Bitterly Sweetly (Completed)

Chapter Two : The Tall Monster

No one could have warned Sofia of the shock she was about to receive in the morning. The shock that came to her door was an unexpected, early morning visitor.  

It was one of those sunny mornings when her grandfather was in relatively good health. That meant he could join her for breakfast at the table. 

Sofia always loved breaking fast with her favorite person in the world, her grampa. His one smile could give her the strength that never failed to make her feel invincible for the rest of the day.

Therefore, she prepared a grand breakfast for that morn that included pancake, bacon, sausages, and the special syrup she made when her mood was as incredible as it was now.  Putting everything on the table and feeling quite pleased with her work, she was just about to turn around and call for grampa. But right that moment, like a freight train Sam came barreling down the stairs. 

Some things will never change.

"Where does my notebook disappear every morning?" Sam complained about utter frustration. "What the hell's wrong with it!"

"Language, Samuel Hayden! And nothing's wrong with that legless notebook, it's you who should keep your things at their designated place," Sofia chastised, fists placed on her hips as she glared at the boy, hiding her smile as she watched his chubby upper body bare. "And why are you not wearing your shirt?"

It didn't seem like Sam heard her, or even if he did he just chose to ignore her and barged inside the coat closet next to the main door.  

Now, why the hell his notebook would be in there?

Rolling eyes, Sofia checked her wristwatch. Sam was going to be late for school again today. It was a weekly thing.

"Grampa," Sofia called, looking at her grandfather's room. "Come now, breakfast's served," she sang the last bit cheerfully. 

Walking around the table, she asked Sam, "Is Skyler up from her beauty sleep yet, Sam?" Her voice was a few octaves high so that he could hear from inside the closet. 

"Yes, she's almost done painting her face," came Sam's reply through the noise of things being shuffled inside the closet.

Sofia was suspicious that the closet had finally turned into a mini storeroom despite her many missions on keeping it fairly clean. 

She was just about to go and check out Sam's search mission and help him remember where the heck he'd seen that dratted notebook the last time, but halting her from that—the doorbell rang. 

She arched a brow. 

Now, who could it be?

A visitor at the Hayden household in such early hours of the morning wasn't a regular thing. This was the time when, one by one, they left home for the day with the exception of grampa. And even grampa would go for a short walk with his neighborhood buddies accompanied by walking sticks and all. 

"Coming." Sofia jogged around the table, in the process elbowing her satchel bag that she had kept on the table. She held it in time before it could drop making all the contents inside spill out. That would have been another extra work and the cause of dampening her good mood of this morn. 

And God forbid if her sour mood turned out to be the reason for getting late for work, she would make a bad example of herself in front of her employees. That was something she could not allow. 

She yanked the door open and raised a brow finding at their threshold—a three-piece suit-wearing, jaw-dropping muscular male physique who was also exceptionally tall. So tall, that quite hilariously their ancient style door frame ended till his clean shaved chin, and rest of his face stayed unseen and above the termite chewed door of the Hayden household.