Divorce me I'm done serving you (Ayla) novel Chapter 669

Technically, Max held the title of Ayla's boyfriend. It gave him the right to hold her hand in public—a little gesture that carried a hint more intimacy than friendship, but only just.

Their closeness stopped right at that thin boundary.

Even the kiss on the street had been Max's idea. Ayla went along with it, her lips meeting his, but the connection was tentative. She seemed distant, almost as if she were measuring the experience, testing if it stirred anything new inside her.

The soft, polite kiss Ayla returned was fleeting, no more than a brush of lips. For Max, though, even that tiny reciprocation was enough. He knew Ayla wouldn't, or maybe couldn't, offer him anything deeper. That much was clear in the way she held back.

Still, Max found satisfaction in these small moments.

Their unspoken understanding, the easy trust between them, made Ayla comfortable enough to let him massage her shoulders. The more time Max spent with her, the more he marveled at their rare, almost uncanny sense of connection.

To find a kindred spirit like this felt nothing short of miraculous.

Watching Ayla, Max couldn't help himself—he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

He wished her a good night, hoping her sleep would be undisturbed, hoping she would wake happy.

...

But outside that peaceful room, life was already spiraling out of control.

With the children finally settled and Kayla gone, Draven pulled out his phone.

The screen filled with images—Ayla and Max kissing on the street.

And there was more.

Ayla had kissed Max back. Max had walked her to her hotel room, left after an hour, then returned wearing pajamas, and didn't leave again.

Draven stared at the messages, unable to make sense of the words.

It felt like he'd stepped into an alternate universe, where nothing was familiar and everything was wrong.

He hadn't seen this coming.

He'd always kept tabs on Ayla, but never imagined she and Max could get so close—so suddenly.

But Draven was the child left in the shadows. His father had never acknowledged him. When he returned to the family, Kayla ignored him, and his uncle bullied him. Kayla never protected him; to her, it was just childish squabbling.

All Draven could do was endure, submit, and quietly accept whatever came his way. For the longest time, he didn't even know what he wanted.

Until Ayla.

His feelings for her simmered beneath the surface for three years before he even understood what they meant.

It was only after meeting Ayla that his world changed. She saw him, loved him, and for the first time, he felt truly alive. Loving Ayla was like a starving man discovering a banquet—he could not get enough.

He could never let her go.

But now, Ayla had left him. Just as in his childhood, Draven believed that something about him was fundamentally wrong. Or maybe it wasn't anything he did—maybe he was simply destined to be the one left behind in the end.

After their breakup, he missed Ayla so deeply that sleep became impossible. But not once did he consider chasing after her or begging her to come back.

He was the same man he'd always been, unchanged by their parting. Why would Ayla see him differently now? There was nothing about him that could make her fall for him again. If he truly wanted Ayla's love, Draven knew he would have to change. He would have to do something—anything—to become worthy of winning her heart back.