Please Comment and let me know how the chapter is.

________________________________________________

Sophia walked over to the kitchen, it was her last day here, she'll be leaving at night back for Canada. Yes, she should be really excited to go back home but the truth was she did not want to go back.

After so many years, almost her entire life she had one day all to herself and she enjoyed it to her fullest. But the only thing that made her go back was her daughter who needed her.

"All pack to go?" Maria smiled at her as she entered the room with a small basket. "This is a small token of love from all of us here" She handed Sophia a golden box, which was beautiful. Sophia looked at Maria with awe, this was such a sweet gesture. No one ever gave her such gifts, it was always the other way around.

"Thank you. Do you mind if I open this?" Sophia asked like a child and Maria nodded,"Go ahead. I hope you like it"

Sophia was sure she would love it, her first ever homely gift and she was sure it would make her happy even if it was an avocado.
She unwrapped the packing and it revealed a beautiful box inside. "Wow.." She whispered. Slowly, like a child, she tilted her head to a side and pulled the cover of the box with one hand while the other held the box.

"Oh my god.." Sophia gasped.

"Do you like it dear?"

"Maria, wow-I mean thank you but how? This is the exact same peice i say yesterday and it was so expensive but i did not buy it otherwise i wouldn't be able to buy my friends anything. But, this is so expensive, how did you? Why did you?"

"Well lets just say it was a contribution of the whole household. We have a good pay so don't worry it wasn't very expensive for us" She smiled but not whole heartedly.

"Maria you sure? I can really pay you if you want. This was so expensive.." Sophia looked back at the diamond ring, it was so beautiful, but yet so expensive even for her. How could they all afford it? She feared that this ring would have taken a very large amount of their pay, she did not want that at any cost.

"Oh don't worry Sophia. We all got it covered pretty well. I promise, now go get dressed. Conner told me to inform you that you both going to meet Conner's Nana while on your way back"

Sophia looked at her shocked,"Why would he take me? I mean he could go meet his family I am not really interested" She frowned.

But in reality she just wanted to avoid him at any cost. She had downloaded games on her laptop just so she could ignore him on their flight back.

"Oh come on, you'll love her. Go with him!"

"Maria I don't want to"

"Please. For me?" Maria whined like a kid and Sophia groaned.

"Okay fine! I'll go, I just hope she's not like him" Sophia groaned as she zipped up her bag.

"Oh you'll find out."
_______________________________________________

"Thank you for coming" Conner thanked Sophia as the got out of the car but Sophia chose to walked ahead and ignore him. She had been ignoring him since morning when he greeted her, when he asked her if she would want some water or if she was comfortable, when he offered her some home made chocolates which Maria baked, she just refused to talk. He was irritated, what did he do so wrong that she would not even look at him.

On the other side Sophia was astonished. How was this cold wall being so sweet to her? How?

"We're here" Their driver Santos informed them as the car entered through a large metal gate, with atleast 5 beast of a man standing on each side. Sophia looked at them wide eyed, did they eat humans in their diet?

The car soon came to a stop outside a cream coloured mansion, with two huge pillars in front of the mansion.

Was his nana some kind of queen?

Santos stopped the car and quickly got out, opening the door for Conner to step out. As Conner stepped out Sophia too opened her door and did not wait for Santos to do it, his job was only driving.

The big doors open and a young girl, almost 4 or 5 ran out of the house, ''Cowwer!" She squealed and jumped, hugging his legs. He bend down and scooped her up in his arms "Hey princess, how are you?" She blushes and giggled. "Fwine" she answered.

"How many time do I have to tell you you should not run Finny?" A soft but firm voice spoke from behind. Sophia looked up to find an old lady, in her 70s looking at the little girl with a firm expression.

"Cowwer is ere..so i wun" She looked at the old lady sadly. Conner smiled at her and ruffled her head. "We don't go against nana's rule baby, remember?" Conner said as he kept her on the floor and she quickly turned around and hid behind his legs again.

"Sowy.." she spoke sadly.

I looked at her in awe. She reminded me of Serenity in so many ways, i just wanted to run to her and hug her, i miss her that much.

"You must be Sophia" His nana looked at me and smiled, "Come in children, I have so many things to talk about, Sophia my child come with me" Her nana held her hand out and Sophia quickly walked over to her and held it. She sure had an aura of power around her even for such an old person.

"She's pwetty.." Sophia her Finny say before she entered the house leaving the two behind.

Both of them sat on the couch while an old butler served them tea. "I've heard about you from Conner. I'm extremely sorry for what he put you through you did not deserve it. But my grandson had his reasons" She smiled at Sophia and handed her the cup which she took smiling softly.
F5qt
She was his grandmother and she would obviously take his side, and Sophia  did not speak anything against it no matter how much she wanted to.

"It's fine i understand and for me everything is in the past now, it does not effect me anymore. Please don't worry about it Mrs Manhattan I'm perfectly fine with it." Sophia  averted her gaze from the old lady and drank her tea in silence, oblivious  to the mysterious  glint in his grandmother's eyes.

"Call me Kiara darling, we don't  need the formalities" She smiled. "After you have your tea, why don't we have a look around the mansion. I would love to show you some of my collections!" She clasped her hands together looking all excited.

__________________________________________________

"This is the famous art piece by Margertoz Satozè. I brought it for $600000 dollars exact"
Sophia almost froze at the amount. "Wow.." she gapsed. Not because it was a large about, but it was nit worth it!

It was a painting which even Serenity could draw! It was a painting of an eye, with black pupil. And it had no eyelashes. It had nothing! And the background was just pure pink. It was no 'art'.

The real art is something which holds a deeper meaning, like maybe if the black pupil had some kind of message she would've understood, but it did not look worth it. She did but some art peices herself but this had no meaning, or maybe it had such a deep meaning she did not understand.

"Do you like it?" Kiara asked looking at her with her hopeful blue eyes. Sophia frowned,  should she tell her the truth?

"Ah-I'm sorry Kiara, but i do not understand  this peice of art." She told her, still looking at the peice. ''It must have some meaning if it's  that expensive, also i do not question your taste, i just don't  see any meaning of this.'' She looked back at Kiara and saw her smiling, which relieved Sophia.

"I'm sorr-" Sophia started but was cut before she could complete her sentence.
"Oh my child! Don't be sorry at all, I'm not hurt. Forget this please, now lets go have some snacks, you have to leave soon much to my dislike" She held Sophia's hand and gently pulled her out of her art room.

Atleast she didn't get mad.

__________________________________________________

Sophia felt relieved as she got out of the plane and waited for her luggage to be brought to her. "Finally!" She exclaimed, stretching her body. She was so happy about being back to Canada. "Mrs. Morin are you going to just stand there? Keep moving" and with that he passed her and kept on walking. She sighed, rolling her eyes.

He had been acting strange since they left his grandmother's  house. They had a small talk while Sophia was in the car,  her grandmother must have told him about the scene in the art room. He must be angry with her because of how she had talked to Kiara.

She wanted to apologize but did not know why. Back there Kiara acted like it was all okay so did she rat her out? She didn't  seem like that type of person.

Sophia walked behind Conner all the way wondering how should she apologise to him.

Finally  when all the formalities were done with, she waled over ti the exit with her luggage. "Conner listen I-"

"MOMMY!" Sophia smiled when she turned around and saw Serenity waving at her along with Jose and Alice.
Sophia laughed and ran towards her daughter, picking her up in her arms and hugging her tightly. "Oh god I missed you!" She squealed and Serenity laughed wholeheartedly.

"Hey there papi!" Alice walked over to her with a smiling Jose and hugged her.
"Thank you for picking up Serenity"

"Oh no! Don't worry it was in my way. Lets get going now, you must be tired."

"Mommy I'm going to sleep with you tonight" Serenity chirped in and Sophia nodded "of course. Oh did you meet Conner?" She turned around but to her surprise he was no where to be seen. "Yes! Where is he?" She looked around, but could not spot him anywhere.

"Oh.. I guess he left.."

______________________________________________

*Skip to next day*

Sophia walked over to the store room with  few heavy files in her hand, barely balancing them properly. "Please don't fall'' she mentally begged them.

Out of all those days today was the day when she had to wear heels, that too with a stupid pair of plain long pencil skirt. She was stupid.

"Ah-Do you need help?" A familiar voice asked her and she didn't  even turn around to guess who it was
"Yes! Please! I can not see anything in front of me or even below me, could you please help me?" She asked and he smiled.

"A lady should never plead, unless she wants her daddy to be bad" he chucked
"Mike cut it out would you!"

Mike laughed and held up his hand "Pun intended" He stepped in front of her and took the files from her hands,"Oof! Are these papers inside these files or what? Why are they so heavy?" Sophia chuckled and shook her head "Papers"

After both of them made their way to the storeroom and arranged the files sequence wise, they made their exit.

"Wanna grab some coffee? I heard there-" Mike stopped as he looked at his phone ringing "-Or not. I have to leave sorry!" And in a second he was gone.

"Well that was fast" Sophia laughed.

_________________________________________________

Her day was over with and Sophia was all set to go home. It was another gloomy day as she looked up at the dark sky. She had not brought any umbrella with her and she even hired a taxi to come to office today.

"Great!" She huffed as she picked up her purse and exited the large building.

"Good day Soph!"The security guard greeted her, he was a middle aged guy, but don't ever could let his age fool you. He was a sniper before this job and also a national level boxer.

"Bye Isaac and you too!" She beamed at him and wondered  if it was his real name. He was a highly qualified criminal  before serving his sentence and joining the company, he must have hundreds of enemies.

"Rockabye baby rockabye,  don't  you cry baby don't you cry- "
"Hello?" She answered her phone.
"Hey, it's Salvador here" His name almost made her heart skip. He sure was a beautiful human being and his smile was enough to drive any woman Crazy.
"Oh hey" She smiled, more of blushed. She had met this man only on a few occasions and was smiling like an idiot at his voice, it was all because of his charms. "I'm sorry I've left the office, so i can not"

"Oh no,  I dont want to talk about business," He paused for a moment before he took a deep breath, which Sophia  could hear clearly. "I-I wanted to ask you if you-" he paused again, ''ifyouwouldliketogoonadatewithme"

Frowning, she looked at her phone like she was looking at him,"Sorry, I did nor understand a word"

"Oh haha..well I asked you if you would like to go on a date with me?" 

Sophia gasped as a loud thunder erupted throughout the city, and lightning danced through the sky.

Was he really asking her out?

"Uh-I don't know, we don't  know each other so"

"We can always know each other more if we hang out, I can not come to your office because you know Conner and I, we don't  get along, your house is not an option because Conner is there all the time and my house will be awkward, so small meetings would do, right?" He asked her and even through the phone she could tell how hopeful he sounded.

"Sure!" She smiled and then realised he can  not see her. "I mean yeah coffee dates sounds  perfect! But not the 'dates' dates, the 'coffee with friend's to catch up' dates.

She heard him laugh on the end of the line, a light hearted laugh, like some burden has been taken care of. "Thank you so much! It sounds perfect"

"Don't thank me! I would like to know you" But in reality, she wanted to know why was there a rift between him and Conner.

"Me too Sophia, me too"

"Oh the taxi is here, I have to go, I'll text you later!" And with that she quickly got inside the taxi, hanging up on him.

He was such a nice man, she wondered why Conner hated him.
_____________________________________________

Sophia paid the taxi driver and got out of the taxi, the new babysitter must be inside with Serenity and by now she must have fallen asleep, it was an everyday routine.

She walked over to the front porch as she held her purse above her head, trying to prevent herself from getting wet, but as soon as she walked inside, she froze on her spot.

Conner was leaning against the door, his muscles were flexed and his hair were wet, messy, and sexy. His eyes were closed, as he looked upwards, his white shirt was wet and was soaking, just let me tell you by that sight, it wasn't only him that was soaking.

His whole body looked tensed. Sophia slowly brought her purse down not really caring if the rain poured all over her.

She wanted  to reach out to him and cup his cheek, and ask him what's wrong, he looked in pain.
She walked over to him knowing fully well he knows she's  there by the clanking of her heels but she wanted to see how he would react.

Another thunder was heard all over the city, another pair of lightning danced around the clouds, another drop of rain touched the ground and another life was giving to a newly born sprout.

She stood in front of him, waiting for him to respond, for him to react.

"Why am I not enough?" He asked, his voice sounded strained, it was almost as if he had no voice and it was his emotions flowing out of his mouth.
Sophia looked around not wanting to look at him, even with his eyes closed she could feel him staring at her.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about" She held onto her purse tightly and looked at the sky, she felt like a small girl, vulnerable and weak. She did not know why she had hated him so much, even when he had been trying so hard to get her to like him.
She had let go of everything in her past, from her childhood that haunted her and from the teenage years that almost got her killed. She had even let go of the bad memories that her her father had given her, her own blood.

Then why was it so hard to forgive him?

"Sophia I'm sorry," He was standing straight and his eyes were now open. Just like the sky, his eyes were looking like a tornado and as deep as the ocean, dark, blue, gloomy.

"I wanted to apologize to you for so long,  but i couldn't. I had no guts to face you, so I ran from my  mistakes and every memory of you" He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, like he was afraid to look her in the eyes.
"Please say something, anything" He begged her, he wanted to hold her so bad and kiss her and just be with her. 

"I forgive you" His eyes snapped towards hers, going wide. She had a small smile on her face which was clearly there to hide her own emotions.

"Sophia you don't have to force yourself to forgive me, I'll wait till you're ready"

"No Conner, I forgive you. I don't  want to carry the burden of hating you anymore when i clearly don't hate you. I forgive you, i really do-I"

Before she could complete her sentence, Conner held her gently by her waist and pulled her into a tight hug. She looked ahead of her, wide eyed, clearly able to feel his short breath, his muscles that moved with his breathing, but it was like her body had a mind of its own, her hands slowly moved upwards  and wrapped it around his neck.

And for once, she listened to her heart and it told her to let go  of the past.

_______________________________________________

Salvador clicked his tongue as he sat in his chair and looked at the unknown man sitting in front of him.

"This Conner is becoming a problem now" He tilted his head towards the side and looked at his phone,"My my, looks like Ms. Morin is becoming a naughty girl"

His phone had pictures of her and Conner, hugging.

It meant it was taken only a few minutes ago.

"What do we do now?" The unknown man asked him, clearly losing his cool.

"We can not do anything, we have to wait for the right moment to strike, he is not something to be messed with and I'm sure by now he knows about me trying to talk to her, he's smart so we need to be careful.

"I know, that brat is way too intelligent for his own good but that's not my headache. I want him eliminated Mr. Diaz, that was our deal." The man spat.

"No Richard that was not our deal. Our deal was to get them apart and break them so Sophia comes running back to you"

"Same thing," He roared "I have to leave, I have stuff I need to attend to" With that Richard got up and walked towards the exit, but before walking out he turned around  smiled "I have a feeling we're going to enjoy this"

"We will Richard we will."

Salvador got up fron his chair once he heard the door click and walked over to the window looking up at the sky, "It's time for revenge, the Manhattan's will pay for what they did to us."
________________________________________

_________________________________________________