Love & Affinities (18+)

9

SOFIA

I wake up to find Ad sleeping next to me in his bed. All the memories rushed in again like the droplets of water from the rain. I let out a sob as his eyebrows tensed. Hurriedly yet steadily, I got up before moving to my room. My heart broke at his words last night and his actions.

The cold water from the shower helped wash down some of these thoughts from my head. But apart from that, I still felt sad to be rejected from such a society and especially my friend, Samantha.

Where was she when I fell down? And why didn't he tell me that he was Adriano who I had missed so much. I want to meet Coco and mom and dad too.

That's it, I'm going to meet them today. After the shower, I thankfully stopped sobbing like a pathetic lowlife before going downstairs to see the cupboards filled with cooking utensils and groceries of all sorts. So, I began making breakfast to distract myself.

I was washing the fruits when I turned to see Ad standing at the top of the stairs looking right at me. He looked worn out, almost like he regretted and wanted to say something regarding last night. He hurt me.

He moved to the dining table trying really hard to give me smile. A very weak one. It was the first time he was smiling at me himself yet, I ignored him and served him some eggs and bacon, while placing coffee and fruits on the table.

I also baked a cheesecake to lighten my mood but I wasn't going to give him any. I turned on the TV in the dining area, focusing on the boring news while stuffing my mouth with food. From the corner of my eye, I caught Ad looking at me as I shifted uncomfortably. I was scared of him since yesterday.

''Sof'', he whispered. ''I'm sorry, I overstepped my boundaries. But, you need to understand that I'm not a good person and neither is your so-called friend, Samantha. Something bad could've happened to you yesterday''.

A long pause as he stared at my food-stuffed face for a response. ''Sofia, there is a difference between being angry and a brat. I don't think you want me to bend you over on my lap and give that ass a spank, do you?'' I was taken aback when those words left his mouth. A weird feeling settled between my legs. ''Exactly.''

''You didn't listen to me when I was explaining, why should I listen to you?'' I mumbled softly and stood up before walking to the couch to eat my breakfast. I was shocked at where the courage in me came from to ignore him. He sighed heavily before walking back to his room.

I wasn't satisfied. I couldn't live in a bubble fighting with someone for too long. But, he did scare me yesterday. I fiddled with the eggs on my plate as I stared at his bedroom's door.

Pushing my plate into the sink, I began washing the dishes trying to push his words out of my head. Brat, seriously.

Suddenly, someone rang the doorbell. I froze in my place as Adriano emerged from his bedroom, shirtless. My mouth watered at the sight of his inked flesh. He motioned for me to stay quiet and walked over to the door. His back muscles tensed as he looked into the front door and cursed out 'idiot'.

He opened the door only to welcome in his brother with a slap on his back while I giggled. Their gaze snapped to me as a smile broke on his brother's face, wait I still didn't even know his name. All I know is that I had named him Coco.

''Hey Sofia, what are you doing? I think I told Ad not to make you do any work?'' he tried conversing with me but I simply replied with a polite 'Hello'. He placed some bags on the table before wearing warm shoes and placing on an apron.

''May I help?'' he asked pointing at the soap-covered dishes. I nodded with a smile at him and glanced back to see Adriano's scowled face as he moved upstairs.

''Uhm, can I ask you something?'' I finally spoke as we dried our hands with a towel.

''Sure cutie, ask anything.'' I felt flustered at his nickname for me.

''W-What's your name?'' I asked timidly as he chuckled licking his lips.

''It's Ronan and I remember you very well Sophia. You used to call me Coco since we were small babies. So let's be friends?'' he asked giddily.

''Umhum'', I replied. He was really friendly unlike the cold Adriano who was so different now. We dried our hands and stood awkwardly when he broke the silence.

''Sofia, come on. I brought you something. Open it.'' I opened the bag he passed to me on the counter and found a beautiful bunch of flowers. The same ones that Ad had destroyed yesterday.

''Look deeper'', Ronan said and so I did and found a beautiful vase too. ''Oh my goodies, thank you so much Ron. They smell really nice.'' He smiled and passed me another bag.

I couldn't contain my smile as I looked at a smartphone and a beautiful floral dress with yellow flowers and purple lilies. ''Oh my god! Thank you so much Coco. I want to try this dress on, please. Can you wait for me?''

''Sure darling. Go on.''

RONAN

Sophia trotted off to her bedroom happily. I wish I could have stopped whatever she had gone through at the hands of that bastard Alex.

She doesn't even remember that I had come over yesterday when she had a panic attack, which was good in a way. Otherwise, she would have been awkward today, but now she sees Ad in a bad light all due to his own temper.

Thank god, I had been able to remove those videos from the Internet yesterday otherwise, Alex would have been alerted. I texted our team's technological hacker confirming if he had removed all the videos and pictures eradicating all the possible chances of Alex finding her.

I waited for him to reply for a while. This time, I shall protect her well. I was so indulged in my phone that I didn't notice Sophia descend from the stairs gracefully in her dress.

She looked stunning, just like an angel. Her brunette hair fell loosely till her waist as the dress fit her perfectly alongside her cute little nose and plump lips.

She was still as beautiful as ever. We were best friends from day one when we met in school. And later, we found out that our families knew each other. I had been staring at her for so long that she had to snap her fingers in front of me to shake me out of oblivion.

''How do I look? Y-You can be honest. I p-probably look like a stick in this pretty dress, I should take it off'', she began blabbering nonsense as I chuckled at her adorableness.

I grabbed her small little fingers in my big and rough hands as she looked up at me with her brown doe eyes looking like pools of cocoa. ''You look gorgeous and remember that I don't lie. You look like an angel'', I breathed out.

''T-thank you'', she replied with tears pooling in her eyes. Concern filled my eyes.

''Hey why are you crying?''

''I-it's nothing. I'm just happy. No one ever complimented me before other than you and Ad since I was, uh - you know...''

''Hey, hey come here'', she complied as I pulled her into my arms hugging her as she stiffened a little before relaxing. ''Don't listen to what others say about you. You define yourself, okay?'' She nodded hugging me. She was here and yet, I couldn't believe it.

THIRD PERSON POV

Blood splattered onto the walls of a basement somewhere far off from Italy. A phone placed on the varnished table glimmered as messages popped through. A man walked over to it and picked it up passing it into the hands of a devil sitting on his throne in the same basement.

''So let's begin'', he said turning the phone towards a man sitting on his knees bruised and battered from head to toe. ''Where would I find this mall in Italy?''