herophine - Trouvaille

Chapter 16

Sofía - Bulgaria, 2020

- Okay, I admit it. Not that bad. - Hero laughs.

- I knew it. - Jo scoffs. - Seriously, Beauregard. How could The Rolling Stones be bad? I can't believe it took me almost two years to convince you.

It's the last week of filming and afterwards, After will be finally wrapped up. Since they arrived to Sofía, it has become a routine that Josephine goes into Hero's trailer in between takes.

- Well, unlike you, I'm not a traditional music hits listener. - He picks another puzzle piece and puts it in its place. - But yes, I kinda like this song. - He refers to the one they're listening at the moment.

- No way! So the only song that you like, it turns out to be my favourite one? - Jo fakes being offended.

- Yes, my sweet Lady Jane. - Hero mocks by naming her after The Rolling Stone's hit, Lady Jane. Josephine just rolls her eyes as if the comment annoyed her.

They only had forty minutes of break, but it was enough for them. They went into Hero's trailer, put some music and continued with the puzzle that has kept them busy for almost a couple of months now. It's a two-thousand-pieces jigsaw puzzle, which Jo gave Hero as a gift for his 23rd birthday. 

During the After We Collided filming, they used to spend some time with Roger and Anna doing puzzles and they both enjoyed so much. For this reason, some days before Hero's birthday, Jo went on her free time to a small store near the hotel and bought a puzzle for him. If you put all the pieces together, you get a picture of Bulgaria's capital, Sofía, a picture that makes the country even more beautiful than it already is.

- Oh no... - Jo says in her thick aussie accent. - I hope you have the last piece.

- Is it missing?

- Hum, I think so... I can't find it here. - She says while looking all around the small coffee table. But it's clearly not there because there is only one space left of the jigsaw and there are no pieces around.

- Maybe it's under the sofa.

Hero lays on the carpet to look under the sofa and Jo copies him, leaving their heads a few centimetres apart from each other, and they carefully look for the missing piece.

- Wait, I think I saw it! - Hero stretches his arm under the sofa and reaches the piece. - I got it!

They both rise their heads at the same time and they end up facing each other, staring at each other. Just like in romantic movies, so ironic, it seems they spend minutes in that position. Nor that is the first time they have to stare at each other's eyes for that long. Again, so ironic. However, the chemical connection is present as always.

- Josephine Langford, would you make me the honour of... putting the last piece of the puzzle? - Hero says funny to break the tension.

- You're an idiot. - Jo laughs. - You can do it, though. - She smiles. - It's your puzzle.

- Our puzzle.

Crosby, Liverpool - England, 2026

Hero has asked Josephine for a few hours, so he can talk to Sofía first. However, his daughter is not making it easy. They decided that Jo could come over to their house around seven o'clock, but time is running out and he still doesn't know how to bring the conversation out. Hero cannot be hard on his daughter, but he doesn't want the situation taking her by surprise. He is lost.

Doing puzzles have always been a good way of communication between father and daughter. Sofía is a clever girl and loves challenges. 

After giving her a bath and having dinner, Hero takes out from a closet the old jigsaw with Bulgaria's picture on it. The little girl is excited because she already knows by heart every puzzle at home, although she never saw this one before.

- Do you like this new puzzle? - Hero sits next to her on the living room's table. He awaits patiently and when he gets a nod from Sofía, he continous. - I used to do it with your mommy all the time. She gave it to me.

Sofía really has an attitude. No wonder where it comes from. She leaves over the table the pieces she had in her hand.

- I told you I didn't want to talk about that, dad. 

The fact that she retired him the certification of "daddy", doesn't sound well in the conversation.

- Your mommy's name is Josephine. - His daughter exhales, but stays still. Hero stays firm. - When you were born, she... couldn't be with us. Josephine is here, baby girl, and she wants to meet you.

Sofía frowns her eyebrows and then her eyes widen, same eyes as her mother. Her lower lip trembles and Hero's heart breaks into thousand of pieces, just like the jigsaw that it's over the table.

She gets down from her chair and walks around the room. Hero can practically see how her priviledge brain processes the information. After a few minutes, she walks to her daddy with her fists clenched and waits him to open his arms. Hero picks her up and hugs her. The blonde girl surrounds his neck with her short arms and hides her face in his hoodie, where he hears her whining. Hero would have preferred that she hadn't inherited Jo's sensibility from her, cause seeing her crying is his weakness. 

Indeed, Sofía needs to be close to his daddy when she gets emotional and, in the same way as when she was a baby, she only calms down over his daddy's chest. The difference is that now she doesn't fall asleep. 

- What if I don't want to? - She lifts her chin in a defiant gesture, which makes her look younger than she is.

Sofía Jane is not an impolite or brat kind of child, the other way around, she is very kind and well-educated. And right now, she is not being any other way. She is just confused and she doesn't know how to manage her emotions.

- Then we wait until you're ready, Sofía. - Hero is not sure if his daughter understood that refusing is not an option. But, he is willing to give her all the time she needs.

- Okay... - She answers quietly and unsure. 

She looks up at him with watery eyes, while she tries to dry her tears with her pajamas' sleeve. This makes Hero being determined about murdering anyone, Josephine included, for provoking those feelings on his baby girl. Sofía doesn't know that her dad is as scared as her, and that the hug gave him the courage he doesn't have. 

Despite the situation and Sofía not wanting to know anything about her mom, she insists on doing the puzzle because she cannot resist it. Three minute before seven o'clock, the doorbell rings. Hero and Sofía look at each other.

The die is cast.  

____________________

Hii,

How are you liking the story so far?

Are you team Hero or Jo? Or Sofía's?

I cannot choose... the three of them are my favourite😉 Let me know what you think.

Hope you are enjoying! Thanks for reading!

❤️