet, so I have no idea when we’re actually starting this coming year.”

“You said ‘we’? Who are you taking with you?”

Soya blinked, looking over at Ville, who as promised was staying silent, though he did wink at her, causing her to smile. She reached around to his back so she could rub her fingers down his spine, hoping it would soothe the tension she could feel radiating off of him.

“Ville is coming with me.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, just as a waiter came and set their salads in front of them, along with refilling Elizabeth’s glass of water. He asked if anyone needed anything, Elizabeth responding with a sharp ‘no’ causing the man to give a short nod and leave the table.

“How long do you plan on staying in New York, Ville?”

Ville blinked surprised he’d been addressed, before answering. “Most likely until the end of March, so three months.”

“And you can afford to take three months off your work?”

“Ville can work from anywhere.” Soya responded before Ville could.

“What exactly is it you do Ville?”

“I’m a musician.” Ville responded slowly. “The band and I just came off a yearlong tour back in August, so we’re taking a bit of a break at the moment. Three of them are actually going on tour in January with a side band.”

“And you’re not a part of this side band?”

“Uh…no, I’m not. It’s our guitarist’s group, but they’ll most likely be back in April and then we’ll start working on some new material.”

“And you can afford to take this type of time off?” Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ville blinked and nodded slowly. “Like Soya said, I can work from anywhere, so yes, I can afford it.”

“And what happens when you can’t?”

“Mamma.” Soya frowned, wondering where in the world the questions were coming from. Really, Soya wondered where the interest was coming from, even when her mother had first met Ville, she’d never shown him any interest and very rarely acknowledged him. The fact that she was now interrogating Ville as if she was concerned for Soya, well it didn’t sit right with Soya.

“Mamma, how did you spend your Christmas?” Soya asked, wanting to get off the subject of Ville’s career.

Elizabeth turned to her daughter, before answering. “I spent it in Tempere.”

Soya nodded, remembering that her father had gotten that house as a vacation home, though only he and her mother ever stayed there. “Was it nice?”

“It was quiet Soya. I saw you spoiled your sister this year.”

Soya shrugged. “I do so every year Mamma, this year isn’t any different. It made her happy; Ville, his family and I had a lot of fun getting presents for her.”

“You’re sister doesn’t need any more spoiling Soya.” Elizabeth said, watching as Soya picked at her salad. “And it’s rude to change the subject.”

“I just don’t think the subject we were talking about was proper for lunch conversation Mamma.”

“Really? Because it’s the reason I wanted to have this lunch.”

Soya blinked up at her mother. “I’m sorry?”

“You really think I’m going to let you marry someone if they’re not good enough for you?”

“I didn’t realize you had a say in who I married.” Soya responded with a frown.

Elizabeth turned back to Ville. “You know Soya has more money than she’s probably told you about.”

Ville blinked. “I’m well aware how much money Soya has; I could really care less about it.”

“Are you really?” Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Mamma, I’ve told him.” Soya frowned. “He knows about the money I received after isi passed, he knows about my other accounts, we’ve talked about it, just as I know how much Ville makes, but what does this have to do with anything?”

“Ville, how stable is the music businesses?”

Ville shrugged slowly, having a feeling as to where Elizabeth was taking the conversation. “In general, not as stable for newer bands, it takes years to make a name for yourself in this type of industry and to keep the name known. For me, it’s quite stable.”

“And what happens when it stops being stable?”

“Mamma, Ville’s been doing this for nearly twenty years, it isn’t an issue we’re worried about or think about at all.”

“It should be.” Elizabeth argued causing Soya to straighten, keeping her eyes on her mother while Elizabeth turned to look back at Ville. “What happens when your band stops making music? What happens when you can’t support Soya? I assume you both want children, what happens when you’re not able to support your own children? As you’ve probably seen Ville, Soya is accustomed to living a certain way.”

“Mam-” Soya started only for Elizabeth to raise a hand to silence her daughter.

“You’ve seen her addiction to shoes haven’t you? Because though I don’t notice a lot of things about my daughter, I have noticed the never ending stock of shoes she owns. Very expensive shoes.”

“Mamma, stop.” Soya said quietly. “I don’t expect Ville to support me.”

“So when this music hobby of his is over, and you’re the sole provider, you just plan on dipping your fingers into the money you’ve inherited? Money that your father worked very hard for? Money that your grandfather worked hard for? Money, Soya, that has never been actually touched other then for emergencies. Do you plan on using it for your children’s college funds?”

She was about to respond, only to turn towards Ville when she heard his chair move back. She watched as he grabbed his jacket and pushed his chair in roughly, causing it to slam against the table as he left.

“Well that was-”

“No.” Soya whispered harshly as she glared at her mother. “You don’t get to talk, I get to talk. I don’t care if you like Ville or not, you do not get any say in who I marry. I don’t care what you think but money is not even on the reasons as to why I am marrying Ville or vice versa. I’m marrying him because for the first time in my life I have found the place I belong. I have found a man that loves me for who I am and loves me in spite of my faults.

“Ville has helped me grow into the person in front of you, and if you don’t like it, then tough. I’m marrying Ville because I love that man. I could give a rat’s ass if he were a musician, a politician, a lawyer, a trash man or still working at his father’s shop. I love him for who he is inside and not his goddamn career. You don’t get a say in this, you don’t get an opinion on this. If I had it my way you wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near our children either.

“You talk about rudeness, this entire conversation was rude mother, I have no idea why you felt the need to interrogate him like this, because it sure as hell wasn’t for my well being and it sure as hell wasn’t because of the damn money. You had no right to do this.”

“I had every right.”

“In what world?!” Soya asked standing up and shrugging on her coat not bothering to button it up as she grabbed her purse. “In what world do you have the right to talk down to someone like this? To disparage their successful career! You have no right to do that mother! None!”

“Here,” Elizabeth said not bothering to respond to Soya’s speech as she held out a yellow envelope. “Read though this and you’ll see why I question your relationship.”

Soya grabbed the envelope from her mother’s hands but didn’t bother going through it. “Don’t expect another one of these gatherings.” She muttered before leaving the restaurant, tucking the envelope under her arm as she pushed the door open and started buttoning her coat. She looked up and down the street and seeing no sign of Ville as she pulled her gloves and scarf out of her pocket, wrapping her scarf around her neck and pulling her gloves on.

“Ville where did you go?” she muttered, walking towards the car with her hands stuffed in her coats pockets. She looked into the store windows, hoping to see a glimpse of his tall form but had no luck. It wasn’t until she reached the car only a block from the bookstore that she saw him leaning up against the car, fingering a cigarette in his hand.

“You could have waited outside the restaurant for me.” Soya murmured as she stood in front of him, only to get a silent shrug as she stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“Felt like walking, can we just go home?”

“Yeah, of course.” Soya nodded, opening her clutch and searching for her keys. Finally finding them she unlocked the door and went around to the driver’s side. She winced when she heard the passenger door slam shut behind Ville; rubbing her face tiredly she leaned against the car and took a deep breath before releasing it slowly and getting into the car. She threw the envelope and purse into the back seat before pulling out of her parking space and starting the drive home.

The drive back to the tower was silent; she continually looked back at Ville who was silently looking out the window. She tried, what felt like a million times, to start a conversation, to apologize for what her mother had said, but felt her voice failing her. So she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and looked over at him when the lights were red.

Fifteen minutes later they reached the tower, Soya parking in front of it. She hadn’t even turned off the engine before she heard Ville get out of the car, slamming the car door closed. She watched as he trudged through the snow, already digging through his pocket for the key and storm into the house, that door slamming closed as well, she could practically see the stones of the tower radiating with anger from where she sat.

Sighing she leaned back in her seat, running her gloved hand over her face tiredly. She didn’t fear Ville; she would never fear him but at this moment it was his anger. She’d never seen him so angry before and they’d argued. They weren’t perfect, they had their arguments which usually were solved before going to bed, but this…she sighed again, this wasn’t something she could solve with a few placating words, a hug or a kiss.

This wasn’t something she could even solve with sex, and for the most part she could solve any of Ville’s problems with that method. She wasn’t sure where his anger stemmed from, if he was just angry over her mother’s words, if he was angry at her and for the first time she feared going into the house to Ville to meet his reaction.

Dropping her hands, she turned in her seat and grabbed her clutch as she got out of the car. She closed the door much more quietly then Ville had, locking the car and dropping her keys inside her clutch as she trudged up the walk to the door.

Entering the tower, she was met but silence as she closed the door behind her. Before she took off her coat and other winter clothes she moved to the living room setting her clutch down on the couch before moving towards Austin’s doghouse and smiling lightly as she slid the door open and the pup scrambled out.

“Hey sweetheart.” Soya said, picking the pup up and moving to the back door. She opened the door, dropping the dog lightly in the blanket of snow and motioned her to walk. She waited patiently for Austen to sniff around the yard, allowing the pup to do her business, before she came trotting back, lifting up her paws and resting them on Soya’s legs.

“All done?” Soya asked, bending down to pick Austen up, kissing the tip of the pup’s nose before going back inside. She stroked the top of Austen’s head before crouching down and putting her back in her little home. “I’ll be right back Austen, stay there all right? Not like I’m giving you much of a choice.” She muttered, sliding the door closed and patting the top before standing up again.

Grabbing her clutch she made her way up the stairs, taking off her scarf and gloves and stuffing them in her pocket. She was about to go to the bedroom, when she saw the closed the door of Ville’s home studio. Chewing on her bottom lip she went over to the closed door and knocked quietly before opening the door.

“I didn’t say you could come in.” Ville muttered as he sat up from the couch with his guitar.

Soya nodded slowly as she watched him put the guitar back on its stand. “I know you’re angry.”

“Yes, I am.” Ville nodded looking up at her. “And I’d rather be left alone at the moment.”

Soya sighed. “I’d rather we talk this out Ville.” She watched as he rubbed a hand over his face. “You can’t blame me for what my mother said.”

Ville scoffed as he stood up from the couch and started leaving the room, Soya backing up as he slammed the door shut behind him. “No, Soya, I can’t blame you for something someone else said.” He muttered. “Let it go Soya, leave me alone for a few hours and then we’ll talk about it.”

“But you blame me for something, don’t you.” She didn’t questions it, she stated it.

Ville took a deep breath, trying with all his might to hold his anger until Soya left him in peace as he turned to look at her. “Soya. Let. It. Go.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong Ville!”

“You didn’t!” Ville yelled, “You think you didn’t do anything wrong!”

Soya blinked. “No, it’s not like I encouraged her to say any of those things Ville!”

“I didn’t see you stopping her either!”

Soya opened her mouth, only to snap it shut and look at him in disbelief. “You’re angry, because I didn’t stop my mother from speaking?”

“I’m angry because of the stupid promise I made you I couldn’t defend myself. I’m angry because you didn’t fucking defend me either!” Ville yelled before starting to walk down the stairs, only to stop and wince when he felt something hard hit the center of his back and fall to the steps behind him. He turned and found Soya’s purse sitting on the steps before picking it up, tempted to throw it back. “I’m not your fucking whipping boy Soya; don’t throw shit at me to get my attention.”

“Then don’t say stupid things!” Soya yelled at him.

Ville shook his head as he started back down the steps only to hear Soya following him. “Leave it alone Soya.”

“You think I didn’t defend you!” Soya yelled, shoving at his arm, causing him to stumble caught by surprise by her actions and her anger. He turned to glare at her only to see her glaring right back. “You think I actually let my mother get away with saying all that bullshit. That I just sat there and nodded my head like some fucking doll!”

“Yes!” Ville yelled.

Soya blinked at him, her body deflating from anger, her eyes filling with disappointment as she looked at him. “Then you obviously don’t know me as well as you think I do.” She said shaking her head. “After you left, I defended you Ville, I yelled at her in that restaurant, made the scene I asked you not to, because she had no right to say what she did. No right to put her opinion in a relationship she can’t even begin to understand.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you think that I actually listened and believed any of that garbage she spouted!”

“Soya-”

“No! I don’t believe you’re angry over what she said Ville! We went into the restaurant knowing that she would say something just to get a reaction.”

“Then why am I angry Soya? Please enlightenment me as to where my angry is stemming from because obviously I can’t fucking think for myself!”

“You’re angry because deep down you believe what she said was true!”

Ville froze as he stared at her, before giving a bitter laugh and grabbing his keys. “Leave.”

Soya blinked. “What?”

“If you think that I actually believe that shit that came out of that woman’s mouth then obviously you don’t know me as well as you think you do and you can get the fuck out of my tower. I’m going for a walk; I don’t want you here when I come back.”