Chapter 1: The Homecoming
Sophia Hansen's POV
I was looking outside the window of the airplane which we were going to my home country. I sighed when I know how much I have been dreading for this homecoming. It was not like I wanted to be home but I have to.
I sighed again when I was looking inside the airplane again. There was chaos all around here. The babies were crying, the mothers were trying to soothe their children. People were snoring and I was listening to the music that was calming.
Yeah, sounds like a homecoming to me.
"We are about to land in the capital city of Denmark. Please return to your seat as we're getting for departure. Thank you," the captain was talking in Danish as I was smiling a little bit. It has been a long time since I was talking in Danish. I just hope that I was not rusty at all.
I have to blame my uncle for that.
Last month, I was asked by him to go undercover with the Hungarian spy that was assigned from King Peter, the current Hungarian King. I was happy to play along until I saw him. I never expect him to be there and he has not changed after all.
After all those months that I have been heard about my 'supposed' fiancé's rumor, I was looking at him right there and then.
His blond hair, the Virtanen's gene I must say.
His green eyes.
His straight nose.
His stare that could make my heart beat even faster.
I was not having any thoughts when he was around and my uncle was excited for us to work together under that cover, the cover which stated that I was Chris Virtanen's fiancée. Even Charles Debrun, my ex, was there. I was in a dilemma. And so, I just played along to my uncle's device.
And that was the wrong thing to do.
I sighed before I was looking at the clouds as we were descending. It was a bumpy ride but I was welcoming it. Like everything in my life, it was not permanent.
Especially, Chris Virtanen.
I did not know where he was or what he was doing right now. It has been a month since he disappeared that night. I did not have a chance to look into that matter when I was called back home from my father.
And whatever Arthur Hansen wanted, we have to obey him.
It has been a long time since my mother left us. She was not dead, but she had some affair with someone else. And that someone else was my father's best friend.
I know, how cliche was that. It's not my father who did not love my mother, he just…too much of a workaholic. And my mother blessed her wicked heart, wanted to be loved and giving love. After I was conceived, they never shared a room, let alone a bed.
And one day, my mother told my father that she wanted a divorce and my father granted it. But with a condition.
I was to be left with him, in his care. My mother fought for her right but my father won. As much of the Scandinavian countries, my father was being favored. Or maybe because my father paid a lot of money to keep my right under his.
And he won as he promised that he would take care of me in a way my mother could not.
But of course, you have to understand the circumstances of my parents' marriage. You see, they did not fall in love. They were being engaged when they were young and got married because my grandparents approved of them.
I think I would never be able to stay still in that kind of marriage.
I sighed before I was leaning against the seat as the plane landed. I was looking at the crowd that was excited to get out of the plane. I was taking a deep breath.
"Home sweet home," I mumbled before I was looking at the airport outside the plane. The captain was talking inside onto the microphone.
"We have arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark. The local time was 8 AM and it was sunny today. I hope you enjoy Danes Airway with us. Thank you and have fun. To all the Danes, welcome home!" The captain said before I was smiling.
Nothing was like a homecoming than that.
I walked out of the plane as I was getting the carry on that I was having on the overhead compartment. I was looking at the empty plane before I was getting out of the plane. I greeted the flight attendants before I was walking out to the customs.
As I was a citizen of this country, I did not have to wait long since I was on the citizen line and we were scanned. I was smiling at the officer before I was getting out of immigration and customs.
I walked out to get my luggage before I dumped them on the trolley as I was pushing out of the airport. I don't know if my father has heard the news of me getting on a plane but I hoped he did not.
He tended to get carried away if he was picking me up at the airport. But of course, that was only a dream when I was looking at the bodyguards that were standing outside the airport and I was smiling at my father.
He did not change at all after 3 years that I went out of the country.
His red hair was tinted with grey ones.
His blue eyes were hard as they were after my mother left us.
His stance was saying that he used to command people and not the other way round.
"Father," I said as I was greeting him before he was looking at me with his cold blue orbs.
"Daughter, welcome home. We will be going home now," he said before he was nodding at the bodyguards. They took my stuff and the chauffeur was opening the door before my father walked into the car. I sighed before I followed him. The chauffeur closed the door and I was sitting across from my father.
"So, what's the big occasion to get all the bodyguards to welcome me on the homecoming?" I asked my father as he was sitting straight on the sofa that he was occupying then.
"Well, you know that you have come of age 3 years ago," he started as I was rolling my eyes.
"Yes, I have been 21 years old 3 years ago,"
"And you see why you have to come home? It's have been 3 years since you left the company to pursue your dreams in doing espionage and all that shit that your uncle was involved," he said as I was looking at my father bored.
"Father, it was more than that," I said before he gagged at me.
"Urgh! All the things are the same. They wanted to use your beauty and seduction to get the information. Tell me, you did sleep with someone when you were in that program, am I right?" He said as I was looking at him.
I stayed silent.
"I thought so. I know you would be careless like that,"
"But father—"
"No, I would not hear your excuses anymore. You're impure now, daughter. Do you think people would marry you anymore?" He said as I was rolling my eyes before I was crossing my arms at him.
"We're not in the 1800s where everything has consequences. I thought Scandinavian countries supposed to be progressive," I mumbled before my father harrumphed.
And you know the shit was serious when he did that. So, I stayed quiet.
"We are progressive, yes. But it did no good for the younger generations. They have been spending a lot of time dating than thinking about building a marriage from their relationships. There has been a lot of STDs cases more than a decade ago and it has been increasing. And I don't want my daughter to be included in that cases," he said as I was scoffing at him.
"But father, I did not—"
"So, I have decided that we will be marrying you off to someone reliable and the same status as us," he said as I was crossing my arms.
"You mean a snob?" I said before my father was turning his cold blue eyes on me. He smirked.
"Oh, he was more than that. You'll see," he said as I was wondering about that statement.
If he was more than a snob, then what he was exactly? I hoped my father did not do something dramatic after my homecoming 'cause I was not ready for any more of that right now.
Not after what Chris Virtanen did to me.