Chapter 129 - 128

As per Sophia's request, Aiden went to visit his parents. It has been more than one month since he came back home. As soon as he entered their house, he spotted his mom giving instructions to one of the servants.

"Mom…," Aiden called.

Mrs. Cooper turned to look at her returning son with anger in her eyes.

"Aiden! You finally came home. Are you so busy that you don't have time to reply to my messages? Last Sunday I sent you a message because I  wanted to have lunch with you, but you never came. I'm so disappointed in you," Mrs. Copper vented out all her frustrations. 

Mr. Cooper came down to investigate the commotion he heard all the way from their bedroom. "Dad, help me!" Aiden's eyes said as he looked at his father. 

"Honey, calm down. Our son runs the Cooper empire now, and he hardly gets any time to rest, so don't be too hard on him. At least he had time to come today. Don't be angry with your child. I know he feels very guilty for disappointing you," Mr. Cooper nudged Aiden to follow up his explanation. 

"Yes, mom, I'm really sorry, please forgive me," Aiden apologized. Knowing that as long as he felt genuine, his mother would relent.

"Okay, don't repeat it again," his mom said as she patted his cheeks. Her anger had dissipated once her husband started explaining. She was always worried since Aiden was her one and only son.

"Yes, mom," he nodded in agreement. But just when he was about to relax, thinking that everything was fine, his mother asked the most important question.

"Aiden, who is Sophia?" She could not control her curiosity, the need to know who answered the phone late last night was gnawing at her.

"Sophia, who?" Aiden replied.

"Stop pretending you don't know. A woman picked up your phone late last night. Is she your girlfriend?" she said with suspicion in her eyes.

"No," Aiden denied.

"Oh my god, is she your wife? Did you marry her without telling us? I wanted to give you a grand wedding, so I could invite all my friends, and…," she was mouthing off, but she got interrupted.

"Mom, slow down. Sophia is the woman I love, she hasn't agreed to be with me yet, but I want to be with her in the future," he explained.

Aiden's parents married for love. They moved around in the same circles, so their families knew each other well, but they never interacted when they were younger, they had different sets of friends. They met in college when his father went abroad to study, then three years later, his mother joined the same university. Their families relied on his father to look out for her since she was a young woman alone in the big city.

All the time they spent together made his father fall right away. He had been a very studious student, and even though his mother hardly studied, playing with her friends all the time. He had been very patient with her, studying until midnight to catch up with his studies when she wanted to go out. 

When their families learned about their relationship, they were more than happy to proceed with the wedding right away. But his father did not come back to work until his mother completed her studies. After that, they got married in the most lavish celebration in their home country.

Mr. Cooper gave in to his wife's every whim, and that made their relationship more pleasurable.

"Ahhh… finally my son has fallen in love. You just don't know how long I have been waiting for this day. Hubby, look, finally I can relax," she squealed in delight.

"Yes," Mr. Cooper's eyes shone with happiness when he heard the news that his son was finally ready to settle down.

Aiden's parents have been worried about him getting married. After Tristan and Blake got married one after the other, they started fixing him up with all the single women they knew. Dimitri took the cake when he showed up with a wife and a kid. That got them more frantic to find him the right partner. But Aiden did not show any interest in settling down. 

He never lost his charm, entertaining the women his parents introduced to him, but at the end of the night, he would declare that he did not find the connection he was looking for. But now that he had Sophia, they were happy that at last, he found that missing puzzle in his life.

"Tell me more about Sophia," his mother pried, "Does she work? Does she have a lot of siblings? Where are her parents from? Where does she live? How did you meet?"

Aiden had to volunteer all the information he knew, or his mother would never stop nagging him, "Her name is Sophia Collins. She is the CEO of Collins Beauty Industries, it's a cosmetics brand that's gaining popularity with health-conscious customers. She got orphaned early in life when her parents died in a car accident. The attraction I feel for her is very strong. 

Dad, you remember we partnered with the Collins company a few months ago because I believed that their products would be popular, and I was not wrong. It was because of Sophia, she is so intelligent and hard-working, I've never seen anybody work so hard at anything like she does, well of course except for me," he joked. 

"Oh yeah, I tried their products, and they felt good on my skin. She sounds like a very exceptional lady. That's so sad about losing her parents at a young age, don't worry, we will definitely treat her well in the future. 

So when are you bringing her home? I can't wait to meet her," Aiden's mother asked eagerly.

"I'll take her to meet you after she agrees to be with me. We cannot force her, or she will try to bolt," he answered.

But as expected, his mother could not sit still once she learned about his love life.

"What is taking so long? Is she not taken by your wit or your charm? Your father did everything he could to make me fall in love with him when we were in college. You're not working hard enough to convince her," Mrs. Cooper complained.

"Mom, I finally got her to trust me the past couple of days, then you forced me to come here," he sighed, "Hopefully, my hard work won't be wasted when I get back."

"How would I know you were with her when you never answer my calls? Maybe answer my calls once in a while, so I know what's happening with you," she reprimanded him.

"Enough of that arguing, let's go and have lunch, I'm hungry," Mr. Cooper tried to break them up. 

As they savored all of Aiden's favorite dishes, they talked more about their future daughter-in-law Sophia.