The Proposal

Chapter Two: Telling Cristiano and Sophia

Sophia settled Junior down in his play-pen before she slipped into the kitchen to prepare some lunch for herself and him.

The blonde wasn’t surprised that on one of his few days off, Cristiano wasn’t at all interested in spending time with his young son.

It was why Sophia had been hired when she had moved back to Madrid from Barcelona, Dolores trusted her to look after her grandson and at times her son, if she couldn’t be there to do so herself.

Junior had been an accident waiting to happen and since his mother had little interest in raising him.

Dolores had taken over the majority of his care until Sophia had been hired to work full-time until the little boy was old enough to attend school.

Sophia sighed as she prepared mashed-up banana’s for Junior before she made herself a sandwich; she often wondered what had happened to the Cristiano of her youth but she knew the answer to that right away… fame.

It was plain and simple to her as his success grew the Cristiano that Sophia had called her best friend had disappeared leaving a man with little care in the world for anyone but himself.

Sophia fed Junior first when she returned to the living room and then she had her sandwich while he played with some toys.

She was wearing a nude dandelion print blouse and high waisted skinny jeans paired with suede classic black trainers so she could keep up with the little boy when he was out.

“Maybe one of these days you’ll say something,” Sophia mused making Junior look at her, and smile; Sophia lifted him up so she could sit him on her knee and cuddled him.

No sooner had Junior been seated on her knee than Suzanna, Dolores and Jorge Mendes walked through the door; the three smiled at the sight of Sophia who raised an eyebrow at them wondering what was going on.

“Sophia,” Suzanna said greeting her daughter, who looked at her oddly before Suzanna sat next to her; she stared down at the little boy that was on her daughter’s lap knowing that soon he would be her grandson.

“We’re just waiting for Cristiano and then we’ll tell you both the wonderful news,” the blonde said as she looked at Dolores as she moved to take Junior from Sophia; she knew that this wasn’t going to be easy but it was for the best.

***

Cristiano looked warily around the room as his mother ushered him into sitting next to Sophia, who shrugged at his questioning gaze; he didn’t know what was going on but he didn’t like it.

“This isn’t an intervention is it?” he asked making Dolores and Suzanna laugh lightly at his question while Sophia ran a stressed hand through her hair; they had been strangely giddy since they had arrived and it worried her.

“They have some news that they want to share with us,” the blonde told him, her brown eyes looked at him for a moment before she turned her attention back to their mothers; the two women glanced at their children before grinning to each other.

Jorge sighed and glanced at his watch, he had to admit that the two women had a great plan and it would save him a lot of work from keeping Cristiano’s activities out of the media’s focus.

“Okay so we could have the party here… Sophia would look beautiful in red,” Suzanna said as she got excited and ahead of herself; her daughter looked at her confused, she didn’t know where her mother was going with this but it unsettled her.

Jorge rolled his eyes at the two women, he knew that they were excited but they were getting ahead of themselves and the pair in question still didn’t know what was going on.

“What party?” Cristiano asked as he leant back into the couch while Sophia eyed her mother suspiciously.

Dolores grinned at Cristiano then at Sophia, she knew that this was a long shot but she could really see this working out for them.

“Your engagement party,” Dolores said making Sophia snap her head up and look at Dolores before finally she looked at Cristiano, who looked just as surprised as she did.

“To who?” the footballer asked wondering if he had gotten drunk and proposed to someone again; Dolores smiled before turning her attention to Sophia, who paled as she realised what was going on.

Cristiano furrowed his brow and turned his attention to the blonde that was sat next to him; he stared at her for a moment before he shook his head and looked back at his mother.

“We’re not engaged,” the Portuguese said softly as he looked confused, he didn’t know what was going on but he suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach; his mother grinned at Suzanna as they thought about what they had planned.

Jorge sighed before stepping forward and dropping a thin pile of papers onto the coffee table making Suzanna and Dolores smile at their children excited while the pair stared at the papers confused.

“As of today you are… this is a legally binding document that states as of today… Cristiano Ronaldo is arranged to marry Sophia Collins,” Jorge said watching as horror filled Cristiano’s face while Sophia started to look ill; neither of them had expected anything like this to happen.

Licking her lips, Sophia sat forward looking at her mother wondering what had brought this on; she knew her mother worried about her since she didn’t date but she had never expected anything like this to happen.

“Don’t be so shocked… this will be good for you,” she said making Cristiano glare at the older woman while Sophia sat quietly.

Suzanna just hoped that her daughter understood why she was doing this to her, she wanted to see her daughter happy and she wanted grandchildren.

“It’ll be good for her… what about me? What about my career?” Cristiano exclaimed making Sophia flinch; she knew that he was upset, she was too but that didn’t make it any easier for her to listen to his harsh words and thoughts about only himself.

Dolores frowned as she looked at her son, she wanted him to understand even if right now he was upset about what was going on.

“It’ll do wonders for your career Cristiano… it’ll make you more approachable if you’re seen with a woman and your son,” Jorge said as he stared at his client.

He knew how much of a bad rep that the footballer had and he knew this would help save it; he was getting a bad name for himself and if it continued then he would become a liability.

“Is this about me bringing home strangers… Mãe I can stop,” Cristiano said trying to get out of it, he looked at his mother pleadingly; he didn’t want this and he knew that he would do anything to get out of this.

Cristiano did want to get married but not right now and certainly not to Sophia; she was once his best friend and he didn’t see her as his future wife. 

“But you won’t Cristiano and that’s the point; you said you’d stop when Junior was born but you didn’t. What will it take? Getting an STD or having your stomach pumped before you change,” Dolores said making Cristiano frown as he realised just how much his mother worried about him, he looked down at his hands as guilt filled him as he worried about her.

Sophia took a deep breath as she looked at the document that now held her future.