1 The fallout

SOPHIA

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." A voice broke through my deep train of thoughts.

“We are currently descending and will be landing shortly. Please ensure your seatbelt is securely fastened and your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position."

I pulled up the window blind and looked outside the plane. Under the clouds, the tall buildings in the city were now visible.

This was it. I was back in California. I never thought I'd come back for anything. I left with that intention, but, I guess life has a way of humbling you.

In my case, I was insanely—no, I was brutally humbled. I'd never wish what life did to me on anyone else, anyone except Jake and Naomi.

I had been living the life people would die for. After graduating fashion school, I started my very own clothing line, and I had worked really hard and brought it to the top with blood, sweat, and tears.

Well, my life had been going pretty fantastic until it all hit me like a rock.

The third ever incident in my life that has succeeded in breaking me, and I promised myself it would ever be the last.

It all started two weeks ago, on a not so beautiful Monday.

Two weeks ago...

Toronto, Canada.

"Oh, Aimee, it better not be something that you can handle yourself,” I grumbled as I walked into my office, my personal assistant coming in behind me.

I dropped my bag on the sleek desk and took off my sunglasses. I tilted my head to the left and then right to release the tensed muscles in my neck before giving attention to her again.

“I left my house today when I planned to sleep through the day. This better be good.”

I was a bit taken aback to see that my usual cheerful personal assistant, Aimee, was not exactly smiling like she used to.

Did something happen?

The small smile wiped off my face as I straightened up.

“Is something wrong?“

“Everything is wrong.”

“We've been getting hundreds of calls from our partners since morning, and it's all because of the news going around.”

“I know you don't use your phone a lot, but did you not check?“

Even though I tried to act composed, I felt my heart start beating two times faster. I could feel a sudden cold rush up my legs.

"Aimee, stop beating around the bush and tell me what's wrong.”

“If I knew, would I be asking?“

She sighed and tapped on something on her iPad and handed it over to me.

My eyes quickly glazed over the headlines.

' POPULAR CANADIAN CLOTHING LINE CEO, SOPHIE ADAMS, EXPOSED TO HAVE DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE IN CLOTHING PIECES. IS THIS WHERE HER CAREER ENDS?'

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as a smile crossed my face. I thought it was something that serious.

"Aimee, are you for real? I told you many times to ignore shitty articles like this that are only after clout.”

“Who'd believe this trash?“ I chuckled and thrust it back into her hands. I headed for my seat.

She rushed to me immediately. “People. On the internet!“

I looked up at her at once. “What?“

“Not just dangerous substances this time, child labor in production accusations, being mean to your employees, threatening your fiancé, and looking down on your best friend, Naomi.”

“And as ridiculous as you think that sounds, there is a lot of evidence. Even I start to question if you've been mean to me when you've not.”

“That's bullshit!” I scoffed, shaking my head.

She exhaled and walked over to my table, where she dropped her iPad once again.

I grabbed it immediately and opened the articles.

It wasn't a lie. Aimee wasn't joking with me, as much as I wanted her to.

The more I read the article, the more frustrated I became. There was no way something like this was happening. This was my peak. Why was something this disastrous and scandalous coming up now?

I returned the iPad to Aimee.

“Phone my lawyer now and call the broadcasting and media company we partnered with; I'm debunking this with immediate effect. I cannot have anyone ruin my hard work.”

“Yes boss,”

She grabbed the iPad and walked out.

Immediately she did. I picked up my phone and dialed Jake, my fiancé's number, but it didn't go through. My best friend Naomi was suddenly unreachable too.

Whoever did this was just plain nasty. They didn't stop at my work; they moved on to my relationship. Threatening Jake? Noami? What a joke. Why would I do that to the only people I have here when I was not insane?

I clicked on the article on my laptop and began to read the comments.

' I knew she was up to no good.'

' She was always pretending to be a sweet soul.'

' Act like an angel but is the devil in disguise. I feel bad for her fiancé and best friend. '

' That voice recording is just nasty.'

My hands hovered above the mouse at the last comment.

“Voice recording? What voice recording?“

My phone began ringing, and I reached for it as fast as lightning, thinking it was Jake or Naomi, but it was just one of my investors.

I took steady breaths, praying it wasn't a call concerning the articles.

I swiped across the screen.

“Good morning, Mr Alan,” I greeted cheerfully.

“It's his secretary today. Mr. Alan asked me to inform you that he'll be withdrawing his investments from the company today.”

My heart dropped, my grip on my phone almost losing. I tried to control my breathing and sound composed.

“Why the sudden decisions? We had lunch last week, and he said he's planning on- ”

"Well, that's his decision now. The documents have been sent today; please do well to get them finalized. I'll hang up now.”

“No! Please, can I speak with Mr. Alan? He can't do this, not now.”

“I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm only following orders.”

She hung up immediately after that. The phone slipped from my hand as the implication of the situation slowly began to register in my brain.

Mr Alan was one of my biggest investors. Losing him was already one big loss for the company.

“This can't be happening.”

"No, this cannot,” I repeated as I pushed my chair forward and began to scroll through the new articles coming up.

Suddenly there were hundreds of articles and thousands of viral posts about the scandal on the internet.

My phone rang again, and I quickly picked it up from the rug. I put a hand on my mouth as soon as I saw the name flashing on my screen.

My feet started to tap the floor continuously against my will.

Once I picked up the call, I tried my best to sound calm again, but I failed miserably when the reason for the call was the same as the previous. And when another call came in, another came after that, and two more with the same intent, I knew I was officially doomed.

“I'm sorry. I'm only following instructions. I hope you understand.”

I fell to the chair, my hands dangling by the side.

“This cannot be happening.”

“It's not even true. How can I lose 90 percent of all my investments within 10 minutes, all for an article that's not even true?“

The door suddenly pushed open, and Aimee came rushing through it while breathing heavily.

I sat up immediately and tried to prepare my heart for her next crushing information.

Will it finally bring me down? Let's see.

“Sophia,” she panted.

“The orders for the sets that were just sold out a day ago, everyone has canceled them.”

“And our last week successful collections, everything-”

“Everything has been returned.”

I couldn't move. For about a minute, I just let her words process slowly in my head. I let my brain digest it and gave it another chance to tell me again that I heard wrong. But I didn't. The proof was Aimee standing right in front of me, with a list expression on her face. She didn't stutter. She wasn't making a joke. It wasn't a reality show. There were no cameras. It was fucking real life.

I snapped out of the shock and got on my feet, willing myself to move as I slowly advanced towards her. When I got to her, I held her shoulder, forcing her to look at me.

“It's a joke, right?“ I asked as I gave a dry chuckle.

“Common Aimee, laugh and tell me it's a prank.”

She did not.

“I'm sorry, Sophia,” she was trying hard to hold her tears. I slowly let go of her, almost stumbling on my feet as I took a step back.

“No, no ”

I turned around, frantically running a hand through my hair, as the tears I had been trying really hard to hold back began rolling out of my eyes. My grip on the roots of my hair tightened.

I jerked back in pain, rubbing my watered nose.

I sniffed and turned to Aimee.

“Did Naomi come here today?“

She shook her head.

I nodded and exhaled repeatedly.

“Did you call Mrs. Renee? What of the media company we work with?“

“Mrs. Renee is on our way. I asked her about calling the broadcasting company, but she said it was a bad idea.”

“The people hate you now, so that will only fuel it. It's not wise to do that now.”

“Do you think I fucking care about that now?!“ I screamed in anger. I noticed her flinch, but I was too overcome by my anger and frustration to care.

“I'm losing everything I fucking worked for in the blink of a fucking eye. Do you think I care what she says at this point?!“

I stopped shouting; my shoulders drooped as my voice came down to a whisper.

“I can barely even think properly. Aimee, I'm losing it. This is getting scary.”

“Jake is not picking up my calls; neither is Naomi. I'm miserable right now,” I whispered in tears.

It hurts right here. I swear it does.

I do not deserve this. All those accusations? I could never do that.

The stories were so perfectly written with the evidence that I even started to question myself if I ever did that. If even I, who knew myself, was getting in doubt, why would people who didn't know me at all not believe the stories?

I heard the door open, but I didn't bother to turn around. I wasn't emotionally or physically ready for the bad news that was at the tip of the tongue of the person.

That same night...

I stood in front of Jake's apartment door. My legs hurt from walking aimlessly. My eyes hurt from crying, and my heart hurt more from the pain of losing my career.

I didn't just lose the investors. I was currently swimming in debt. My lawyer told me it was a lost case. I would have to pay a lot for going against the law. I was fined a lot; I could barely remember half the reason at this point.

I would have to pay off my workers too. Return the payments of clothes I sold too.

The building of my company, my house, and the few thousand I had left in my savings account were the only things with me.

But now I needed to meet Jake. I wanted to know what was going on. And why he suddenly went missing throughout today. The lady at the front desk told me he didn't leave the house today, so I was sure he was home.

I put in the key, turned the lock, and walked in.

I walked into the sitting room, surprised the lights were not on. I didn't bother to switch on the lights and dropped my bag on the couch.

“Babe?“ I called and headed for the room. The door to every room, I opened, but he wasn't there.

Out of all things, I certainly did not expect to come back into the living room and see my fiancé making out with a woman on the balcony.

First, my brain did a quick reset. I opened my eyes and closed them back quickly, but the scene didn't change. I forced my legs to move, and a gasp escaped my lips immediately I caught the face of the woman. The face of the last person in this world I expected to be having an affair with my fiancé.

Naomi. My best friend.

I stumbled backward.

“This is not real” the words escaped my lips in a whisper, trying to convince my eyes that I was just seeing things.

I took another step back, and another, till I was backed up against the wall, but the distasteful image didn't clear off. It was still there, glaring directly at me. Taunting every part of me.

My fiancé was cheating with my best friend.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek and I slowly touched my face. My breath felt shaky as I stared at the tears that now stained my finger.

I felt a lump in my throat and before I broke down completely, I willed myself to grab my handbag and dash out of the house. I didn't want them to see me there. I wasn't ready to face them yet. I wasn't ready to listen to them lie or try to deny, or even worse, accept their actions.

I thought my life was ruined seeing my career come crumbling down, but my fiancé cheating with my best friend was just the right definition of my life being ruined.

The memories we spent together, the promises he made, the plans we made for our wedding and our home, kept rushing through my head as I took the stairs down. Tears poured down my eyes, and I felt my legs lose their strength as I forced them down the stairs, until I couldn't take it anymore. My knees buckled and my legs gave in, I fell on the last stairs in that path.

My body jerked repeatedly as I let the tears out. My hand found their way to my knees, gripping them tight I could feel my fingers digging into the little skin there.

I cried till there was nothing left. Till I felt the pain reduce, till I was numb and couldn't move.

Because it hurts. It really did.