The sun poured in through the windows, heating the side of Sofia’s face just as she opened her eyes. The previous day’s memories hit her like a wave especially as her eyes fell on Oscar, knotting his tie in front of the mirror. Sofia had to look at the diamond ring across her finger to remind herself that none of this was a dream—that she truly married this man.“You’re awake” Oscar noted, immediately turning to walk towards the bed and while Sofia yawned, she tried to sit up. The whole bed scented as strongly as him and when he sat by the edge of the bed, there was a smile that immediately lit up her lips.“Good morning beautiful” Oscar ran his hands through her hair and she chuckled only lightly. You would think the shyness would stop after so long that they had shared together but each time Oscar happened to be even a few meters away from her, Sofia’s cheeks would burst into flames.As it did that moment, they were flustered.“Last night was amazing” Oscar said with a smirk and So
“Oh my God, dad?!” Amelia walked into Benedict’s ward and Sofia arose from the edge of the bed with an arch between her brows, she had never a smile as wide as the one that crept to his lips. “Dad?” She somehow managed to mutter beneath her breath and Amelia made her way to Benedict’s side. With everything he had mentioned about his distanced daughter, Sofia was far fetched with how she imagined Amelia to be.With a slighter darker hair and a greasy chocolate skin, those weren’t even her prominent features. Amelia was pregnant, heavily pregnant like her water was minutes from breaking but she was still flexible in giving her dad a hug. “It’s really you!” You could hear the doubt evident in his cracked voice as if Benedict was between thinking this was a dream or a hallucination. Sofia, as she stood there was the one who had million questions. For one, where exactly had Amelia been because it had been years since she was estranged, so did Benedict say.And why was he so welcoming, so
Sofia tidied her arms around Benedict’s and as she sat upon her bed, a million thoughts flashed behind her seemingly void eyes. “She’ll be okay” Benedict had said for the nth time, not that it did much. Sofia would just dart her eyes for a second and then nod.It didn’t calm her racing heart nor the thoughts in her head. She felt so strongly about Amelia before but now, all she wanted to know was that both her and the baby were okay. Sofia knew one too many things about having one even through technically, she never did. But deep down, it was something she wanted, especially with Oscar.Oh Oscar, she thought to herself.How furious he would be when he finds out about what she had done. But then again how would she have the slightest idea that coincidence could be so ruthless, drawing together Amelia and Jeremy in an impossible way.Surely now, he wouldn’t want to sign as an investor to Oscar’s company. And the guilt of knowing she might have ruined everything weighed down upon Sofia’
You know that feeling when you zone out of reality, when the pain seems so unbearable that you just want out, you’re desperately hoping that this is some nightmare because even though you’ve pinched yourself a thousand times, you’re just so afraid to believe that it actually happened.That was Sofia Winters in that very moment as she sat on the hospital waiting room chair, eyes set in a distance but on no particular object and so many thoughts flooding behind her eyes. A tear was on the brink of falling down her cheeks and her throat was the most sore she ever had it.It had been just an hour but it felt as though she already had been through the five stages of grief, from screaming in the center of the hospital halls, to pacing across each post and corner, to fidgeting and the near nervous breakdown, to the river of tears that she exhausted from her eyes to the weight of the world she felt clinching around her heart. She thought she was having a heart attack.All while it was just h
Oscar was the first to walk in through the door. Immediately he had brought the car to a halt, he didn’t even waste a second before carrying on, leaving Sofia a few steps behind. She did halt for a moment, not in the realization but now the assurance that something was wrong.She hated being on the edge just as much as she repulsed being left in the dark so this was a difficult moment for her. She just wished Oscar would tell her what was wrong, to finally open up to her. I mean it could not be that bad, she muttered to herself.But then again, her fate would be quite merciless.She took in a deep breath as she mounted the penultimate step of the front porch and she decided there wasn’t really much she could do but trust him. She told herself that she was going to wait until he was ready.“Hey!” The door immediately opened to both Theresa and Cynthia and their faces were crooked with concern. “What took you so long?” One asked. “We were expecting you guys earlier” The other chipped i
“Sofia” He muttered, turning to the side for a little while and it was the most defeated that Sofia had ever seen Oscar’s eyes. He desperately tried to hide them from me but she was quick, catching a glimpse of how burdened they were with the secrets he held back from her. And each moment that passed that she was in the dark, her heart broke, little by little. “Oscar?” She called, after the whole speech urging him to trust her but all he did was fall back into his chair.“Just…Sofia, just let it go” He said. “No” Sofia immediately threw herself forward as she shook her head. “I’m not letting it go. Quite frankly, I can’t let it go. I made a vow—““Enough with the vows!” He raised his voice it was like a rumble of thunder of her head. Sofia fell quiet faster than light, pushing the hardest lump down her throat and when their eyes met, hers grew moist.“Enough with the vows?” She softly echoed and this was her greatest fear. “Sofia…” “Enough with the vows?” By the sound of her voice,
Morning came slower than a wounded snail.But it was no surprise as Sofia barely even closed her eyes to sleep. The whole night she’d spent lying on her back with her eyes fixated to the ceiling. She’d cried until no more tears departed from her eyes and now, she laid on her side, watching the sun rise from the windows.She knew when Oscar had gotten up and now, she could hear the whish-whoosh sounds from the shower, which made her heart sink. How could he feel so comfortable going back to work so soon when their worlds only just recently imploded on them.“It’s bad” His words kept echoing back to her over the course of the night. “The doctor said it’s bad.” But how bad? Of course she comforted him but a million thoughts and questions still roamed freely in her head.How bad?How long—two of the most terrifying ones. After everything, Sofia had been cautious to ask the questions, partly for Oscar and also because her heart could only take so much. Lying there, her arms folded across h
“Oscar.” Let it be known that hours had passed now since Sofia had heard the words she feared the most. The thing was she didn’t even realize she feared them until it came like a slap in her face. And on top of the many questions she already had were more.“I declined the clinical trial” Oscar had informed her and her lips uncontrollably fell apart as she stared at him. His mind was made up and she could see the firmness in his eyes, in this decision he had come to by himself—without even telling her after agreeing to go through this together. She was mute, stung by both betrayal and shock, and anger. “Oscar!” It just didn’t make any sense. She was aware of a clinical trial that his father, Ronald did and he confessed to how the medicine was a lot helpful to him even though he already had a prognosis. The thing was with the damage of the condition and Ronald’s age, surgery was never an option.His best bet was the clinical trial but it could only do so much. Being in its early expe
FIVE YEARS LATER.“Aunt Annie!” A child’s scream reverberated through the halls before a little girl of about five years scurried into the room in a bright yellow dress and the first thing she did was embrace Ann who was waiting with her usual open arms.“How are you, Mia?!” She lifted the girl into her arms, adorning her flustered face with kisses. “Where is your mommy?” And just as she asked that question, Sofia scurried right after, Oscar by her right hand. “Have you got the keys?” She asked, panting from her lips and looking around the room perhaps for anything they might’ve been forgetting. But just for a brisk moment, Oscar reached out to her hands.“You look beautiful.” He didn’t fail to compliment her whenever she did, in the last five years at that. Oh how time flies, truly. And to say a lot had changed would be a massive understatement but then again, not so much, I mean Oscar and Sofia were still so madly in love with each other.“Mommy, aren’t we running late?” Mia called
SIX MONTHS LATER.The sun was out on this chill Saturday evening and the winds filled the trees around the magnificent canopies. There were flowers of every kind and colors and balloons scattered across the garden fields. Everyone was seated with their eyes turned to the couple, the main reason they were here in the first place.“Theodore Baron and Victoria Freya Winters” The officiator called both their names and it was hard for a tear not to well in Sofia’s eyes in that moment. Her sister looked beautiful in that flowing white dress and it was exactly how they’d both envisioned everything since they were kids.Including her as her maid of honor and the same could be said about Theo who by his right hand side had Oscar beside him as well. In that moment, his eyes met Sofia ever beaming with a smile. Six months had passed since his very first surgery and all the events that came after. So did the second and the third, and now that the trial was over, there was only one final test left
Sofia was the never one to believe in miracles.Well that was until today. Three hours had passed since everything that happened, Dimitri’s arrest as the everything in context. And as she sat there, she kept replaying it all behind her eyes. She was wrapped with a blanket and Theo and Damien were right beside her.Of course they knew now of what had happened to Oscar and how Annie had dived in front of a bullet to save Sofia, falling off the building in the process. They were just as shocked as the person who unfortunately had to witness it all. It was no wonder she stayed quiet for those three hours, reeling in the aftershock and post trauma. However, the silence had to come to an end as the doctor came out of the room just then. She stood with aching feet, feeling like she’d always spent weeks in these particular hallway. Her lips parted but her eyes said the most words as the doctor heaved a sigh.“It was a success. You can go in now” The doctor broke the news and in that moment,
“We can’t let her leave” Dimitri muttered to David, whose name Sofia had only just come to know. The two of them were at a safe distance but she could hear the murmurs from their lips. They stood at the foot of the door so her only likely escape was jumping down down the five foot building and she couldn’t dare to scream because Dimitri had already assured her his non reluctance to shoot if she tried anything funny.And so she stood there, with her fingers intertwined with each other, playing it off as though she wasn’t genuinely scared for her life. Her skin was pale and her face was flushed off every color. A million thoughts ravaged her head, most especially the ones about how she could escape.She wondered how unfortunate it was that she’d walked into yet another predicament but in that moment, half the thoughts that roamed behind her eyes were about Oscar. And each time she stared at Dimitri, she was so full of vengeance that she wanted to pay him back for what he’d done.Howeve
As Sofia stood there, she couldn’t even utter a single word. Her whole mind raced with a thousand thoughts as the chaos behind the curtains echoed back to her. Her eyes were flooded with tears and there was a shooting pain that pierced up her spine.In a moment, her eyes fell to her open hands and he was all she saw. It was as though she had drifted back to the moment that she held unto him, begging him to open his eyes…to wake up. But the hardest part was she wasn’t even certain that he could hear her. She wasn’t certain that he would ever actually open those eyes again. And hers, well they darted to the piece of sandwich that laid capriciously on the hospital floor and before she could even start blaming herself for leaving, something she would have never done if she knew things would turn out this way. And for what, for food.Before she could blame herself or further immense herself into the guilt, an arm drew her back. “Hey hey” That shrill rang into her ears and Sofia had to ac
There was always something so terrifying about nightmares. Especially for Oscar and so that was why when he plunged his eyes open, only to find out that he was surrounded by an impaling darkness, the first thing he did was scream at the top of his lungs.The atmosphere was cold, sending a chill up his spine so much that he shivered. The hollow halls returned an echo of his voice as well and he was too afraid to move even an inch forward. He hated the darkness, he wasn’t scared or, although there was something quite eerie in the air.He just hated being lost and in that moment, he was.But that was until a shrill whisper crept up behind him and Oscar sharply turned around. He could swear that someone was here, was close to him but alas, when he threw his head over his shoulders, there was no one. Maybe now was the right time to get scared.His hands fell to his side, feeling the crisp texture of his scrubs and as he moved forward, the noises were all he heard. It was hard to move with
“It’s been four hours” A voice echoed from behind Sofia and it wasn’t until she turned around that her eyes fell upon Damien. His hands slipped into his pocket with an elongated gaze right next to her. She threw a look over her shoulders though she still clung to the stairwell.“It’s you” She happened to mutter plainly before he raised his hands into the air. “Well I’m no doctor,” Damien teased. “But I brought you a sandwich and a cup of coffee” He stretched out his hands and while her eyes to it, there was the ghost of a smile that made it across her lips.“I’m not hungry” Sofia heaved but by the look in Damien’s eyes, she didn’t have much of an option but to cave in, taking the food from his hands. Though she sipped the coffee, she kept the sandwich aside and for a brief moment, there were comforted by the shrouded silence between them. That was before Sofia suddenly piped up after a few minutes.“Thank you by the way” She said.Damien folded his arms with a shrill nod. “For this as
For the longest time, Ferdinand wanted to say those words to Theresa. It had even a really long time since we last saw him, rock bottom and fresh out of jail all while being handed divorce papers from his long term partner but just like everyone else, a lot had changed for him.And even more had come into perspective, like realizing how bad he’d been through the years, to Theresa, to Freya and then to Sofia. And now that he was all alone, he wanted nothing more than to finally tender his apology to those who he had hurt.But the fear that it might have been too late plagued Ferdinand, causing a few sleepless nights. There was no way he would have survived without Damien, who had come to the house to pick up some things and Ferdinand had told him everything that had happened.Damien didn’t have to do all of that including showing up at least twice a week but he did. He did because for him as well, everything had changed. Luckily, even as things weren’t as bad as they once was, he didn
The chilly rush of air breezed into Sofia’s face and through her hair, swaying it left and right across her shoulders. In case she drifted so far, the distinct scent of pharmaceuticals and the rapid beeping of the heart monitors both far and near were enough to remind her of where she was.She stood with her arms crossed in front of her, reminding herself by taking deep heavy breaths to calm down. Today was the day of Oscar’s first surgery which was a bypass graft procedure undoubtedly the most important and complex of the three he was recommended.The doctor might’ve said a million words to Sofia about how this was to repair the damaged blood vessels around his heart, both narrowed and clogged to improve his blood flow so it betters the chances of the trial working but it didn’t stomp her anxiety. It could be good but then again, she was well aware of the risks to know that it could also be terrible.So she stood still and even her deep breaths didn’t work so much. No one knew the am