~ 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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Her breath was stuck somewhere inside her throat, because she forgot to exhale as Max held her gaze from the stage.
His voice, the lyrics of the song and the overwhelming emotions behind them surrounded her with enormous force and warmth. The tangible fire in his eyes directed towards her lit something fierce inside her as well. And it blazed, travelling throughout her entire being.
Sofia was drowning, slowly but surely.
Max ended the song with a husky kind of humming. It felt like, too soon had the realm she was lost in dissolved, when all she wanted was for it to last longer. She could still feel, however, the remnants of what his voice caused and she sensed it would remain with her till a very... very long time.
Her withheld breath finally puffed out of her mouth as a silent, careful gasp. Her heart was in serious danger.
The entire hall stayed silent for a good five seconds before every single person went crazy in cheering and clapping.
Sofia's eyes were still on Max who now was earning some guy hugs from the band who took their guitar back and what looked like were praising the lawyer turned singing sensation. Unconsciously, she played with her earrings while biting the inside of her cheek. Some middle aged women, relatives and guests from the Wilders' side, approached her then, they teased her for a while about how romantic Max was that he sang for her. He was apparently the lovesick lawyer according to them.
What could Sofia do other than stay rooted there with nervous jitters in her stomach, not denying but also not finding it appropriate to accept their cheesy comments confidently.
Max's aunt and Neil's mother, Katherine, pounced in then with her idle daughter in-law Lolo glued to the side.
"What're we talking about here, huh?" Katherine chimed with a wide smile. "I hope you're not annoying my new daughter in-law. You'll be looking forward to a war with me if you do so, mind it ladies." The women surrounding Sofia tittered in unison.
Sofia didn't know what to make of Katherine. She recalled Skyler's information about how the woman had made that phone call to Hayden house and insulted her grampa so cruelly. As if the destruction of her life and the tearing apart of her reputation in the tabloids were not enough.
Sofia took a long breath carefully, no more she wished to think about all that and what followed afterwards as a crisis to her family.
But how could she forget the woman's behavior and venomous words at the hospital when she went to see her grandfather. No, it couldn't be forgotten that easily. Yet how could Sofia not give Katherine a chance when she had given Marla another.
"Oh, look at you!" Katherine cupped the side of Sofia's face with her palm for a moment, her smile broadening. "Sofia, my dear, you're looking so pretty! Right, Lolo?"
