Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 78

Nicholas turned to face Louis.

“She won’t listen now,” he reasoned.

“And I don’t want to ruin her… mood,” Nicholas said to Louis.

Louis wondered how he’d break it to Nicholas. Things weren’t as they seemed.

“I may not know too much.”

“But, I can say with certainty, if you leave for the palace, she’ll never forgive you.”

He didn’t allow Nicholas to speak.

He and his sister were one and the same.

“We all know you care.”

“Everyone but my sister, who still thinks you’re using her,” Louis elucidated.

“I may not like you, but my sister does. A lot.”

Nicholas felt a fluttering sensation in his heart.

So she did like him – he thought obliviously, as though the kiss was simply a joke.

“This wedding reception? It’s the best shot you’ve got.”

“So do something about it.”

“I’m sure it’s not the first time someone’s told you that today,” Louis added unhelpfully.

“Louis, she’s mad at me, nothing I’ll do will help,” Nicholas insisted.

Louis scoffed.

“So you and my sister are both as oblivious as each other.”

“If you go, you’ll break her heart.”

“And frankly, I don’t remember a time she seemed mad.”

“She’s not mad, she’s hurt.”

“And unless you clear things up… I highly doubt you’ll succeed in ever winning her back.”

“You’re all she thinks about day in and day out.”

“And that letter you wrote to her?” Louis said to Nicholas.

“She read the letter?” Nicholas asked, his eyes widening.

He was appalled that Louis knew of it.

That must’ve meant Sophia had read it after all.

He had a glimmer of hope in him, hope that she’d forgive him after he pleaded his case.

Louis knew he should’ve stopped talking unless he wanted his sister to come for him, but he knew his sister would never be the same unless this was resolved.

“She’s distraught!” Louis exclaimed.

“She’s not actually fine, is she?” Nicholas asked Louis.

Louis’ eye twitched. He nodded.

“She’s not.”

“And it’s my fault,” Nicholas realized.

“It is,” Louis said with a curt nod.

“Meaning only you can fix this.”

Nicholas asked Louis curiously, wondering why he cared so much.

He recalled something Sophia had told him once.

“And you know this because you’ve…”

Louis sighed.

“Been used before,” he finished Nicholas’ sentence.

“I have,” he confirmed.

“I have been there.”

“And that’s why I know you had no evil intentions in the first place,” Louis said.

For Louis, being used by a man who wanted nothing but my title and power had scarred him. He’d been manipulated, tricked, stolen from, and with that, the last thing he wanted was for his sister to experience anything like it.

“She’s in denial, Nicholas.”

“She’s still in denial.”

Nicholas stared at Louis.

It couldn’t be.

How could it?

Sophia couldn’t have simply been in denial all this time.

“You’re saying I should talk to her,” Nicholas pointed out.

“I am,” Louis confirmed.

__

Sophia had been having a horrible time at the wedding reception.

The times she was asked why Nicholas wasn’t with her, and what was going on between her and him for her to sit at one side of the hall and him at the other.

“So, what happened exactly?” Clarisse asked her.

Before Sophia could say anything else, Clarisse said, “It can’t be as horrible as mine.”

“One problem for another?” Sophia asked.

Clarisse nodded.

Sophia took a sip from her glass of bubbly.

Nothing could separate her from alcohol, ever.

“Nicholas has been using me for power,” Sophia spat.

“My family’s making me marry a man I’ve never met,” Clarisse blurted out at the same time.

They shot each other an equally-surprised look.

“Cheers,” they clinked glasses.

As Clarisse took a sip, Sophia placed her glass down. She felt slightly better than before, knowing she wasn’t the only one with problems amongst her inner circle.

“So, would you like to talk about it?” Sophia asked suggestively.

“Seems pretty serious,” she admitted, swirling her glass.

There was a reason Clarisse had kept this from her in the first place, who knew if she’d rather keep the other details to herself.

“Well–”

She looked upwards, right behind Sophia.

“What is it?” Sophia asked, blinking.

Did she want to know?

Clarisse shot Sophia a look of warning.

Sophia furrowed her brows.

‘What is it?’

“Turn around,” Clarisse told her.

Sophia narrowed her eyes. She swiveled round.

“Ambrose,” she said, her voice icy cold.

“Windsor,” he said in return.

Sophia had a sudden interest in the floor.

Clarisse shot Nicholas a look of solemnity.

‘I’m watching you.’

Nicholas asked, “Could we talk?”

Sophia stared at Nicholas without blinking.

She turned back to look at Clarisse.

‘Go for it, if that’s what you want,’ Sophia read off Clarisse’s eyes.

“Fine,” she said to Nicholas, giving him a chance.

“Best we speak somewhere private,” she suggested helpfully.

Nicholas nodded.

“Of course,” he agreed, looking at her longingly.

She and Nicholas entered a small, empty room.

“Out with it,” she told Nicholas, studying his features.

He looked amazing in his suit. He’d always looked amazing.

She cursed at herself for falling for his looks now of all times. He just looked so damn attractive.

She shut her eyes. Not today. She had difficulty breathing and she had trouble concentrating about anything other than her present situation, that and Nicholas.

“Sophia,” Nicholas began.

She realized this was the first time he’d called her by her first name.

Nicholas began saying, “I–”

Nicholas took a deep breath.

He began pouring his heart out, telling Sophia his whole truth.

“I did, I did come to Beldovia with ulterior motives,” he admitted.

“I admit that,” he added.

Sophia scoffed. So Ava was right after all. She never imagined thinking that.

Nicholas seemed unbothered.

“I wanted to win you over.”

“I wanted power. I was covetous.”

“But then, I got to know you.”

“I wrote a letter to tell you the truth; I thought you’d never read it,” Nicholas continued, his voice trembling.

Sophia let out a small gasp, her eyes wide as she stared at him like a deer in headlights.

She stuttered with her words, “W-what are you s-saying?”

“That everything you wrote was completely true?” She asked.

Nicholas’ eyes bore into hers.

“I’ll say it again.”

“I have feelings for you.”

“I’ll say it again, I have feelings for you, Sophia.”

He continued, saying the exact same things he’d written in the letter, but Sophia couldn’t bother paying him any heed.

She kept replaying the words he had told her in her head.

‘I have feelings for you.’

‘I have feelings for you.’

‘I have feelings for you.’

‘I have feelings for you.’

She couldn’t breathe.

She was at a complete loss of words.

It was all true.

Everything he’d written was true.

He loved her.

He actually loved her, at least, she believed he did.

What else could she do? Call him bluff whilst he was still confessing his feelings?

He seemed sincere, genuine even.

Once she regained her confidence, she heard him tell her, “These feelings of mine are real, and they’re not going to cease anytime soon.”

Sophia looked up at him. She hadn’t realized she and Nicholas were so close to each other. Her eyes bore into his. Her heart raced.

She felt like sobbing hysterically.

Her feelings were reciprocated.

The same feelings she didn’t believe in were reciprocated by him.

It was as though her dream just came true.

No, it was as though she was living her dream.

One of her wildest dreams she’d never expected to turn real.

Her hand found his and she intertwined their fingers together.

Nicholas had gotten the wrong impression.

He’d told her the truth, that he loved her, no matter what she thought of him.

Sophia slapped him across the face. Hard.

Before Nicholas could protest, Sophia pressed her palms against his face.

She pulled his body against hers, before she kissed him.

Softly at first, and then with an intensity that made Sophia want to melt into a puddle.

It was happening. It was all happening.

Once Nicholas wrapped his arm around Sophia’s waist, giddiness bubbled up inside her and she realized he was kissing her back. It took her some time to process things before she realized.

He was kissing her back!

She felt a shiver up her spine as the kiss evoked sensations she never believed herself capable of ever feeling.

He deepened the kiss, much to Sophia’s delight.

It seemed like she was mistaken after all.

It felt as though she’d been dreaming of this one moment her entire life.

Time seemed to stop momentarily as she could only focus on how amazing he felt against her mouth, how addictive he was.

Nicholas couldn’t complain.

If anything, the scent of her woody perfume, the softness of her lips, it was inviting, to him at least.

“Ugh!” Ava huffed as she happened to see the two sharing a kiss.

Her efforts had failed.

Sophia and Nicholas didn’t notice her storming away as sparks flew.