A week went by, businesses were reopening. People returned from their holiday vacations, employees resumed work. Sofia returned to Beverly Hills just to receive news on what had happened.
Sydney stayed in a motel with her kids before Sofia returned. She asked Sofia if she could crash at her place till they left the country. Sofia asked why she wasn’t staying with Gabriel and Sydney told her all that occurred.
Sydney felt like she ripped a hole through Sofia’s heart after that because Sofia wouldn’t stop crying afterward.
Meanwhile, Auxanger was found hanging lifelessly from a rope on the ceiling after Avery’s death. When he heard his daughter was dead, he called Caleb and blamed him for everything that happened. He threatened to report to the cops. Caleb showed up at his home uninvited, suffocated him to death with a pillow, and tied him to the ceiling so everyone would believe it was suicide.
On the other hand, Gil tried reaching out to Sofia, but she wouldn’t pick up his calls. He came over once, but Sydney lied. Sofia wasn’t back yet.
Gil was in the dark about all that happened. He went to Gabriel’s place to talk to him, but Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey!” Thomas Stone, Gil’s apprentice, quickly grabbed the hammer from Gil before he nailed his hand to the wooden floorboard. ” What are you doing sir? You’d have destroyed your fingers.”
Gil stood straight and wiped a cold sweat from his forehead. ” Finish the work, I need to catch some cold air.”
Thomas’s eyes widened. It was his first-day learning carpentry work; he had no clue what to do. ” But, sir-”
Gil was gone before he could finish his statement.
Gil walked to a nearby diner, sat by the table next to the window, and ordered a pizza.
He took out a folded magazine from his coat pocket as he waited for his order. He opened it aggressively and stopped at the part where he’d circled out wedding ring prices with a marker.
Since Sofia left him to himself for some days, all he could do was count all the money he possessed. Calculate how much it’d be to buy a wedding ring, wedding dress, and suit and carry out a wedding.
Luckily, he had enough money to give her a good wedding and still have some money left to take care of a family for approximately three months before he’d go insolvent if he didn’t work.
He sighed, ” Maybe she found out I wanted to propose and began to ghost me. It’s too soon, what if she says no?” He slapped his face and groaned. ” God, falling in love is a pain in the a**.”
Gabriel’s phone rang. He quickly took it out with the hopes it was Sofia but his hopes came crashing down when he saw it wasn’t her calling
” I have a girlfriend, I’m not interested in sleeping with you, goodbye-”
” Huh, wait. This is Nurse Kimberly calling from Beverly Hills Hospital. ”
Gil sat straight quickly. ” Oh, shit, I’m sorry. ”
He’d had a lot of women calling him to talk about s! x or wanting to sleep with him, he thought every random number that called had the same agenda.
Gil could tell the nurse was blushing. ” Ah… Um… It’s fine. Are you Sofia Wood’s husband? ”
Gil flushed. ” Why are you asking?”
” She, um, filled in your name and phone number under spouse information.”
Gil smiled at the waiter as he brought his order. ” Of course, I’m her husband, we’ve been married for almost two years.”
” Oh, awesome.” The nurse laughed fakely. ” Your wife hasn’t been answering her calls. She’s supposed to run some tests after returning from Paris.”
Gil’s brows furrowed. ” Why does she need to run tests? Is she all right?”
” Hasn’t she told you?”
” Told me what?” From the corner of his eyes, Gil caught Sofia walking down the pavement across the street.
” She’s three weeks pregnant. ”
Gil’s eyes went wide in a flash. He slowly smiled.
” My wife… Sofia… Wait you mean I’m going to be a father?”
” Yes, she’s carrying your child.”
Gabriel laughed. Louder and louder. He ignored the food on the table, paid for the food, and ran after Sofia. He wanted to explode with joy.
He never imagined ever having a child in real life. He thought he’d die a bachelor without a child to bear his name. He was confused as to why Sofia didn’t tell him herself, but he couldn’t care; he needed her in his arms; he needed to take her and treat her like an egg.
She is carrying his baby in her!
” Sofia!” Gil shouted across the street, sticking up a hand.
She froze and looked at him. He smiled at her and desperately wanted to be next to her but the green traffic light stopped him.
” Wait for me, I’m coming.” He mouthed elatedly.
His face fell when she continued walking away. He called her name but she wasn’t listening. She stretched her hand waving for a cab.
“Shit.” Gil’s eyes snapped to the traffic light. It was yellow. He had no time to wait for it to turn red; he ran through the moving cars, maneuvering them by an inch. By the time he was across the road, she was entering into a cab.
” Sof… Sofia, it’s me, Blake.” He was confused as to why she was avoiding him. The last time he remembered, they were cool.
Gil was able to reach the cab before she could shut the door. He held the door and slid into the seat next to her.
” I’m going wherever she’s going too.” Gil breathed to the Driver.
Sofia tried to get out of the cab but Gil held the door knob. He stared at the fearful look in her eyes.
” I want to take another cab. Let go of the door.”
” Is everything okay ma’am?” The Driver voiced in concern.
” Yes, everything is okay; she’s just trying to run away from her responsibilities. Drive, I’ll pay extra, and don’t stop till I tell you to.”
The cab was moving in no time.
” You could have killed yourself running into a busy road like that,” Sofia said, trying to look away from him, but he was too close to her face.
” You didn’t give me any choice, did you?” He released a breath and brushed the hair off her face. ” You are so cute when you get mad but why are you angry with me? Is it because of the baby?”
Sofia’s eyes widened. How did he know she was pregnant?
She wanted to open the door and jump out.
Gil smiled faintly, ” I don’t know why you didn’t tell me earlier. Did you think I wouldn’t accept the baby? You have no idea how much I wanted to be a father, this is good news.”
” It’s my child, not yours.” Sofia summoned the courage to speak.
Gil’s smile fell to the ground.
” I know you are scared but you have no right to say that.” He touched her stomach. ” It’s our baby, okay?”
Sofia’s eyes began to rain. She pushed him off her with the little strength she had.
” I’ll scream if you don’t stop the car.”
” Sof-”
” Look, there’s a cop; I’ll scream out that you are trying to kidnap me.”
” Sof-” Gil reached to touch her but she slapped his hand away.
The driver, who was fearing for his job, had pressed break and stopped the car.
Sofia reached to open the door but Gil grabbed it again. She couldn’t think straight so she bit his arm.
” What the f-” Gil groaned the remaining words out.
He watched as she got out of the cab. He grabbed his aching hand and ran after her.
She wasn’t a fast runner and her stiletto wasn’t helping matters. Her feet crashed into a rock, making her trip, but Gil got a hold of her in the nick of time.
” You are pregnant, yet you are being so careless. What the hell is wrong with you?” Gil barked.
She yanked her hand from his and tried to run again but he grabbed her waist firmly.
” Leave me alone.”
” Are you crazy? Do you want to harm yourself and our baby-”
” It is not you baby!” Sofia screamed loud enough for it to echo in his ear. She pushed away from him and smacked him on his chest. ” Freaking a**hole!”
Gil pointed at her angrily. ” Don’t you dare say that’s not my baby. I’m the only guy who has screwed you for the past months. We spent three weeks ago together, you weren’t with any guy except me. That’s our baby.”
” I’ve never had anything to do with you. I only met you today. You are a stranger claiming to be the father of my child.” Sofia cried.
Gil’s jaw clenched. Did she lose her memory on her trip to Paris or what?!
” Is there something wrong I did to you? Why are you doing this to me?” Gil said with forced calm.
Sofia shrugged. ” Doing what to you?”
” It’s not funny.”
” Am I laughing? Am I smiling? As far as I know, the father of my child is Blake and not you. I don’t know who you are.”
” I… I’m Blake, have you forgotten?”
Sofia’s tears seized. She stared at him hotly in the eyes. She didn’t think he was ever planning on telling her the truth.
” You keep lying to my face all the time. You said you love me yet you look me straight in the eyes and lie to me.”
” I’m not lying to you, why would you think I’m lying to you?”
He looked so earnest when he lied it made her blood boil.
” You know what Gilbert?” She saw as his face morphed from confusion to mortification. ” I’m done, done with these lies.” She took off the necklace he’d bought for her. ” Have it, Gabriel must have bought you the necklace to give me.”
She placed it on his hand when he wouldn’t collect it.
She inhaled, trying her possible best not to break down. She turned to leave but when she felt his hand on her shoulder, she turned swiftly and smacked him in the face.
” Son of a b**ch!” She screamed through tears and smacked him again, harder this time since he stood still and let her.
” How dare you make me love you so much?” Smack. ” God knows if you’ve also been lying about not sleeping with other women.” Smack. ” If you try stopping me again, I’ll show you I bite worse than a dog.”
He didn’t listen and tried to keep her from going. Her teeth nearly made contact with his skin, but he quickly jerked his hand off. She charged for him and he quickly maintained a good distance from her.
” Baby-”
” F**k you!” Sofia screamed and took to her heels.