Chapter 14: The Truth About True Love
Sofia
Sofia couldn't believe what was happening around her.
One moment, she was just happily dancing with Desmond and the next thing she knew, Cyrus – no, Hugo – and James were fighting on the floor in front of her. Everything that happened in between those moments were either a combination of blurred images or perfectly preserved memories.
Sofia couldn't move her body. She was too afraid, too hurt, too confused to even move a single muscle.
James currently had Hugo in a tight headlock while Hugo repeatedly jabbed punches into James's stomach with his elbow. Hugo managed to strike James hard enough that he doubled over with pain and Hugo threw a fierce punch at James. The two of just continued on to charge at one another with ready fists and kicks.
There was small drops of blood splattered on the marble floor as they continued to brawl with each other. Amid the fight, Sofia saw that blood dripped from each of their lips and she could tell that their faces were going to be badly bruised from how hard they've been repeatedly hitting each other.
Some of the other princes, Zandar and Khalid in particular, have tried to intervene on the fight but failed to rip them apart.
"James! Stop this!" Sofia heard Zandar yell, trying to link his arms around James to pull him away from Hugo.
"Seriously, Hugo, you're going to kill each other!" Khalid shouted as he tried to reason with the two of them.
"That's the point," James growled at the two princes. "I'm going to kill him for what he did to Sofia!"
"Kill me?" Hugo spat, some of his blood spraying onto the floor. "Like you even can!"
"Ha!" James scoffed. "Confident jackass!"
The two of them began to circle one another, waiting for the right moment to strike each other.
"You know, I never liked you or your other persona, 'Cyrus'. I knew that there had to be a reason why I never liked it when I learned that 'Cyrus' was Sofia's personal guard," James sneered. "And there is! 'Cyrus' was you! Of all people, 'Cyrus' had to be you, Hugo!"
"What? Don't like me close with Sofia?" Hugo said in a mocking tone.
"Never did. Never will."
"Well, too bad," Hugo said, motioning for James to charge at him.
James's eyes grew wild with anger as he ran towards Hugo and threw more punches. "You always did this, Hugo! You always tried something with her no matter how many times I warned you to stay away from her!"
James managed to hit Hugo on his cheek and cause him to fall to the ground. It looked like James was going to kick Hugo on his side but he managed to spring back up and throw a hard fist into James's stomach.
"That's because I like her! I wanted to court her but you always got in the way!" Hugo continued to shout.
More punches and kicks were thrown as they continued to fight.
"I got in the way because you were never good enough for her!" James grunted back as Hugo grabbed onto James's neck and lock it underneath his arms, trying to subdue him.
"Ha! 'Good enough'?" Hugo sneered down at James. "You don't think I already know that? I always knew that she was too good for me but at least I have the guts to try, James!"
"You actually think that what you did out there showed that you had 'guts'?" Sofia watched as James pushed back at Hugo and escaped his grip. James now straightened and glared back at Hugo with a renewed fury and disgust. "You just stole a kiss from her! Do you think that automatically makes you her suitor?!"
"I just want to see what I can have with her!"
"You have absolutely nothing with her! You will never have anything with her!"
"I can feel something between Sofia and I, James! And I'm going to see what that is!"
"You. Have. Nothing," James growled. "The only thing between you two is just air! Empty! Meaningless! Air!"
"You almost sound like you're jealous, James," Hugo taunted him with a cruel smile. "Does it honestly upset you that there are other guys who are interested in Sofia?"
"I'm not! I'm pissed as hell!" James charged forward again.
And their fight continued on as Sofia could do nothing but stand there frozen.
Her mind was everywhere, trying to make sense of everything, but her body couldn't understand a single thing and just shut down from all of the chaos that surrounded her.
Everyone in the ballroom was crowded around in a large circle as Sofia stood motionless in the center.
Sofia didn't know what to do. The only thing she could only do was close her eyes just to shut out the sounds and cries that wanted to consume her.
She just wants to try and think.
Just think.
Think of anything.
Hugo… Hugo is Cyrus… This entire time, he was Cyrus, the one thought she tried to keep away barged into her mind. Sofia felt completely and utterly betrayed as her mind just grabbed onto that. Her body was numb and shaking at the same time, her eyes stung as tears tried to fight their way out. This entire time, he lied to me and pretended to be someone he's not.
Hugo… or Cyrus… or whoever he is now…