Inside Sonia's apartment, she threw the towel Derek had used into the trashcan in the kitchen and went about cleaning up the place to remove every trace of him before going to take out her phone from the drawer she had kept it.
She sighed when she turned on the phone and many texts came up. Some of the texts were from bloggers and journalists who had texted to know if the rumor about her fake engagement with Bryan was true or not, and a couple was from Derek telling her he loved her and begging her to get back with him.
It was funny how she was just seeing their texts now. She was glad that she had left this phone behind after all.
She contemplated giving Lucy a call but decided against it since she wasn't really in the mood to speak to anyone. She was still very pissed.
She had a lot on her mind as she lay on her bed thinking about her misunderstanding with Bryan and his parents' advice to her to help him understand that their relationship was different.
Although she understood what they meant, she couldn't help feeling angry and hurt that Bryan would easily jump to such conclusions about her and trivialize their relationship.
Regardless of whatever text he had received from Derek, she expected him to know better. She expected him to talk to her about it reasonably not hurl accusations at her the way he had done.
She glanced at the door when she heard the doorbell and she ignored it, thinking that Derek had come back.
She tried to focus on her thoughts but when the doorbell remained persistent, she picked up the knife from where she had left it on the table and stormed to the door angrily.
"You must have a death wish..." The rest of her words were forgotten when she saw Bryan standing by the door instead of Derek.
"Were you expecting someone else?" Bryan asked, as his gaze traveled from her angry face to the knife she had been brandishing a moment ago.
He had been on his way back home when he decided to go back and confront her, but this wasn't the scene he had been expecting to find. Fuck, he didn't know what he had been expecting, but certainly not an enraged Sonia.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at Bryan in annoyance as she returned inside the apartment leaving Bryan to decide if he wanted to go in or not.
'ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NovelB(i)n. ᴄᴏᴍ',
Sonia threw the knife on the table and sat on the couch as she waited for him to come in, and once he shut the door behind him she glared at him as she stood up.
p "What was he doing here?" Bryan asked, and Sonia's eyes flashed angrily.
"If you saw him leaving, why are you asking me such a stupid question? Why didn't you ask him that? It's not like you are going to believe anything I say anyway, so what's the point? Go to him and get some more information. Get the fuck out," Sonia yelled, pointing at the door for him to leave.
"Sonia..."
"I don't care whatever nonsense that idiot said to you, but you had no fucking reason to insult me or talk to me the way you did earlier, you hear me? Yes, I was absentminded for a while today, so what? Weren't we in bed together just last night talking about our future? Is what we have so fickle that any fool like Derek can get into your stupid head with some fucking text..." Sonia glared at Bryan when he opened his mouth to speak and she raised a finger.
"No, I don't want to hear a word from you! You had your chance earlier in YOUR house and you did a fucking good job of pissing me off with it. Now you are in MY space and you are going to listen to me or you can get the fuck out of here and never show your dumb ugly face around me again," Sonia said as she moved closer to him, and Bryan's brow arched.
"Yes, I have fucked around with my fair share of guys but so have you. You are not exactly snow white yourself, so you have no fucking right to judge me by that! Yes, I've written about some of them too and that is perfectly natural. I do not owe you any apology for choosing to use my ex-boyfriend as my muse. If you have a problem with it, then go fuck yourself!" Sonia yelled, poking his chest with her fingers.
"You don't want me to write about you? That's fine. I will tear up the whole goddamn book about us, but this had better be the last time you insult me and my feelings for you, or we are done," Sonia finished, and when she stopped to catch her breath, Bryan pulled her close and kissed her passionately, but Sonia bit his lips and she pushed him away.
"Don't you dare think I'm the kind of girl you can shut up with a kiss! I demand an apology for that shit you pulled!" Sonia hissed, while Bryan licked his lip where she bit.
"I also demand an explanation for your attitude earlier, and I also want to know why he walked out of your apartment with his hair wet. And why you were holding a knife," Bryan said, and Sonia crossed both hands in front of her.
Sonia took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Bryan's phone started ringing, and he scowled when he saw that it was a call from Jeff.
"What?" He asked impatiently immediately after he received the call.
"Is the conflict to your liking?" Jeff asked excitedly, and Bryan frowned.
"What?"
"Last night you asked me to work on a conflict for you and Sonia," Jeff reminded him.
'New novel chapters are published on Novel-Bin',
"What? You planned all of this?" Bryan asked as he looked away from Sonia.
"If you're asking about Derek, yes I did. It caused conflict, didn't it?" Jeff asked matter of factly.
"Are you crazy?" Bryan yelled at Jeff, and he held the phone away from his ear in surprise.
"What is wrong?" Sonia asked with a concerned frown when she noticed how angry Bryan looked.
"I'm sorry. Jeff set the whole thing up," Bryan said apologetically, and Sonia raised a brow as she took the phone from Bryan.
It made sense that it was Jeff's plan. Jeff had been aware of all their movements from the moment they left Sogal. Fuck! How could he not have guessed it was Jeff? That crazy motherfucker!
"Hello, Jeff? Are you still there?" Sonia asked as she placed the call on speaker.
"I don't know the details of what your ex-boyfriend did over there or why Bryan sounds so annoyed when I was only doing him a favor. Bryan said you both needed some conflict in your relationship, and we both agreed I find one of your ex-boyfriends to create one. I don't understand why he is so surprised and pissed," Jeff explained, and Sonia didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused.
"You didn't give me a heads up or tell me that you got one already, you asshole!" Bryan snapped at him.
"How would it be a real conflict if I gave you a heads up? I should as well have given Sonia a heads-up too you ungrateful bastard!" Jeff snapped back equally pissed.
"How did you know about Derek, and how did you get him to do this? Does Derek know the details?" Sonia asked curiously, wondering why Derek would voluntarily make a fool of himself.
"It's hard not to know he's your ex when his comment is all over your posts. I checked his profile and saw some of your photos together.
He doesn't know I'm Bryan's manager, and he doesn't know it's all a game either. He only believes I'm trying to destroy your relationship so he's happy to help. In exchange for his service I promised to pay him and publish his photos on the internet as your ex-boyfriend," Jeff explained and Sonia sighed.
"Thanks. This is more than enough conflict. We will take care of the rest," Sonia said as she hung up the call before facing Bryan.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know things would go this far," Bryan said shamefacedly.
"I appreciate your trying to help me create conflict, but everything that happened goes to show you don't trust me. We need to fix that," Sonia said as she pointed to the couch for Bryan to sit on it.