Chapter 9

The word has been said.

It is true that numerous times they talked about the wedding but even then, it looked far away...so far away. But now, the fact that both sides was present, settling the wedding made it more real.

Anthony and Sophia were then, as agreed, going to get married in two weeks.

Mr Russell, Mr and Mrs Ambrose were talking about some business matters in the office of Mr Russell leaving the two of them alone in the sitting room.

It didn't take long enough before Anthony opened his mouth.

_"So tell me Miss Russell, was you really that impatient to become Mrs Ambrose?" He asked coldly. But that was not what he really meant, in his head he meant so impatient to have an hand on Ambrose's fortune.

Upon hearing that, Sophia immediately turn her head, her eyes widened with surprise at him. However, Anthony didn't stop there, he still had something to say.

_"...But you know, I can't blame you. I, myself, am perfectly aware that I complete all the descriptions of the «perfect man», or the «man of every girl's dream» don't you agree?" He looked at her eye in eye, filled with assurance and confidence.

Sophia just stared back at him, her month almost hanging open. But he didn't stop there yet.

_"...you know, with the good looking face, the perfect shaped body, intelligent, already has a stable financial situation, with a great career, someone that will be sure to fulfil and support their needs in all sense of the word, that's what are women sicking for right?...but you, you got the jackpot, like Vogue said, I am the most handsome male of the city, Young and still powerful, already a well-known business man with millions of dollar in his bank account and the only son, the only heir of the Ambroses. The soon to be CEO of the Ambrose Enterprise."

_"But with bad manners." Muttered Sophia with disdain but not lower enough for Anthony not to hear.

_"Excuse-me?"

Sophia, at her turn looked at him in eyes, with the burning fire of anger. She was pissed, enraged. This man, the nerve of the mam before her, it...it just irritated her. He just indirectly insulted her, accusing her to be a gold digger? How could he?

_"You heared me right? Or are you death? But well, if you are, i will gladly repeat what I said and this time, listen to me carefully. She stopped for three seconds then continued. I said, with bad manners. You may have all those "supposed" criteria that apparently women are sicking for but you are just an insolent and and arrogant man and I don't think that any girl would marry someone like you."

_"Yet, you are ready to marry me." Anthony laughed sarcastically.

_"Well, if it was not for..." Tried Sophia to defend herself but was cut rudely by Anthony.

_"For my money, my name, and me, you would not have accepted this wedding. Stop acting all innocent Mrs Russell, I know the kind of girl that you are, you won't fool me. You yourself said that any girl would marry someone as arrogant and insolent as me yet, you were ready to. Better than that, you were ready to marry a stranger! Someone that you have never, even once meet before. So tell me, what kind of girl would do that huh? What kind of girl would be ready to marry a stranger if it is not for his money? Can you answer me?"

_"As I said..."

_"Oh, and one more thing, those criteria I said before is not what women supposedly search for, those are what they search for."

The room was silent.

Sophia didn't see the worth of explaining herself. The man has already made his mind so be it. And she too has made her mind Anthony Ambrose was an arrogant, an insolent, a judgmental person with a rotten mind. Someone with such a bad character that she will have to spend her life with.

But there was someyhing odd about him. An hour ago, Anthony had smiled and seemed perfectly a nice person to his father so...

The too of them was so concentrated in their querell that none of them noticed that their parents had actually finished talking in their study and were walking towards them.

_"Is everything okay?"

Asked Mrs Ambrose with concern. It was clear for her that the girl was frustrated and she knew exactly how her son was.

Sophia surprised seeing them. Her eyes, they would not stop looking between the three of them. The muscle of her cheeks were so tense. She was worried if the three of them had heard what she and Anthony said. However, she managed to say something.

_"Yeah everything is fine."She gave them a smile. A smile that was too forced.

_"So I guess that both of you made further acquittance?." Said at his turn Mr Ambrose.

_"Indeed." Replied Anthony looking eye in eye at Sophia with a glint of mischief in his gaze.

_"That's great. Mr Russell exclaimed with excitement. I knew that you too were going to get along."

At her father's word, Sophia just laughed inside her mind, amused of the situation. Must say that her father has his way with words.

Turning to his daughter, Mr Russell spoke.

_"You know dear, I knew Anthony from his childhood He is a nice person, gentle and caring..."

At those words, Sophia found it hard to hold her laugh any longer. Her cheeks were turning with shade of red. But seeing how serious everyone was, she just lowered her head, making sure that everyone doesn't notice her. However, Anthony perfectly saw her and it frustrated him.

"... Others would say that he is a cold and a rude man but that's for those who don't know him. He would not even hurt a fly. And with amusement, he continued. Oh, and as you see, he is perfectly build and is also handsome too. Girls would die to have him."

At that last sentence, Anthony and Sophia looked at each other, at the same time. Anthony with his arrogant look in his eye, silently saying that he was right and Sophia with an annoyed expression answering him with a "no kidding" face.

Time for the Ambroses to go back home has finally arrived, they all said their good bye except for Anthony and Sophia, who, for the rest of the night, ignore each other. But before they were really gone, Mrs Ambrose said some word that were difficult for Sophia to understand.

_" I hope that you will forgive me Sophia but You know,I am a mother and all I want for my son is to be happy and I will always support whatever, whoever that give him that happiness."

What Mrs Ambrose said, Sophia didn't quite understand it but she just agreed with it. And like that, the dinner of the family Russell with the family Ambrose was finally over.

The following days, the preparation for the wedding started.

It was lying to say that everybody was not excited, well except the soon to be husband and wife that especially should be more excited than the others were not.

Of course, it is useless to point that Mrs Ambrose was the one responsible for the event. It was her who leads all the planning starting from the biggest details: the church where the mess will take place, the place where the invited will gathered to share their joy with, the decorations that will ornate the places, the music that will be played to entertain the guest, the food that will be served...to the smallest detail as the invitation card.

Planning a wedding is not an easy thing as everything must be irreprochable. As often said, a wedding happen only once in a life. But the work multiplicate with its so close deadline so it was clear that Mrs Ambrose alone couldn't handle it all, she needed someone's help and Mrs Bridget was the best for it.

Between all the preparation, the two old women found something: friendship. With the same characters, it was easy foe them to get along.

But even if those two did all the works, it was important for them to have the concerned's opinion.

Sophia, despite her, was then dragged along the flow with the too women and Anthony, fortunately for him, always found an excuse to avoid it.

Thanks to that, the bound between Sophia and her future mother in law get stronger.

As she did with Mrs Bridget, she found a motherly figure in her.

She found herself appeased for finding such a good person not like she imagined her in law to be, like those typical nasty women that she found in movies.

The three women were currently in the shopping mall,....all the stores in search in search of Sophia's wedding dress.

Sophia was wearing a brown blouse combined with a long skirt that reached her knee with a pair of a ballerinas. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail.

They started their mission at the first shop that they saw that was displaying so proudly wedding dresses at their windows.

_"Good morning and welcome to the Elle's store. What can I get for you? " The saleswoman greeted them with her trained voice accompanied with her trained smile.

_"As you see, were searching a wedding dress for this young girl here-Mrs Ambrose introduced Sophia to the girl-so we hope that you could help us."

The girl only talked after giving a good look at Sophia feature.

_"Well you are at the good place-replied the girl with her commercially friendly smile-we had received recently all the new models, the most fashionable dresses from big stylists..." And the girl started her commercial, leading the three of them inside.

Sophia was in the fitting room already trying on her fourth dress. Ms Bridget and Anthony's mother were sitting outside, doing the judges.

The dress unzipped, she get out and started modeling before them. The two women analysing it deeply.

_"Nope, not that one dear, go change it." Disagreed Mrs Bridget.

_"But I think that one look great Bridget."

_"What? You must be joking! Don't you see how she looked in that dress? The dress is so tight that her face is turning blue due to the lack of oxygen. I definitely do not agree with that dress."

_"But Nanny, this is the fourth dress already! Can't we just pick one and go already?" complained Sophia, so much she was tiered of hearing them arguing about every dress that she wore.

_"Ohhh!" Mrs Bridget and Mrs Ambrose gasped at them same time.

_"Did you hear what that child just said?-Mrs Bridget asked dramatically as if she had just heard some shocking news-did she just suggested to us to pick a random dress for her wedding? A random dress? No, no, no, tell me that I hear it wrong. Tell me that this girl didn't just say that!"

_"Sophia dear, you can't possibly suggested us to do that right? It is your wedding dress that we are talking about...you wedding dress. You only get married once in your life so everything must be perfect! Not just choosing a random dress for it-dismissing the idea categorically out of her mind-no, no , no dear. You can't do that. Listen to You Nanny, go change that dress and come here with an another one!"

Drafted, with a sighed of exasperation, Sophia returned in the fitting room, got undressed and put on am another dress.

Shop after shop, they were searching for the right dress but didn't found any that were good at their taste. Every time taht Sophia thought that she found the right one, there was always a problem with either with Mrs Bridget or Mrs Ambrose.

Dress after dress, Sophia tried but when she found one at her taste, the two women with her would disagree. When Mrs Bridget would find one great, Sophia and Mrs Ambrose would disagree and when Mrs Ambrose would judge one to be beautiful, the two would not share the same opinion.

We could say searching for the right dress was not a gift. There were so many details that needed to be completed in it.

Firstly, they needed to search for the right style, then its size cause even if the dress has a good style, if it doesn't fit the soon to be bride then it was worthless.

The three women were exhausted. From the morning till noon, they would search non stop for the dress, shop after shop but wouldn't find anything. They were carving so much that they needed to take a break, eat and refuel their energies at its maximum so they decided to have a stop at one fast food near.

The idea of eating fast food didn't really enchant the two elderly woman but Sophia begged them to. Sophia didn't eat in those fast food so long that she missed it. So at the end, to Sophia's begging, the three of them was sitting at a fast food, waiting for their order to be ready.

Minutes passed and finally they got their order. By the mere look of the food, Mrs Bridget and Mrs Ambrose lost their appetite. Only Sophia was the one that was happy to eat.

She immediately dug in her plate but seconds later, she remarked that the two women with her wasn't touching to their plate.

_"Why aren't you eating?" She asked them.

_"Well, just look at this plate dear, this is so full of...fat. My stomach won't digest it." Replied Mrs Bridget.

_"Your Nanny is right Sophia, this food is not healthy at all!" Added Mrs Ambrose.

Defeated, Sophia didn't utter any more word. She silenced herself and continued eating her food till there was no rest.

As Sophia finished eating, they decided to go out. They were already outside when Sophia remarked that her bag was missing.

_"Wait." She shrieked alarmed.

Worried, both her Nanny and Anthony's mother turned their attention to her.

_"What's wrong?" Asked Mrs Bridget.

_"I think that I forgot my bag in there-not waiting for their response, she rushed in inside-I'm going to get it." She yelled.

Her bag was still at the spot where she ate. She grabbed it and got out but along the way, she collied with a wall...no, not a wall. It was a person.

_"Excuse you." Said the person angrily.