Finally Found You

FIVE

"I think we should take a break, Sophie." His voice was surprisingly calm, but inside it felt like a tornado taking over.

"A-A break? From what?" Sophie started to panic. What if he didn't want to be her friend anymore?

"Cognate training. I think we should-" He gasped and clutched his heart with both of his hands and crumbled to the floor.

"Fitz!" Sophie screamed. "Fitz, are you okay?" She panicked. Fitz was in immense pain, taking deep breaths to control himself.

"Yeah I-I'm f-fine." He said between gasps. "It's th-the echo."

"I'm so sorry Fitz, I-I didn't mean to..." Sophie stopped, covering her mouth, afraid that she'll burst into tears if she kept on talking.

"No. It's not your fault, it's me who's overreacting." He said, standing up and still taking deep breaths. "But I still think we should stop training for a while." He said, turning away and starting for the door once he felt better.

"Fitz!" Sophie cried. Why is he leaving? "Please don't go Fitz!" She pleaded. But he kept on walking. There's no other way to convince him except telling the truth. "I-I'm scared."

Fitz stopped midway but didn't turn around. "What do you mean you're scared?" His voice was so cold, it felt like the room temperature dropped to zero.

"That's why I can't tell you my secret... I'm afraid." Her voice cracked.

Fitz sighed and turned around, Still not willing to look at her eyes. "Afraid of what?"

"Of losing you!" Sophie blurted, tears streaming down her face.

His face softened as he took her hands in his. "Hey, look at me." Fitz waited till her eyes met his. "Nothing will ever break us apart." He said softly. "But you not telling me your secrets will." How bad would her secret have to be to make him leave her?

"I know." Sophie whispered. "But I can't."

"You do know that there's nothing you can be afraid of, right?" Fitz transmitted, making her jump.

"What do you mean?"

"You are Sophie Foster, the girl who got kidnapped, the person who almost died a thousand times, and facing the Neverseen? I won't even go that far, but you have to know Soph, there's nothing you can be afraid of. Besides, you've got me and the others, what could go wrong?"

Sophie took a minute to process what he said. Maybe he's right, maybe he would leave her if she told him the secret. But wait, did he just call her Soph? He never called her that, no one did. Does it mean that he had feelings for her too?

"Sophie!" Sophie jumped so hard, she literally bumped the ceiling with her head.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Are you alright? I called you three times but it was like you didn't even hear me." Fitz had his eyebrows scrunched together as if he's studying her.

"Oh. Yeah I'm fine, just in deep thought." She finally decided to tell him the secret. "So um, about the secret..."

"You don't have to tell me right now if you don't want to, you know? I don't want to rush things."

"No. You don't understand, I've been keeping this secret for years and it'll be a relief if someone else knows."

"All right then. Go ahead." He flashed that super cute smile at her again. Which made her wonder if she could really tell him without embarrassing herself.

Sophie stared at the floor, avoiding his eyes. "I'velikedyousincethefirstdaywemet." The air was silent, Sophie blushed and held her breath, waiting for Fitz's reaction.

"Wait, what did you say? It was all blurred together I didn't quite catch it." He asked, puzzled, trying to figure out what she just said. But then it dawned on him, Sophie Elizabeth Foster like him. How in the world is that even possible? How can someone so talented and beautiful and smart be attracted to him? Fitz stood there, dazed, wondering if it was all just a dream and when he would wake up from it.

Sophie finally mustered the courage to look at him. But what she saw was a total nightmare. Fitz was just standing there, shocked, and she knew, she knew right away, her worst fear had came true: he didn't like her back. She couldn't even look at him, the disappointment and embarrassment was more than she could bare. "I-I'm sorry, I knew you don't like me back, I-I don't even know what I was thinking. J-Just pretend I never said that, please." Her voice cracked at the last word. It was all too much. She started for the door, tears rolling down her face, all she wanted was some time to herself.

Fitz snapped out of his daze, realizing what he had just done. How could he have been so foolish? Just standing there shocked, no wonder she thought he didn't like her back. And of course she would think he'd leave her if he didn't, the whole situation would be too awkward, that's why she couldn't confess.
But now he'd done it, he made her believe that he didn't have feelings for her when it was all just a misunderstanding. "Wait! Sophie!" Fitz tried calling her back, but she kept on going. "Sophie, stop!" He caught up to her, grabbed her hand and turned her around to face him...