Going To Meet The Family

An hour later, Alexander from himself sitting in a cramped office with a bunch of wide-eyed teenagers. Auralia had gone with one of her students, Emily, to get the girl's stuff from her father's place.

The girl would be living upstairs in Auralia's apartment from now on. At least that's what Auralia had told him before leaving him alone in the dojo.

Well, not quite as alone as he thought…

"So, Mr. Ezra, are you really Coach's boyfriend?" A girl with blond hair asked, her arms crossed over her chest. "You don't seem like her type."

Alexander felt his right eye twitch in annoyance. Did they really have to keep asking him the same questions. Was he not that good of a choice for Auralia?

"I am…" Alexander sighed. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you this but I really am."

"He's even planning to marry her." The boy from outside added.

Alexander watched the room go silent in shock at the kid's words. It was as if he had just confessed to a crime.

 "Are you being serious?! You're going to take Coach away from us." Another girl exclaimed, ending the silence in the room. "Are you the reason she's been gone for so long."

"What?! No…Argh." Alexander ran a hand through his hair. "Look here kids…Your Coach isn't going to disappear on you because we're getting married. Honestly, she seems to care about you guys more than anything-"

The way Auralia had dropped everything for her student, even going as far as getting guardianship of one of her students to protect them told Alexander just how much she cared for them.

"Hey guys! We're back." A voice suddenly called out.

Everyone in the room turned to the doorway to see Auralia peeking through it. She looked at them confused.

"Am I interrupting something?" She asked, stepping into the room.

"No. We were just chatting." Alexander answered, quickly getting up. "Have you sorted out things?"

"Yip. Emily's just setting herself up in my apartment." 

"Good…" Alexander looked at the silver watch on his wrist. 

The watch showed that it was 5:30pm. Mother had told him she was planning a family dinner for 7pm. Maybe…

***

Auralia fiddled with her jeans as Alexander drove his car downtown. She was nervous about the sudden dinner invite, her clothes making her feel she was dressed too casually for such an important dinner.

She hadn't expected it but agreed to the invite knowing it would give her the chance to speak to Maria about the engagement plans. And get the Ezra's family approval in one go.

"Don't be so nervous about it." Alexander said suddenly. "You've already gotten the approval from the scariest person in the family."

Auralia was confused for a moment before realizing who Alexander was talking about. "Your mother?! She is the scariest person in your family. Not the chairman?!"

Alexander chuckled. "Father is scary too but mother can make him look like a teddy bear if she really wants too."

Auralia thought back to all the new interviews she had seen of the chairman. He had seemed to be quite a scary person, taking no nonsense from the interviewers, sometimes even making them look like a fool.

If Maria could make that person seem like a teddy bear…

She prayed that she never got on Maria's bad side. She didn't want to think what that woman would do to her if she did.

"We're here." Alexander suddenly said, bringing Auralia out of her spiraling thoughts.

She looked up to herself staring at a grand, modern-looking building. It seemed to be three-stories high and was made of steel with glass windows everywhere.

It seemed that while the Davidson Marison had the charm of a historical mansion, this mansion had the charm of modern-day architecture. 

As Alexander parked his car next to another sports car, he murmured, "Seems Crystal is back from her trip…"

Auralia wondered about the comment as Alexander opened the car door for her and led her to the front door.

There they were greeted by a middle-aged woman before being directed to a sitting room where Maria was. The older woman looked up upon seeing them and smiled.

"Auralia. Alexander. So nice to see you two." Maria exclaimed as she got up to greet them. She pulled Auralia into a hug and whispered in her ear, "Thank you for making the time. We will talk soon."

She then let go of Auralia and Alexander greeted his mother with a kiss on either cheek. Maria then said, "Alex dear, could you get your sister for me? I want to introduce her to Auralia before your father comes home."

Alexander nodded and left the room. As soon as he did, Maria's expression turned serious and she indicated to the couches.

"Shall we decide the engagement date before they come back?"

"Of course." Auralia nodded. "I was wondering if we could change it because that's the day of my students' tournament."

Maria nodded in understanding. "And your presence is required?"

"Yes…"

"Alright. I guess we can move it to Sunday." Maria murmured, looking down at her phone. "Will that work?"

Auralia nodded. "That will work."

As Auralia finished speaking, the door suddenly opened and a woman in her twenties with silver hair and brown eyes entered the room. 

She was quite small, shorter than Auralia from the looks of it and had the same facial structure as Alexander.

As the woman locked eyes with Auralia, she smiled widely, showing pearly, white teeth.

"Hello there, sister-in-law." The woman exclaimed, hurrying over to grab Auralia's hands. "It's nice to finally meet the girl who stole my older brother's heart."