His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Nine

Saturday rolled around and the nerves kicked in. Sophia felt more nervous about attending the charity gala than she ever did in a job interview and she knew why. It was a public event: the photographs of the celebrities attending would be broadcast all over the newspapers the following morning, and it worried her. She had succeeded in hiding for some time now but if her face was plastered all over the paper with her arm linked with Noah's she knew it wouldn't end well.

He'd get word of her outing, she was sure of that, and then he would try to find her and then the abuse would start again. She tried to push those thoughts to the back of her mind - she wanted one stress-free day without her past looking over her shoulder. Yet she had been scared for so long she had forgotten what it was like to not be. She'd walk the streets and her ears would tune into the sound of the cars, how close they were or the sound of footsteps of the innocent civilians who were passing by. Her breathing would deepen and she'd find her walk getting increasingly quicker and quicker until she reached her destination. Then, she'd become paranoid and sit by the window watching, waiting for the person to slip up and expose themselves. Of course, they never did because it was all a delusion, simple paranoia that she just couldn't shake.

The doorbell echoed throughout the apartment and she looked through the keyhole to see who it was. The woman standing at the front closest to the door was carrying a clipboard and it seemed to ease Sophia's nerves. She felt comfortable knowing the security of the apartment building was high end and not anybody could enter. She opened the door to the stylists and allowed them access. "You must be Sophia," the first woman with dark brown hair tied in a bun on top of her head said as she extended her free hand. "I'm Dolores, Mr McKenzie hired me to make sure everything runs smoothly and we get you to that gala on time."

"Shall we start?" She smiled and with a quick nod to another stylist in the room three racks were wheeled into the apartment with a variety of different ballgowns hung onto it. Followed closely by were more stylists carrying makeup bags, hairstyling tools and even a black leather salon chair.

"Gennie," Dolores called across the room, "the dresses."

"Right away," Gennie smiled and wheeled over one of the racks. "We will start by choosing a dress and then we can accommodate the hair and makeup to fit the look."  Gennie placed her hands onto Sophia's shoulders and guided her to the chair they had placed in the middle of the living room. She felt as though she was being thrown all over the place as these people tried to do their jobs and she didn't mind at all. It was all a little odd to begin with - she felt like this was a treatment for royalty, not someone like her - yet once she fell into the rhythm she allowed herself to be pampered and live lavishly for just a few hours.

Gennie brought over one dress at a time for Sophia to study: some were long, some were short and some didn't look like ball gowns at all. With each new choice, Sophia felt as if her head would explode and an hour or so into the process she asked to take a break.

"Don't worry dear, we've got plenty of time," Dolores said and snapped her fingers. A man emerged from the crowd of people and handed over two saucers with small cups on filled with lemon tea and then disappeared back into the crowd. Dolores handed Sophia one of the cups.

"Maybe if I knew what Mr McKenzie was wearing that would help. You know...to match colours?" Dolores gave a little smirk and picked up her phone dialling his phone number. She passed Sophia the phone which was on loudspeaker. Once the line connected Noah's voice came laced with worry and concern but it made her feel more at ease.

"Everything okay?"

"I...I can't decide what to wear. I thought that if I knew what colour you were wearing I could wear something that matches..."