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She turned around and went to go back into the house, but Achilles said, ‘Sofie...’
She stopped. She realised she was shaking. Trembling. She turned around again, and emotion made her volatile. ‘What is it you want, Achilles? I think your note was very clear. We don’t need to communicate at all.’
‘We need to talk.’
‘About what? There’s nothing to discuss.’
‘I think a baby is something to discuss.’
‘It’s early days...too early to be safe. Something could happen.’
Achilles went pale. ‘Don’t say that.’
That floored Sofie. Achilles came towards her and she couldn’t move.
‘Can we go inside?’
Sofie made her legs move. Backwards. Into the house. Into the faded and threadbare lounge. Where the picture of teenage her was still on the mantelpiece.
Achilles dominated the space too easily—a painful reminder of how it had felt as if he belonged here before.
‘What is it you’ve come to talk about?’
‘You. This. Us.’
Sofie shook her head. ‘There is no “us”. There never was.’
Achilles looked at her. She realised now belatedly that he looked a little unkempt. Wild. Tired.
‘That’s funny,’ he said. ‘Because, as the papers and gossips are pointing out, you are my longest relationship.’
Her insides dipped. ‘That was just to prove to people that you were reforming.’
‘And yet was it a hardship, our spending time together?’
Sofie wanted to stamp her foot. ‘No, of course not. But we both knew it wasn’t a relationship because it wasn’t going anywhere.’
‘And yet I’m here and you’re pregnant.’
Sofie said, ‘Look, if you’ve just come to terms with this news, and feel like it’s your duty to take some responsibility, then—’
‘You said you loved me.’
Sofie’s mouth shut.
‘Did you mean it?’
Sofie’s emotions went from volatile to vulnerable. ‘What do you think?’
Achilles ran a hand through his hair. He seemed agitated. ‘I don’t know what to think. I know what I hope, though.’
‘What do you hope?’
He looked at her. ‘That you meant it.’
‘Does it give you some sense of satisfaction to know that I love you—are you that cruel?’
‘Sofie. Stop.’
He came closer and put his hands on her arms. She could smell his unique scent and wanted to drop her head against his chest, have his arms wrap around her so tight she wouldn’t be able to breathe.
She pulled back, dislodging his hands.
Achilles said, ‘No, I’m not so cruel that I’d seek to get some vicarious pleasure out of knowing that you feel more for me than I do for you. It’s because I’m a coward.’
Sofie shook her head. ‘How are you a coward? You survived one of the worst tragedies anyone could suffer.’
‘I’m a coward because I hid behind that tragedy my whole life to avoid more pain.’
Sofie shook her head. ‘Anyone would have done the same. Others would have fallen apart completely. You never did.’
Achilles made a sound. ‘Didn’t I? I almost let it all go.’
‘But you didn’t.’
‘No,’ he conceded. ‘Sofie... I’ve never said anything like this to anyone, except my family. But all I know is that since I woke up and saw you in that hospital you’ve been the centre of my world. My life. I don’t want anyone else. I want you. I dream about you. I ache for you.’ He shook his head. ‘The other evening...when you told me about the baby...it was my worst fears manifesting. And you were articulating them. Someone I had trusted implicitly. I went on the attack and you didn’t deserve that.’
Sofie shook her head. ‘What are you saying?’
‘What I’m trying to say is that I love you and I want to have this baby with you. I don’t want us to be apart ever again.’
Sofie’s heart swelled so much it almost hurt. But it was too much. ‘I don’t... I can’t believe this. You. I know what you went through, Achilles. You’re just here...saying this now...because you’ve realised that this is good for your bottom line or something... I saw all those headlines about how well your business is doing. I’m not stupid.’
‘No, you’re far from stupid. The truth is I wanted this before I even met you.’
Sofie frowned. ‘You’re not making sense.’
‘That’s why I fell down the mountain.’
Sofie sat down on the couch behind her. Achilles came and sat down too. ‘Can you explain that?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s hard to explain. I came here to escape media attention, as I explained. We figured that if I was off the radar when that story broke it would fizzle out and Athena Demetriou would be scrambling to explain. But all I know is that suddenly I wanted to go away. Get off the grid for a while—and that had nothing to do with escaping media attention. It was about escaping a feeling of emptiness that had been plaguing me for some time. So I came here. Didn’t even book anywhere. Climbed straight up the mountain. That’s the only bit I still couldn’t remember—the actual mountain climb and how I came to fall.’
‘But now I do remember,’ he went on. ‘I got to the top and it was beautiful. But for the first time in my life I realised how alone I was. I had no one to share it with. Another man who had climbed the mountain was ahead of me. He had a friend with him. He was video calling his family and showing them the view. He was almost crying, telling them he couldn’t wait to see them. That he was coming home.’
Achilles shook his head.
‘Normally that would have been a trigger for me. Any mention of happy families usually is. But it wasn’t. It made me realise that I’d spent my whole life rejecting happiness and joy for fear of losing it all again. I was lonely. Empty inside. All the carousing and the money meant nothing. It’s such a cliché, but in that moment I realised that my life was worth nothing unless I was brave enough to overcome my fears and open up. Drop the cynicism. I was so tired of it all. Jaded. And that’s when I missed my footing and fell. And when I woke up you were there.’
Sofie felt shaky. ‘Just because I was the first woman you saw it doesn’t mean anything.’
Achilles shook his head. ‘It means everything. You kissed me. You woke me up. It just took me a while to remember.’
Sofie stood up. She felt jittery. As if she was going into shock. ‘I don’t know if I can trust this...you. This is just you protecting your interests.’
Achilles stood up. He shook his head. ‘I couldn’t care less about all of that. Truly. I care about the legacy for the sake of my father, who put so much work into it. I care about the employees and I care about creating more jobs. I care about the business growing and succeeding for all our sakes. But that’s the extent of it. I’ve installed a very capable cousin as CEO to manage things for a while, so I can take a break.’
‘Take a break?’
