Sophia’s POV:
I stepped into the elevator and placed my phone on my ear.
“Hey, how are you? ” Harry asked as soon as the call connected, his voice filled with concern.
“I’m fine, Harry, I reassured him. “A bit stressed, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
There was a brief pause before he responded. “I’ve spoken to my dad. So you don’t have to worry, okay?”
“That’s very kind of you, Harry. Thank you,” I said sincerely.
“You know I’d do anything for you,” He said. “We will be getting married eventually, we have to be there for each other at all times.
I hesitated, unsure of how to respond to him. It gets harder and harder to actually let him know I wanted to break the agreement. “Sure… you’re right,” I replied.
“Uhm… so I sent something over for you,” He said, sounding excited and nervous at the same time. “I hope you’ll like it.”
“Oh… uhm thank you, what did you get me?” I asked
Ding!
The elevator doors opened and I headed straight for my office. I pushed open my door and shut it behind me.
“It’s a surprise, it should be there in a minute or two,” he said cheerfully.
Why don’t I like the sound of that? The last time he surprised me, I ended up with a family heirloom as an engagement ring. I instinctively rubbed the diamond stud on the ring. “Oh, wow that’s fast,” I chuckled, hoping I sounded cheerful about his revelation.
“Yeah… I sent it out long before I called.”
There was a knock on my door as soon as I sat in my chair. “Come in.”
The door opened and Rosie walked in with a big bouquet of red roses and a small shopping bag.
I gasped.
“Do you like it?” He asked hopefully. Rosie passed the bouquet to me and gently placed the shopping bag on my desk. She nods and leaves.
I admired the flowers. “Harry, wow these are beautiful, thank you,” I said sniffing the flowers.
“I’m glad you like them, I was nervous, I didn’t know what to get you because you seemed stressed,” He chuckled. “You can check what’s in the bag.”
I opened the fancy shopping bag and a smile tugged on my lips when I saw its contents. There were chocolates, biscuits, wine, etc. I noticed the card in it, pulled it out, and read it out loud. “Will you go out on a date with me?”
This… is becoming too real, almost like it’s a real relationship. And I’ve tried to be open-minded and see where this takes us. Maybe I could learn to love him or something, but I just couldn’t.
“… hey, you still there?” Harry’s voice startled me.
“Shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I swear.”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, I promise. I get it. So what do you say? A date tomorrow and we could talk about what’s been happening, and then we could take your mind off it. You can choose the spot,” He said calmly.
“Fine, it’s a date then,” I replied.
“Great! I’ll pick you up, any preference on where you’d like to go?” He asked.
I paused to think of places I’d like to go but nothing came to my mind at the moment. There was a moment of silence before I replied. “Why don’t you surprise me,” I insisted.
“Perfect,” He replied almost immediately. “I’ll make the arrangements. I’ll make sure everything is perfect. Trust me.”
I couldn’t help but smile, Harry really was the sweetest person ever, and he was quite thoughtful too. “Of course, I trust you.”
“Thank you,” He said. “Alright now, I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked again.
“Sure, it’s a sealed deal,” I reassured him and he hung up.
I stare at my screen absentmindedly for a while before setting it aside. I couldn’t help the twinge of guilt at the thought that I was maybe leading Harry on. But as much as I wanted to end this thing between us, I was too chicken to make a move. I kept telling myself I didn’t want to hurt myself but in reality, prolonging this would hurt him too.
That’s it, I must tell him tomorrow. After all, it was only normal we ended this charade of a relationship, dad was no longer here to pressurise me into doing this. They lost the deal with dad and I still didn’t take over the company just like I’d wanted.
Phew! The media was going to have a field day with this, once it was out, but it had to be done.
I picked up my phone again and checked the time. It was 3:08 pm. Soon, I’ll be done for the day and go home. I needed to rest and I didn’t even do anything but arrive late at work. I still had a mild headache from last night’s drinking, a subtle reminder to never get wasted on a weekday but thank God it was Friday.
There were texts from Nick and Daisy, so I opened them.
Nick: It’s been hours babe, I’m yet to know if that news is true.
Nick: If yes, what really happened?
Nick: Hey, busy bee.
His last texts were over 40 minutes ago, so I typed out a reply.
Me: Yes, it’s true. I am fine, really.
Me: Come over to my place tonight for a sleepover. We could talk about it then.
His reply came almost immediately.
Nick: Sure! Will bring goodies
Me: Thank you for reaching out, love
Nick anything for you babe
I opened Daisy’s private chat.
Daisy: You didn’t wake me up!
Daisy: I had an important meeting with a client.
Daisy: Wait… you even took the outfit I planned to wear?
Daisy: I’m going to kill you.
I chuckled and sent her a reply.
Me: You can’t, you love me.
Me: Come over tonight, Nick’s coming too.
I locked my phone before her texts could come in and got back to work.