Chapter 78

Alex's POV.

Her lips parted slightly as she gaped up at me. But her eyes were distant like she was considering the idea.

“I....uh..” She trailed off, sucking in a breath and bringing her gaze down to my lips. “Sophia,” I muttered.

“Yes?” She whispered.

“Relax.” I let out a forced chuckle. “I was just messing with you.”

Damn right, you are!

She blinked and frowned at me. “Again, you're an asshole, Alexander Hayes.”

With that, she marched back to the dining table and I followed her, watching as she wiped the icing away with the tissue while cutting a glance at me.

“Hey guys.” Roman showed up beside us. “Thanks a lot for letting me join the party. I had a lot of fun and I should probably get going now.”

“You're leaving already?” Sophia asked. “Yes.”

“But you haven't even danced yet.” She complained.

He looked around and let out a nervous laugh. “Nobody's asked me to dance.” “Oh! You can dance with me.” She shrugged with a smile. What. The. Fuck?

She was smirking at me, deliberately vexing me.

Oh Ms O'brien, we'll talk about this later.

Roman looked between us, a little uncomfortable.

“Go ahead.” I waved my hand dismissively towards Roman. “I don't mind.”

Taken aback, Sophia walked ahead with him.

I watched them dance and every time their bodies even slightly brushed together, I found myself clenching my fists in anger.

Someone tapped on my shoulder. “Why are you standing here all alone—oh.” Peggy, Sophia's mum looked ahead at Sophia and Roman dancing and gave me a knowing lopsided smile.

I shrugged. “Well, that happened.”

“Well, my guests are all but gone now so come on.” She held her hand up and I took it, advancing towards the dance area with her.

We started swaying with the music and I tried to enjoy the dance but I couldn't stop thinking about Sophia with some other man right then.

“You know, Alex.” Peggy started, grabbing my attention. “Sometimes you'll have to be patient with her.” I stayed quiet.

“Sophia was a troubled kid. I'm sure she told you about her life but if she hasn't, just give her some time and she'll open up to you.”

“She told me her dad died in a car crash. I'm sorry about him.” I said.

A look of pain crossed her face as she must've remembered those hard times but she nodded. “Sophia was in that same car with him. It was a miracle she survived. That incident took a toll on her. Hell, it took a toll on me too.”

I took a deep breath. For some reason, I did not want to hear further. I didn't even want to imagine Sophia in pain.

“But I'm doing better. She's better now too. I see that. She's a very strong woman.” I smiled. “She is.”

She blinked and I realized that she had tears in her eyes. “Oh God.” She let out a laugh and wiped them away.

“So the point of this conversation was to tell you to make my girl happy. Enough with the sentiments. I'll leave you kids to enjoy now.” She chuckled and pulled away.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

She nodded. “Thank you again for the birthday gift, Alex. It does mean a lot to me.”

“I'm glad to have been of help.”

She smiled at me and then went up the stairs.

Releasing a breath, I turned around to look at Sophia but was surprised when I couldn't find either her or Roman. I looked around frantically but couldn't spot them.

What the hell?

“Alex.” I turned around and sighed in relief. It was Roman. “Roman. Where's Sophia?” I asked.

“I saw her going to the backyard after we danced. I just came to say that I'll be heading out now.”

“Oh. It was nice meeting you.” I shook his hands.

“Nice meeting you too, Alex. You're a very lucky man.” He smiled.

“Because of Sophia?” I wondered what made him say that.

“Yes. A woman like her is hard to find. She's good at heart.”

“That's true. But you've only known her for like two hours? So how can you tell.”

“That's enough time for me to tell the kind of person she is. But other than that, we went to the same high school, although she doesn't seem to remember me from back then.”

“Oh. I didn't know that.” I frowned slightly. “Did you guys keep in touch after that?”

“No. After that, we met in my cab. I recognized her but she didn't seem to recognize me.”

“Why's that?”

He shrugged. “Well, I was kind of a douche back then so I'm not surprised. Although she mentioned that those years were kind of a blur for her.”

That should probably be around the time of the car crash when she lost her dad. “Anyways,” Roman started, “I should get going. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Roman.” I walked him to the front door and once he was gone, I sprinted to the backyard.

There she was, lying back on the grass, looking up at the sky. I walked over and sat down next to her.

“When did you come out here?” I asked.

“When you were busy dancing with my mum.” She kept her gaze fixed on the stars, the moonlight reflecting on her facial features.

“Jealous?” She scoffed.

We were silent for a while.

“I think you owe me a dance.” I extended my hand forward and pulled us up together. She didn't protest at all, just placed her hands on my shoulders and gazed deeply into my eyes.

“There's no music.” She finally said. “Do you mind if I hum?”

She burst into laughter. “Please don't.”

I started humming a tone anyway. Needless to say, I was terrible at it but she didn't complain once we started dancing.

“What are we doing, Alex?”

“Dancing, Sophia.” I gave her a spin and caught her back.

Her feet stopped moving and she took in a deep breath, looking away for a moment and when she looked back at me, her eyes were glistening with tears.

“This is you. The real you. What happened to you these past few days, Alex?” she asked.

I stood there looking at her speechless. I have always disliked confrontation. Now, how the hell do I say this to her?