By the time the sun had come up the next morning, Sofia was filled with so much dread for the start of the day—the fateful day she was about to get married to none other than Mr Henderson.Her thoughts had caused the first hours of the day to be a blur and the last thing she remembered where a few people barging through the doors and waking her up from her half-eyed slumber. She immediately got up to have her hands released from the chain and she looked around her in a horrid hasty motion, her eyes then falling on the white dress.Sofia was harshly stripped off her clothes in the audience of a dozen people and submerged underneath the running shower. She couldn’t breathe and the cold sent a chill up her spine. Her hands clasped around her bare chest as she shivered. In about a few minutes, she was roped up and handed a towel, a towel but not much privacy.The dress was hung in the corner of the room, a reminder of what was happening today. Of course it was Henderson that ordered the m
“Oscar!”Annie let out an ear splitting scream the moment she raised her head to find him lying across the ground. There was a pool of blood flowing beneath him when all of a sudden, he arose.His eyes were filled with more disbelief than hers as he crawled from beneath Aaron’s body. He’d fallen over, pinning Oscar to the ground while Francesca stood there with tears in her eyes, shaken up. “I’m okay” Oscar muttered and he panted heavy breathes of relief and Annie helped him up.“I didn’t do it” Francesca echoed beneath her voice and each time, it was a lot louder than the last. She threw the gun to the pavement and looked back and forth the two of them. “I swear i didn’t do it” She shook her head. She was bewildered and disoriented as Oscar dragged his brother’s body.“He’s breathing,” His two fingers reached to the corner of his neck but there wasn’t as much hope in his eyes when he looked back. “But his pulse is threading. Call 911” He reached into the car and tossed the phone over
Sofia was led out of the car in handcuffs and the winds gushed into her face, swaying her brunette hair left and right and drying her tears to her cheeks. Henderson was at the foot of the altar, with his hands folded in front of him. His cold eyes met Sofia's as she staggered her way down the aisle. The chord from the playing guitar struck her rapid heart beats as she made her way towards him. She couldn't believe this was happening and there really was nothing she could do, not even as she finally reached where he stood and lifted her gaze to face Mr Henderson.There was no one to blame but her father because when it came down to it, standing here was really paying a debt that he owed. There was no way she could run, at least Freya had some time but Henderson had learnt his lesson once with her and so he groped Sofia roughly with a hand around her waist, desperate to not let her out of his very sight—to not repeat his same mistakes."We are gathered here to witness the blessed union
A FEW DAYS LATER. The metal clanged loudly as the prison doors swung wide open and Sofia was standing there, opposite her father who had just spent about five days in jail because of his gambling and rooted ties with Ferdinand. And gladly, after some back and forth with the lawyers, he was finally out.As Sofia stood there, even with how hard she had fought to free him, it was difficult to show any emotion on her face. There was just so much had happened between them for so many years and as their eyes met in that moment, she knew it would take some time to forgive him.I mean the Mr Henderson incident happened because of him in the first place and it was only still fresh. Even Ferdinand himself knew it would take some time but he was obliged to hug her immediately he stepped out.“Thank you” He whispered to Sofia after mentally torturing himself that she was probably going to leave him in here as revenge. But Sofia wasn’t like that and she hadn’t left him. He might have been the wors
SIX MONTHS LATER.The chapel was bright lit and the orchestra sang more beautifully than the summer birds chirping in the skies. It was a Tuesday for everyone else but to Sofia, it was the day of her wedding. She was dressed in a flowing white gown, adorned with flowers by the hemming of the dress.And looking up to Oscar’s face, she had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming—that this was truly happening. It was, after so long and everything, every decision they had made had led them to this very moment and heaving a deep breath, Sofia realized it was worth it.“I made a drawing some years ago, the very first day I laid my eyes on you. You were sitting across from me in the noisy, rowdy chaotic classroom but you were the only thing that caught my eyes. You were not like anyone I had ever met before…”“You were kind,” Oscar paused. “You were smart, and patient because not a lot of us can handle half the teasing and bullying that you went through. It goes without saying I rea
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’
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