Chapter 126: Forgive Me, Sophia! [FIXED!][18/08!]
Liam walked into the apartment and headed straight for the kitchen, where Sophia was standing over the counter, arms crossed, already loading up whatever lecture she’d been rehearsing since the night before.
He raised both hands before she could get a single word out. “I know.”
Sophia paused mid-breath. “You know what?”
“Whatever you’re about to say. I know. Darren lost track of time. It wasn’t malicious — it was just a boys’ hangout that ran long.”
She studied him for a second, arms still crossed, though the edge in her expression had softened slightly at being preempted. “That’s convenient.”
“It’s true.”
She let out a breath, leaning back against the counter, and Liam took the small opening as an invitation to actually talk it through rather than brace for a fight. Across the room, Mateo had gone suspiciously quiet — parked on the couch, controller in hand, but not actually playing, eyes fixed on the screen with a stillness that gave away exactly how closely he was listening.
“I think it’s good for him, honestly,” Liam said. “Having people around outside of just the two of you.”
Sophia sighed, some of the tension draining out of her posture. “He’s a sick child, Liam. He’s impressionable. I have to be careful who’s around him.”
“I get that. I do.” Liam kept his tone even. “But at the end of the day, this is good for him too. He can’t just be sitting here all day playing video games and never interacting with anyone else.”
“He interacts with his friends at school all the time.”
Liam hesitated for exactly a second too long before answering, and in that gap he glanced over at Mateo, whose body had gone rigid on the couch, shoulders locked up like he was bracing for something.
That told Liam everything he needed to know. Sophia had no idea what was actually happening at that school.
He let it go. Whatever silence Mateo was keeping around it wasn’t Liam’s to break — bringing it up now would only worry her, and it wasn’t his information to hand over uninvited. Better to let Sophia keep believing what she already believed, mostly true anyway. Mateo did have “friends”. Liam had met a couple of them himself, the day he’d picked him up.
“He does have friends,” Liam agreed. Then, leaning in slightly, raising his voice just enough to make sure it carried across the room, “though I gotta say — those kids are kind of lame.”
From the couch, Mateo’s head turned slightly, though he pretended not to be listening.
“They make him look lame, honestly,” Liam continued. “He’s way cooler than all of them. They’re just dimming his shine.”
“Liam.” Sophia’s mouth twitched despite herself. “That’s a rude thing to say about children.”
“I’m just being honest.”
He glanced back at Mateo again and caught the smile the kid was failing to suppress, eyes still glued to the TV but clearly fighting a grin.
“So,” Liam said, turning back to Sophia. “Can he come with us?”
She raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly do I get out of this arrangement?”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“How?”
“Telling you would ruin the surprise.” He shrugged. “I’m a romantic at heart.”
Sophia let out a laugh she clearly hadn’t meant to release, covering her mouth briefly before shaking her head. “Oh my god.”
“What?” Liam questioned.
“Nothing. Continue.”
“Where’s Darren, by the way?” she asked, glancing toward the door. “I figured he’d at least come up.”
Liam burst out laughing before he could even get the answer out, doubling over slightly, and Sophia stared at him like he’d lost his mind — she’d genuinely never seen him laugh like that, unguarded and loud.
“He’s—” Liam managed between breaths, “he’s terrified of you. He’s hiding in the car so he doesn’t get scolded again.”
Sophia started laughing too, surprised into it. “You’d think with how he looks, he’d be tougher than that.”
“He’s a total softy underneath it all.”
“Apparently!” Liam continued.
Liam wiped his eyes, still grinning. “How do you two even know each other, anyway? You seemed pretty familiar with him yesterday.”
“The gym,” Sophia said. “Ran into him there a few times.”
“That tracks. He was pretty deep into the gym scene at one point.” Liam nodded. “Small world.”
“First time actually talking to him properly, though.” She shrugged, unbothered. “Didn’t think much of it either way.”
Liam let that sit, then circled back to the actual ask. “So — can he come?”
“You realize he still has homework, right?”
“I’ll make sure he does it. You’ve seen how great a teacher I am.”
“Oh, please. Don’t flatter yourself.”
“I don’t need to flatter myself.” Liam gestured vaguely toward Mateo. “The great material is about to speak for itself.”
Sophia tried to hold her stern expression, arms crossing again, clearly fighting the urge to give in too easily. After a moment she exhaled and relented. “Fine. He can go.”
“Great.” Liam nodded, satisfied. “He’s not coming back until tomorrow, by the way.”
Sophia’s eyebrow shot up immediately. “Excuse me? What do you mean tomorrow? He has school.”
“I’ve got it handled.”
“Handled how?”
“I’ll drop him off in the morning. Straight from my place to school, no issue.”
She considered it, arms still crossed, clearly running through every possible objection before landing on none that actually held up. Liam had proven himself reliable so far — showing up when it mattered, handling things responsibly even when the circumstances were unconventional. And Mateo liked him. That mattered more than anything else in the equation. Mateo didn’t warm up to people easily.
“…Fine,” she said finally. “One night.”
“One night,” Liam confirmed.
“And yeah,” Liam added, deadpan, “we’re going clubbing after. All night rager.”
Sophia’s head snapped toward him. “Excuse me?”
“I’m joking. Obviously.” Liam held up his hands. “Getting a fake ID on this short notice would be way too much of a hassle.”
Sophia stared at him, unimpressed, watching him grin at his own joke. “Why are you even entertaining that idea in the first place?”
“I said I was joking.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I’m joking,” Liam repeated, laughing again, and after a beat Sophia gave in and laughed too, shaking her head at the absurdity of the entire conversation.
By the time it was all settled, Liam had gotten exactly what he came for — Mateo cleared to spend the night, homework accounted for, Sophia’s blessing secured without too much of a fight.
He ran the logistics quickly in his head: pick up Mateo now, head back to Azure Heights for the evening, and then make the drive out first thing in the morning to get him to school on time. That meant leaving the hotel by early morning, cutting the return trip closer to nine or ten at night if they wanted any real time to actually enjoy the day.
Or at least this was the rough idea because he knew it would make a lot more sense to spend the rest of the day at his place but this would ruin the free accommodation.
It was all about the experience at the end of the day.
Doable. Tight, but doable.
“Mateo!” Sophia called toward the living room. “Go grab your bag. You’re staying with them tonight.”
Mateo’s head shot up from the couch, controller nearly slipping out of his hands. “Wait, seriously?”
“Seriously. Go.”
He was off the couch and down the hallway before she’d even finished the sentence, the sound of drawers opening and closing carrying back through the apartment as he threw a bag together with the kind of urgency reserved for genuinely good news.
Sophia shook her head, watching him go, a small smile settling on her face despite everything. “He really likes you, you know.”
“I like him too,” Liam said, and meant it.
She glanced at him for a moment, something unreadable passing behind her eyes, before she nodded once and turned back toward the kitchen. “Go get your friend out of the car before he actually dies of fear out there.”
“Will do.”
Liam headed for the door, already looking forward to the rest of the day — and already fairly certain, watching Mateo tear through the apartment with more energy than he’d shown in days, that this was going to be a night the kid remembered for a while.
–
Mrs. Harriet arrived home mid-morning, exhaustion pulling at her in a way she rarely allowed herself to acknowledge. She dropped her bag by the entryway, kicked off her heels, and made her way toward the bedroom with a single goal in mind — sleep, real sleep, the kind that didn’t come with a schedule attached.
The house was quiet. Richard’s car wasn’t in the driveway, which wasn’t unusual in itself. What was unusual was the smell that greeted her the moment she stepped into the kitchen on her way past.
Food. Cooked, plated, covered with foil and left on the counter like it had been waiting for her.
She stopped, genuinely thrown, and pulled the foil back to find a full meal underneath — something she recognized, one of the few dishes he actually knew how to make well, the kind of thing he hadn’t bothered cooking for her in longer than she wanted to think about.
Beside the plate sat a folded note.
She picked it up, unfolding it slowly, half-expecting some clipped, businesslike line. Instead, four words sat there in his familiar handwriting.
[You did good.]
She stared at it for a long moment before a smile creased her beautiful face.