Red String of Fate (BLS #1)

Sophia Celastio:

“Sophia! Sophia!” I put my pillow on my face, not wanting to wake up now. I’m extremely tired because of the pile of work that I swallowed yesterday.

“Sophia!” My mom walked into my room.

“Still sleeping,” I said lazily, not caring about my mom who walked in.

“Wake up, Sophia! You have to catch a flight to New York today!’ she said as she tried to take the pillow away from my face. I held it tightly.

“Sophia! It’s 7 and you have to catch the flight at 9!” she said and I groaned. I threw my pillow away and sat up on my bed. I looked at my mom who crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Ask Cole to go,” I said closing my eyes again.

“Cole is going to the UK with your dad today,” she said as she pulled me out from the bed.

“Mom, please let me sleep and ask Cole to fly to New York instead. I’m tired.” I stood up lazily and she smacked my arm causing me to squeal.

“Mom!”

“You can rest after the charity meeting, Sophia. You have to go now!” She pushed me to the bathroom and I sighed. I stripped myself then jumped into the shower. I turned the cold water on to help me wake up.

“I need a vacation ASAP,” I mumbled to myself as I walked out of the bathroom. I took out my black skinny jeans, maroon crop top and a baggy flannel. I quickly did my make-up and pulled my hair into a bun. I put on my silver necklace and my red ring from my grandmother.

I took my bag and pulled out my luggage. I always have an extra packed luggage in case of emergency. I walked downstairs and found my mom making me a sandwich.

“You’re ready to go? Peter is ready waiting for you outside.” She said as she cut the tomato. Peter is our driver.

“Can you ask Cole to go?”

“No.”

“Sophia! Go to work and don’t whine like a kid.”

“Mom, I’ve been working non-stop these days and I need a vacation,” I said to her and she put her hands on her waist.

“We’ll talk about that later on, Sophia. Now, you need to go to the airport,” she said and I pouted.

“Bye.”

“Your sandwich...”

“I’m not hungry,” I said as I walked out from the house. I gave the luggage to Peter and got inside the car. I’m damn tired.

Peter drove me to the airport and I opened my phone to check my notifications. I checked the time and it’s 8:10 a.m. I need my coffee first, so I need to go to Starbucks.

Peter sped up and we arrived at LAX quickly. I thanked Peter and got out of the car. I pulled the luggage from the back of the car by myself and rushed inside. I ran in to find my check-in spot. I found it and processed my luggage and ticket first.

I got inside and started to hunt for Starbucks. I need my coffee... since I’m so sleepy. I found the Starbucks, and can’t help but jump in joy. I walked into it and looked at the menu.

“What can I get for you?’

“Iced Americano, please,” I said to the cashier.

“The size, miss?”

“Venti.”

“Your name?”

“Sophia.” I answered and gave him my money. He processed the order and gave me a wink. I just looked away. Boys and their awful flirting tactics.

I got the drink and walked out. I sipped it and enjoyed it a lot. I looked at the time to see I had 15 minutes left before boarding time ends. Since I hate peeing on the airplane, I decided to go to the bathroom now.

I did my business and walked to the mirror. I checked myself, and my panda eyes were so visible. I cupped my face and sighed. I looked at my reflection through the mirror and my eyes widened.

WHERE IS MY RED RING?

I put my bag on the sink and took out all the things out. I tried to find my red ring inside the bag and found nothing. I knew I was wearing it. I put all of my things inside my bag and took my Americano with me too.

I walked out and looked at the floor to find the ring. It might have fallen somewhere, right? I looked at the floor intensely and scanned every path that I took. No.... Please don’t be lost, it’s from my grandmother before she died.

My grandmother made a lot of rings for her grandchildren. I got one in red ruby. Please don’t be lost. Someone might get it and sell it! No, Sophia...don’t think like that.

Without any warning, I bumped into someone, very hard. He was walking at a great speed while I was walking and looking down to find my ring. My Americano spilled onto his suit and my eyes widened in shock. I looked up and I gasped. It’s freaking Aaron Samuel, the man that every girl worships.

“What the fuck!” he cursed right away as he looked down at his suit. I quickly took out a pack of tissues from my bag and patted his white suit that’s already starting to turn brown from the coffee.

“I’m sorry!” I said in panic.

“Watch where you’re going next time!” he bursted in a cold tone, and I can’t help but glare at him.

“If you’re watching where you’re going, you won’t bump into me either,” I snapped at him. How dare he say that to me? He was busy with his phone too. He looked at me with amusement.

“I’m sorry about this, but I need to go right now!” I hissed bluntly and walked pass him. He suddenly held my arm and I turned to him. I looked at him and then to my arm that he held.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“The girl who spilled her coffee,” I answered coldl,y and pulled my arm from his grip. I walked away and continued to look at the floor to find my ring.

Ring...where are you?

Sophia Celastio:

I couldn’t find my ring!

My ring was nowhere to be found. It disappeared. I can’t believe that I lost my ring. My grandmother gave it to me and asked me to take care of it. I’m a bad grandchild.

I walked onto the plane in the worst mood ever. I can’t believe this happened. The ring isn’t that loose when it's on my finger, so how did it slip off?

I’m sorry, Grandma, I’m so so sorry.

The whole ride from L.A. to New York wasn’t that fun. I kept thinking about my ring. How am I going to forgive myself?

The encounter with Aaron made it worse. How could he be mad at me when it was partly his fault too? That asshole. After a 5-and-a-half-hour flight, I landed in New York.

My dad’s man was waiting for me outside the airport to drive me to the hotel. Now, I have to get ready for the Charity Conference at 7. It’s 5 p.m. New York time, so I have an hour and half to get ready. I hate being late, so I need to reduce 30 minutes for my trip to go to the venue.

I arrived to the St. Regis Hotel. I got in and checked into my room. I went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. I walked out from the bathroom and dried myself. I dried my hair and curled it straight away. I put my make-up on and opened my luggage to check what kind of dress I packed in the luggage.

I was glad to see my long sleeve grey bodycon dress. I took out the nude stilettos too. I put my dress on and checked myself at the mirror. I sighed big time. I sprayed on some perfume and took my black clutch out, putting things that I need inside, and walked out from my hotel room.

I went down to the lobby, and my dad’s man was ready to drop me off at the conference hall. The whole ride was tiring; I kept thinking about my ring. I blamed myself for this, of course, who else.

“We’re here, Ms. Celastio,” my driver said, and I got out of the car. I walked inside the building. The staff asked for my name, and one of them led me inside. I started to look for my name on a small board in every seat. There’s a lot of people who came, and I’m quite amazed.

“Sophia!” someone called me, and I found my friend Rose Hastington waving at me. I smiled widely and walked to her. I hugged her tightly.

“Hey Rose, it’s been so long.” I squealed.

“I know right! So how are you? You look stunning,” she squealed too.

“I’m good! You? So are you! You look sexy.” She was wearing a short black off the shoulder dress. She looked so beautiful in that dress.

“Hello sexy.” Suddenly a guy named Maximillion Cesantio kissed her cheek and snuck his arm around Rose’s waist.

“Sophia, this is Max. Max, this is Sophia Celastio.” Rose introduced me to him and I shook his hand politely.

“Sophia.”

“Max. Nice to meet you.”

“I can’t believe that I’m seeing you here.” She held my hands and squealed again. I chuckled.

“Me too! I miss you so much!”

“I mean it’s been two years since we graduated; we never contact each other.” Rose and I went to Harvard together. We met at someone else’s party and became friends right away. She lives in New York, so it’s hard to see each other.

“That’s right,” I said and suddenly Rose turned her head to see someone else she knows.

“Jean,” Rose called a beautiful light brown-haired woman. She walked towards us and I recognized her right away. I mean, she’s a Victoria Secret model and Blake’s wife. Everyone knows her and Blake. She’s so stunning in her black one shoulder dress. She hugged Rose and then she turned to me.

“Sophia, this Jean Samuel a.k.a Blake’s wife. Jean, this is Sophia, she’s my friend from college,” Rose introduced us.

“Nice to meet you, Sophia,” Jean said as she shook my hand. She’s really lovely and just overly friendly.

“Nice to meet you too, Jean.”

“Honey, I told you not to stay away from me. You keep slipping away from my arms,” Blake Samuel said as he held his wife. He kissed the side of her head and his eyes spoke everything. He adores her.

“Blake, I just came to say hi to Rose and my new friend, Sophia.”

“Blake, this is Sophia. Sophia, this is my husband, Blake.” I shook his hand and smiled politely.

“Nice to meet you,” he said.

“I can say the same, Blake,” I said and the couple excused themselves to mingle with others.

“I thought your brother was the one who supposed to come here, right?” Rose asked and I nodded.

“He’s in the UK now. I was supposed to be at home watching Netflix with my blanket on,” I sighed and she chuckled.

“Me too, but my brother forced me to come here.”

Suddenly the Master of Ceremonies asked us to sit on our seats. We all went to our seats. I walked upstairs as one of the staff led me to my chair. I thanked the staff and the Charity Conference quickly begun.

My eyes landed on someone that I never thought I would see again. Aaron Samuel was making his way to his seat and greeted a couple of people along the way. How could I be so dumb? Of course he'd be here since Blake is here. They’re a family for bloody sakes! My brain was erroring today.

The Charity Conference started and my mind was everywhere. I looked at the presentation blankly and completely out of my mind. They asked us if we wanted to donate, and they gave us a paper to fill out the amount that we wanted to donate.

The official letter will be sent to our own company later on. I wrote down the amount that my dad messaged me earlier, and the conference finished not long after that.

“Thank you for the donation, ladies and gentlemen. We’re so grateful that everyone participated in this campaign. We’ll update on everything by sending the official letter to the company. There’s a little party ballroom on the side from us to thank everyone. Thank you again, and have a lovely night.” With that, the conference ended. I stood up and planned to run away before Aaron caught me.

Suddenly Rose held me and I turned to her.

“Where are you going? We need to catch up!” Rose linked her arms with mine and she pulled me to the other room. I wanted to protest, but Rose is too nice and just… I can’t reject her.

“So…any boys?” she asked.

“Mind if I join?” Jean asked and I turned to her nodding.

“Of course.”

“The boys are talking about business and I don’t want to hear it. I might get a headache. I don’t even know what they are talking about.” Jean hissed and we chuckled.

“You still in VS, right?” I asked and she nodded.

“I love that job even though Blake told me to quit, but I love the job too much to quit,” she answered.

“Blake’s just jealous because you work with a lot of hot men out there. I mean you’re a model, you have a lot of naked photos hugging other men,” Rose blurted.

“Trust me, he's cute when he’s jealous, but as time goes by, he becomes scarier,” Jean said as she took a glass of wine. Rose and I took one too.

“What’s scary?” Blake suddenly appeared and snuck his arm around her waist, making Jean choke on her drink. Rose and I laughed.

“She watched a horror movie and it’s scary.” Rose saved her.

“You okay?” Blake patted Jean’s back and she nodded.

“You came without any warning, I was shocked.” She glared at her husband and Blake looked at her with adoration.

“I just miss you, is that a crime?”

“Cut the lovey dovey, you two, I want to puke.” I felt anxious now; since Blake’s here, Aaron might come around.

“Why so cold?” Max suddenly appeared and someone caught my eye.

“Luke!” I called and he turned to me. His eyes widened and he walked towards us.

“Hey Sophie, how are you?” I hugged him briefly.

“Been good.”

“Hello sis,” he said to Rose and she rolled her eyes.

“Hello guys, mind introducing your new friend?” I froze when I heard Aaron’s voice. He stood beside Luke and he looked at me. He studied my face and I tried to hide my face, but it was too late.

“You’re the girl who I bumped this morning!” I smiled awkwardly.

“Weren’t you supposed to be in New York yesterday?” Blake asked.

“I had something going on, so I couldn't leave LA,” he said and Aaron’s eyes never left me. I felt so uncomfortable.

“I have to go, I need to make some calls.” I excused myself.

“But…we haven’t caught up.” Rose looked at me sadly.

“Call me tomorrow, we’ll meet up somewhere.” I smiled at her and she nodded. I slipped away from them and walked out the room. I hate seeing that guy again.

“Where do you think you’re going, Sophia Celastio? I think we have unfinished business.” His voice made me stop walking and I turned to him.

“Unfinished business?” I asked in a cold tone.

“The girl who spilled coffee.” He smirked as he put his hands to his pocket.

“I already apologized, Mr. Samuel, so I don’t have unfinished business with you,” I scoffed and turned my body to walk away from him.

“Have a dinner with me tomorrow,” he stated and I stopped.

“No,” I answered without looking at him and started to walk again. Aaron caught my wrist.

“I never take no for an answer, beautiful.” He smirked and I pushed his hand away from mine.

“Then learn to take one.” I smiled sweetly at him and walked away again.