Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 126
“Coffee, black,” Sophia ordered a butler.
Nicholas looked fine for someone who was lacking sleep. But not Sophia.
He gave her a curious look.
“Oh please, I didn’t get enough sleep, what with being woken up by the squeals of an excited little girl on the day of her birthday,” Sophia said, looking irritated.
“You know the birthday party’s not until a couple hours,” Nicholas said reassuringly.
“Then what was I supposed to say to Olivia when she barged in your quarters to tell us it’s her birthday, continue to sleep and ignore her adorable pleas for attention?” Sophia asked.
“I know she’s a little girl but… really,” Sophia sighed.
“Does she even sleep?” Sophia asked Nicholas weakly.
Nicholas shrugged, “I’d be surprised if she did.”
Sophia yawned, covering her mouth. She resisted the growing temptation to fall asleep right then and there.
“How is she so energetic? When I was a child the only reason I’d wake up so early was to brush up on my school subjects and sneak to the throne room to watch my father whilst he was working,” Sophia had not so graciously took the cup of coffee a butler had given her.
She wasn’t usually this grumpy and irritable in the mornings, this was just an exception.
“Otherwise, I slept in,” she admitted, taking a generous sip of coffee.
Nicholas chuckled, “When I was a child… I suppose you could say I was an ugly duckling and… nerd.”
“I woke up late, I had this horrid rock and roll phase–”
Sophia fought back a laugh imagining Nicholas in said phase.
“I would’ve loved to meet this Nicholas you speak of,” she giggled.
“Trust me, you wouldn’t,” Nicholas said, not finding any of this funny.
It was horrifyingly embarrassing.
Sophia took another sip from her cup of coffee.
“Now why not, he seems like a delight,” Sophia mused.
“Compared to emo Sophia,” she said, talking about herself in the third person.
Nicholas’ jaw dropped.
“Emo and Sophia, damn. I never thought I’d hear both those words in a sentence,” Nicholas said in pure astonishment.
Sophia chuckled, “Mhm.”
“I’m glad I got over that phase,” she admitted.
“But, promise me we shall never speak of this again because… these are some things worth keeping,” she said to him.
Nicholas scoffed, “I promise.”
Sophia asked for another cup of coffee.
“Are you sure you want to drink another cup of coffee?” He asked.
Sophia pouted, pushing her cup away.
“You’re right,” Sophia said, faceplanting on the breakfast table.
Yes she’d drunk one whole cup of coffee. And yes she didn’t feel as tired as she did before, but she’d slept quite late the previous night.
“Oliver took the easy way out, choosing not to come to his sister’s own birthday,” Sophia said.
“It’s complicated, Sophia,” Nicholas said to her.
“They’re siblings.”
“They’re bonded by blood no matter what,” Sophia said to him.
“You don’t know what went on between the two of them,” Nicholas said, standing up for his brother and sister.
Sophia pursed her lips, “I suppose you’re right.”
__
“Am I hallucinating or is that Jaxson?” Sophia nudged Nicholas in the shoulder.
Nicholas blinked, “That is Jaxson.”
He opened and closed his mouth, wondering, “What is he doing here?”
Nicholas walked over to him.
Sophia asked, “What are you–”
“Getting answers,” Nicholas said to him.
Sophia sighed, searching for Olivia.
“What are you doing here?” Nicholas asked Jaxson, searching for answers.
“I came here to attend our sister’s birthday party,” Jaxson answered vaguely.
“There was no way you willingly did this,” Nicholas said.
He looked even more surprised.
“It was Clarisse,” he realized.
His jaw dropped once he saw Jaxson’s priceless reaction, “So it really was Clarisse.”
Jaxson grumbled, “Let’s not make a huge deal out of this.”
“I’m here for my sister, among a few other reasons,” Jaxson sighed.
Nicholas patted his brother on the back for trying.
“Go,” he said to his brother.
“Go do what?” Jaxson asked.
Nicholas said to him glaringly, “It’s our sister’s birthday.”
“And also, you didn’t happen to bring Liv a present, did you?” He asked Jaxson.
“I came here last minute, I didn’t bring her anything.”
Nicholas stared at him.
“It’s the thought that counts,” Jaxson said defensively.
Nicholas facepalmed.
“Of course it does,” he mumbled sarcastically.
“Just go tell her happy birthday.”
Jaxson furrowed his brows, “Why?”
Nicholas responded with, “Because I told you to. Why else?”
Jaxson slumped down.
“Fine,” he said defeatedly.
He walked over to Sophia and Olivia, who were chatting amongst the guests.
“Are you her sister, your grace, I only thought you had one brother…?” A royal asked Sophia confusedly. She was a friend of Olivia’s parents.
Sophia shook her head, “I’m just a guest here.”
Olivia looked up at Sophia, blinking.
She corrected her, “You’re not just any guest, you’re my brother’s girlfriend!”
She shot Sophia an innocent smile.
Sophia didn’t know what next to say.
Olivia was so naive.
Sophia knew it was terrible to teach young children to lie, so she went with it. She nodded, chuckling nervously.
“Yeah, that too,” Sophia said quietly.
The royal looked shocked, “Oh!”
“I didn’t know he was seeing someone,” she said in astonishment.
“Congratulations,” she said to Sophia.
Sophia managed a convincing smile, “Why thank you.”
The royal looked back and forth between her and Nicholas.
Jaxson walked in on their conversation.
Olivia blinked.
“Brother?” She croaked.
“Hi sister,” Jaxson greeted, waving awkwardly.
“What… what are you doing here?” Olivia asked, furrowing her tiny brows.
“I’m here for you,” Jaxson answered.
“But you’re never usually here for me,” Olivia answered, being blatantly honest.
Sophia had a newfound respect for Olivia.
She knew it was Olivia acting her age, being completely honest to whoever she talked to and spouting out anyting. She couldn’t blame Liv for telling the marchioness of her and Nicholas’ true relationship, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t freaking out that the public would hear of this. No one was to be trusted, that was a rule Julia had taught her. Other than Nicholas, she had no one else she trusted.
And yet she still told Olivia she and Nicholas were dating.
“Liv sweetie, do you want me to leave you alone with your brother?” Sophia asked, crouching down while gesturing at Oliver.
Liv nodded appreciatively.
“I would, I would!”
Sophia smiled reassuringly, giving Liv a gentle pat on the shoulder before leaving.
“We might have a problem at hand,” Sophia said to Nicholas.
“And what kind of problem is that?” Nicholas asked, staring into his girlfriend’s eyes.
“Olivia just went and told one of the guests that we’re dating,” Sophia said.
Nicholas did a double take.
“She did what?” He asked.
“Who did she tell?” Nicholas asked.
Sophia subtly gestured to a woman dressed in a cream dress with a navy design and matching clutch.
Nicholas’ heart dropped.
Of all guests his little sister had told… it was Aunt Lilith.
She was disliked by most for being too blabby, no one told her anything unless they needed to get the word out. He sighed.
“Guess the cat will be out of the bag soon,” he said.
“Not like we have a choice,” he added.
Sophia bit her lower lip.
“What do we do when news gets out?” She asked, wincing.
“W-we never had this discussion, what we’d do about our relationship and who we’d tell,” she said, her eyes wide. She looked even more panicked than she did before.
Nicholas nodded, staring at his parents who were at the other side of the room.
They already knew Sophia was his girlfriend, but he had told them that when he and Sophia hadn’t even begun dating.
Well, it was better then than never.
They were mingling with the other guests, and he remembered it was a couple of minutes before they started with birthday traditions that included cake-cutting, gift opening and making a wish.
Sophia blinked, “Oh, nothing,” she lied.
“Just… we can’t blame her, she’s an innocent child that was merely telling the truth,” she said to him.
Nicholas nodded once more.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
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After they’d finished singing Olivia a happy birthday, and opening all the gifts she’d received from her family and friends, it was the moment for her to cut the cake.
The gift opening was filled with lavish gifts, nothing less could be expected when the gifters were all extremely wealthy royals.
They’d played games and it ended up with Sophia winning a tiara and a sash.
She was competitive, even when it came to silly, childish games that were purposely rigged for Olivia to win.
She was a great sport for someone who’d lost, had it been anyone other than Sophia she would’ve thrown a small fit.
It was now the moment everyone had been waiting for the entire afternoon.
The moment she made her birthday wish and hoped it’d come true.
Olivia thought about it long and hard before she blew all her candles out and said aloud her wish.
“For my birthday wish, I want Miss Sophia and my big brother Nicholas to get a baby!”