STAINED SOULS

Chapter Three

Present

Christian was impatiently waiting at the table for his date to arrive.

It had been hours, but she still hadn’t showed up. He still didn’t understand why he was still there. Maybe because for once he wanted to get a woman in his life that would stick.

He hadn’t had much luck when it came to women.

Either she was pretty with no brains or smart with no looks. The rest were just w****s after his money, or rather, his parents’ money. But he was the CEO of the company now, he was the boss, he was rich.

He didn’t even think any woman deserved to waste a single minute of his time.

He was never the type that would wait for a woman.

But these were desperate times.

Evan had told him everything about her. She was perfect, he had seen her photos and fell in love. The had talked on phone and he had loved her voice. Now all he wanted was to meet her in person. He was so excited about that.

Maybe that was the reason he was still impatiently waiting for her.

Because for once he was going to have someone who he felt they had a mutual feeling towards each other, he had no doubt he liked her and he did get the same energy from her when they would talk, all he wanted was meet her in person then maybe, just maybe he would ask her to be his girlfriend.

Back in high school, being in the group of the elite students in school, every girl was all over him, he would get any girl he wanted. But that changed when he left school and years passed.

He was no longer interested in the type of girls that threw themselves at him. He did try that but he felt like he was just getting a little too old for that, he had been the older one in their group of friends.

He was sure Evan was no longer playing those games, he wasn’t so sure about Patrick because it had been a while since they communicated, for Paul, everyone kind of knew he was taken. He hated that he caused their group to separate, but he was happy with Tina and Christian was more into positive vibes than negativity.

He didn’t want to think about Sorcha because he knew that would bring back memories that he wouldn’t ever want to come to the surface.

Him and Sorcha had had moments that Patrick never knew about.

Given how he reacted when he found out about Paul and Tina, Christian was certain he would never want Patrick to know the truth.

But now it was years, what happened in the past didn’t matter anymore.

Just like they had made an oath, he was sure that he didn’t want to bring the past to the present.

What they did years back, it was wrong, and everyone of them knew that.

Christian was so lost in his thoughts as he sipped on his coffee that had now gotten cold.

He checked on his Rolex wrist watch.

It was getting late, he needed to get back to the office and finish on some reports before he could retire for the day, he was going to give her ten more minutes then he would cancel the whole thing.

That would be probably the last time he tried this dating thing, so he hoped so hard she didn’t disappoint him.

He waved at the passing waiter and asked for a refill of his coffee.

This one cup was enough to keep him here for the ten minutes.

A few moments later, he felt a presence before him, he thought it was the waiter, so he moved the cup closer his eyes focused on his phone.

The cup wasn’t being refilled.

“Uhm…Christian, right?” he heard a very melodic voice call and when he lifted his eyes to look at who it was, his heart skipped a beat.

 He had never seen a woman this beautiful.

 I mean, yes, he had seen her in the photos and she was beautiful, but seeing her in person, she was an angel.

He quickly pushed his seat back and got back. He was feeling so nervous.

No woman had ever made him feel this way.

“Yes…Hi?” he stretched his arm and the beautiful woman dressed In a black mid-thigh bandaged dress that perfectly hugged her curves stretched hers for a handshake.

He held on to her arm for a while and he just couldn’t take his gaze off her.

She looked familiar.

Very familiar.

“Soph, right?” He asked and she nodded as she tried to move her arm away

He nervously let her arm go and pulled back her seat for her.

When he got back to his seat, she was just staring at him.

He didn’t understand why she was doing that, but he assumed that maybe just like he was, she had been blown away by his looks.

But that was the total opposite of what it was.

Soph knew why she was staring at him.

It was him; he hadn’t changed that much. He was still the same handsome boy that he was back in school, just that now he was a man and not a boy.

The reason she was staring at him was because she knew that he didn’t recognize her.

I mean she had changed from the person she was back in high school, but she was till the same girl that he was mean to most of their high school

She had dropped the eyeglasses and was now using lenses but still, it was still the same Sophia, Tina’s friend that they all saw as a nerd yet they thought Tina wasn’t, just because she was dating one of them.

When they started talking, Christian had sent her his photo first and she had immediately recognized him, she was even scared of sending hers, but when she finally did, she expected he would recognize her, but all he said was that she was gorgeous.

So, they continued keeping in touch.

Then when it eventually came to the day they were going to meet, she was scared that he would recognize her and the only reason she was late for the date, was because she had been procrastinating back in the car outside the restaurant’s parking lot, and questioning on whether she would meet him in person.

But then she made up her mind and decided to meet him, I mean, what was the worst that could happen if he did recognize her?

Woe unto her, he didn’t even recognize her.

But she should have expected that, he didn’t recognize her before, nothing had changed.

Now she didn’t know if she was to tell him who she was or maybe just give him time and hope he would finally know her.

He didn’t.

They talked, had cups and cups of coffee.

He liked her, she liked him. the chemistry between them was so strong, he knew it and she knew it.

He even forgot about the reports he wanted to finish back in the office, it was now nine in the evening, he knew he needed to rest early so that he would wake up early and work on those reports, but he didn’t want to leave her side.

She was funny and entertaining.

He knew he had never met a girl like her.

Deep down he felt like maybe his mind was rushing things. But he was certain of what he wanted, he wanted to ask her to be his girlfriend. She made him laugh and let go all his worries. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to lose someone like her.

And as he stared at her as she walked towards her car after the coffee date, he was going to take that step and pop the question.

He looked at her in admiration, she was just so perfect.

He walked towards her and when she turned, he loved how the moon was shining on her face.

She looked angelic.

He knew what he was going to do next, and just like she had read his mind, their lips locked, and it was a passionate kiss, very passionate.

One that made their hearts want to jump out of their chests.

Then after the kiss, while he was staring deep into her eyes, he decided to ask the question.

He took in a long deep breath and out.

No girl had ever made him this nervous

“Soph, I know this is going to sound weird, given we just met, but do you want to be my girlfriend?”

And there!

He had popped the question.

He was surprised when he watched her face turn into a frown.

Had he asked the wrong question?

“No.” she said and kept quiet.

No reason or explanation, she just told him one straight no.

He had never been rejected before.

That was an injury on his ego, but still, he wanted to know why she said no. I mean, he thought they had an undying chemistry. He was certain he could feel it in their kiss a moment ago.

“What?” he asked with a very dry throat.

Soph was just still surprised at him, how could he not recognize her?

“So, you don’t really remember me?” She asked, and she could tell from his reaction that he actually didn’t remember her.

“Am I supposed to?” he asked very innocently but the tone he used must have pissed her off because she took a step back and started heading for her car.

There was no way in hell he was going to let her just walk away like that.

“Soph?” He called as he ran towards her.

She didn’t stop.

He got to where she was and quickly held her arm stopping her.

He didn’t know what he had done wrong.

He had thought she looked familiar but he honestly didn’t remember her.

Or maybe she had been one of his flings.

He really hoped she wasn’t, because then that would change everything, one, he didn’t normally treat his flings so nicely and second, he would hate to know that they met through a one-night stand.

That would just make things awkward.

“Please don’t tell me we have had s*x before.” His fingers were crossed.

He knew he never remembered seventy five percent if the girls he slept with.

That sounded a little funny for Soph, she chuckled and shook her head.

He let out a sigh of relief, but still had the questions in his head. If she wasn’t one of the girls, then who the hell was she?

“Sophia Uwa, Tina’s best friend back in high school.”

That realization hit Christian like a cold wave.

There was no way that was her.

He took along look at her and that’s when he could recognize her. She had changed a lot, but it really was her.

She was very beautiful. The Sophia he knew was a nerd, she would never look this gorgeous.

Then he remembered all the times he had been mean to her back in high school and the guilt sank in.

“Sophia, I’m so sorry.” Sophia didn’t exactly know if he was apologizing for being a jerk back in school or being a jerk now.

“That’s cool.” She said and she could see his face glow with excitement.

“Just don’t ever call me again.” She said and headed for her car.

He didn’t try to stop her this time.

He had been interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

It was an email. He was being invited for a wedding. His friend Patrick was getting married.

He was sure of two things at that moment. He was going to go to that wedding and he was going to get Sophia back. He needed to show her off to his former friends.

##########