Lost in the Wilderness - The Forest of Evergreen Book 1 (20 page)

Silence took over the place for a while and then, Jericho spoke again, his voice echoing more heartache. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited just to have you this close again... and now that you’re here with me, I would never let anything hinder our way again. Never again, Sophia.”

Sophia grew paralyzed. His begging voice instantly blocked every impulse in her brain, and she found it hard to process his words. But they sounded genuine, loving, and kind.

“I lost you once, Sophia. And I don’t know if I can go through it again. You don’t know how shattered I was when you left, and until now.” Then, he grabbed her soft hand and placed it in his chest, allowing Sophia to feel the pounding of his heart.

Sophia did not know what to feel at that very moment. All she knew was the warmth of his approaching embrace and the tender touch of his hands. There was no mistake that he was slowly drowning her in the depths of his love, and soon, her ocean-blue eyes merged into his sea-green ones.
 

Their eyes met, unblinking!

Sophia’s vanishing strength worsened when Jericho began tracing the shape of her lips, sending powerful messages to every part of her being. He appeared very alluring, and he was undeniably irresistible. Then, his bloodshot lips moved forward to cover hers.

Frozen, Sophia closed her eyes as Jericho’s mouth journeyed over hers. And she felt like she travelled, too, to a place unknown, as she felt the extreme thirst in his passionate kisses.

Intense as his kisses and grip were, Sophia was pushed more and more against the wall—with Jericho not allowing their lips to slide away from each other.

Buried under, Sophia’s mind battled. She distanced herself, then, and rushed to leave him.

Dismayed yet determined enough, Jericho chased her.

“What do you want from me?” Sophia repeated as she glided away from him. “Please, leave me alone now!”

Unwavering, Jericho pursued her and stopped her from walking too fast.

“Please, stop chasing me. I’m not even sure of who you are!”

“It’s me, Jericho, the one who has always loved you since then. We grew up in Forest Green together…”

Now, Sophia was put to a sudden halt. She bent her head down and pacified herself.

“Please, do not forget that this never happened,” Jericho implored. “I love you, Sophia. Please, give me the chance to get you back.”

Seeing the man appearing like a boy, Sophia’s emotions went off, like a thunderstorm, and it felt like breathing, for her, was impossible.

They were suddenly disturbed, as Sophia’s cell phone rang.
 

Startled, Sophia quickly answered it and was blown away by her mother’s earsplitting voice.

“Honey, I decided to go back and visit you in your art class but Ms. Bun told me that you went out and never came back! Where are you? I am here at Emerald Building! Come back here and I’ll wait for you in the lobby!” Elizabeth’s tone ricocheted rage and disappointment.

Upon hearing it, Sophia slowly met Jericho’s worried eyes.

His eyes seemed to beg for more moments with her. Jericho understood it but he couldn’t stand to let her go without reassuring her of his serious intentions.

“Sophia, please, wait a second!” Jericho risked grabbing her hands. Then, he brought out something from his pocket. “Please, take my cell phone and hotel address.”

Hotel address?
Sophia pondered over, her fright turning for the worse.

Jericho felt it was stupid of himself to offer his hotel address outright, and he wished he hadn’t shown it. But out of his eagerness and excessive hope to get her back, he still put it forward, wishing for a positive response from her.

Uncertain, Sophia let her gaze go over the expensive mobile phone and elegant small piece of paper.

 
“I’ll be calling you through this phone. Promise me, don’t let anyone know about us, not even your family. I’ll explain everything when I call you,” Jericho instructed as he handed them to her, by force.
 

Sophia dropped her head, still, unwilling to accept them, and remembered what her mom told her: to stay away from strangers. Her guilty conscience instantly enclosed her and crushed her.

“Please, take them,” Jericho begged, harder.

Hard-pressed, Sophia finally received them, and went to her already-incensed mom.

Sophia was already far away but Jericho didn’t stop watching her every step, craving for a possible chance to have her again. Out of habit, he went back to the kiss they shared years ago, and a while ago, and he plunged himself into these. Then, he remembered the sweet, fragile magic of their childhood, especially the times they sneaked into the lake house. Too much water had surged under the bridge, then. She was alluring, young, and innocent. She was all his and he was all hers. Heavens, he was craving for more cloud nine, and if only he could travel back to those days of their young love, he would, without any uncertainty.
 

Feeling over the moon, Jericho caught himself smiling, and began his unhurried footsteps, to follow her again.

Chapter 20

Your Song, Our Song

“Where have you been?” Elizabeth’s voice seemed to reach the heavens, the moment she saw her daughter approaching.

Sophia, blank and quiet, was not able to respond to her mother right away. Her mind was somewhere else, and she could not stop thinking of him.

“Sophia, are you listening to me?” Elizabeth kept on, her blood’s boiling point elevating. “What’s happening to you? Are you sick or something?”

Sophia’s thoughts of Jericho were disturbed fully and finally, when her mother’s voice became angrier and louder. Then, she looked up, at her mom, still zilch of words, and floating.

“Tell me if you’re not interested anymore in this art class, and I’ll tell Ms. Bun!” Elizabeth stressed. Her disappointment was extending all over the place.

Scared stiff, Sophia immediately showed her interest and explained that something distracted her. It was followed by consecutive apologies, but in two minds, (for she debated with herself if she had to reveal her encounter with Jericho to her mom, or not).

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, feeling persuaded, to some extent, and in due course, forgave her daughter. “All right. Let’s go home now. I’ll call Ms. Bun later.”

Sophia managed a nod and walked with her mom, until they approached the parking lot. As the car moved, Jericho appeared through the all-glass windows of the building, with a steady and passionate stare at her side of the car.

Sophia looked at him, too, and felt so out-of-herself until they arrived home, before lunch.

A symphony of catering sounds came from the kitchen, and they found Philippe cooking.

“Honey, what’s the occasion?” Elizabeth eyed Philippe interestingly, sensing the smell of pasta, cooking.

“Oh, I think we should celebrate Nadine’s newly-found talent.” Philippe displayed boundless excitement. “I’m cooking pasta by the way, and later, I’ll mix it with arugula pesto and grilled chicken.” Then, he made a move to kiss Elizabeth and saw Sophia’s silent presence, from behind.

“You’re home, so early?” he asked Sophia.

Sophia stayed shut, showing no intentions of responding.

“Nadine’s quite easy to teach piano today,” Alex, who was hidden when he bent down to get cherry tomatoes from the fridge, meddled.

“Nadine just learned to play the piano. Only the basics, but not that bad,” Philippe supplemented.

“Oh, that’s impressive! Where’s that little pumpkin, by the way?” Elizabeth glanced around.

“She’s upstairs, having a nap. She must be exhausted after long hours of straight practice,” Philippe answered, with small laughs.

“And she’s kind of difficult to teach and really complains a lot,” Alex incorporated, snickering.

While listening to them, Sophia noticed something vibrating inside her bag. She excused herself and discovered that it was Jericho’s cell phone. He was calling.

Reluctant, Sophia cancelled his call.

To her surprise, it vibrated again.

Afraid that she might get caught, Sophia went directly to her room and decided to answer it there.

Accepting the call without leaking out any word, Sophia’s lips trembled. She did not know where it would lead her, but Jericho’s wary and hopeful voice made her go on, with the call.

“Hey!” Jericho repeated for the third time.

At a standstill, Sophia still couldn’t recover from her lock-jaw.

“I called to check if you’re already home. How are you there? Are you alone?”

Silence continued to be Sophia’s response. She was still hesitant, not sure if she wanted to go on with what they had already started.

“Sophia…”

“No, I’m not alone. I’m with... my family.” Finally, Sophia said something.
 

“Oh, that’s good.” Jericho made sure he sounded easygoing.

“Why are you still doing this?” Sophia suddenly dared to ask him.

“Doing what?”

“This thing that you’re doing. I don’t remember anything about you and—”

“And what, Sophia?” Jericho was very fast in stopping her from talking too much, fighting for his chances with her.

“I’m not sure of who you really are, to me…” Sophia murmured, and it just sent Jericho to the grave.

A moment of stinging silence passed.

Then, a very heavy sigh was heard by her. She could feel his heavy-laden breathing, through the phone.

“Sophia…?”

“Yes…?”

“Can we meet? Today, if possible? I just want to clarify some things.”

“I’m afraid I can’t. My family… is celebrating my sister’s new… achievement.”

“Ah, Nadine!”

“You know my sister?” Sophia’s tone, at last, became enlivened, manifesting signs of interest that ignited Jericho further.

“Sophia, I know everything about you and… I’ve known you all my life.”

Upon hearing it, right away, it submerged Sophia into a puddle of questions.
He knows everything about me? And he’s known me all his life? How? Why?

Noticing that he was slowly pulling Sophia into his magnet of hopes, Jericho took control of their conversation, immediately. “I also know you have a brother. His name is Alex.”

Astounded all the more, Sophia now began to accept his claims as true.

“You want me to tell you more about you, Sophia?” Jericho progressed, not circumventing, so as to grab all his chances: to make her believe in him, to compel her, to get her back into his life.

Sophia turned quiet. Not a word was spoken by her, for a full minute.

But Jericho sensed it as that kind of silence, everytime she was confused or troubled.
 

“Tell me when I can call you again,” Jericho asked, after a while.

“I don’t think that’s a good—”

“I’ll call you around nine tonight!” Jericho quickly said, not allowing Sophia to refuse. He needed to avoid words, that were too impossible to bear. “I hope you answer my calls. I love you. Bye now,” he suddenly concluded.

Sophia leaned against the wall and slid her back, downwards. She found it hard, really hard to identify those things jumbling in her thoughts. She felt worn out into shreds, until something kicked her in the head to read her diaries: to know more of the past, and to see if Jericho was really what he said he was, in her life.
 

Going through her diaries, she noticed this one that seemed older than the others, yet it appeared very special and intriguing. She opened it and by chance, she read the parts in which she wrote many things about her life in Forest Green.

Dear Diary,

I was bullied in school today. I was hurt by Beatrice and her friends but Jericho came and warned them. He is in high school but he’s always there, waiting for me outside our school building. He asked me if he could walk me home and I agreed. He had his guitar with him.

Along the way, he started to make me merry with his romantic songs. His voice was very pleasing. I was touched when he started singing the song he wrote. He told me that it was for me.

I heard the lyrics and they were very
striking
endearing. For the very first time, I felt like someone cared for me.

We stopped by the mango tree and he told me of his jokes. They were really funny! He made me laugh, Diary. We were laughing, singing, and dancing. He was like my compass everytime I found myself lost, because of the cruelty of the world around me.

He’s so sweet, diary. He’s so sweet. But grandma, she never likes him. She always reminds me to avoid him. If only she knows how I feel so protected and so valued, everytime I am with him.

Love,

Sophia

Sophia could hardly stop her eyes from brimming with tears. She didn’t know that she was actually unhappy during those days. But she saw a folded piece of white paper attached at the back of the page. She opened it and saw a hand-written song, with guitar chords. It was untitled.