Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 93

Louis was livid.

“You two are exes,” he said.

He stared at Marcus.

“Pass the salt,” Sophia told Nicholas.

Everyone turned their attention to her.

“What?” Sophia asked.

Nicholas passed her the salt shaker.

“You knew,” Nicholas whispered, handing her the shaker.

“So what if I did?” Sophia asked hypothetically, taking the salt shaker from him.

“You’re sinister,” he whispered to her.

“‘So what if I did’ was hypothetical,” Sophia said defensively.

Nicholas didn’t answer her, paying more heed to the scene that was still ongoing.

“Can’t we talk about it later?” Marcus asked.

Louis glared at him.

The luncheon continued, the tension running high.

It was mainly Sophia starting conversations – and her flirting with Nicholas.

Nicholas wouldn’t have done what she did – set up a luncheon, made sure both Emilia and Marcus would come before she sat back and watched as it all unraveled itself.

Sheila glared at Sophia, she’d overheard their conversations.

She tried shooting her shot.

“Your royal highness,” Sheila called enticingly.

Sophia turned her gaze to Sheila.

Everyone stopped eating; Sheila didn’t seem to mind at all. She exuded cockiness.

“I’m glad you decided to stay,” Sheila said, twirling her hair.

Nicholas glanced at Sophia, who was looking at Sheila.

She was calm and collected – strangely.

She inhaled and exhaled, she began counting backward.

She then used her knife to slice the closest thing in sight.

“I am too,” Nicholas answered out of courtesy.

Kiara decided to join in.

Sheila glared at her.

She batted her eyelashes, “If you’re free this weekend, would you like to–”

“You bitch!” Sheila screamed, managing to grab Emilia’s attention.

“I’m the one asking him out, not you!” She cried.

She punched Kiara in the nose, to which Kiara returned with a lunge.

“UGH!” Sheila shrieked.

Emilia couldn’t get herself to make her nieces stop. She didn’t want to humiliate her nieces, she loved them more than she did anyone else.

She began, “Girls–”

She couldn’t bring herself to.

Sophia patted Nicholas’ back.

Nicholas wondered, “Do they know we’re courting?”

“Mm, if Emilia hadn’t told them, no.”

“So they don’t know we’re courting.”

“And they’re fighting over you,” Sophia said.

As though on cue, Sheila and Kiara toppled to the floor.

Emilia had had enough, but it wasn’t her who voiced it out.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” Julia bellowed.

The girls ceased what they were doing. Awkward silence filled the table.

Julia had the power to stop whatever others were doing with a simple command.

She shot Emilia a disgusted look – something she couldn’t help but do whenever she landed eyes on her. She was disgusting, vile, and completely incapable of being a queen, what more an aunt. She was why Beldovia was crumbling. She was who her son chose, and it wasn’t her who suffered the consequences, but her grandchildren.

‘Shame on you for being unable to deal with your nieces appropriately in settings and events like these,’ she uttered.

She couldn’t help but look at her in disgust. And what was worse, she knew nothing of the pain and trauma she caused. She’d never felt the teensiest bit guilty, she never felt plagued by it and continued running her kingdom without any qualms whatsoever.

It angered Julia to her core. She wasn’t fit to be a royal. She wasn’t meant to be a royal.

She glanced at Louis who hadn’t said a word ever since he’d discovered his date to the luncheon was his stepmother’s ex.

She then turned her attention over to Sophia, who was having a conversation with Nicholas.

Speaking of Sophia and Nicholas…

“You weren’t jealous were you?” Nicholas asked, out of interest.

He noticed Sophia pursing her lips.

“No,” she answered unconvincingly.

Nicholas felt a flutter in his heart when he realized she was, even by the small interaction he and two girls shared.

“You know, there’s no need to hide if you do,” he joked.

“You seem awfully cheery for someone with girls fighting over him left and right.”

Nicholas shrugged, he chuckled, “What can I say?”

Of course, Sheila and Kiara were unaware they were courting – Emilia hadn’t informed them that they were and neither had Sophia, so how possibly could they have known?

There were the tabloids, but they never enjoyed reading – willingly, that is.

They figured it wouldn’t hurt; hitting on Nicholas for everyone else to see, they’d expected him to accept one of their offers, but then again, they hadn’t even the chance to ask him out, not without a fight breaking out.

“This is the end of the luncheon,” Julia declared, sighing.

They couldn’t get by a mere luncheon without wreaking havoc, it was depressing.

Julia made sure not to plan any more luncheons for the future, and if she did, to make sure Emilia and her two dreadful nieces to be on the banned list of people she’d never invite again.

She wondered why she even bothered with how the previous luncheon went.

Sophia separated from Nicholas.

She decided to check up on Louis.

“It’s beginning to get worrying, you acting like this,” she said to Louis.

“Thanks, but there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Stop worrying,” he said.

“So we’re going to pretend that Marcus is our stepmother’s ex?” Sophia asked, batting her eyelashes.

Louis stared at her before a look of fathom crept across his face.

“You knew,” he realized.

“I didn’t.”

Louis shot her a look.

“I did, I did,” Sophia admitted. She was never able to lie to her brother. He’d easily sniff it out.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Louis asked, seemingly hurt.

He knitted his eyebrows.

“You did a background check on him didn’t you?” He asked rhetorically. He knew she ordered a background check on Marcus.

“After Leonard, I decided it was best I ordered one,” Sophia defended herself.

“Sophia!” Louis warned.

“Imagine what it’d be like, if he hadn’t came to the luncheon, you and him got involved with each other and that’s when you find out, all along, he’s Emilia’s ex,” Sophia said seriously.

“Wouldn’t you rather know all there is to know about him before you go around sleeping with him?” Sophia asked.

“Sophia, that’s way out of line, and it’s none of your business, regardless if you’re my sister,” Louis said, raising his voice.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said particularly loudly.

“You’re defending him?”

“A man you knew for a day rather than your sister you’ve known all your life?” Sophia asked.

“Are you kidding me?!” She exclaimed.

“ALL I DID WAS LOOK OUT FOR YOU, I’M YOUR SISTER, NOT ANYONE ELSE’S, SO WHAT IF IT TOOK A BACKGROUND CHECK, CAN YOU BLAME ME? AFTER LEONARD IT WAS THOUGH YOUR WHOLE WORLD HAD SHATTERED INTO PIECES, AND NOW YOU’RE DEFENDING HIM, NOT ME?” Sophia snapped.

“YOU’VE GOT TO STOP USING THE EXCUSE THAT YOU’RE MY SISTER AGAINST ME, I KNOW THAT AND I LOVE YOU, BUT I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF, AND I DON’T NEED YOUR PROTECTION, SOPHIA.”

“WORLD SHATTERED INTO PIECES? YOU HAD ME SLEEP OUTSIDE YOUR BEDROOM ONCE YOU DISCOVERED YOU COULDN’T BE ABLE TO BECOME QUEEN UNLESS YOU HAD A SPOUSE,” Louis retorted.

“SO IF YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT HOW MY WORLD WAS SHATTERED, HYPOCRITE, STOP TO THINK ABOUT YOURS BEFORE MAKING ME SEEM WEAK AND UNABLE TO HANDLE ANY SORT OF PAIN,” Louis retorted next.

He realized what he’d just said. Where did this rage come from? Was it Sophia he really should’ve been shouting at?

She stomped away, refusing to admit defeat, or back away from the fight. She hadn’t meant to start it, but she refused to surrender.

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY WALKING AWAY?” Louis’ voice echoed off the halls.

Sophia looked back to yell, “WATCH ME.”

__

“I don’t attend one luncheon, I repeat, one luncheon, and I miss on all of this?” Clarisse asked once Sophia told her everything – Sheila and Kiara’s brawl, her and Louis’ fight, and both of Emilia’s nieces tried to shoot their shoot with Nicholas.

“I can’t,” she laughed.

“I literally can’t,” Clarisse shook her head.

“What were you thinking?!” She exclaimed.

“Having a fight with Louis?” She asked rhetorically.

Sophia slumped down her chair.

“I didn’t mean to start a fight,” she admitted with a sigh.

“I know you didn’t,” Clarisse admitted.

“He just found out the man he went on a date with happens to be his stepmother’s ex-boyfriend, how else did you expect him to react?”

“Sorry, I meant, after Leonard, how did you expect him to react?”

“He’s gotten trust issues because of that, Soph.”

“You getting a background check for Marcus doesn’t help,” Clarisse sighed.

“If you’re going to ask me to apologize, the answer’s no,” Sophia said.

“I wasn’t going to,” Clarisse retorted.

“I just said that in case you were going to,” Sophia said, putting it out there.

Clarisse studied Sophia’s face.

She inhaled, deciding to change the subject of her and Sophia’s conversation.

She asked, “So, from what you said, how’d Emilia react to finding out her ex was Louis’ date to the luncheon?”