Broken Pieces

Chapter 28

Carl held Sofia's hand with one hand and kept driving with the other one. His hand kept providing him with the warmth that she needed to calm her nerves. She was looking straight at the front, lost in thoughts. She was thinking about Simon. Where could he be? Why hadn't Hazel or Camilla contacted her yet? She made a mental note to visit them the next day. Later she turned her attention towards her hand which was intertwined with Carl's big one. She felt she was betraying Simon. 

She had to tell Carl how she loved Simon and she had to do it immediately. She had already made a big mistake by hiding her true feelings from him. 

"Carl, can you pull over for a few minutes?" Sofia asked him sweetly.
"Yes, sure, are you not feeling well?" He asked concerned.
"Nothing like that. I just want to talk to you about something. I should've told you about it already but I made a big mistake." She said as he parked in front of an empty park.
"Sofia, what do you want to say? I'm all ears." Said Carl as they got out and sat on a bench in the park.
"Carl, look, I don't want to mislead you or anything like that but I want to come clean to you about my life. I love someone else. But my parents don't approve of him because he's not rich like us. I agreed to be your girlfriend because I love spending my time with you. I love the way how comfortable you make me feel around you. I love the way how you bring out the good in me. That is why I agreed to be your girlfriend. If you want to part ways, I'll understand and respect your decision as I know I'm wrong here." She said as she got up from the bench and walked a couple of steps away from the bench where Carl sat staring at her back. Just before she was out of his arm's reach, Carl held her wrist. She was surprised to see him stopping her. She thought he would leave her alone in the park just like any other man would've done.
" I accept you with all your emotional baggage, Sofia. Would you give me a chance? To make you smile, to pamper you, to make you happy and give you everything that you deserve?" Carl said while still holding her by her wrist. Tears pricked Sofia's eyes as she blinked them away and stared hard into the darkness.
"Then I'm ready to let you in my life. Make sure you don't hurt me." Sofia said as she turned around to find Carl sitting on one knee while holding out his hand to her. Sofia smiled and gently accepted his hand as he stood up.
" You didn't have to do that," Sofia said as she slapped his arm playfully.
"To be honest, my knees were starting to hurt and I was thinking how many more minutes would you take to turn around towards me," Carl said as he smiled sheepishly.
"Would you like to have some ice cream before I drop you home?" Carl asked her as they walked hand in hand towards the car.
As they drove around looking for the ice cream truck, Sofia enjoyed the radio lost in thoughts about Simon. She was brought out of her reverie when Carl opened her door. She looked around to find an ice cream truck and there it was a big white ice cream truck with cherries and different ice creams drawn over it. The truck was labeled as "Gracie's ice creams". Just looking at the truck made her mouth water. She wanted to eat a lot of ice cream even if she got a stomach ache later.

"I've always wanted to have ice cream from a truck! It's so cool!" Sofia exclaimed. Carl chuckled at her reaction. He took her hand as they got ready to cross the road, just when they were in the middle, a high speeding motorcycle whizzed closely past them. Sofia was too startled to do anything. Carl held her hand firmly and they crossed the road carefully. He could see the blood drain from her face as she grew pale. Carl took her hand and rubbed it gently as he led her to a bench near the ice cream truck. He held her shoulders gently and sat her close to himself. He kept her hand on his lap as he rubbed it between his big, warm hands providing her with the warmth she needed the most.

"Hey Sofia, are you okay? I'm here. You're safe. Nothing happened. Look at me, please." He said as he cupped her face.

"I'm fine, Carl. Let's do this another time. I want to go home. " She spoke after a long silence.
"I've ruined the whole mood. I'm so sorry. I was so scared. I thought he was going to hit you." Sofia said as she cried.