Sophia looked at Atticus. Her eyes watered, looking at him, his eyes looked into her soul. They stood there looking at each other's eyes and none looking away as if their eyes communicated what their lips couldn't.
"Atticus, what are you doing here," Sophia mumbled.
Atticus's eyes pierced inside hers and for the first time he saw it; that gap. But hers was an endless pit of pain, dark, scary. Pulling him and he tried to escape but it felt as if several hands pulled him back. The pain struck his heart, she was the first person, he had seen such gap. It was filled with such raw emotions and he didn't know what it was, he had never felt it. In his universe, he had never felt such emotions. He kept falling, it became darker.
He snapped his eyes shut, trying to control his mind and then opened them again. She had turned to the sea.
Atticus looked at his body, his left hand was gone and he could feel an deep pain flow through him, but his mind didn't care about him anymore. He felt himself caring about her and not himself at this moment. He wanted to know what those emotions were and why did they torment her so badly.
He sat down close to her, unsure what to do next. But he knew he just wanted to sit close to her. Both of them looked at the ocean, Atticus then turned to Sophia. She was crying, he stared at her with curiosity.
Sophia wiped her tears once more as she tried using her hand to fan her eyes dry.
"Sorry, I know I look pathetic right now," she whispered.
Atticus didn't reply because he didn't understand.
She looked into his eyes and she finally broke down.
"I'm not strong enough and I'm tired," she cried out.
"All my life, it keeps playing and I have one question. Why me?" She groaned.
"Ah, I have gone through so much and I'm tired of going through it. And the world don't care, they don't want to care. They look at you and turn their face away," she snorted.
"I really want to open up, I really want to act normal but I can't. I'm scared, I'm scared—"
"Why are you scared," Atticus finally asked.
"Because I'm a mistake, an unwanted child, an illegitimate child, a cursed one—"
"That's not true," Atticus countered.
Sophia shook her head. "It is, i'm not making it up. It's me... From birth actually—"
"I don't understand?" Atticus interrupted.
"From birth, my family was poor. So when my mom got pregnant, she tried terminating me twice, actually. I was born prematurely, I was so tiny. I was 2.4kg. And first person I opened my eyes to see when I got here, looked at me and walked away as if I was nothing, my hospital bills and all were taken care of by grandpa. Only he cared about me," Sophia weeped.
In my entire family, everyone had baptisms and naming ceremonies—but I had none. No one gathered for me. I was the mistake, the one nobody wanted. My cousins all had birthdays, but no one in my family even knew when mine was. I felt like an outcast. I celebrated one, two, three birthdays, but no one ever wished me well—except my grandpa. I would go to their celebrations, wondering, what about me? The whole family would take my cousins out, leaving me behind. I would crawl back to my grandpa, the only one who cared. My mom was always busy, and he would try to cheer me up. I was as lonely,"
"And do you know the worst, I have a dad. But I don't know where he lives, don't know my paternal family. He is like a ghost to me in this world. He came around when I was 9 that was the first time I saw him. But he didn't stay, he left and I was left alone,"
"When I do something wrong, my family punished me but my cousins do it, they take it as one of those things. And I'm watching but at least when I cry I run to my grandpa but then he died and I really felt the pain of loneliness, he was anchor but when that anchor fell I had to face my harsh life, I was constantly discriminated by family, bullied by classmates, called an illegitimate child outside,"
"Do you know how many times I tried to end it? Because Atticus, it was painful especially when your own mother calls you a mistake, a rejected child. Yes those times she is transferring aggression but that was really me,"
"I really just wanted love, someone to tell me they will stick with me and hold my hand. I thought I will find a friend in school, but no relationship I made ever worked out. They only needed me for an exam and when it was done, I was nothing to them. I would cry behind school, asking myself why. Especially when I was living in poverty which doubled my pains,"
"When I was tired of it all I decided to honour Grandpa's wish, that I shouldn't suffer and the only thing was to become rich and make a name for myself, so shut my heart. My pains and harden myself. I worked hard and became a medical doctor, rich and all," Sophia bowed her head, more hot tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Some will say you are living the life now. But I can't shut my past. It traumatized me, now I can't talk to anyone, make friends, be normal. I'm always scared of rejection and I'm constantly tormented by my past. I didn't know when I became like this, I really want to be a normal girl but I cannot. I have lived 22 years and for that whole 22, I have no one person except my mom who is close to me and when they finally come, my walls are too high that I don't have a gate for them to cross through. I'm alone, I don't want to be alone but I can't stop anymore,"
Sophia sighed as she let it out of her chest. Yes,
those were some of her deepest emotions. She had kept it all in, Isolated it from the world. Never showed the world her fear or pains, always hiding. But she was letting it out, smiling by the thought.
Atticus's heart shattered, her raw emotions piercing through him like blades, squeezing and twisting at a part of him he never knew existed. The sharp pang of pain shot through his body, his condition worsening—parts of his legs fading—but none of it mattered. It was Sophia. Her words, her grief, had awakened something inside him, a heartbeat meant only for her. He clutched his chest, staring at her, feeling his own pulse sync with the rhythm of her sorrow.
His heart wasn't beating for himself anymore—it beat solely for her.
He surged forward, eyes locked with hers, unblinking. His lower lip caught between his teeth as the air around them crackled, electric with tension. The wind picked up, charged with the storm of their emotions. Atticus moved closer, drawn irresistibly to those opal eyes, as if his body had a mind of its own. Their faces drew closer, lips hovering inches apart.
A tense, suspended moment.
Then their lips met.
Boom!
Energy erupted outward, shaking the building, splintering the air.
Splash!
The tides whipped violently, rising and crashing in wild rhythm. Wind roared with a deafening howl, pushing everything around them back, scattering objects like leaves in a storm. The sea churned, furious and restless. The night itself seemed alive, pulsing with power, as if the world had shifted to answer the force of their union.