Hugfia: The One That Got Away

Chapter 22

Sofia flew back to Freezenburg. Amber had found the Sun Drop flowers and Desmond had crushed them into a paste and added water. The princes and princesses crowded around Hugo as Desmond poured the tonic into Hugo's mouth. Slowly, the color returned to Hugo's cheeks.

"It's working!" cried Sofia.

"He won't wake up yet, but he'll be fine. Give him a few days of rest," said Desmond.

Sofia and Amber hugged each other in excitement. Then, with the remaining Sun Drop flowers, he created more tonic for the Thieves that had also been hit by poison darts.

 ━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Sofia woke up and the first thing she noticed was a pair of green eyes staring at her adoringly.

"You're so beautiful when you sleep," Hugo smiled sheepishly. "Well you're beautiful all the time, but you're most beautiful when you save my life,"

Sofia burst into tears.

"Aww, please don't cry," he said, awkwardly stroking her hair.

"I- I can't believe it. I thought I lost you."

She clasped his hand, feeling the warmth of it seeping into hers. "It's really you," she sniffed. "You're alive."

She squeezed him tight and dug her face into his shoulder, sobbing.

"I'm alive thanks to you Sofia. I owe you my life."

Sofia mumbled, "Well, it was a group effort..."

Hugo laughed. "Humble as always. I'll make sure to thank the others as well, but first, there's so many things I wanted to tell you."

She nodded, beckoning him to continue. 

He told her everything. He recounted his time on the run, surviving in the wilderness, joining the thieves, how miserable he felt when he found out she was engaged to Prince Friedrich, how genius her plan was to defeat Friedrich and above all how much he missed her. 

After an hour of them sitting like this, with Hugo talking and Sofia listening quietly, she suddenly let go of him and said, "You're so talkative now." 

She smiled sadly. "Before you wouldn't even look at me."

Hugo's eyes darkened. "Sofia" he said gently, "I couldn't look at you because you were engaged. To another man,"

"You really thought there was no chance of getting me back," she said sadly.

"And you did?"

She didn't say anything, but the expression in her eyes could convey way more than what her voice could. Longing, sadness, and an inextinguishable flame that burned for him for all these years.

Hugo blew out a sigh. "Even if your engagement had somehow ended with Prince Friedrich, there's no way I would have a chance with you. How would you have accepted a coward with a broken kingdom as your husband?"

"Do you still think that way?"

"No," his green eyes shone. "I'm going to go back, tell my citizens the truth and build my kingdom up into an undefeatable empire," He looked out the window into the distance, as if he could see Kryevka from here.

He turned back at her. "Sofia, I'm really sorry for ignoring you. But it felt illegal looking at someone I couldn't have."

The way he looked at her right now should have been illegal. 

He put a finger under her chin and tipped it upward so she was looking directly into his eyes. "Sofia, don't you dare think I ever stopped loving you."

Their faces were so close. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gently brought her face closer towards his. 

"AWWW they're going to kiss!" squealed Amber from the doorway. James stood there awkwardly beside her, inspecting the wood of the doorframe.

Sofia and Hugo sprung apart. Sofia's cheeks burned and she noticed Hugo's were the brightest shade of crimson.

"How long have you been watching us?" Sofia exclaimed.

"Well, we just arrived, but we arrived just at the right time." Amber wiggled her eyebrows. "Well, if you two lovebirds are not too busy, lunch is served."