Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 146: A Monster?

Chapter 146: A Monster?

Arthur’s already bad mood, got more spoilt seeing that number. But he knew if he didn’t attend the call, she’d call him again and again and even if he avoids it, she’d never give up. Once here was a hundred and seventy eight missed calls and eighty nine messages in his phone.

He wanted to kill Jordan who gave her his private number. Guess he couldn’t handle her torture either! Should I fire him?

"Yes?" Arthur asked and gritting his teeth, got down from the bed. He wanted to bang his head somewhere.

"Arthur..." Sophia who was sitting at the edge of her bed twirling her hair in her finger, was pleasantly surprised and paused her action.

He attended my call in my first attempt! He couldn’t wait to speak to me! I knew I can move his heart little by little...

Her little heart fluttered.

"What?" Arthur’s tone was low because of exasperation.

He walked to the window and sat at the couch near the big glass window. From here he could hear the sound of crashing waves. He stared at the endless darkness that enveloped where he couldn’t even figure out the horizon.

"I... Why didn’t you call me?" Sophia giggled a little at the end as she was exhilarated by the gentle way he just spoke to her.

He surely must have missed her now that he couldn’t meet her as they were separated by an ocean. He is slowly starting to realise that he needs her - his lucky Charm.

She was worried that since he is travelling to A Country, he might go behind that Talia once more and forget her- his lawful fiancee. But he didn’t!

Arthur took the phone away from his ear and stared at it. He turned the speaker on. He utterly despised her voice.

What did she just do? Giggle? Is she a three year old? My niece Kate does the same giggle. Eeew! Nasty.

"What do you want?" he asked rubbing the back of his head.

"I know... You should’ve been so busy so you couldn’t call me!" Sophia couldn’t even sit anymore and sprung up from the bed. In fact she wanted to jump but controlled herself. "I wanted to hear your voice," she said and placed her index finger in her mouth and slightly bit it. Her entire face has become red out of embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she actually said it.

"Do you know what time it is here?" Arthur asked gritting his teeth. "Why did you call in the middle of the night?"

"I..." Sophia could heart the hardness in his voice.

Is he angry?

Her throat got heavy and she spoke in a low voice, "It’s 5 A.M. here and-"

"If you can’t sleep, take a sleeping pill before going to bed... "

Sophia heard what Arthur said. Even though his tone was harsh, it seemed like he is voicing his concern for her and trying to help her. She couldn’t hold her happiness and wanted to laugh out loud but she didn’t want to and closed her mouth with her hand. Arthur continued,

"... or better yet, take a hundred pills and wash them down with a bottle of vodka. At least I will have a good night’s sleep!"

*beep*

The line went dead.

Sophia who was holding back her laughter till then felt a thousand swords pushing through her heart. Her hand shook and her phone dropped to the floor.

Her mother, who was pushing her to make the call from yesterday, entered the room.

"Mama..." Sophia couldn’t help but sob hugging her mother. "His heart isn’t getting moved, mama... I don’t think it ever will..."

" You can’t be this impatient, Sophia dear," her mother patted her back, "It’s just been a month since you’ve started going out. This is an arranged marriage and Arthur made sure to let us know that. You just have to be patient. I will ask papa to give him pressure from the council’s side to pressure him for marriage soon. But still... It might never be harmonious between you two in the future too. Arranged marriages are just like that. As a woman you need to be patient and just be vigilant to not let other women near him. With all the wealth of the Brunton family, what good is his love?... "

Sophia who was sobbing gradually stopped crying as she heard the dry and empty words of her mother. Her words were filled with greed for wealth and it was as if she couldn’t wait to have a dip in Brunton fortune. It seemed like she really didn’t care for her well-being.

But this is her mother, right? She should be listening to her.

But her stupid mother doesn’t even know that the support for nationalising the Northern Star is growing. And reading that, her mother cheers for it.

If Northern Star Groups becomes nationalised, will her father need Arthur anymore? How long will the Brunton wealth be sustained without Northern Star? Oakley Castle itself is high maintenance and cannot survive long without millions.

Her brother is colluding with some low lives who want to nationalise the Northern Star and thinks he’d get a share once what he wishes is granted.

Her entire family is stupid. Her father too. He lost their castle and now they are living in a five bedroom duplex home like a commoner.

She should only depend on herself. Her family is useless!

Even Arthur seems to be secretly on board with nationalising Northern Star. But why? He sure will maintain the Presidential position he holds now even after nationalising. But why is he willing to lose all the profit and just settle for the salary?

She sure wants Arthur the most. She wanted to get his heart. But she didn’t want to lose the big castle and the highlife that comes with him too.

Sophia’s doe eyes blinked innocently at her mother as she was speaking and her little pouty lips curled slightly at the sides.

I will get it all! I deserve it all!

-----

Arthur threw his phone on the bed as he felt his mood go sour.

Stupid bitch!

He cussed. This stupid woman thinks she is smart and she thinks that he didn’t realise that she is spying on him. For now he needed her to pass false informations to Olivia, who is in contact with that man who put a hit on Talia.

Annoying!

He sighed and opened the window slightly and cold sea breeze gushed through the window, ruffling his hair. The wind also opened the silk robe he loosely tied and his sculpted chest peeked out.

The cold wind refreshed his sulky heart. Suddenly he felt an urge and tightening his robe, walked to the closet and among the documents, pulled out a deep blue one and opened the balcony.

He wanted to go out, but the outside was too cold for comfort and so he sat inside with the balcony door slightly open.

Sitting in the loveseat sofa with his feet propped over the glass coffee table, he opened the document.

Inside were a collection of photographs from their high school. He didn’t want to store in an album to make it more obvious and so he made it see like a document.

Him and Talia spent most of their time together in high school, but never took even one photograph together. She never let him take pictures together.

Idiot Iris!

That always bogged him and so he started looking for pictures others took in their school knowing someone might have accidently clicked them in the background. Who knows, they might be "caught together" in someone else’s picture.

But even then, it was hard to find. That Iris might be dumb at somethings, but she is like an Eagle in spotting a camera. So even in other’s pictures there was respectable distance between them. Except a select few. And he found out one picture with them kissing too. She did get more used to be seen together in their final year.

He could only imagine how Iris would react seeing that picture of them kissing though. That kiss behind the gym is still in his mind. He wondered if she remembered it too.

There was one picture near the swimming pool. Someone had clicked their boyfriend diving and Iris was in the background. He had blurred the image and made her the foreground. With her shoulder length hair, she was sitting cross-legged,and upright with a towel on her lap. If one looked closely, that towel had his initials on it.

She always avoided swimming classes and the reason was obvious. She was terrified of swimming!

Arthur gently caressed her face. Thinking about her and seeing her face always makes him unusually happy. Especially these days.

He turned and looked at the next picture. It was from the one match she attended. This picture is close to his heart. There were many pictures from that match and he chose this picture to go in this file because this looked clear and it made him feel the same emotion he felt when he was playing that day. He only acquired this photograph this year.

It was just after the match was won and someone had snapped the picture from behind him. Only a little of his side profile was visible and he was stretching out his hand like he was asking for a hug and by the angle the photograph was taken, it seemed like his hand was resting on Iris’ cheek. She was grinning widely, probably seeing his funny face.

What an awesome snap!

He was smiling as he looked that picture closer and suddenly he felt like his heart missed a beat.

Is that.... Sophia?

My goodness! It is her!

Eh... What’s with that bashful grin on her face? She is looking at me, right? She even sat in front of my Iris.

Creepy!

Geez! How long was she stalking me?

Arthur’s mood that was rising up in the air just like a balloon filled with helium, suddenly felt inflated, like all joy was gone as the balloon popped.

Likho! That woman is a Likho! She even wore black!

Argh! I should get rid of this monster soon!