Chapter Three

Sophie's POV

“Look, young woman…”

Before I could complete my statement, Oliver cut me off. “Enough of this, Lucia, you can't be speaking like this. You know I have nothing to do with you now. I'm just trying to help you, so please let's respect ourselves. If not, I will not hesitate in throwing you out of my house,” he spat as he slightly furrowed his brows. It was a signal that he was running out of patience.

My anger suddenly gave way to hope as Oliver made it clear to her.

“I'm just trying to care. But I'm so sorry for that, she replied in a cool voice, lowering her gaze, putting on her most pitiful expression.

Without a word, Oliver walked out and slammed the door hard. I rolled my eyes before sitting back. Lucia walked and sat beside me, holding my hands.

“Look, please don't think there is something between us. I promise there is nothing,” she said, trying to sound sincere.

“It's alright,” I managed to reply, as the words tasted bitter in my mouth, because I knew it wasn't alright, and if she continued with that attitude it would never be alright.

“I guess Oliver never told you about me, right? When we were in high school he had a crush on me for so long. Can you believe it? He had this friend. Uhm… Terry! yes! Terry! If I can still remember, Oliver and Terry were close friends, so he wrote a love letter and asked Terry to give it to me. Terry did so and after reading the letter, was like ‘no problem, I think I like him too’. We became close and always go to school together,” she explained.

Hearing her words, my heart clenched painfully, though I kept my expression neutral. It was highly unfortunate that I was hearing this from her, not Oliver.

“You know, unfortunately, our relationship lasted for a couple of days as we had to leave the country. I remember our last moments together, we spent hours in each other's arms crying and sobbing,” she added.

As she spoke of their past, a mixture of curiosity and jealousy churned in my stomach. I forced the feelings down, forcing a polite smile on my face. “Well, that was the past, and now he is married to me.”

Lucia nodded as her smile faltered for a second, but she didn't stop.

Her voice faded into the background as I rolled my eyes, trying to figure out if Oliver really lied to me last night about work, or if it was when he left for work that Lucia called him. My heart sank into my stomach. Did he leave me on our anniversary night to go and pick her up?

“Are you alright?” Lucia asked, interrupting my train of thought.

“oh… Y.. Yes I'm good. Hey tell me about your flight last night,” I asked.

Lucia's eyes locked mine, her eyes glinting with mischief. “Oh, yesterday was kind of stressful. Our flight was delayed, and we arrived around 11:30 pm and, luckily enough, when I called Oliver at that time, he was in the office, and it was closer to the airport, so within a short period of time, he came and picked me up.”

I let out a heavy sigh. Thankfully, my doubts had been cleared.

“Wow that's interesting,” I replied.

She shouldn't be telling me about her past. After all, it would not change anything. I was his wife and that was all that mattered.

Just as she was about to continue talking, I rose from the chair. “That's enough, I'm sure I don't need these details, do I?”

Lucia clamped her mouth shut. I went to the dining table for my breakfast and headed straight back to the room. I went and collapsed in bed, numb and exhausted. Sleep didn't come, and when it finally did, it was restless and full of turmoil.

***

I woke up around 4 in the evening, still groggy from sleep. I headed downstairs. My heart skipped a beat when I scanned the whole house and there was no sign of Lucia or Oliver. On a normal day, Oliver doesn't stay this late in the office except if there was something important.

‘Or did both of them go out together?’ a voice whispered in my head.

I stopped for a moment to think about the possibility of that, but quickly thought against it. I knew Oliver and he wouldn't do that. Maybe he was stuck in the office and Lucia had gone out.

I shook my head trying to brush it off. I headed upstairs and took my bath. After my bath, I got dressed and headed straight to the hospital where Oliver's mother was admitted. Oliver and I used to visit her every week and today marked exactly a week since we visited.

Arriving at the hospital, I headed straight to her ward.

“Hey, how are you holding up?” I greeted, plastering a smile on my face.

“Oh, Sophie, you have finally come. As I didn't see you show up in the morning, I thought you were busy, and you wouldn't come,” she replied, opening her arms for a hug.

Despite the doctor assigned to Oliver's mom saying she was doing well and responding to treatments, she didn't seem strong, unlike before.

Ever since I married Oliver, his mom has always loved me. She took me as her own daughter. She often told me that her only dream was to see her grandchild before she died.

“You look worried, contrary to what the doctor told me before I entered,” I inquired.

“Oh come, I'm just bored and eager to go back home, that's all,” she said, still putting on that forceful smile on her face.

“Oh, I thought you would come with Oliver as usual. Where is he?” She asked.

I narrowed my eyes before letting out a heavy sigh. “Well, as usual mom, he is still at work, but I promise he won't come and see you after work.”

Just as I finished talking, the door cracked open and Oliver entered. I was shocked to see Lucia enter right after him.

My eyes pinned Lucia's as I stood in shock.

“What the hell?!” I whispered to myself as I gritted my teeth.