Sophia's POV.
I looked ahead at the confusing house numbers, cursing myself for forgetting my phone back at the office.
Finally coming across the address I was looking for, I took a deep breath before pressing the doorbell and clutched the bouquet in my hands nervously.
A man opened the door.
“We don't wanna buy anything—” he stopped mid-sentence as he looked at me. The scowl on his face changed into a pleasant smile.
“You don't look like a marketer. How may I help you?”
I managed to pull on a nervous smile. “Um, is Mary home?”
“Where else would my wife be? You see, giving birth doesn't leave one with many options.” So he was her husband.
I cleared my throat. “Can I see her? I'm Sophia O'Brien from the office. She'll know me.”
“I don't think—”
“Who is it?” a voice said from inside the house.
“Sophia O'Brien, from the office.”
“Oh, yeah! Let her in will you?” The voice, which is undoubtedly Mary's, said. I found him stepping aside to let me enter the house.
“Thank you.” I stepped inside nervously and he directed me towards a room.
There she was, laying on the bed, looking out of the window at the street, with a very tiny human cradled in her bosom.
“Mary,” I called.
Her head turned towards me and an instant look of excitement appeared in her eyes.
“Well if it isn't my favorite person in the whole world. Hello Sophia.”
I laughed as I joined her on the bed to gaze at her beautiful baby.
“I'm sorry I haven't been able to come sooner. A lot has been going on.” She rolled her eyes. “I know all about that.”
“You do?” I blinked.
“Yeah. Just because I no longer work at Hayes Industries doesn't mean I no longer get some juicy inside scoop.” She winked.
A laugh escaped my mouth.
“So you forgive me?” I asked jokingly.
“You came all this way just to ask for forgiveness?”
“Yeah, and to say congratulations.” I extended the bouquet in her direction. She sniffed them and smiled. “Thank you.”
“Alright. Time's up. You know the doctor said you needed much rest” I heard a voice behind me say. Her husband was standing at the door frame.
“Will you breathe for once?” Mary said. “I'm the one who should be cranky from sitting here in this room all day. Let me have some company, Blake.”
“Jeez, okay.” Blake raised his hands in surrender and left us alone.
She wasn't that much of a talker. I realized she only wanted me to sit with her for a while. All she talked about was her baby.
She had smiles all over her face just talking about her little boy.
Finally, she took some medication and was sleepy, so I decided to leave.
“Thanks for visiting.” She said sleepily.
“Thanks for letting me visit. Take care of yourself and your little boy.” I smiled, walking out.
I left their house and took the bus back to the apartment. Since it was too late, there was no point in going back to the office to get my phone.
When I entered the apartment, Stephanie was on a call and the moment she saw me, her eyes grew wide.
“She just came back.” She said, who was she talking to?
“Yes. Seems so...I don't know. She just stepped inside, I'll ask her.” “Who's it?” I mouthed at her.
She pulled the phone away and whispered to me. “It's Alex, he wants to talk to you.” My eyes grew wide. Why would Stephanie call him?! And what could he possibly want? I frowned, remembering our conversation in the morning.
“No thanks,” I said as I climbed on my bed tiredly.
I was surprised to see Stephanie forming up an excuse that I was in the bathroom.
From what I knew, she disliked him enough to just hang up without sparing a thought.
“Man,” she muttered to herself. “He's mad right now.”
“What?”
She turned to me with murderous eyes all of a sudden. “Where the hell were you?”
“Uh, I was visiting someone,” I told her everything about visiting Sophia and she listened patiently.
“You're such a fool, Soph. You should have informed me. I thought something happened to you. “I'm sorry. I forgot my phone in the office.”
“I know. Alex told me.” She admitted.
“What's the deal with you? Why did you have to call him? You know how I am about you calling him.”
She looked away in embarrassment. “I conclude too quickly, Soph. When you didn't return, I thought he did something. So I called him up and gave him a piece of my mind for no reason at all.”
My jaw dropped.
“He went looking for you in the office and I was just talking to him when you came back.”
He went looking for me? I felt guilty all of a sudden.
“Anyways, you've had a long day so I'm going to leave you to get some sleep.” She was about to walk away when I called her back.
“I have some news for you.”
“What news?”
“Mrs Hayes asked me to accompany them to Florida for Alex's birthday event. Please would you consider accompanying me?”
Her eyes grew wide.
“Are you joking?! A Florida vacation? Count me in!” She rubbed her hands in excitement. “I'm relieved now that I know you're going to be there with me.”
“Oh my God! We're both going to Florida? She asked. “Yes.” She jumped around in excitement.
Now that I know Stephanie would be there with me, the trip seemed a whole lot easier to deal with.
“Though I'm sure Alex wouldn't want me at his birthday party from what I just did.” Stephanie chuckled.
“Us,” I corrected. “Not sure if he'd want us there.”
“Oh please, Soph. You could break into his house, tie him up, and eat all his pastries right in front of him and he'd still want you there.” She dreamily batted her eyelashes.
I burst out laughing despite myself.
“Come on now.” She chuckled. “Go to sleep. We have to start shopping tomorrow.” I gave her a little salute and went into the bathroom to change into my pajamas.
When I stepped back outside, she was asleep. Chuckling, I got into my bed and pulled the covers on top of me.
I'd been on the bed for not more than five minutes when a knock on the door made me jolt up in surprise.
Oh God please don't let it be him.
I considered myself stupid for the thought. There was no way Alexander Hayes would show up at my door at almost midnight.
“Who's it?” I asked, walking up to the door.
No response.
Was there even a knock?
Just when I was about to turn around, I heard it again. The faint sound of someone tapping on the door.
“Who's there?” I gulped, turning towards a sleeping Stephanie nervously, debating if I should wake her up or not.
“Open the damn door, Sophia.”