Chapter 23
Hold On
Sophia dove into the kitchen and saw her dad relaxing, with a steaming cup of coffee latte.
“Good morning, sunshine! How’s your sleep?” Philippe took a partial sip of it and watched his daughter open the fridge.
“Dad…?”
“Hmm…” Philippe murmured while resting the cup on the kitchen table. Afterwards, he looked at her again, discerning an admission of guilt in his daughter’s voice. His eyes appeared poignant, as he waited for Sophia to go on with her sentence.
“I am really sorry,” Sophia stated with bowed head.
“About what, honey?” Philippe intended to act dumb.
“About everything, Dad. I know I caused you some trouble.”
Philippe endured watching her make an apology. He could almost hear the howling in his daughter’s voice.
“Dad, I—” Sophia’s voice unexpectedly faltered.
“Come here.” Now, Philippe opened his arms to receive her into his shoulders. “Let’s just get your memory back, okay?” he incorporated with a hoarse voice.
Coincidentally, Elizabeth saw them and intruded. She just came from the grocery store, with Alex and Nadine.
“Honey, I need to talk to you.” Elizabeth held up Sophia, and plunked the grocery bags down, on the table.
Sophia agreed by nodding, unable to look at her mom straight.
“Jericho came here last night,” Elizabeth said.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Mom?” Sophia’s eyes immediately dilated.
“I didn’t know he’s a doctor.” Elizabeth avoided Sophia’s thwarted stare and allowed her breath in a hiss. “Sophia, honey, you’re sixteen. At least for him, he already has a profession but you... you need to finish your schooling first. Besides, you’re still in high school.” Elizabeth now began to reprimand.
Sophia was brought to a standstill, looking straight at the floor. She did not want to argue anymore, with her mom.
But Elizabeth continued.
“Sophia, you are too young for this. You don’t know what love is. Please, don’t be carried away. You’re just a teenager!” Elizabeth stressed. “As your mother… yes, I understand your teenage affection. I’ve been your age once, but Sophia, I’m telling you... one day, you’ll wake up and realize... that everything you felt was all a huge mistake,” Elizabeth said it straight. “Believe me, whatever it is that you’re feeling for him, is nothing but hormones!”
Sophia looked at her mom as if she wanted to answer her back, but then she chose to remain silent.
“I want you to stay away from him, Sophia!” Elizabeth’s tone turned even more serious.
Hearing these words, Sophia shifted her eyes even more, downwards, wrestling with the dragons in her mind.
Then, there was a flash of stillness. They both realized… Philippe had observed them.
About a minute after, a word finally came out of Sophia. “Mom…?”
“Yes?”
“You know that this is not my first time to be in a relationship.”
“Yes, I am fully aware of that. But please, not with him.”
“Why are you so harsh when it comes to him? I thought grandma is the only one who doesn’t like him!” Now Sophia distanced herself from her mother.
“Because he is not right for you! As simple as that!”
“What do you know about what is right, Mom? I may have amnesia but I know I love him.” Sophia was unbending. “I went over my diaries and I read everything about him, and about my life in Forest Green.” Sophia squeezed her eyes shut. “Mom, I was unhappy when I was in Forest Green! But Jericho… he was the only one I had, back there, who cared for me.”
“What are you saying, Sophia? So, you mean to say that your grandma never cared for you? Not even Bea?” Elizabeth shouted, her eyes fully wide opened and voice continually rising. “I can’t believe he has already poisoned your innocent young mind!”
“Mom, I read everything and my life was miserable there! I was desperate! You can never imagine how desperate I was, how devastated my pathetic little life was because you were not there... but Jericho... he was always there for me...” Sophia fought back the tears that started to blind her eyes.
Philippe and Elizabeth fell quiet. They were roughly distressed with the words they heard from their daughter, particularly regarding her desolation during her stay in Forest Green. Elizabeth, in fact, felt so low, now, when she realized she had probably made a mistake in leaving Sophia, to grow up, at Forest Green, away from her. Oh, Heavens! If only she could turn back time! But then... she was back, again, to her problem with Jericho!
“No, Sophia! No! Stop it! I’m your mother and you must obey me!” Elizabeth tried to assert herself, for the last time.
“Mother? Obey you? For what I know, a mother does not abandon her child. Not even temporarily. You’ll never understand!” Sophia countered, and left them crossly.
Philippe’s first impulse was to chase after her and stop her, but he thought Sophia might need some space, at the moment.
“Let her go!” Elizabeth declared. “I can’t believe she just spoke to me that way, and in front of you!”
With mixed emotions, Sophia hurried outside the front porch, and then her emotions got the better of her. Struggling to hold back her unwanted tears, she left the house and headed... nowhere.
It happened that Jericho was observing, a few meters away from their house, when he suddenly saw Sophia leaving, in a bad mood. He let Sophia saunter away, until she was far enough. Then, he followed her, guardedly.
Sophia was walking blankly when she noticed a sluggish car behind her. She turned around and discovered that it was Jericho’s.
Jericho, at once, got out of his car and ran towards her. He became disheartened the moment he saw those tears streaming down her face. Unwavering, however, he dashed to comfort her.
“Hey… what happened?”
Sophia sent a message of I’m-not-okay through her reddened eyes.
A step closer, Jericho volunteered to wipe her tears.
“What happened?” he repeated, his nerves exposed.
“Jericho…” finally, Sophia spoke, but it was very low and heart-wrenching.
“Sophia…?”
“Jericho, please take me away from here,” Sophia begged, her tone shredding him into pieces.
“Where do you want to go?”
Sobbing, she reached out for his arms and put her face on his muscular shoulder.
Jericho openly welcomed her in his arms, and hoped she would find them warm enough to surround her with all the comfort she needed.
“Anywhere, Jericho. Please, just take me away from here,” Sophia begged, still under his zealous embrace.
Absorbing the depth of her cries, Jericho was persuaded.
“Okay,” he spoke low, too, and slowly released her, still volunteering to wipe away her tears that continued to fall past her trembling lips.
Immediately, Jericho opened his car and assisted her. Not prolonging the agony of her situation, he made haste to bring the engine back to life. He didn’t know where to take her, but he just drove on and on, feeling desperate himself. He could not think of a place where she could be soothed.
Sophia’s quietness bothered Jericho, but he was battling with himself regarding where to take her, and how to bring her anguish to an end.
After half an hour of silently driving, Jericho was thrown into bewilderment, when Sophia said she wanted to go to Forest Green to clear everything— and to be with him.
Jericho, shocked and instantly worn out, disagreed, saying that her family would only look for her. Plus, her Grandma Lucy was in Forest Green.
Sophia insisted through and through, until Jericho could no longer afford to say no.
“Please, Jericho... I want to know everything back there.” Sophia’s plea sounded like the wild waves tossing him back to the seashore.
Drawing for more breaths, Jericho declined, “Sophia, we will go back there, but not now. And your parents would be looking for you.” He had gone through the most tormenting place, when he faced her parents, once, and he wanted to tell her that, about last night.
“Please, Jericho. I beg of you. Take me there. We grew up there, together, and... we had each other there. Why can’t you understand that?”
With these words, Jericho was put to a sudden halt, and he looked at her steadily. Like a falling drop of water, he fell into those compelling ocean-blue eyes of hers.
Speared and controlled by her gaze, Jericho took a U-turn, and suddenly drove for Forest Green.
Philippe was trying not to turn into a blazing fire, with his worry for Sophia. “Eliz, I don’t think I should overreact this way, but I’m really worried for our daughter,” Philippe confessed to Elizabeth, right after the minor argument.
“Okay, I’ll look for her.” Elizabeth initiated a walk, and went to the front yard to look for her daughter. To her disappointment, there was no Sophia there. She went over to their covered car park, but Sophia was also not there.
“I don’t see her at all.” Elizabeth walked over to Philippe, as she went back inside the house.
“I’ll call Zarah’s parents. Perhaps, she’s there.” Philippe tried to relieve his growing tension, before grasping the telephone.
“Alex, have you seen Sophia?” Elizabeth yelled, for her son to hear, from his room upstairs.
“No, Mom but... I’ll check her room,” Alex yelled back. He went out of his room and headed for Sophia’s.
“Where are you, Sophia?” Elizabeth asked silently, bothered by the immense doubts suddenly looming in her head.
“Mom, she’s not in her room,” Alex shouted again, now in a hurry to join his parents and search.
“They’re not answering their phone,” Philippe told Elizabeth.
“Maybe, Zarah and her parents are still in Europe,” Elizabeth said.
“No, Mom. Zarah and her parents are already back here, ”Alex meddled.
“Then, where is she?” Philippe was now openly worrying.
“Maybe, she just went somewhere, where she could free her mind.” Alex attempted to be optimistic.
“I don’t know, but I’m worried already,” Elizabeth poured out, massaging her chest, that felt truly weighty.
“I think I should go to the security guards to check on the CCTVs,” Philippe said quickly. He suddenly looked so tired.
“That’s a good idea, Dad!” Alex approved.
“Honey, I’ll come with you!” Elizabeth looked hassled, too.
“Okay! And Alex, look after Nadine!” Philippe ordered.
“Yes, Dad!”
Philippe and Elizabeth arrived at the security headquarter, and requested the guards to look over the video footages.
They were accommodated immediately.
Soon, one of security guards who was familiar with Sophia, recalled that in a video of two hours ago, he saw her walking around the park.
Quickly, Philippe and Elizabeth gawked at the video and confirmed that it was their daughter. They continued watching it until it showed a car in slow motion, which approached Sophia. They were thrown into a pit when Jericho came into sight.
“What!” Elizabeth, in a blast, reacted in fury. Her hatred of him worsened exponentially. “That guy again!”
“Where do you think he took her?” Philippe moderately asked her, so as not to create a scene.
“I don’t know but I have this dreadful feeling.” Elizabeth struggled to allay herself from another bout of worrying.
“Excuse me, Atty. Vabueretti. If you don’t mind... we can trace the car,” Mr. Hilling, the head of security, said. At least, something could be done to lessen Elizabeth’s heavy load.
“Yes, Mr. Hilling. Will you?”
“Right away, attorney!” Mr. Hilling called his contacts, the city security officers, and asked them to trace a Prius car with a plate number of EMC 513.
Straight away, they were informed that the car left the city about an hour ago, heading to Orstia, the province where Forest Green is located.
Elizabeth was greatly terrified.
Did they elope? she cried silently, and Philippe tried to prevent her from collapsing.
Elizabeth, though seemingly turning blank and weakened, managed to whisper something to her husband. “Let’s stop them. Please.”
On the double, Philippe thanked the security guards and dragged Elizabeth back to the car. He contacted Grandma Lucy, so she could keep an eye peeled, for Sophia, in Forest Green.
“No, Philippe! We will go to Forest Green ourselves!” Elizabeth was strong-willed enough, in saying it, as they made their way back to their house. “I’m afraid that something might happen to her!”
“Okay, honey, but... let’s go home first, okay? Alex and Nadine are waiting for us,” Philippe sighed. “I’m gonna call the cops, too.”
Elizabeth, with her worry spilling over, was not able to give Philippe a response, anymore.
Philippe understood her silence, and concentrated his eyes on the road.
Just as they arrived home, Elizabeth rushed inside and asked Alex and Nadine to pack at least two pairs of garments.
“You’re going to sleep at Julia’s house,” she told them. “It’s temporary. I’ll call Grandpa Randy and Grandma Emily to come and look after you, okay?” Elizabeth reassured the two.
Alex and Nadine were confused by the fast turn of events and persistently questioned why they would sleep over, at their mother’s best friend. And, they were asking for Sophia.
Philippe and Elizabeth implored that the two would sleep over at Julia’s, while they would be looking for Sophia.
Full of queries, the two had no choice but to follow their parents. Mystified, they prepared their things.
The couple had dropped Alex and Nadine at Julia’s, and then headed, right away, for Forest Green.
“Phil, please drive as fast as you can.”
“I’m on it, hon. By the way, mom’s really worried.”
Elizabeth moaned heavily.
“She has already assigned her workers there to look out for Sophia,” Philippe continued, then turned all his attention to the road.
“That’s good, honey,” Elizabeth managed to say something. She gazed out of the car window, questioning herself… Why did Sophia do such a thing to them? Then, her mind flew back to the past, and remembered how the teenager Francheska did the same act of running away, when she was on the brink of her dreams, but was pregnant with the unwanted Sophia. Yet Elizabeth achingly hoped for the better: that this time they would find Sophia, get her back to Orlando, and fix her life so she could be a normal teenage girl… Unlike what happened to Francheska.
Oh, that poor, Francheska! Where could she have disappeared to, all this time?
By sunset, Jericho and Sophia were almost at Forest Green, when they suddenly noticed a car that blocked the way. It belonged to Grandma Lucy. Her workers, including Bea, were there.
Extremely surprised, Sophia slid out of the car and asked Bea why they were there.
“Sophia, your grandma has been searching the town and I’m afraid the cops will arrest Jericho,” Bea answered, with a shuddering voice.
“Why would they do that?” Sophia’s face immediately displayed disquiet.
“Your dad called your grandma and told her that you’re with Jericho. Now, your grandma is accusing Jericho of kidnapping you. He could be arrested because you’re a minor.”
“What?” Sophia’s knees trembled. “N—no, that is not true! I went, willingly, he did not kidnap me!” Sophia asserted, even though she almost lost her nerve.
“Sophia, I think you can just stay here with us now and tell Jericho to surrender, when the sheriffs get here.” Bea was straight in saying it.
“No, Auntie Bea!” Sophia stiffened. Promptly, she spun, at fast motion, to hug Jericho, who had just stepped out of his car.
Jericho instantly tried to calm her. He had heard everything, and was trying to be strong.
“Jericho, what are we going to do?” Sophia leaned her shivering head on his shoulder. “I’m scared, Jericho. I’m scared.”
Bea walked closer, towards them, and told Jericho to surrender when the cops get there, but Sophia tried to be assertive.
“No, Auntie Bea! That won’t happen to Jericho!”
“But why, Sophia?”
Sophia’s eyes conveyed a doleful plea to Bea. “Because my family hates him! Oh, Auntie Bea, please, tell us where to go! They must not see us here! Please!”
Bea was speechless, for a moment.
Sophia’s face grew beseeching. “Please, Auntie Bea, please!” Now, her teardrops began to fall, like rain.
Bea looked at them emotionally. She was, somehow, touched by their wretched appearance. “Go to the lake house for a while,” she instructed, shaking. “I’ll tell them we never saw you!”
“Thank you, Auntie Bea.” Sophia, on the spot, embraced her.
“But how about them?” Jericho pertained to Bea’s companions.
“I will take care of it,” Bea reassured. “Just go! Quickly!”
Jericho started the car again and drove straight to the lake house.
When they arrived there, the place appeared dusky and silent. Lending Sophia a hand while sitting down on the front porch, Jericho consoled her. Sophia was looking disconsolate.
“Jericho, why do we have to go through all these?” Sophia, all of a sudden, asked, crying even more.
Jericho drew in a lungful of air and heaved a quick sigh. He could feel her panicking again, and probably missing her family. She was having second thoughts. Then, Jericho held her even tighter. “I’ll take care of you, Sophia. We’re going to survive this,” he bolstered her and devotedly palmed her tense hands, to stop them from shaking. “I think it’s too late to pretend that you didn’t leave them...”
“I don’t have any regrets being with you here, though,” Sophia whispered, feeling the warmth of his tender caress and very potent reassurance. “It’s just that, I—I feel for my parents, now...”
“I know! I don’t regret being with you, too,” Jericho whispered back and further wrapped his hands around her. “And right now, it feels so good... just you and me, here, alone together... like we used to do...”
