Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 62

“Bring me home with you,” she insisted.

“Introduce me to the girl you’ve been promenading with and everything, I’d love to get to know her,” she said next.

“You two are promenading are you not?” She asked once she’d gotten no response, seeking confirmation.

“You two seem quite lovey-dovey on the tabloids,” she said, a hint of scorn in her voice.

“You’re quite enamoured by her aren’t you.”

“Quit talking about her,” he snapped, finally replying.

“There’s no chance I’m letting you meet her or come anywhere near her if that’s what you’re trying to insinuate.”

“I’m returning to Beldovia tomorrow, and I’m returning to Beldovia alone, you hear me?”

The woman snarled at his tone.

“Ugh. Fine.”

__

Sophia woke up alone, by the fireplace, Clarisse was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d she run off to?” Sophia wondered.

She hadn’t the slightest idea where Clarisse had gone and didn’t put too much thought into it. Clarisse was facing the aftermath of her drunken night out, it was best if she was left alone.

Sophia knew she should’ve just stayed away from alcohol, she was just fortunate to not have gotten drunk. A hangover was the last thing she wanted to experience again. She’d prefer to wake up on her own bed and not someone else’s, thanks.

The living room was empty and was far chillier than it was before.

It had some sort of eerie aura to it. A shiver went up Sophia’s spine.

She trembled.

“What time is it?” Sophia asked, looking over at a grand clock for a time check.

She’d woken up quite tardy.

Sophia slipped on her slippers, carefully getting up on her feet before she left for her quarters to freshen up, in no mood to have breakfast.

En route to her quarters, she heard Clarisse throwing up.

She decided to take a short detour.

“Claire?” She asked, walking past the threshold. The door had been left ajar.

“Here,” Sophia heard Clarisse say sickly.

Sophia rushed to the restroom to find Claire over the toilet bowl.

“Hangover,” Clarisse told Sophia.

Sophia raised her brow.

“Hope it was worth it,” Sophia said to Clarisse, hiding her concern for her dear friend.

Clarisse stared at Sophia. A moment of understanding had passed between them.

Clarisse quickly realized it was Sophia who’d brought her back to the palace. Without Sophia’s help, she likely wouldn’t have made it back to the palace in one piece.

“Thanks,” she told her friend, her voice filled with gratitude.

Sophia shrugged, “No problem.”

Clarisse smiled slightly. A question came to her mind.

“What was I like when I was inebriated?” Clarisse asked curiously.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking questions?” Sophia asked back.

Clarisse blinked. She stood her ground, desiring to know what she was like anyway.

Sophia thought about last night’s events.

“You were tolerable,” Sophia said, being generous.

“Tolerable?” Clarisse asked weakly.

Sophia nodded.

She tried her best not to pay much attention to the restroom’s stench.

She stayed a safe distance away.

Clarisse asked Sophia, as though she were reading her mind, “You’re wondering why I’d drunk one too many drinks? Huh.”

Sophia nodded gravely.

Clarisse stared at the toilet bowl.

“You,” she answered.

Sophia furrowed her brows.

“Me?” She asked.

“Why?” She asked next.

“Why would you… because of me…”

Sophia was both confused and taken aback.

Was it something she’d done?

Something she’d said?

Was it her leaving for Sanguis too abruptly?

She also wondered why she’d cared at all. That was new.

Clarisse shook her head, “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“It wasn’t something you’d done, if you’re wondering,” Clarisse reassured.

Sophia was convinced Clarisse was somehow reading her mind.

She then asked, “So… why?”

Clarisse pursed her lips.

“You’d been poisoned.”

“And had passed out.”

“I know you’re perfectly fine now.”

“But…”

Her lips quivered.

Sophia’s gaze softened.

She nodded with understanding.

‘So that was why,’ she realized.

She could be blissfully ignorant at times, it was painful.

Clarisse began, “That, and…”

She stopped mid-sentence.

“Never mind.”

Sophia was intrigued.

“By all means, continue your sentence,” she urged.

Clarisse shook her head.

She covered her mouth.

“Soph, close the door,” she pleaded.

Sophia hesitated.

“Did I stutter?” Clarisse asked with utmost seriousness. She looked pale and sickly.

Sophia then did as Clarisse asked, shutting the door seconds before… the symptoms of her hangover kicked in.

Sophia had her fist on her mouth. Another valid reason why she’d never get inebriated again. The body’s response to excess toxins from alcohol. One she, fortunately, hadn’t experienced during her own hangover.

She tapped the door to grab Clarisse’s attention.

“I’m just… going to… freshen up.”

“Call if you need me,” she told Clarisse.

“Uh-huh,” Clarisse said.

Clarisse closed her eyes.

Sophia wasn’t having too different of a reaction. She had to get the hell out of there.

She didn’t do well when it came to standing by and comforting a friend through their hangover. It was a shame there was no guide for it or a course she could’ve taken to learn how.

She quickly left Clarisse’s quarters, relieved she’d left as she made her way to her quarters.

An hour or so later, Sophia was in the breakfast room, dressed stylishly in a cherry-red pantsuit matched with creme beige suede heels and a pair of earrings made of white gold.

She’d arranged for breakfast to be sent to Clarisse’s quarters, personally picking out an assortment of Clarisse’s favourite foods for her since Clarisse was clearly in no shape to be roaming around the palace, much less having breakfast in the breakfast room in her current state.

By the time she’d returned to Clarisse’s quarters, Clarisse had changed from her cotton pyjamas to a knee-long lilac belted blazer dress paired with lilac flats, seated comfortably on the sofa whilst she had her head on her hand.

She’d been mumbling something to herself before she noticed Sophia’s presence and stopped with the mumbling.

Paranoid whether Sophia had overheard whatever she was mumbling about, she grumbled, “It’s not what it looks like.”