~ Past separated them, now pain will bring them together.~
A teenager Sofia Hayden, experiencing her falling apart family isolated herself slowly from everything that she held dear, especially from her best friend Max Wilder who had just realized hi...
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Sofia sat crossed-legged on her bed. Her hands were busy counting fingers and jotting down a list of valuable things she owned—things that could bring her some money by selling them off. On a different sheet, she'd already summed up what little she had in her bank account and personal savings at the bottom of her wardrobe.
"These are like a mosquito before an elephant!"
She threw the pen away, feeling dejected and thoroughly defeated.
The clock ticked away leisurely on the wall outside her bedroom door, the house was eerily quiet in the middle of the night making the unwanted noise of time float towards her with ease. Overpowering the incessant ticking, her little, broken sigh came out like a scream of despair.
The marriage proposal had probably come out of Robert Wilder's kind heart that felt like compassion bordering dangerously close to pity towards her family. It was certain the man would want to help, considering that her grandfather was his mentor. She could also understand how stressed Robert might be feeling about his son going away from him again, she knew how much Robert missed Max by the way he kept talking about him and his achievements over the years while eating in her diner.
The idea of this marriage might have seemed a perfect, common solution to both the senior men of their families.
But they were still not, and perhaps, would never be aware of the poisoned blood and annihilating fire between Max and her dwelling staunchly over the years. He detested her more than probably a crawling worm in the soil.
And so, despite her consent, Sofia was still trying to find a backdoor—a way out of the upcoming wedding.
But even after so many countless hours, she still had only herself to sell.
Flashes of what a lifetime with Max might look like swarmed her mind. And to say honestly, it did not look promising at all.
Sofia thought about Max's phone calls after dinner—phone calls that she didn't have the guts or wish to pick up. Not yet, at least.
She was way too suffocated by everyone's excitement over the news of her upcoming wedding to one of the wealthiest families in the city. The wealthiest family part was especially aunt Marla's review. The woman was sparkling, Sofia suspected, in the relief of her current living arrangement being saved and the greed of some future benefits out of this marriage.
Grampa was all about making plans with Skyler and Sam. He looked somewhat skeptical and Sofia had found him staring at her on various occasions, but otherwise, she couldn't find a sign that he was thinking about backing off from the marriage madness.
A number of times Sofia had wondered throughout the day... how was it possible that they were so much blinded by joy and relief to overlook the silent cries of her soul, or was it her acting skills that were worthy of a grand salute. Or it could be the fact that they thought of this as a victory. Paying off a monstrous debt, connecting to an opulent name in the higher upper class, and finally getting rid of her were done with God's grace all at once.
