The Proposal

Chapter Fourteen: Moving On

Sophia smiled as she sorted through her stuff, she had been in such a good mood when she had woken up that she couldn’t help but feel that her life was finally turning over a new life.

The blonde had called Irina, who was more than happy to help her friend when she had told her that it was finally time to get rid of everything that represented her ex-boyfriend that Sophia still had.

Irina smiled as she took a sip of her coffee and looked over at her friend who was working through her wardrobe; she was surprised at how much the blonde had kept since she had broken up with Gerard.

“I can’t believe you’re finally here,” the Russian said making the blonde look at her with a smile as Irina pretended to wipe away some fake tears as her green eyes looked over the pile of clothes, gifts and other items that Sophia had kept from her relationship.

“Finally you’re moving on,” Irina continued setting her drink down and moving towards Sophia who was now looking at her mostly empty wardrobe; she was a little surprised that she was throwing out most of her stuff.

“We’ll have to go shopping,” Sophia said making the Russian nod, as she looked at the clothes Sophia had left; Irina grinned looking at the several items that remained, they were everything that she had worn when she had been out with Cristiano.

Of course being Sophia’s best female friend entitled Irina to know everything about how her relationship with Cristiano was going; and of course that meant that she had heard about the kiss and how Cristiano had been acting recently not only towards Sophia but towards everyone else in his life.

***

Cristiano wasn’t sure why he had decided to tell Kaka what was really going on with his engagement to Sophia; but the footballer knew that he needed his advice more than anything in the world right now.

After listening to Cristiano, tell him the truth about his engagement, the Brazilian sat quietly letting what he had learnt sink in; he had never thought that the entire thin was arranged but now everything seemed to make sense.

“So you’re in an arranged marriage with Sophia,” Kaka said as he checked that he had everything right, he looked at his friend wondering how he was coping with this; he could tell that something big had happened if he was now telling him about it.

Kaka sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he cared about Sophia especially since she seemed to be in a delicate place when she had first arrived in Madrid; he remembered when he had first seen her and he had thought that something was off about her.

Looking at his friend, Kaka sensed that something else was bothering him, he seemed so nervous that it made him wonder what Cristiano had done.

“I think I’m falling for her,” Cristiano said slightly panicked, he had never felt like this before and it scared him; he didn’t know what to think anymore and he needed advice from someone he knew could help him in some way.

Kaka choked slightly looking at the obviously distressed Cristiano, he really hadn’t been expecting Cristiano to say anything like that since when he had started to explain what was going on that he only saw the blonde as his best friend and nothing more.

“She’s all I think about, I want to spend time with her whenever I can…” the footballer explained while Kaka listened carefully a smile growing on his face while Cristiano talked; he couldn’t believe that his best friend had finally fallen in love and it was with Sophia.

Cristiano dropped his head into his hands as he thought about how he felt for the blonde, even with Anastasia as a distraction the feelings wouldn’t go away no matter how much he tried. 

“I don’t want this… she’s my best friend Kaka, I can’t lose that but I can’t marry her,” Cristiano said softly as he looked up at his Brazilian friend, he was suddenly glad that they were home alone while Caroline was out with the children; he didn’t need anyone else to hear how pathetic he had become.

“I don’t know what you expect me to do Cris… you’re going to have to marry her at some point,” Kaka said shrugging as he completely ignored his friends confessed plan to escape from his engagement; he doubted that the Portuguese would be able to go through with it now.

The Brazilian took a deep breath knowing that his friend wanted advice, however there was only one thing that he could suggest and he knew that it wasn’t what Cristiano wanted.

***

After spending several hours shopping to refill Sophia’s now nearly empty wardrobe, the blonde and Irina finally stopped for lunch; they had just placed their orders when the model noticed that they were being watched.

“Do you know him?” Irina asked nodding at the man across the restaurant that had followed them in; she didn’t know what it was but he looked familiar and she didn’t know why.

Sophia furrowed her brow before she followed her gaze, the blonde felt sick as she realised that it was Stefan; she hadn’t seen him since her engagement party and it scared her.

“It’s Stefan… he’s the one I told you about,” Sophia whispered as she looked back at her friend, who quickly pulled out her phone and called Cristiano; she knew that the Portuguese didn’t want Stefan anywhere near the blonde.

Sophia didn’t hear what Irina said, until the Russian nudged her gently to get her attention.

“Cristiano’s meeting us outside,” she said making Sophia nod as they quickly left the restaurant closely followed by Stefan; it didn’t take them long before they found Cristiano, Kaka and Iker.

While Kaka and Iker stepped forward towards Stefan, Cristiano pulled Sophia to him and glared at Stefan over her head; Irina smiled at her friend and Cristiano before she turned her attention to Stefan who was frowning.

“I thought we told you to stay away from her,” Iker said making Stefan look at him confused, Sophia felt Cristiano tighten his grip around her; she didn’t know where this was going but she didn’t want to cause any more trouble.

Iker looked around knowing that three footballers, a model and a WAG were going to catch too much attention the way things were going; they didn’t need the press getting hold of this.

“Get out of here… we don’t want to see you near Sophia again,” Iker warned Stefan signalling the end of the confrontation; Cristiano nodded at Iker before he slowly led Sophia back to his car, Irina left the two of alone heading towards her own car.

Iker smiled at Kaka as they watched Sophia and Cristiano leave, they knew that it wasn’t going to be long before Cristiano caved and finally admitted how he felt about Sophia.