His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Seven

The next morning Sophia awoke to the sound of the coffee machine whirring in the kitchen and she dressed quickly, knowing her boss was already up and more than likely waiting for her to emerge from her room. After clearing the table and washing the dishes the night before, she did a little unpacking before collapsing into the silky sheets. She had one last box to unpack and she picked it up, resting it on her crossed legs. Inside were framed photographs of her family. She kept them all in the box with the exception of one. It was the photograph that sat by her bedside every night which held the most memories. The wooden frame was beginning to break and the glass had a small crack in the top right corner but she couldn't find it in herself to fix it. She'd broken it when she was fourteen after the news of her brother's passing. She picked up the photo and threw it across the room with such force.

The picture was of her, her mother, father and brother sitting by the Christmas tree a year prior to his death. She remembered how her father had set the camera up on a tripod and clicked the timer button, he had three seconds to run around the couch and sit beside his daughter. It took him three tries to finally take a successful photo but after they flicked back through the others Sophia found one that she knew they couldn't delete. Her mother and brother were grinning and her father had just come into frame and sat next to her, his smile was more of a half smile but Sophia's was a look of confusion mixed with shock. It was taken just before the camera toppled over, the tripod smashing into her brand new signed and framed poster of Jesse McCartney, and shattered the glass.

That moment is the one she thinks back to regularly, she recalls how mad she was with her father and shut herself in her room all day not even leaving to have the Christmas dinner her mother had spent all morning preparing. She regrets how childish she acted, especially after her father got into his truck and drove to one of the only places he knew would be open on Christmas day and purchased a new frame. He had to drive for over an hour and she didn't even know until she finally emerged from her room at five to midnight and saw the poster with its new frame sitting outside her door and a note attached with an apology.

She set the photograph on the bedside table and slid the box with the remainder of the photos that used to be set around her family home under the bed. She didn't want to take them out of the box and place them around her room because they were far too valuable. If there were a fire, it'd be the only thing that she'd grab, it was the only thing that meant anything to her...it was the only part of her family she had left.

She showered, dressed and headed out into the kitchen. Sitting at the breakfast bar with a phone pressed to her ear was a woman with vibrant strawberry blonde hair that cascaded down her back. She wore a plain black Panama hat that sat at the back of her head. Her lips were a bold red and the dark shadowing around her eyes gave her an edgy look- as if she were someone you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. The low cut dress she wore seemed far too racy for the early morning but by the looks of it, she didn't seem to care as her eyes connected with Sophia and looked her up and down with an expression of disgust on her face.

"Are you just going to stand there or make my breakfast?" She spat and sipped on the expresso that was in hand.

"Oh...um," Sophia assumed the woman thought that she worked for Noah and it was true in a sense but she most definitely wasn't a cook.

"Honey..." Noah walked into the kitchen dressed in a navy suit and kissed the woman on the cheek. She leaned into his embrace. "This is Sophia my employee who needed a place to stay. You insisted she stay, remember?" The side of Noah that was loving and affectionate was one she'd never seen before and it made her feel sick to her stomach. The affection seemed forced and robotic.

"Yes. I remember. I just didn't think she'd be so pretty."

"It's nice to meet you," Sophia stepped a little closer and stretched her hand out in the direction of the stunning creature. Rather than accepting the handshake she took one look at Sophia's hand and scoffed, mumbling 'as if' under her breath. She stood from the stool leaving her empty coffee cup on the counter and walked away.