Chapter 31 - Christmas party (3) (2/2)
Aiden was about to speak, when Sarah came out of the side room. She was pulling her hair into a ponytail. ”Hi Sophia! Hi Mark!”
She changed from her gown and high heels into blue jeans, black turtleneck, and knee length boots.
Sophia looked at Sarah. ”And this is...?”, she gestured towards Aiden.
”Aiden”, Sarah responded with a smile.
Sophia raised her eyebrows, expressing that she needs more details.
Sarah hesitated. ”He is my classmate at University. Funny thing to meet him here. We are going out.”
Sophia relaxed, and turned towards Aiden, ”Nice to meet you. I'm Sophia, Sarah is my baby sister.”
With a charming smile, Aiden walked towards Sophia and extended his hand. ”Aiden White, Sarah's… classmate”, his mouth twitched when he said 'classmate'.
”Oh, White? Jeffrey's brother?”, Sophia shook Aiden's hand.
”Yes”, he responded politely.
”Small world”, Sophia said and turned to Sarah. ”Where are you going?”
”We will start with Black Rose, and see where we end up after that”, Sarah responded. ”I will be out late, tell mom and dad not to wait for me.”
Sophia nodded. ”Stay safe! Snow is picking up!” she watched Sarah and Aiden leave her office.
As they left the office, Sophia's face became stern, and she faced Mark, ”Let's not go through this again. It's hopeless.”
Mark approached her, and stopped right in front of her, ”I can't accept that!”.
He pulled her in his embrace, one hand behind her head while planting a kiss on her lips. Sophia struggled, but he was much stronger. His tongue breached Sophia's mouth and started twirling around hers. Sophia stopped struggling and responded to his kiss. After few seconds she snapped out of it and managed to push him away.
She gave him a hard slap on the face.
”Get out!”, she yelled.
Mark had a mix of emotions, desperation showing in his eyes. After few seconds he walked out of Sophia's office without a word.
As the doors closed, Sophia plopped on the sofa with a sigh. She looked like she is remembering a painful memory while tears ran down her cheeks silently.
...
Sarah and Aiden are in the cab, driving to the Black Rose night club. The car moved slowly since it's snowing heavily.
Sarah can tell that Aiden is upset and feels awkward. He is quiet since they left Sophia's office.
He was looking at her for some time with a sour expression before breaking the silence, ”Classmate?”
Sarah realized why he is upset, ' He probably expected to be introduced as my boyfriend, right? But if I just throw that out of the blue, it would not turn out well. I need to prepare them first so that there are no problems. ' She tried to avoid explaining, ”We are classmates, aren't we?”
He frowned, ”Yes. So are Gabriel and Philip. Do you put us in the same category?”
”Of course not!”, Sarah sighed. She needs to explain in order to avoid misunderstandings. ”Look… my family is very nosy. And I need to talk to them first, to get them prepared before I introduce you as someone who is important to me. Is that OK? I will definitely talk with them in next few days. I just need to find the right timing to bring it up.”
Hearing her explanation, his mood improved. ”You will tell them that I'm important? How much?”
”Very”, she said with a serious expression.
”And you will introduce me as...?”, he persisted.
Sarah blushed, ”As my boyfriend.”
He was happy with this response and pulled her to sit closer to him.