Chapter 5 A Sudden Bossy Woman

• Chapter 5 – A sudden Bossy Woman
• (Sofia POV)
• I was so helpless and hopeless that all I did was just cry at my misfortunes. And the heavens cried with me. All the weight of my burdens made my knees so weak that I couldn’t walk farther away and just fell by the cemented sidewalk like a mad woman.
• I live with my paralytic father, my three siblings, and my stepmother with her own daughter, Nadine. Nadine was the eldest with a child of her own, Lilibeth. She took refuge, with her kid, back to her mother’s care when her husband left her and apparently added to the growing responsibilities of my father before he had been paralyzed.
• My biological older brother, Dexter, is a jobless freeloader and rumours has it that he was a rugby gangster. Amy, my half-sister, has befriended the wrong people who encouraged hedonism than make her prioritize her studies. She was usually out until late night and sometimes does not go home at all.
• Among them, only father worked and provided for us. He was a foreman at a construction agency. A freak accident with a construction debris held him paralyzed for life. The company he was working for paid his hospital bills and gave an ample amount which was practically meagre compared to the damage his job has caused him. Eventually, the money ran out and I was forced to abandon my studies in turn.
• And there I was, soaking wet in the rain until I felt numb and freezing.
• When I opened my eyes, a smiling nun greeted me. Only then I realized I was in front of the old town chapel. She was holding an umbrella that couldn’t occupy two people so half of her dress has been wet too. I suddenly felt ashamed she has gotten soaked for trying to help me.
• “What you’re doing right now…” she sounded like an angel “isn’t helping you solve whatever your problem is? Let’s talk about it inside my dear.”
• That’s how I met sister Angie, the most optimistic person I knew. She has helped me a lot and her advice made me stronger in whatever problem my family goes through.
• And this guy… The troubled guy inside his car…This might be just the right time to pay the kindness forward, I thought. I smiled at the idea of helping out someone who needs somebody to talk to.
• The sunset was quiet, and my heart felt perfectly cheerful as I approached the car. I was about to speak when my feet slipped on the small pebbles at the parking space and fell on the ground butt first.
• “Ouch.”How clumsy I am…
• (Cullen POV)
• At last, some quiet place. It was what I needed.
• My head throbbed but thankfully the tears had stopped. I closed my eyes and tried to block the memories from coming back again. How I wished something could make me forget my miseries. Something to live for, especially now that a person dear to me was gone.
• I wiped the wetness off my cheeks and attempted to relish the peace.
• The chirping of cicadas…
• The gentle rustling of trees...
• The cool night air brushing against my nape…
• Until a loud thud and shuffling of small rocks destroyed the quiet. I swiftly turned my head around to see who or what it was. My body moved instinctively when I saw it was a woman on the ground. She has already stood up and was collecting her things from the dirt when I opened the car door. Three pieces of white roses remained on the ground which I picked right after I disembarked.
• “This must be yours,” I held out the flowers. She smiled out of the blue and panic suddenly rose up to me.
• Did she recognize me?
• What do I expect? My face has been all over the news for a month already.
• “I was really about to approach you,” she said.
• Why? I gave her a bitter smile.
• She really did recognize me?! I wanted to cut the conversation short and drive off somewhere again, but my hands suddenly reached out for hers to give her the flowers back. But she pushed back it to me.
• “Those are for you. There must be a reason why I slipped, and you picked them up. You looked upset when I first saw you so I want to give them to you,” she said, “It should remind you that everyone in the world has their own problems to deal with too. So don’t give up. Fighting!”
• She turns her back and continue taking step.
• I was confused so I called out. She played deaf to my call and really continued walking. Without thinking, I ran after her and grabbed her by the arm to face me. I withdrew my hands immediately when I noticed her staring at it with concern,
• “Hey…”
• “Take it,” she looked back at the roses.
• “No. They weren’t mine,” I replied coldly like I usually did to people.
• She smiled again and this time grabbed my arm to drag me inside the odd building.
• I was suddenly like a child who blindly followed his playmate and allowed her to do to me whatever she liked to for the sake of innocent fun.
• Only when my eyes met the huge cross at the altar did I realize that the car took me to a chapel. I was too troubled to even notice. How long has it been since I last visited such a place? How long has it been since I last prayed? I couldn’t recall.
• “If you don’t want those roses, then give it to Him,” she ordered. “Tell Him all your worries. And I’ll tell Him mine too.”
• She released my arm and took the porcelain vase at the feet of the low podium. She removed the wilted flowers on it and waited for me to put the roses in. I wasn’t exactly religious and not really obedient, but I couldn’t understand how this woman made me obey so easily.
• “Stay there while I throw these out,” she advised as she pointed at the dried flowers.
• I was left alone, holding the pot and dumbfounded. I felt so calm around her. She doesn’t even seem to know who I am. So, I really wasn’t that famous? I couldn’t help but smile at that little discovery.
• She took the vase from me and busily searched for something in her bag. She looked at me like a worried kid when she failed to get whatever she hoped to find, “Too bad these flowers will wither fast…”
• “You need water,” I mindlessly suggested.
• “Yes of course,” she stared at me like I’ve just said something stupid. Which I did. Of course, she must be searching for a bottled water in her bag. A bottled water! I remembered Jeo stopping by the convenience store for a bottled water. He’s a desert; always too thirsty.
• “I’ve got water in the car,” my words came out easily.
• “Hurry and get it,” she excitedly said.
• Am I getting bossed around by this lady? Regardless, I hurried out and ran like a robot on a mission to get the bottle.
• She poured the generous content and aimed to put the pot on the high space by the altar.
• “You’re too small to reach it,” I said in thoughtless observation “I’ll put it instead.”
• She glared her round eyes at me in an adorable annoyance, “You’re only tall because you’re a man.”
• She handed the vase in a swift motion so little drops of water spilled out.
• How could this woman make me act so dumb? I smiled. Women indeed…This girl might just be after a possible sponsor for this old chapel. How shrewd!