Fresh Starts, I Think Not.

Sophia scoffed before she told her brother what she was really thinking about.

"Although I wonder what would mother suppose about it," she admitted.

Louis quavered, "So that's what this is about."

"You miss her, don't you?" He asked.

She nodded.

"I know I didn't know her for as long as you did, since she left me once I was born, but every once in a while, I just wish she was here to guide me and advise me on what to do," Sophia wished.

Louis, wanting to comfort and assure his sister, had his words stuck in his throat. He fully knew what his mother would've told Sophia at that moment.

He asked his sister, "If mom was here, do you know what she'd say?"

Sophia furrowed her brows.

"What would she say exactly?" She asked.

Louis smiled before he whispered something into Sophia's ear. A small smile appeared on Sophia's face, a smile that turned into a grin once Louis finished his sentence.

Taking advantage of his sister's current mood, he encouraged, "Now go and talk to him, sister. At least try to get to know him, for our mother and grandmere's sake."

Sophia pouted, mumbling a quick 'fine' before she shot her brother a look of defeat and left to return back to the living room, where Nicholas was waiting for her.

As Sophia returned to the living room, she was greeted by a smirking Nicholas.

"So, you're back," he said arrogantly.

"And I thought you weren't going to show," he said rudely.

"Do you have to make this incredibly difficult?" Sophia asked incredulously, wishing Louis was here with her, which would've made things much easier.

Nicholas shrugged, not having a care in the world as he admitted the truth.

"I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for my family," she said coolly.

"So don't make this any more difficult than it has to be," she said, her words halfway between a threat and a plea.

She approached him, but much to his surprise, she hadn't done anything, instead, taking a seat nearby him and grabbing a drink.

"Don't get the wrong idea," she glared.

"I'm doing this for Julia's sake, not for you, don't flatter yourself," he remarked.

Sophia sneered.

"And because of that, I'm going to have to put up with someone like you," he mumbled.

Glaring at Nicholas, Sophia spoke up.

"Unless you're willing to waste all this food because of a rough start the both of us had, then go right ahead and take your leave, if you're kind enough to grace us with your absence," she said before she raised a cup of tea to her lips, taking a sip.

"I wonder how someone as sweet as Julia would be able to raise someone like you. Never knew she had it in her," Nicholas said with a scoff.

Sophia almost choked on her tea, avoiding an embarrassing accident only to get the hot beverage spilt on her dress which unfortunately happened to be white.

Instinctively, Sophia stood up to take a napkin, while Nicholas suddenly reached to grab the napkin himself on some sort of sudden impulse.

Nicholas being quicker than Sophia, took a napkin and handed it to her.

Sophia narrowed her eyes before she took the napkin, where for a split second, their fingers brushed.

At that moment, Nicholas felt an electric tingle up his spine, where his surroundings suddenly changed into an entirely different setting.

Instead of the palace, he had been transported to a patio, smack in the middle of the gardens of a mansion he found familiar. In front of him sat a familiar figure.

A girl sat across him, laughing, a white dollop of cream sat on her nose.

He blinked. It was Sophia, wearing something completely different than she was before the sudden setting-change, an outfit that looked to be centuries old.

From where he sat, it seemed like she was communicating with him.

He watched as she laughed, looking at him as if he was the loveliest thing in the world.

For a second, he had the urge to smile, and the sudden urge to pull her into a deep kiss until his surroundings blackened, changing once again before he was back. Back to where he previously was, in the palace living room with Sophia, left confused.

He retracted his hand away from hers, as words got stuck in his throat.

He hadn't known why, yet he suddenly yearned and longed for her.

Sophia asked, not seeming to have seen the scene he had just seen, and confused as to why he had frozen for a while, "You okay?"

"And when did you care about whether I was okay or not?" Nicholas replied coolly.

Sophia scowled.

"So, I won't care if you are okay or not, since that's what you seem to want," she agonized, extremely tempted to storm off again.

Nicholas' expression warmed.

"That's not what I meant," he said, his voice lowered down to a whisper.

He apologized, saying, "I didn't mean to come off like this."

"This cold, seeing full of myself and arrogant, I meant," he explained.

Sophia raised an eyebrow, "Continue," she urged, agreeing with his words of actualization.

Nicholas sneered.

"Make it harder for me to apologize, why don't you," he said mockingly, earning a laugh from Sophia before he continued, "What I wanted to say was that this is all a shock to me and this is how I… process things," he apologized truthfully.

'You're telling me,' Sophia muttered to herself guiltily. She hadn't been the nicest person, and she appreciated that he took initiative to apologize. She respected that.

"It's not your fault, I haven't been the most welcoming person either," Sophia admitted, feeling sorry for the way she had acted previously.

Nicholas raised both eyebrows.

Sophia scoffed. She considered giving whatever this was a try, wanting to know where she'd end up in this, deciding to start on a clean slate.

"Fresh start?" Sophia offered with a mischievous smile.

"Fresh start," Nicholas agreed.