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Her body draws flush against mine and I whisper in her ear, “Happy birthday,” before I pull back, smiling at her. She returns my smile, but before we can get lost in each other’s gazes, our happy moment is broken by Holden’s voice booming through the room.
“I think congratulations are in order for the happy couple. I would be honoured if they would join me and my wife for a celebratory drink,” he says. I follow the voice to the DJ’s booth where Holden is holding the microphone. He wears a black and red mask that covers his eyes. I must say it’s fitting; it makes him look like the devil.
There’s tension around his fake smile, but I'm unsure if anyone else notices.
“I guess we can’t tell him no, can we?” I whisper to her, behind a fake smile of my own. She pulls me along behind her as she leads the way to her parents. People congratulate us on the way and for a second we are consumed by the crowd. I take this opportunity while we are hidden from view to talk to Sophia.
“You have to act surprised when it’s revealed it’s me,” I tell her. She must hear the serious tone in my voice as her head whips around to mine. I search her eyes and see the slight nod she gives me, not asking any questions but understanding. It takes us another five minutes to manoeuvre through the remaining crowd to reach Holden and his wife, whose name I can’t seem to recall.
They are at a table situated apart from the rest of the room. Four chairs surround it. Holden holds out his hand for me to shake so I take it.
“Congratulations,” he says, as I squeeze it firmly.
“Thank you,” I reply, moving to hold out Sophia’s chair for her to sit.
“So should we get straight to the point then?” Holden asks, and I feel a tense energy coming from where Sophia sits next to me.
“Sure,” I reply, as I slide my hand under the table and onto Sophia’s knee, giving it a gentle squeeze in reassurance.
“Well, I know who she is. I'm not entirely sure who you are,” he admits, and I chuckle. How many suitors did this man have coming for his daughter tonight?
“I can rectify that easily if you would let me remove my mask,” I tell him.
“Very well but before we do that, I have a question for your lovely lady. Why did you accept his marriage proposal if he’s a complete stranger to you?” he asks Sophia, and I feel the sweat drip along my neck. The waiter walks over then and delivers a glass of champagne in front of each of us.
Holden and his wife take a sip when Sophia replies, “Oh because he promised to fuck me up against the wall with his mask on.” Holden’s wife spits her champagne out in shock, her jaw dropping as she looks at me and I can’t help but smile widely at her. Holden’s face reddens and matches the mask he’s wearing, and I can’t help the glee I feel at my fiancee’s little act of defiance. Fiancee, now that’s an amazing word.
Sophia and I each take a sip from our drinks, sink into our chairs and wait for Holden’s next move. He thought he would catch me out at breaking his rules. I haven’t removed my mask, and I haven’t voiced my name so technically I haven’t broken hisrules. If he had an inkling I’d secretly hinted at her who I was, he would use it in his favour.
“I guess you can remove your masks and then I can announce the happy couple to the party,” he tells us, clenching his jaw, clearly unhappy someone outsmarted him at his own game.
I take a deep breath playing my part, then slide the mask up and over my face, running my hand through my hair. Holden’s nostrils flair the moment he sees who I am, and I can’t help but smirk and wink his way before facing Sophia. She gasps as her hand covers her mouth in shock, playing her own part believably well. She takes a second before reaching up and untying her own mask from her head and pulls it off her face. Her heavy black eye makeup has smudged all around her eyes, but it brings out the blue magnificently. I don’t think she could look any more beautiful than she does. No scratch that. If her own fiery hair was showing, she’d look perfect.
“Lorenzo?” she asks, pretending still.
“You know him?” Holden asks, shock lacing his own voice and I’m glad I kept that bit of information to myself.
“We went to high school together,” she tells him.
“Hey Sophia,” I say, taking in every inch of her face to remember this moment.
“You had no idea it was him when he proposed?” Holden’s anger seeps into his voice.
“No none,” she lies. His hard eyes flicker back and forth between us in thought.
“Very well, let’s introduce you to the party, shall we?” he says, pushing his seat back with a screech.
We all stand as Holden walks back over to the DJ’s booth, grabbing the microphone.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I know we had rules tonight where you couldn’t remove your masks but I’veallowed the happy couple to do that so we can give them a big congratulatory round of applause. To the happy couple Mr. Moretti and my beautiful daughter Sophia.” There are a few gasps at the mention of Sophia’s name but we step back into view of the party as the attendees face us. With linked hands I raise hers to my lips, delivering a kiss to her hand. The crowd applauds and I hear a loud cheer from the back corner. I have no doubt it’s coming from Niko. He will be proud I sealed the deal and got the girl. Finally getting what I came for, I realise I don’t want to stay here any longer.
“Do you want to stay or leave?” I quickly ask Sophia, and her eyes widen.
“Leave,” she tells me, smiling. I raise my voice above the crowd to get their attention.
“Thank you very much everyone, you are too kind. If you don’t mind, my fiancee and I might leave the party to start our own celebrations.” The crowd laughs and cheers and I glance at Holden again. He stares back at me with his lips pursed and I wave in farewell.
“Lunch tomorrow at the house please. Make sure you’re both there,” Sophia’s mother tells us, before she hugs Sophia and gives me a timid smile. I take Sophia’s hand and we exit the party swiftly through a side door.
