The Proposal

Chapter Five: The World Knows

Junior smiled up at Sophia as they started to walk back to her Audi A6, they had spent the morning at the park and the blonde had decided to head back home for lunch; things between her and Cristiano were still awkward but they were starting to improve.

The walk back to the car was quick but Sophia couldn’t shake the thought that she was being watched; she shook her head knowing that anyone had any interest in her, they had stopped following her around months ago when she took the position as Junior’s nanny.

As Sophia started to put the little boy into the car, she was approached by two teenagers; they looked at one another before clearing their throats to catch her attention, the blonde looked at them confused wondering what they wanted.

“Excuse us… is it true you’re marrying Cristiano Ronaldo?” one of the girls asked making Sophia stop what she was doing and look at the pair.

She stared confused before they showed her the front of the morning newspaper making her stare speechless as she nodded her head.

The two teenagers smiled as they looked between one another, they couldn’t believe that they were meeting Cristiano’s fiancée; she wasn’t what they had been expecting when they had approached her.

“Could we have your autograph?” the other girl asked making the blonde nod her head as she quickly gave the two teenagers what they wanted before she clambered into her car.

Pulling out her phone, Sophia reached for the copy of the paper that she had yet to look at in her car; she had picked it up on the way to the park and had yet to read it.

“Have you seen the morning paper?” Sophia asked as Cristiano answered his phone, her brown eyes reading through the story wondering why they had found out so quickly; she had only been engaged to Cristiano for three weeks now.

The footballer was at his morning training session and hadn’t seen anything since he was away from the press and hadn’t bothered to even get a newspaper yet.

“What have they written about this time?” he asked not really caring what the papers write about him anymore.

But he knew it had to be something big for the blonde to call him, he was working hard on repairing their friendship and he knew that it was going to take time.

“Our engagement,” Sophia said as she glanced at Junior who was looking out of the window; she knew that she would have to head home soon since she didn’t want anyone getting a picture of her and the little boy while they were out.

Cristiano choked on his water before cursing, he had been so careful; the press didn’t bother following Sophia anymore since she was no longer seen with him out in public and he had issued a statement that following his son wouldn’t be tolerated.

“How?” Cristiano asked not sure how the story had gotten to the press but glancing around at his team mates.

It was obvious that a few of them had seen the news and were dying to ask him about what was going on, they never thought he would settle down.

“According to the paper… your manager and Real Madrid confirmed it,” Sophia said as she realized her car was being watched, she glanced back at Junior making sure that he was alright as she moved to pull on her seatbelt so she could leave quickly.

Cristiano sighed shaking his head, he knew this made things a lot more complicated for them now that the press knew of their engagement; they would want to see the couple together and he didn’t want that for Sophia.

“I’ll speak with Jorge and see what’s happening,” he said before ending the call, he had a lot on his mind and he was going to have to make sure that this didn’t mess with his game in anyway.

Sophia frowned and set the paper down, she really didn’t want the attention that came from being associated with a footballer; Junior cooed at her making Sophia smile as she started her car.

“Let’s head home,” Sophia said to Junior who looked at her and smiled at her; it worried Sophia slightly that the infant who had yet to say his first words and he was now over a year old.

***

Arriving back at the home, Sophia groaned as she spotted the paparazzi that had settled outside of the house; she knew that things would get worse once they realised that she lived there.

The blonde was quick to get Junior from the car and headed inside, she didn’t relax in anyway until the front door was closed behind her; Sophia moved to settle Junior in his playpen before she headed for the kitchen.

Dolores looked up at the blonde and offered her a weak smile before she looked back at the clock; she knew that with the press interest that things would move quicker for the couple.

It was at that moment that the two women heard Cristiano return home, Sophia licked her lips as she carefully moved to collect something for Junior as the footballer walked into the kitchen; he looked at her as she offered him a small smile as she left the room.

Dolores smiled at her son, she patted the seat next to her; she needed to talk with him and she wanted to make things at least easier for him.

Cristiano slowly took the seat, he knew whatever his mother had to say must be important if she was like this; the footballer watched her wondering what was going on.

“The press will want to see a ring,” Dolores said softly making Cristiano sigh and run a hand through his hair, he really didn’t want to have to deal with this now; he would deal with getting a ring later on when he was ready to actually go through with this.

“Your pai… he would have wanted you to have this to use it when you got engaged,” Dolores said taking a small box from her bag and sliding it to Cristiano, who sat quietly taking in what she said. Slowly picking the box up,

Cristiano swallowed as he opened it and realised what his mother had given him; it was the 9ct two colour gold fifth carat diamond ring, which his father had given to her when he had asked Dolores to marry him.

“Mãe I can’t take this,” Cristiano said making Dolores shake her head, Cristiano looked down at the engagement ring and swallowed knowing how much it meant to her; it meant so much to him that she was giving this to him for his engagement.

“I want you to give this to Sophia,” Dolores said making Cristiano look at her, he could see the tears filling in her eyes before he pulled her into a hug; he couldn’t believe that she was doing this for him.

Cristiano sighed as he looked down at the ring, he hated to admit it but if he was going to give his father’s engagement ring to anyone, then he knew that it should be Sophia.

The blonde was his best friend even if they were in a difficult place right now, he didn’t want to give the ring to someone that didn’t deserve it; he couldn’t see it on anyone else’s fingers, especially the models that he slept with.

“Go… she’ll need that ring soon,” Dolores said as she wiped away some of her tears, she smiled at Cristiano who nodded his head as he collected the ring before he left the kitchen so that he could go and talk with Sophia.