Chapter 5 The place that is not really home

They had spent the next three days planning the trip to Sophie's hometown. Sophie had not been able to meet the new owner, and they had agreed to meet as soon as she was back from her trip.

The shop would be closed temporarily, pending when she was back from the trip, but as Sophie stood once again before her mirror, she was not so sure.

She had never been sure when it came to home. Was it even really home? It never felt like home to her. All the years that she grew up around her aunt, uncle, and pairs, she always felt like she did not belong. They acted strangely, and they looked at her strangely.

The photo of her mother was at her fingertips, and now she wondered who the other person in the photo was. The one whose photo had been torn away, where could it be and who could have torn it off?

Her mind strayed to the message she had received from her aunt five days ago and how much she had changed since then.

How had the confidence and the walls she had built around herself crumbled to the wind, or was it only an illusion all this time? Had she believed that she was so strong that she soon began to see it?

If it was so, now she was stripped of that illusion too. As she looked in the mirror, she saw the weak girl that she was. She had an ugly past, which she ran from, but somehow it also managed to catch up with her.

She tied her hair into a low bun and put on a knee-length floral gown, then went out to meet Rhys, who waited patiently in the living room for her.

He got up when she approached him and grabbed her suitcases. She followed him outside, where he loaded their suitcases into the car that would drop them off at the train station.

"Hey." He called once he had loaded both suitcases. "You'll be fine. I'll be right here all the time."

Sophie nodded and got into the car. Rhys got in after her, and the car swerved into the highway.

They soon arrived at the train station, and Rhys led her to the waiting metro train. He had gotten their tickets two days prior.

Sophie settled comfortably into one of the cabins on the train and looked out the small windows at the busy bodies outside.

This city was not her kind of place. She had always loved the peace and quiet of the countryside and preferred it to the everyday hustle and bustle of the city. The noise, the crowd, the pollution. At first, it had been a lot for her-too stressful and straining and too hard.

But she had begun to make a life here, and suddenly, things were not too bad anymore. Everything was more of an art to her now, and just now that she was making sense of things and getting comfortable with her environment, she would round it up and leave again.

Perhaps it was the best time to face her past? To confront the demons that lied in the shadows. To overcome her fears and open her heart and mind to new opportunities.

Perhaps it was time to heal and find herself in this ocean of grief in which she drifted. But could she face it? Was she ready to let herself go? Face her past and win.

Rhys cleared his throat, returning her to reality.

He took the seat opposite her and placed too many cups of steaming coffee on the table between them.

"Drink this. It should help you relax." He said this, pushing one of the cups towards her.

She took it and placed it in her mouth. Allowing the coffee to burn through her throat and soothe her stress. She pressed her lips together and gave him a forced smile.

"It's just us, Sophie. You don't have to do that." He held her hand.

Sophie raised a brow.

"You know. Act like you are fine when clearly you are not." He sighed heavily. "I know you don't like to share your stuff, and I will not push. It's either you tell me or you don't, and if you ever choose to tell me, it should be your choice. But I don't want you doing that with me, Sophie. Allow me to be there for you; you don't have to hide from me. You understand?"

She allowed a smile on her face and closed her eyes, drawing in the smell of the coffee. In her mind, she said a million thanks to Rhys for being such a friend, and she longed to tell him. In her own voice.

She looked out the window. The train had since left the train station, and they were rolling off the hills smoothly. Rhys moved from where he sat opposite her and slid into her side of the chair. Gently, he laid her head on his shoulder and looked out the window, linking his fingers with hers.

Sophie had his rhythmic heartbeat to listen to as they rode smoothly across the hills, and soon she drifted off to sleep.

***

When Sophie opened her eyes again, the train was chiming to a stop, and Rhys was fast asleep. His head rested peacefully against hers, and their fingers were still interlocked.

She tapped him lightly, wincing as he groaned awake. He rubbed his eyes, looking around like a lost puppy.

"We're here." She signed.

Rhys got up, pulling their luggage from the compartment above their heads. He quickly reached for his phone, checking if the Uber he had ordered would have arrived.

The ride to Sophie's home was short and smooth. But Rhys could tell that Sophie hated every moment of it, and her anxiety rose even more when their Uber screeched to a stop in front of a large mansion, which he assumed to be the home of Sophie's aunt and uncle. The home she grew up in.

Rhys got out of the car first and helped Sophie out immediately after.

A woman was in the garden and had stopped to look as the car drove in. When she saw the red-haired woman step out of the car, after the man, a joyous smile crept over her aging face, and she rushed to greet them.