Chapter 13: Waking up In a Stranger's Arms

Everything happened so fast. When I wake up, I am in a bed lying beside a stranger. Wait! Why does it feel like I have seen this man somewhere. He is exuding a very familiar aura. Also, He seemed to look like someone from my country. As I was thinking and wondering where might I have seen the guy, he then opened his eyes and looked straight into mine. I almost jumped out of bed due to my surprise, but he held my waist on time stopping me from falling off.

"Take it easy, don't faint again" the guy said and gave me a smirk. Honestly, he do looks familiar and a handsome one. But, what am I doing in his bed?

"Who are you? Were you the one that saved me earlier? Why are you here lying in the bed next to me? Where am I? " Then, the man get up and took a seat in the couch. He looked at me and gave me a cunning smile.

"One question at a time please. You even haven't thanked me yet and now you're questioning me. My name is Alex. Yes, I'm the one who saved you and you are now in a hospital."

"Well, thank you for saving me. But, why are you lying next to me? "

"Well, when I brought you here you were unconscious and it seemed that the doctors know you as well. I chose the VIP ward, that way I can rest as well, since they are not allowing me to leave you alone here. But, when you regained a bit of consciousness, you were crying and refused to let me go. So, the doctor suggested that I should just lie next to you to make you feel protected. " I do feel like starting to doubt his explanation but looking at the guy, I did have a good rest just now. Almost every time, I go to sleep, nightmares do wake me up.

"Your parents should be here now. I'll go ahead. Take care of yourself. I won't be there every time to save you. Also, It's not safe for you to be alone. "

"Thanks! By the way, Alex. Let's meet again one day and let me treat you to properly thank you for saving me. I don't want to owe someone a favor. You know what I mean. "

"Sure. We'll meet again. " Then, just like that. He left and we never meet again. I tried searching for his name but I did not got his last name. In the end, I still owe that guy a favor. Everyday since then, I always dreamt of him. It felt that I have met him before, probably years way back. For someone who lost half of her life's memories, it feels nothing more than a void in your heart. Sometimes, even dreams becomes so vivid and you'll realize that you have perceived it as true. Not knowing which is dreams and what not. There are days that you feel like you are in a cloud nine moments, then you broke out in tears all of a sudden. As a daydreamer, you can imagine the worst moments.

Sophia finished high school in a blink of an eye. She have received numerous awards and recognitions. Aside from here academic awards, she have also became queen of the prom and Summer's face of the year. She jumped grade and graduated at 18 years old from highschool. Then, she took up Veterinary.

Years passed by like like a swift of the wind. A lot have changed in her life. She regularly visits the boutique with the old man and they have become best of friends throughout this years. She have also learned so much in the fashion designing industry and even have a certification from a school in Paris. As she was studying in a Veterinary school, she is also a. Full-time student remote student of Art, majoring in Fashion designing, and have taken an online course on Business management. Her mom and dad was aware that she is studying Business management, but not the fashion designing. The old man, Vincent, is the owner of the boutique and he was the one who recommended Sophia to the school and he is a good friend of the current head of the school, giving Sophia a full scholarship. Every semester, Sophia is tasked to submit a unique design to the headmaster to be included for the nomination for the exhibition. Though Sophia did not think much on what happens after the designs were submitted, later did she know that she was the famous designer throughout the campus, Amaia. Every year, her design was the one with the greatest bidders in the auction. Aside from the clothes, the jewelry designs she always comes up with carries a unique, tantalyzing, and mysterious vibe. She used the name Amaia in all her works and in the whole school, only the headmaster have direct contact and knows her true identity. He knew that the girl will soon take over Vincent's place and is better to remain a mystery as to who. The money that Sophia gained is deposited in a separate bank account with her another identity.

In her university where she is one of the top students, she is an Officer for the whole department. Her works and research papers have reached the international competition and gained numerous awards. Aside from the achievements she have in the Veterinary school, she is also a shareholder of a big clothing line company. In the outside, her parents is proud of her for excelling in her university, but they didn't know what other things she have done. She stopped receiving money from them since she turned 18 and she have paid all her tuition and have even bought her own house at 20. She saved enough money from the earning she gained from the sales of her books and used it invest and bought herself a house. The remaining sum were invested and distributed in her chosen companies and have been multiplying through the years. In terms of financial stability, she already was at the age of 20. Currently she is 21, almost graduating from the universities she attended and have even got the certification for the business management after only finishing all the required courses for three years.

As for friends, she made a lot of them. In her veterinary school, she got a best friend named Sabrina, who unlike her is very shy and timid, yet very smart. They work together and checks on each other papers. If Sophia is first, she is on fifth. But they work perfectly together. In her business school, she got acquainted with a guy named Alexander Smith. Like her, he is also studying online while taking up other course. His goal is to become the next top surgeon like his mom. They have gone closer through their debates, as much as they pick on each other, they are also good friends. As for the Art school, Sophia is like an old acquaintance with the headmaster, Louis. Louis admires Sophia's talent and wants to make her, his only apprentice. However, Sophia finds her schedule rather hectic and turned down his offer. Sophia is already a distinguished author and needs to submit her works on time. Afar from that, she feel like her talent is just so-so. Louis is still around 40, so he did not rush her. He have always reminded her that the offer will always stand as long as he is capable.

It is already November, and in 35 days, is Christmas. Sophia feels relief whenever this time of the year comes. That means she'll have more time to work on her books, projects, and paper. As she was preparing her laptop to start working, her Mom gave her a call asking her to go shopping with her. Sophia agreed and meet up with her Mom. They always shop every month, most of the time it is Sophia's treat. She insists on paying for everything as it is only a small sum in exchange for their sacrifices for her. They arrived in the mall and headed to a high end store for luxury items. Her Mom started choosing stuffs while she find her self a couch to sit on. Then, one of the saleslady walked up to her and asked,

"Hi, good morning. If you don't mind, are you Miss Sophia Luna?" the girl have a blonde curvy hair and is almost the same height as me.

"Yes, and I am a regular here. Why do you ask?" I looked at the girl with questioning look.

"Oh, perfect! Please stay here for a while." Then the girl walked straight to the counter and get a scented envelope enough for a card to fit and handed it to me. I accepted it and asked, "What is this? A VIP card?"

"Yes and No. Miss Sophia, inside a black VVIP card. With that on hand, you can get anything you want in the store for free." I was shocked to hear the response. Well, it is true that I am always here and always pay more than a hundred thousand dollar per visit but that shouldn't make it a reason on how I got this.

"Oh, you might be wondering why we are giving you one. For the reason, our manager will be the one to explain as I don't know the specifics and she will be here any minute now since we have notified her of your arrival." The lady smiled and excused herself.

After five minutes, the shop's manager arrived and lead me to his office. She is a blonde woman with a pair of doll like eyes. She is beautiful in any sense of the word and is around 30 years old. She smiled and gave me a respectful bow.

"Ah, it's alright. Well, as you know I am wondering why are you giving me this?" I asked while pushing the envelope with the card in the table.

"Miss Sophia, surely one of our biggest share holder should hold the black card. The CEO visited the store yesterday and saw your name. He almost fired us when he found out you are paying and luckily, we are redeemed but only if you accept this card." the manager said with a pleading look. I took the card and shove it inside my bag.

" Well, as you know what I am. I believe you should keep you mouth shut then, right? " The manager smiled and nod as she lead me the way back. When, I got out, I dialed Daniel, the owner and CEO of the store.

"Hello, my dearest A, you finally found my number in your list. Did you like my gift? There are only two of that card in this world. One for you and one for me." Daniel spoke with all the narcissistic behaviour he have.

"You can't reveal my identity and now this? Daniel, you better not do anything rush again. You know what I'm capable of."

"Toot." The guy is as annoying as always. I first meet him in Business management class and he was always been the jumpy type of person but he is smart. We founded the clothing line an.