A Wife for the Billionaire
Chapter 33: SOFIA

Chapter 33: SOFIA

There was once a time when I was asked which event was the most embarrassing in my life.

I think that was during my college days, those days when I was truly free. Free from Alicia and her evil daughters.

Me and my friends, Danny, Hela and Riele, were at our favorite joint, "Benny’s Place" when Riele decided to alleviate our spirits after hours of gloom spent on mourning and protesting. A black kid had been shut that day when he was returning from his early morning jog.

A robbery had taken place earlier and cops were investigating the scene when the freshman came running. In fear, he had tried to run away before one of the cops labeled him as one of the thieves and shut him dead, right there and then.

The shot had rung through the still cold morning like the release of a cannon. I had been sleeping when the sound jerked me awake. A shrill had escaped my lips as I awakened because I had thought it was from my nightmare.

When they IDed him, they saw that Hayden Porter was actually a student of our college and he was in no way connected to the crime.

Classes were suspended that day and the different student communities, Students Association, Students Rights, Human Rights Activists, and most of all, Black Students Association protested against cops violence, murder, police brutality, infringement of human rights, and other voices facing our generation.

That incident had trended all over, resuscitating black issues and maltreatment everywhere. For weeks, hashtags like,

#BlacksMatter

#EveryRaceMatters

#JusticeForHayden

#StopPoliceBrutality

#EndCopsViolence

#NoneIsAboveTheLaw

#ColdMurder

#LifeImprisonmentForKen

#HaydenDeservesBetter

#GiveUsBackOurRights

And the rest of them, trended on various social platforms. The news blazed

through the internet, even past our English shores.

The cop who performed the malicious

act, Officer Ken Brass, was arrested,

tried and acquitted guilty with the remaining days of his existence to be spent behind bars.

A week later, it was reported that he was murdered in his prison cell. Brutally, in fact. Apparently, even those in there had not been happy with his actions and had deemed his life imprisonment sentence mild. So, they took it upon themselves to end him just the same way he ended 20-year old Hayden Porter.

Of course the perpetrators of this act were never caught or identified.

That day the four of us had joined in the protests, screaming with our cardboards raised high under the blaze of the sun.

Stop police brutality!

End cops violence!

Hayden deserves better!

Give us Officer Ken!

Give us the murderer!

We chanted aggressively threatening to burst through the barricade the cops formed with their shields just outside the precinct.

Well, of course me and the girls weren’t among those on the fore line, but we were making sure our voices were heard.

For hours, we chanted and pushed. Until a flare bottle was launched from the back. In the commotion, as the entrance caught fire, those in the front managed to get through.

With rage and battle cries, they hauled themselves at the cops, with numbers advantage, the cops didn’t stand a chance. They all but fled from the raging crowd.

More flare bottles were thrown, glasses were smashed. Cars parked outside suffered a lot of dents, and it took only the mass release of tear gas and a few gunshots to scatter the crowd.

We found ourselves in Benny’s Place afterwards, dehydrated as fuck and tired as hell.

It was after emptying two glasses of iced tea each and a stretch of silence. Riele decided to clear the air with a game of "What’s the most embarrassing moment in your life?"

She went first, enchanting us to laughter with the tale of how she had professed love to the wrong person.

According to her and the bits I remember, it had been junior year, during lunch break. Riele mustered the courage to confess her crush to who she thought was her secret admirer, Alex Chen. She had been receiving sweet, anonymous notes and gifts, and was convinced Alex was the one.

Riele nervously approached Alex, her heart racing. "Alex, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Alex looked up from his phone, curious.

Riele took a deep breath. "I’ve been getting these amazing notes and gifts, and I thought... maybe it was you. I really like you, Alex."

Alex’s expression changed from curiosity to confusion.

"Uh, Riele, I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I’ve been dating Emily for months."

Riele’s face turned beet-red. "Oh... oh no."

The surrounding students began to snicker and stare.

To make matters worse, Emily, Alex’s girlfriend, heard the whole exchange and she was like,

"Bitch, get your own man"

Her account had been the funniest when she tried to use voices. Riele was terrible at it, but she still did it, instigating a fit of laughter in us.

Afterwards, she had told us that the notes and gifts were actually from a guy in her chemistry class, Fred Durin. He had been too shy to come forward and profess his love. We didn’t blame the poor guy, Riele could appear unapproachable at times.

Hela followed, confessing to us how the day she walked in on her parents doing the act had taken the number one spot in her list of most embarrassing moments.

She was twelve when it happened. She had burst into the house, excited to share her excellent test results with her parents. She had dropped her backpack in the foyer and rushed upstairs to find them.

As she entered her parents’ bedroom, she froze:

Her parents, caught off guard, were in a compromising position. The unmistakable sounds and movements left no doubt about what was happening.

Her eyes had widened in horror. And she had quickly retreated, but the image was seared into her mind.

I remember Danny had teased her after her recount,

Danny grinned mischievously. "Hela, oh my God so you really caught your parents ’studying’ for their next anniversary!"

Hela’s face had turned bright red. "Shut up, Danny!"

Riele and I giggled.

Danny continued, "I bet they were just... um... rehearsing a romantic drama for community theater."

Riele chuckled. As she added, "Or practicing CPR – Cardiac Parental Romance."

Hela had rolled her eyes and ended, "You guys are ridiculous. Just unbelievable!"

I remember having to play ’Odd or Even’ and besting Danny before she was left with no choice, but to go next.

Daniella, or Danny as we called her, was the funniest among us. She was also too playful, so we weren’t really surprised when she recounted her most embarrassing moment as...

Setting: Spring semester, 11th grade

Play: "Romeo and Juliet" (Act 1, Scene 5)

Daniella, playing Juliet, stood center stage, ready to deliver her iconic monologue:

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

As she reached the pivotal line:

"O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable."

That was it, her mind went blank.

She stared at Ryan (Romeo), her eyes pleading for help.

Ryan whispered the next line:

"What man art thou?"

But Daniella’s panic deepened:

"Uh... thou... thou... um..."

The audience’s snickers and whispers spread.

Too embarrassed to continue, she had dashed out of the stage.

Hela, out of revenge had forced her laughter to stretch on and on, until Danny had threatened to pour her iced tea on her before she stopped.

Mine has been the infamous ’Cafeteria Incident’

Junior year, age 16

I was already self-conscious about my quirky style and introverted nature. One fateful day in the cafeteria, I spotted my long-time crush, Jake (yeah, the same guy I later fell for, only for the maggot to cheat on me with Annabel), sitting across the room.

As I mustered the courage to approach him, disaster struck:

While walking, my feet got tangled in her own backpack straps. I stumbled, face-planted into a nearby tray, and sent chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and juice flying.

The cafeteria fell silent. Jake’s eyes widened in horror.

I quickly scrambled to gather my belongings, but not before:

"Wuthering Heights," the book we were reading slipped from my backpack and landed in a puddle of spilled juice. My hair got tangled in the backpack straps, leaving me with a ridiculous hairdo.

Jake rushed to help, his face a mixture of concern and amusement. "Sofia, are you okay?"

Mortified, I mumbled, "I’m fine... just... clumsy."

The incident became infamous. For weeks, classmates snickered and referred to me as "Chicken Nugget Girl."

That was how me and Jake started talking until he sought to disgrace me, but ended up disgracing himself. Unfortunately that event was no longer my most embarrassing. This... this last 45 minutes now held that title.

I wished the ground under my feet would open and swallow me whole. How could I have been so stupid? A part of me had warned me to forget this job and go home, but I had been too stupid, too dumb to realize that I was being played.

Yes, that’s the word ’played’. The perfect word to describe what Richard did to me during this length of 45 minutes.