Lost in the Wilderness - The Forest of Evergreen Book 1 (24 page)

Sophia was about to clear herself, when her mother suddenly slapped her in the face.

Approaching, Philippe saw how Elizabeth hurt Sophia. For the first time... physically.

Sophia, ashamed of herself, attempted to run straight to her room, but her mother grasped her hand again.

“How could you do this to us? I may not be the one who raised you but I knew I taught you well! I never thought that you could do this to us!” Elizabeth delivered it all, with such gale-force, shaking Sophia’s shoulders, as if she was excavating Sophia for her very core. “Don’t you ever come back here if you find yourself pregnant, Sophia!” Elizabeth’s watery eyes persisted.

“Mom, it’s not like that. It’s not what you think!” Sophia would have gone through fires and oceans to explain, and willingly received her mother’s consecutive blows.

Alex and Nadine also rushed to the scene. They were very much surprised at what they were seeing.
 

Now, Philippe dashed to stop Elizabeth from slapping Sophia even more.

“Elizabeth? What’s going on? You’re hurting her!” Philippe grabbed Sophia away from Elizabeth.
 

“Your daughter!” Elizabeth cried, not finishing her sentence.

“What?!” Philippe yelled back, in response.

When Elizabeth finally breathed in enough air, she began howling. “Sophia, you’re grounded! Your art class is over! No more cell phones! No more tablets! No more laptops!”

Fleeing from her father’s grasp, Sophia ran upstairs.
 

Sob after sob, Sophia locked herself in her room. She wanted to convince herself to remain loyal, for Jericho.

A few hours after pouring out all her emotions, she rummaged through all her diaries. By coincidence, she saw some photos of Giovanni inserted in between the pages. She was so torn apart! Struggling with confusion and mixed emotions, she decided to read all her diaries, hoping to clear her heart out. Once and for all.

Page by page, no word slipped past her eyes. Diary after diary, it was all clear to her now. It was Jericho whom her heart was always longing for. Not Giovanni.

Bawling and bawling, Sophia couldn’t believe how she betrayed the deceased Giovanni, when the Jericho of her childhood was all she ever desired to be with.
 

“I’m so sorry,” she wept incessantly, over Giovanni’s old photos.

Chapter 22

Always One Step Behind Your Silhouette

It had been days since Sophia was grounded and Jericho could not contact her anymore. She imprisoned herself in her room, sulking, and Philippe was already worried for her.

“Eliz, I’m her father. I have the right to know everything.” Philippe’s tone was more than tinged with fear as he pleaded with his wife, at the front porch, that sundown. “At least you can explain to me about this Jericho.”

When Elizabeth opened her mouth, nothing came out at first, but she instantly recovered and started to spill out some details. “He’s from Forest Green. Mom told me that he’s poor and the son of an insane woman, there. Mom doesn’t like him and warned me about him.”

“Eliz, so what if his mother is insane! You can’t just judge a person, through that!”

“I think you should ask your mom about him, Phil.” Elizabeth unintentionally raised her voice. “She just can’t be so utterly wrong.”

“I’m very worried for Sophia, Eliz. I think... I think you should talk to her,” Philippe answered back, trying to calm himself down.

Wishing to end all the dramatic episodes in the house, Elizabeth listened to her husband, and agreed to what he asked of her.

“You’re right! I missed Sophia already.” Elizabeth let loose the knot that was squeezing her heart. Agreeing to Philippe was probably the best solution for now.

“I’ll walk you to her room,” Philippe gladly offered.

“All right.”

“When you were arguing with Sophia, I heard the word pregnant. What do you mean?” Philippe dared to ask while they were heading to Sophia’s room, but he was thrown away like wild waves breaking on the shore. The word
pregnant
just gave him goose bumps.

Elizabeth did not answer him right away. She arranged, first, the better kind of words, in her mind, mulling over how she would tell him.

But Philippe was already becoming uneasy, with her facial reaction.

“Hon, it’s just my suspicion and I... hope it is wrong,” Elizabeth admitted, with regret.

Philippe pulsated, but he remained brave for the situation. Picturing his daughter in the morning sickness mode was already starting to cause him chills.

Sophia was on her bed, now, drained because of hunger and thirst. Her parents knocked on the door, but she was determined to ignore them.
 

Her father knocked over and over, and requested her to open it.

Bothered by the unending knocks, Sophia finally got up and opened it against her will, her eyes bloody and puffy, and her hair looking like it had gone through a hurricane.

When her parents saw her, they were badly distressed. They took a step closer, but Sophia spun away from them.

“Honey, I’m so sorry!” Elizabeth, without ado, apologized, and trailed after her. Then, a tight hug ensued.

Sophia did not hug her mother back. Her mind was floating.
 

“Sophia, honey, let’s go downstairs. I cooked a lot of seafood.” At any rate, Philippe spoke, and managed to be cheerful.

Gazing at her daughter, Elizabeth tried to fix Sophia’s hair and to wipe away her tears. Then, she held her hand carefully and led her to the dining room, with Philippe on the side.

Alex and Nadine were already at the dining table. When they saw Sophia, Nadine suddenly jumped from her seat to clasp her.
 

“Oh, I miss my sister!” Nadine expressed, squeezing Sophia like it was the last time.

Like a slice at the heart, Sophia endeavored to fight the inexplicable emotions she felt, at that very moment. It seemed like everyone was concerned enough, and yet she remained silently stubborn. She couldn’t forget Jericho.

Alex pulled out Sophia’s seat. “Take a seat, sis… and welcome back,” he winked, smiling.

They began eating, and they all ogled Sophia. They could feel her extreme hunger.

“Alex, I’ve never seen Sophie eat that much before! It’s kind of weird!” whispered Nadine to Alex.

“Me too, Nad. She must be really hungry,” Alex whispered back, while stealing a look at Sophia.

Sensing that every eye was fixed upon her, Sophia dropped down her spoon and fork over her almost-empty plate, and continued chewing. “Please stop watching! I did not eat for almost two days,” she pressed, while her eyes were entirely focused on the remnants of her grilled halibut with peach and pepper salsa.

“Yeah! Dad, did you cook all these? They are really delicious but I prefer this shrimp taco salad, and these seared scallops, and these clawed lobsters, and these weird-looking mussels, too!” Nadine ventured to divert the topic, as she pointed each dish, one by one.
 

“Yes, Dad. They are really good!” Alex appended as he put more seafood on his plate, as if he could munch them too, all at once.

Philippe and Elizabeth passed a forced grin at each other.

When Sophia was done, she excused herself and hurriedly went back, upstairs, without any word.

Her parents watched her go upstairs, determined to remain strong, because of all their family’s dilemma. They tried to convince themselves that it was nothing, and they were trying to make up for all the years they neglected her, in Forest Green.

“Sophie is still beautiful, even in her gloomy days.” Nadine was animated again, recharging their talk.

“As beautiful as you, honey!” Elizabeth returned, from her cavernous inner thoughts, and quickly presented Nadine with an adoring smile, to make her feel valued, too.

“Of course!” Philippe synchronized, feeling he needed to resurrect the mood, too.

They were done with eating, when they heard the doorbell.
 

Philippe volunteered to open it and rose from his seat. Opening the door, he was surprised to see a strange guy dressed in his finest. It was Jericho. He missed Sophia so much that he finally had the nerve to go and introduce himself to her parents, to her family.
 

“Good evening, Dr. Vabueretti!” Jericho appeared timid yet strong-minded.

“Yes?” Philippe eyed him, from head to toe.

“I’m Dr. Jericho Leivinhyde and I’m here for... Sophia.” Jericho straightened up and offered his trembling hand, for a hand shake.

Philippe was taken aback at why a doctor wanted to see his daughter, especially at that hour. He accepted Jericho’s hand shake, and noticed a bouquet of red roses behind his back. Consequently, he welcomed him inside the house.

Elizabeth, curious about the strange male voice, followed, and saw Jericho.

“Honey, this is Dr. Jericho Leivinhyde and he wished to see our daughter Sophia.”

Hearing his name, Elizabeth instantly pulled back, but Jericho greeted her in the most polite manner. Still shocked, Elizabeth decided to act hospitable and clueless. But she was surprised to learn that Jericho was actually a doctor. All she knew, from her mother-in-law, was that he was underprivileged.

Accordingly, Philippe offered Jericho a seat.

Jericho Leivinhyde
, Elizabeth pondered over his name as she watched Jericho take a seat. Then, she faced him again.

“So, Dr. Leivinhyde…” Philippe initially spoke and gawked at him, wondering, again, why a doctor wanted to see his daughter.

Elizabeth’s next impulse was to try to offer Jericho something to drink, but she was so disturbed, that she confronted him right away.

“So, Jericho, what do you want from my daughter?” Elizabeth’s eyes examined him penetratingly, and it just melted Jericho down, like a dying candle.

Jericho?
Philippe heavily wondered, and finally registered, in his mind, that he was the Jericho who Elizabeth was pertaining to. But… how could he be… for he was much older than Sophia? And so, Philippe scrutinized Jericho piercingly, and with this face that turned cold.

For a full minute, there was an uncomfortable silence.

Before long, Jericho cleared his throat to break the quietness that was causing him too much burden.
 

“I’m hoping to see Sophia. I couldn’t contact her for days, now, and I’m already worried for her,” he explained, with a massive fear in his heart. “I also came here, hoping to explain some things to you,” he continued, still ill-at-ease.

“How old are you, Dr. Leivinhyde?” Philippe interrogated. His face turned even colder.

Jericho swiftly thought of how he was going to answer, them, as he decided to go for honesty. “I’m... twenty-one, Dr. Vabueretti,” he said, with his head bowed down.

To their utmost shock, Philippe’s and Elizabeth’s mouths absolutely hung wide open.
 

“Twenty one?” they asked themselves, unbelieving.

Jericho faced them again, and even managed a trembling smile that almost split his face from ear to ear. Then, he repeated, “Yes, sir. I’m twenty-one.”

“Before I go to Sophia, I want to know about you, Dr. Leivinhyde.” Elizabeth swallowed her wish to remain distant.

“What do you want to know, Atty. Vabueretti?” Jericho respectfully asked, his face halfway between pleasure and tension.

Elizabeth was, again, surprised.
How come he knew my profession?
“Everything about you,” Elizabeth carried on, pretending she knew nothing about him.

Jericho looked down again and camouflaged his nervousness by trying to pull out a lively grin. Then, he began telling them that he was from Forest Green and that he used to go to the same school with Sophia.

“Oh, really?” Philippe was exceptionally intrigued.

“Well, uh…” Jericho slowed down to choose the best words to say, his body language already speaking louder than what he was about to tell. “She was in grade school and—”

“You were in high school,” Elizabeth interfered, not allowing Jericho to finish talking. Her disapproval at their untimely, childish
dalliance
suddenly registered in her eyes. And Jericho sensed it.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I hope you don’t mind, Dr. Leivinhyde, but I think Sophia is already sleeping.” Elizabeth lifted an eyebrow, at him.

Jericho’s face displayed sudden disappointment, but he survived, to act as if it was fine with him. He came to realize that Elizabeth simply did not like him for her daughter.

“May I ask you, then, to give this to Sophia?” Jericho struggled with himself, as he left the bouquet of flowers on the glass table, before them.

“Yes, we will.” Elizabeth bestowed him a fake smile, and Jericho just felt it.

Jericho stood up and thanked them again.

Accompanying him to the door, Philippe flung a grin. “You’re welcome.”

Jericho battled against his dismay.
They don’t like you
. His negative thoughts conquered him as he initiated a step back into his car.
But I want to see her. I miss her so much, yet I couldn’t see her
. Still, he was resolute, thinking of endless ways to see Sophia. Again.