Cross Over

Chapter 7

Jeric looked at Sophie, then at Jeron, then back at Sophie, a thing that he had been doing for who knows how many times ever since the three of them saw each other at the shoe store.

"So, what you're saying Shoti is that, you have known each other even before she was known to be the missing daughter of the Dela Paz couple?" Jeric asked.

"Yes ahia. How many times do we have to retell this story?" Jeron said, annoyed at his brother's repetitive inquiries.

"I'm sorry shoti. It's just that, it's still not sinking in" Jeric explained.

"Because you're dumb" Sophie whispered, but it was loud enough for the two boys to hear.

Jeron chuckled at his friend's statement, then he looked at Jeric before saying "Dumb ka pala ahia e"

Jeric just ignored the teasing of the two and tried to take in their story.

They have known each other before Sophie was known as the missing daughter of the Dela Paz couple. They were introduced a common friend. It was when Sophie was still living with the family that adopted her. Jeron had known that Sophie has to stop schooling for a year because of financial problems. Jeron has known Sophie all that time and yet, he never heard anything about her from his brother. Jeron never said anything about her. But why?

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“Why didn’t you mentioned her to me? As in ever? You knew that I am going to be her escort at her birthday, why didn’t you say anything?” Jeric asked his brother the moment they got inside the car. They walked Sophie first her where her car was parked, before going to theirs.

“Ahia, chill. Isa-isang tanong lang.” Jeron said while chuckling. When Jeric didn’t respond, he just continued what he was about to say. “Fine, I also have some questions for you, so, what do you wanna know first?”

“How did you met her? Were you close?”

“We used to be. She was a nice girl. As I said earlier, we were introduced by a friend”

“And may I know who that friend is?” he inquired.

“It’s.....” Jeron trailed, unsure if he want to continue or not, “Why do you have to know that ahia?”

“I just have to, you said you’re going to answer my questions” He said, confused and curious at what Jeron will have to say.

“Fine, its achi Sam” he said, but he rejected saying it the moment he saw the look on Jeric’s face. “See ahia, I don’t really know why you have to know that. But, yeah it was achi Sam who introduced us to each other, they were pretty close before, I’m not sure now.”

Jeric still is not saying a word, he is still feeling the bit of pain from hearing Sam’s name. Sophie, the girl that he is so curious about, and can’t stand a day without thinking about, happens to know her brother, because they were introduced to each other by his ex? That doesn’t make any sense. So, she is just not related somehow to Jeron, but also to Sam, but why haven’t he met her before? He is so curious now, but the pain is somehow overpowering him. He has to get over it, he has to distract himself. So, to take his attention away from that heavy feeling in his chest, he just decided to ask another question.

“They used to be so close. Why haven’t I met her?” he asked again, focusing all his attention to his brother.

“I don’t know, maybe she haven’t had the chance to introduce you to each other. You know ahia, I met her before everything happened, before her life changed”

“So, what was she like? I mean, before her life changed?” he asked, even though he quite knows what the answer will be.

“Sophie used to be a very lovely girl, she is sweet, warm, she is always happy, she’s bubbly and she can bring a huge amount of positivity to every room she goes in. Everybody loves her, everybody looks out for her, because many people think that she’s fragile, but she’s not. She’s a very tough one. And she’s a mean and insane basketball player. She’s awesome! She was one of the boys, she’s got four guy bestfriends, and she was always with them, you know, she plays basketball with them and stuff. She’s easy to talk to, she’s not like any other girl, she can understand you, whether it is a problem for the boys.” Jeron smiled as he thought about those memories. “Which is why, I fell in love with her”.