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.

"No you didn't, Sofia. Everything is okay. Look, I'm fine. Don't cry."
Carl wiped her tears and placed her head closer to his chest as he rubbed her back to soothe her.

"Now let's go have some ice cream. It'll help you." Said Carl as he gave her a tissue to clean her face. They got up, ordered their ice creams, and sat on the bench again. Later, Carl dropped Sofia home but not without a kiss on her hand and a promise to meet her again soon. Sofia came home exhausted from all the emotions in a single evening. She took a warm bath and slept off like a baby.

When Sofia woke up the next morning, she quickly got ready for her morning run. She dressed herself up in a black tracksuit with her hair in a high ponytail and her water bottle in her hand. she plugged in her headphones and after wishing Mrs. Clarke good morning, she went towards the park where she normally ran. The weather was getting colder and so there were fewer people than there used to be. Sofia started her run, she had completed 3 laps of the park when she crashed into a hard wall with a familiar cologne, Carl. As she crashed into him, he wrapped his arms around her waist as he smelt the familiar jasmine smell that Sofia used.

"What a way to greet!" Carl whispered in her ear as he bent down and took a whiff of her hair.

"I wish I would've known you were coming my way, I would've changed my way," Sofia said lowly.

"Why, now is that a way to wish someone, no, not someone, your boyfriend a good morning? Shame." He said pointing towards himself when he mentioned the word boyfriend.

"Okay, now don't behave childishly and create a fuss." She said as she pushed herself a little far from his body.

"Here, Mr. boyfriend, good morning." She said as she tiptoed to peck him on his cheek. Carl being his cheeky self, not missing the opportunity, kissed her cheek. Sofia froze. It was the first time a guy other than Simon had kissed her.

"Now that's what I call the start to a good day. Good morning to you, Ms. girlfriend." He said he put his arm around her shoulder and led them to one of the empty benches under the shade of a large tree.

"You know, I have a lot of memories in this park. I used to play here with Simon and his siblings." Sofia said reminiscing her golden memories with a big dreamy smile on her face.

"I don't have many great memories because I went to live in a boarding school at a very young age, so I don't know what real fun is," Carl said shrugging his shoulders lightly.

"Oh, I see," Sofia said as she put her hand on top of his which was resting on his knee.

"But, now I plan to make some really good memories with you." He said with a big smile. Sofia nodded happily at his suggestion.

"Carl, I'm going to meet Simon's family. Would you like to accompany me?" Sofia said with a hopeful smile. Carl looked at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Are you sure you want me to go to meet the family of the man you love?" He asked.

"It's not just the family of the man I love, they're my other family. They should meet my boyfriend too. Besides, things between me and Simon are not official. He has an idea that I love him but he hasn't confessed his love to me yet. So, you don't need to worry about anything." She replied clearing away his doubts.

"Oh okay, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He exclaimed as he stood up abruptly and dusted off the imaginary dust from his clothes. Sofia guided the way towards Simon's house.

They reached the house, Camilla was in the garden as usual. When she saw the car stop in front of her gate, she dusted her hands off and ran to open the gate for her visitors.

" Ah! Sofia, It's been so long since you came to see us. Where have you been, girl? And who is this young man with you?" Camilla asked as she engulfed her in a bone-crushing hug.

" Oh, my bad, let me introduce you to Carl Alexander. He's our partner and a good friend of mine. So I thought he should share my family too. Here he is." She said presenting Carl.

" Good morning, ma'am. Carl Alexandar here. I hope you're doing well." Carl said as he presented himself.

" Good morning, Carl. I'm Camilla. Welcome to my house. " She said as she gave him a warm hug. Her motherly hug gave him a warm fuzzy feeling and he felt as if he was at his own home.

"Come in, hurry, you're just in time for breakfast," Camilla said as she ushered them in.

"Hazel, Sam! Come down, you two." She bellowed loudly. Carl looked around the place when his eyes landed on the picture wall. The wall had numerous pictures of their family with Sofia. The wall covered many years of Sofia's life. He got a little closer to take a peek at the pictures.

"Here are more pictures of mine than you will ever find in my own house," Sofia said as she joined Carl.

"You were such a cute little girl back then, " Carl said wrapping an arm around her shoulder pulling her closer to him. Sofia leaned in. After a few short moments, they pulled apart when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Oh, I didn't know we had company," Hazel said running her fingers through her hair when she saw Carl.

"Hi," Carl greeted her with a wave. Hazel murmured a little "hi" in return while rolling her eyes.

"What are you doing here, in our house?" She asked a little sternly.

"I brought him here. He doesn't have many friends so I thought why not you two become his friends too." Sofia said as she moved forward to give Hazel a hug.

"Did you cut your hair?" Sofia asked her with a raised brow.

"Yeah. I really loved your haircut so I thought why not try the same haircut for myself. But I think, it went wrong." Hazel answered while examining her hair.

"Yeah, it did go wrong and now we'll get it done right. Don't worry. We just need a girl's day out." Sofia said as they proceeded towards the dining table where Camilla was spreading out the breakfast.

Breakfast was a full of chit chat. It was homey and warm feeling to Carl.  He loved watching Sofia while she talked to the people around her. 

"Where's Simon? Has he contacted you guys?" Sofia asked Camilla as she observed her expressions carefully. Camilla, who was having her tea, put her cup down and sat a little straighter in her chair and clasped her hands on top of each other. 

"He said he has found a job out of town.  It's a good one and he has accepted it. He lost his phone so he will buy a new one soon and send us his number." Camilla said carefully. 

"Why didn't he call me?" Sofia asked in a low voice. She was hurt by the fact that Simon wouldn't talk to her. 

"He said he will. Soon," Camilla replied patting her shoulder lovingly. 

Sofia and Carl thanked Camilla for the breakfast and left their house after playing a short game of scrabble with Hazel and Sam.