Never Meeting... Him
Throughout the years, Sophia had dealt with her fair share of men pining after her.
After all, with her good looks and her title, using her university as an escape wasn't effective as she thought it would be. They just never stopped.
Sophia used to wake up to flower arrangements all over her counters, so much so that she and Clarisse had to give them away every week, and come Valentine's day, Sophia's entire penthouse dorm room would've been filled with the everlasting scent of all kinds of flowers. It was a nightmare.
She asked Louis, "Is there any possible way I could be uninvited?"
"You're coming," Louis responded.
"Oh come on," Sophia said disappointedly. She sighed, before asking curiously, hoping it'd help her case, "What's the theme of this dinner dance anyway?"
"Masquerade," Louis answered in an instant.
"Because there's nothing more fun than dining and dancing with people wearing masks in an attempt to conceal their identities," Sophia said offhandedly.
"Doesn't Julia realize it's a major security risk?" She reasoned.
"Soph," Louis warned, "You're not worming your way out of this one."
Sophia grimaced.
"Just be there for Julia," Louis egged.
Sophia mumbled, 'Of course he'd ask me to be there for her. Coming directly from Julia's mouthpiece.'
Sophia hadn't yet realized she was forgetting something. A special occasion, so to speak.
Louis then chose to poke fun at his sister.
"You're not refusing to go because of the fact Nicholas isn't here… are you?" Louis asked mischievously.
Sophia growled.
"What, so you're using him as some tease now?" She asked, seeming offended.
"What does he have to do with anything?" Sophia nearly demanded an answer.
Louis didn't seem fazed.
He started, "You know, if this whole ruling the kingdom thing doesn't work out, becoming an actress wouldn't be off the table."
Sophia scoffed.
"For your information, I was not-"
"Soph," Louis said.
"It's grandmere's birthday," he reminded.
"This dinner dance is in celebration of her birthday, not that she's planning on sharing that piece of information to anyone," Louis admitted.
Sophia hesitated. She stopped moving.
She, for a brief moment, thought Louis was bluffing until it actually hit her.
She gulped. It was true.
"Oh my gosh, it completely slipped my mind," she stuttered.
Louis nodded.
She mumbled aloud, "I'm a horrible granddaughter."
Louis placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Do not beat yourself up, sis," he comforted.
"After all, we're all human," he reminded.
Sophia sighed, "But I should be better than this."
Wide-eyed, she asked Louis worriedly, "You're not planning on telling grandmere I forgot, are you?"
Louis looked at her blankly, as if insulted she even thought of him doing such a thing.
"What do you take me for?" He asked Sophia.
Sophia blinked in surprise.
"Right," she said, dodging the question before she noticed Louis staring at the floor.
She automatically assumed her brother was wondering what to get grandmere for her birthday.
"We've got to get her a present," she reminded herself.
"We do," Louis agreed.
Sophia looked at Louis in shock.
"Golden boy hasn't prepared a present yet? Why is this so very shocking to me," Sophia said before gasping theatrically.
"I've been rather busy, Soph," Louis reasoned.
"There are things I've… been putting off, so to speak," Louis elaborated.
Sophia summed it up, "So basically, you've been procrastinating ever since you've returned to Beldovia?"
"All I'm hearing's excuses and no actual ideas as to what we're giving grandmere for her birthday," Sophia said bitterly.
Louis shot Sophia a nasty look.
"What? I do care about her, even if that comes as a shock," Sophia said nonchalantly.
"Or do you mean me thinking of what to gift her and you doing nothing?" Louis joked.
This time it was Sophia who shot Louis a nasty look.
"No, of course not," she denied everything. She was never one to take someone's idea and or work and use/credit it as hers. That was just not how she functioned, and Louis knew that.
"I was merely joking," Louis assured as both he and Sophia continued on walking.
Sophia sighed, "If only joking could get grandmere an actual decent present."
She suddenly came up with an idea.
"A gag gift," she said all of a sudden.
Louis furrowed his brows.
"Come again?" He asked, confused as to what a gag gift had to do with anything.
"Grandmere's present, a gag gift," Sophia elucidated.
"Her sense of humour was always on point, why not elaborate on that," Sophia reasoned.
Louis caught her drift.
"We could gift her something that's… say, humourous and… possibly nostalgic," he said helpfully.
"Something from the past that grandmere will love…" Sophia wondered.
Sophia whispered something into Louis' ear.
Louis nodded.
"Now that, is a perfect idea," he agreed.
Sophia smirked.
She mumbled jokingly to herself, 'Of course it is, I came up with it.'
"Right then, all we've got to do is get it custom-made and personally gift it to grandmere tomorrow," Sophia declared.
Sophia beamed, "Just leave things up to me."
"Why does that seem like an extremely horrible idea?"
"You wound me, brother."
"So, I suppose I'll be seeing you at the dinner dance tomorrow now that things are cleared up?" Louis asked, seeking validation.
"Definitely," Sophia answered.
It should be known that she wasn't coming to the dinner dance out of requirement or necessity, it wasn't anything like that.
Sophia had never believed in the type of love that included passion and romance. But when it came to family, say, Julia, she loved her with all her heart. If she were to name one person that stuck by her throughout everything even whilst she was grieving the loss of her son and daughter-in-law, it'd be grandmere.
Life would've been incredibly different without her. For one, Emilia would've found a way to dispose of her and Louis by then, had Julia not been there to fiercely protect her grandchildren from the evil talons of her daughter-in-law. She'd put everything aside, her feelings even, for her grandchildren whom she loved so much; that was how strong her love for her two grandchildren was.
And, in addition to all of that, had Julia not been in her life, she would've never gotten to meet him.