A few weeks later, Tristan set up a meeting for Sophie and Doctor Sam. He set up the meeting, not in his basement, but in a secluded and rather quiet café. The café was owned by Tristan's family so he had every one of the employees there have a day off and announced that the café will be closed for the day. He closed every single window blind so nobody could see from the outside.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Sophie was brought into the café blindfolded so she didn’t know that she was meeting her father at the entrance and run off. After she sat down on the chair opposite to Sam, Tristan told her to open her blindfold. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw her own father sitting across from her.
“Sophie? What’s wrong, sweetie?” Sam asked, concerned.
“DAD?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” she retorted as she was shocked and confused.
“Well, Tristan’s girlfriend, Marie is my patient and she is currently in a coma because of what you and Thomas did,” he replied, “Tristan had told me that you and Thomas went to The Queen’s Gambit at some point.”
“B-But… T-That’s not true!”
“Don’t lie to me, Sophie. Tristan showed me every evidence that showed you were there, including an image of Thomas’ car plate number and the bill that you left in the bar. It had your name on it, Sophie.”
Sophie gasped in shock and glared at Tristan.
“Don’t look at me like that, sugar. You brought yourself into this mess,” he said in a straight tone of voice.
She grunted and turned back to her father.
“Dad, I can explain-”
“You don’t need to explain about what you did at the bar. That’s none of my business anyway.”
“Then what is it?”
“You need to explain why you forced Tristan to drive even though you knew that he was drunk,” he said angrily.
“B-But-”
“No buts, Sophie. You forced him to drive when he was drunk even though you have your driver’s license already,” he reminded.
“Okay, okay, fine! I did force him to drive the car, but only because the car we took wasn’t any one of ours. And every time I drive, somehow I always get pulled over by the police and I’d get tickets for my car.”
“What does that have anything to do with you forcing him to drunk drive?” Tristan asked, confused.
“Since the car was his, I didn’t want him to pay the ticket fee for something that I did…?”
“Tristan, is she telling the truth?” Sam asked.
“No,” he answered sternly, “She’s avoiding eye contact, fidgeting with the hem of her jacket, her breathing became shallow as soon as she started to answer the question, and her tone of voice became higher than usual.”
“Sophie…” called Sam, trying his very best to contain his anger.
“Alright, fine! Maybe I just got sick of him and wanted to get him in an accident to get rid of him!”
“She’s telling the truth, Doctor Sam,” said Tristan.
“I did not raise you to be this irresponsible, Sophie! Did you know that you crashed into Tristan’s car, that day?!” he asked angrily.
“I know and I’m sorry,” she said, her voice full of remorse.
“Sophie, are you aware that you got Marie in a coma that day?”
“Marie? That sore loser from high school? Looks like I got my revenge after all…”
“What do you mean?” he asked in shock.
“Remember that day in high school when I found out that you and Marie were dating?”
“Yeah? Why?”
“I had fallen in love with you first, Tristan! I liked you ever since we were in kindergarten! I loved you first!” she yelled out.
“Impossible… I didn’t even know who you were until elementary…” Tristan answered in disbelief.
“But I did, Tristan!”
“Then why did you go after Marie? She had nothing to do with this. This was a problem between you and me!” he said, his voice laced with concern for Marie.
“When I saw you with her, I felt like she had stolen you from me!”
“She stole me from you?! I was never even yours to begin with!” he said in anger, “And just so you know, we’re officially dating now, so just get out of our way.”
“So I’m supposed to apologize now?!”
“No, the least you can do now is pack your things, get out of my house and break up with Thomas because he is clearly too good for you, Sophie,” said Doctor Sam.
“You’re kicking me out, dad? Seriously?!” she asked in shock and disbelief, “I can’t believe this.”
She got up and left the café without thinking twice and slammed the door shut. Doctor Sam let out a tired sigh and ran his fingers through his white hair.
“I raised her to be better than this… Why is she becoming a bad influence on her boyfriend when it’s usually the other way around?”
“Well then, I’m guessing that you didn’t look into her lifestyle during high school, did you?” he questioned.
“No, I just thought she was playing around. She had good grades and a reputation so I thought she was doing fine,” he replied.
“I should probably tell you that she liked to bully other students for no reason and she kept on doing it until we graduated.”
“Didn’t you do that too?”
“Yes, I’ll admit that I did. But I changed for the better after I dated Marie.”
“Looks like she’s the real definition of ‘I can fix him,’ isn’t she?” he let out a chuckle.
“I guess so,” Tristan replied, letting out a low giggle.
Doctor Sam let out a sigh and said, “Alright then, I better go catch up in the hospital.”
“Right, thanks for making time for today’s meeting, Doc,” Tristan thanked, bowing down slightly.
“No problem, I had to be here whether I wanted to or not, right? I mean… she is my daughter, isn’t she?”
“Right then, take care, Doc. I’ll see you again in the hospital a little later or tomorrow.”
“What for?”
“For Marie’s check-up, of course.”
“Ah yes, right, I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me,” he replied with a soft smile.
They giggled and finally parted ways. Doctor Sam left first to go to the hospital, while Tristan stayed back to clean up the café. And since his café and the hospital was not that far away, he decided to walk back to the hospital. Getting some cardio in, am I right?😏
After he arrived back at the hospital, he immediately went to Marie’s hospital room and sat by her bed. He ran his hands through her hair gently and placed a soft, gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Hey there, ma chérie. Feeling better? I just got back from dealing with the culprit of your accident,” he said as he started to ramble to her in a soft voice, “Turns out, it was Sophie all along. Like THE Sophie Blythe from high school,” he giggled.
His giggle died out as he looked at Marie’s unconscious form and sighed.
“I promise, I’ll tell you everything when you wake up, sweetie,” he placed a soft kiss on her hand, “I promise.”
