Later that day, Sofia returned home to find her parents gone. The house was quiet and she was thankful because she didn't want to see any of them.

"Good evening, Sofia," Mrs. Clarke greeted as Sofia ascended the stairs.

"Where are they?" She asked looking around.

"They left around mid-afternoon." Mrs. Clarke replied. Sofia nodded and went to her room. She fell on her bed and cried into her pillow. She was tired to see her parents drifting away with each day. She didn't even know when it happened but she couldn't take it any longer.

Around seven in the evening, the house phone rang. Sofia was sitting in the kitchen having her dinner with Mrs. Clarke and staff.

"It's Taylor residence. How may I help?" Mrs. Clarke said as she answered the call.

"Oh yes, Mrs. Harris. No, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are not available at the moment. Can I take a message for you?" Mrs. Clarke said and Sofia made a face in disgust.

"Yes, Sofia is available. I'll get Sofia for you." She said as she signaled Sofia to come to her.

"Hi. How are you, Mrs. Harris?" Sofia said as she was handed the receiver. Sofia sat down in the armchair beside the telephone.

"Hello, dear Sofia. How are you, darling?" Mrs. Harris asked in a sugary voice. Sofia cringed and pulled the receiver away from her ear for a moment.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Harris," Sofia said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a headache building up slowly due to fatigue.

"Oh, c' mon darling. Don't call me Mrs. Harris. It makes me sound too old. Although, I'm just a few years older than your mother. And I'm going to be your mother- in- law very soon. So you don't need formalities. You can call me Marianne." Mrs. Harris said.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but this engagement is off, Mrs. Harris. I'm not marrying your son. I'm sorry." Sofia said in an apologetic tone.

"Who are you to call off the engagement? We had a deal. You can't call it off like that." Mrs. Harris said in an exasperated tone.

"I am the girl who was forced into this deal and now I'm calling it off. Simple!" She said in a saasy voice. She was having fun listening to her reactions. She was enjoying irritating the woman.

"Now if you don't have anything to say, I'll hang up. Bye." Sofia said as she hastily hung up the phone before Mrs. Harris could say anything else.

"One problem solved!," Sofia said to herself and smiled as she made her way back to the kitchen to continue her dinner.

After dinner, Mrs. Clarke gave her chocolate cookies and ice cream which she took with her to the room. She wanted to watch a movie and enjoy her cookies there. She went to her room, changed into her sleepwear and switched on the television. She was looking through her movie collection when she remembered that she had to check on Simon.

"Hello Hazel, it's me. How are you?" Sofia said as Hazel picked up the call.

"Hi, Sofia! I'm great! How are you? How's Mr. Alexander?" She asked mischievously.

"Hazel! Mr. Alexander is perfectly fine." Sofia replied emphasizing on Mr.

"Any news on Simon? When is he coming back?" Sofia asked impatiently.

"No Sofia. I just know that he's out of town." Hazel replied apologetically.

"Okay. I miss him, Hazel. If he calls, tell him." She said sadly.

"Okay. I will tell him." Hazel said before Camilla took the phone from her.

"Hello dear, how are you?" Camilla said as she took the phone from Hazel.

"Hello. I'm fine, Cami. How are you?" Sofia replied. Cami was the nickname Sofia had given to Camilla out of love. Camilla loved it when Sofia called her that.

"Cami, do you know when Simon's coming back?" Sofia asked.

"No, I don't. As soon as he calls me I'll tell him about you." Camilla replied.

"Thank you, Cami. Goodnight." Sofia said as she hung up the call. Sofia felt very sad. She was missing Simon. She needed to tell him everything but he was not here.

Sofia was about to lie down to sleep when her phone rang again. It was half past eight. The number was an unknown one. Sofia left it to ring. After five minutes, the phone stopped ringing and it beeped indicating the arrival of a message.

"Hey Sofia, it's me, Carl. Please pick up the phone."

The phone rang again and Sofia picked it up.

"Hi. What happened? Where did you get my number from?" Sofia asked Carl.

"Hi. Leave all that. I need your help. Please?" Carl said in a pleading voice.

"Okay... What happened? Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Can you pretend to be my girlfriend for tonight?" He blurted out.

"Your girlfriend? Are you okay, Carl?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah... actually, my friends are having a party and I need to have a girl with me otherwise they'll try to push any girl on me. I don't want any girl of their choice." He explained.

"I was about to sleep, Carl," Sofia said as she stifled a small yawn.

"Please, Sofia?" Carl pleaded.

"It's just a one-time thing. Never expect me to do something for you ever again. When do we go?" Sofia said in a firm tone as she got out of the bed and headed to her closet. She had to choose something to wear.

"Yes. I got your point. Thank you so much, Sofia." Carl said happily.

"Now tell me what kind of party is it? How do I dress up?" Sofia spoke as she balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder.

"Nothing specific. Just rock the party, baby." Carl said as he chuckled.

"Carl!" Sofia said as she blushed a little.

"I'm just a few minutes away from your place. Text me when you're ready. I don't want to be seen like a stalker standing outside your house. Okay, I'll leave you alone now. Look pretty for me." He said as he chuckled lightly and hung up. 

After twenty minutes, Sofia was ready to go.

"Your girlfriend is ready. She's waiting for you. ;)" Sofia texted Carl. She smiled as she sent the text. She was enjoying this.

Carl came to pick Sofia up. A white Audi A7 came and stopped in front of the door. Sofia hurriedly grabbed her clutch and descended the stairs carefully.

"Sofia, there's a handsome lad for you at the door." Mrs. Clarke said to Sofia as she descended the stairs. Mrs. Clarke was happy that Sofia was finally going out with someone.

"I'm going out with a friend, Mrs. Clarke. I'll be home late. Don't wait up for me." Sofia said.

"Keep your phone on. Don't drink too much." She said and hugged Sofia. Sofia rolled her eyes at this statement.

"You know I can handle my alcohol. Okay, bye," Sofia said as she left the house. Carl was standing against the passenger door of the car with his arms folded.

"Hello gorgeous," he said as Sofia stood in front of him. She looked gorgeous in a black one sleeve dress with fit her upper body like a glove and flared at the bottom. Carl thought if this wasn't all for once he'd never leave this beautiful woman alone.

"Hello" Sofia greeted him. Carl was looking handsome in a white T-shirt and black jeans paired with a black leather jacket. Sofia didn't realize she was staring at him until Carl snapped his fingers in front of her eyes.

"Earth to Sofia! Do you like what you see? Take a picture, it'll last longer, baby." He said with a smirk as he took her hand and guided her inside the car. Heat crept up to Sofia's cheeks making them red. Sofia's cheeks turned a little pink whenever he called her an endearment.

"You disappoint me, Mr. Alexander. I was expecting a Ferrari or some other lavish car. But this one's not too bad either. I like it." She said as she touched the dashboard with her fingers.