INFORM HER (1)

After showering for God knows how long, Sophie came out of her bathroom. She picked the bathrobe, which she had discarded earlier on the floor, and went straight to the balcony. She stood there for a while, when her phone rang successfully distracting her from focusing on the outside scenery.

She glanced at the mobile. Seeing that it was one of her subordinates calling, she slowly picked up the call and put the phone on her ear and said, "Go on..."

There was complete silence at the other end of the call. Few seconds passed in silence. When she was about to hang up the phone, she heard a long sigh at the other end.

She did not hang up the phone. Neither did she rush the person on the other end of the line to speak. She waited for that person to speak first.

Another sigh.

When she could not take it anymore, she said, "Are you going to tell me what exactly happened for you to be so upset?"

"Um.... Nothing much...."

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. Atkins is going to marry soon!"

"Oh! What has that got to do with me?"

"Huh?", the person at the other end of the line could not comprehend her words. 'Miss clearly loves Mr. Atkins. How can she be so cool about this matter? Am I hearing things?', she thought to herself.

"Are you going to say nothing about this matter?"

"Oliver is going to get married. The weird thing is that the playboy is going to get settled. I need to know who that unfortunate woman is!" She shook her head, as if she imagined the fate of the unknown woman.

"Huh? When did I say that Mr. Oliver is going to get married?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Mr. Robert Atkins is going to get married to Ms. Lily Johnson on this coming Sunday."

She did not register her words for a while, and when she finally understood, she was shocked. 'How could he marry her?'

"Okay", she responded and hung up the call finally. She needed to calm down a while to reorganize her thoughts. She sat down on the swing, kept the phone on the coffee table, reclined on it and closed her eyes. Fresh tears flowed down her cheeks and dropped on her chest, soaking her short purple top. She did not seem to notice it. Nobody would understand her emotions right now. She felt so betrayed. She could not say anything, but she could not take this anymore. She desperately wanted to escape from all this, but couldn't.

She thought back to all the things that needs her care. She thought back to the most important thing that she needed to do, that is, to find her mother and bring her back. She could not focus on the wrong things on her. Within few minutes, she made up her mind not to focus on the marriage of Robert and Lily. Rather, she would focus on the things that needed her attention.

It was very hard for her to concentrate in this moment of emotional upheaval. But she had to do this. So, she went to downstairs after changing her clothes, as they were soaked in her own tears. She changed out of her clothes and after returning downstairs, she felt that the surrounding atmosphere was awkward.

She did not know what happened, and stared at them for a while, before lifting her long legs to walk across the room and sitting on the nearest available couch. Coincidentally, it was between Natalie, her one of the best friends and confidante, and Grandpa Tan, the most doting Grandfather she has met so far.

"So, what happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?"

"You guys are acting strange, and seem like you are hiding something. What are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Have a drink." Ben said while pouring red wine for everyone present in the room.

Sophie lifted her eyebrows. Red wine and gathering. Something is fishy.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Why don't you drink first?"