"So you're really serious about this?" Felix asked as he and Sophie headed through the studios and into her office.
The meeting Sophie had called was finally at an end after an intense few hours of discussion. No one had really expected what had been brought to attention however, nobody seemed to object to it either.
"Nothing is serious until I've had a real conversation with Aaron and the kids." Sophie explained yet that didn't give Felix much more hope in the matter.
"I definitely think that you should come back to New York. It will be better for the business but I can't see Aaron agreeing, can you?"
"After my conversation with him earlier, no..." Sophie trailed off as she took a seat at her desk. "...but I have a good feeling about the kids. Phoebe loves it here and so does Tiger, Kaden might take a bit more persuading though."
"So this is going to be one massive attempt at persuading the two stubborn boys in your life?" Felix teased causing a cautious smile to fall across Sophie's face. "You really want this, don't you?"
Pausing her fingers over the keyboard, ready to type out an email Sophie then looked over to Felix. She didn't really need to give an answer, he already knew.
"Yeah... so badly."
Nodding his head, Felix just watched his best friend as she tapped away on her computer. He knew exactly what she was doing and he was happy that she was finally making the move to potentially kick things off.
"This is your home... Brighton hasn't been your home since you left it 7 years ago."
Sophie paused and looked up at him:
"But the problem is, it's not that simple." She sighed, knowing there was so much riding on this. "When you moved out here you only had yourself to worry about. Mitch was already here so things ran smoothly. I have a whole family to think of..."
"Obviously and you've spent your whole life making sacrifices for them. No offence but what has Aaron done?" Felix questioned with raised brows. "Did he move with you when you wanted to go to London? Did he come out here when you moved to set up your business? No, he kept his arse in Brighton and refused to leave. It's none of my business but I think it's about time he made the move this time."
Although Sophie wished she could just take what Felix said and see this whole thing as simple, she knew it wasn't. Aaron was happy in Brighton and in his job, New York was far from the place he would ever want to see himself living in. He knew that he wouldn't hold much of Sophie's time due to her business and he'd end up missing home and spending all of his time with the kids, as he wouldn't know a single person. Therefore, that made the situation with the kids even harder.
"He loves his job."
"He'd make do, like you did."
"Felix, you are doing everything to talk me into this." Sophie breathed with a grin on her face.
"Well that is my job!" He sang as he took a seat opposite her and crossed his legs. "...and anyway, I don't think you need much persuading. You're already putting plans into place as if you're ready to up and move right now."
"Yeah well I need to be prepared just in case..." Sophie tried to argue it yet even she knew she wasn't doing a good job of lying. It was obvious how much she wanted this and that she was already doing everything she could to make sure it happened.
"Todd seemed enthusiastic about it too." Felix added with a knowing look across his face.
Sophie had managed to get Todd on a Skype call during the meeting and when she had explained her plans of shutting up in London, he had not turned it down. Instead, he had given Sophie every reason to go ahead with it, leaving her with very little disadvantages.
"He's so chilled out about everything, he wouldn't kick up a fuss either way."
"Do you think he would transfer and move out here?" Felix asked, probing for a very particular reason.
"Yeah, he's willing to do that." Sophie replied simply and watched a huge smile spread across her best friend's face. "What?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he still held that grin on his face like a Cheshire Cat. This boy was beaming yet Sophie wasn't quite sure why.
"Felix, what?"
"I'm just saying, that's another thing that man would do for you. I think you're missing what's right in front of your eyes, Sophie Carter."
Glancing at Felix for a few moments Sophie was trying to work out what he was implying before she then began shaking her head.
"Don't say that. It's for work, it's his job."
"I'm just pointing it out." Felix held his hands up in defence. "You can't say you haven't noticed the difference."
"I need to speak to Aaron." Sophie mumbled, trying to shrug off his comment as she then got back to the email she had started before also reaching for her phone and calling Aaron's number once again.
Felix watched as she remained silent and listened as the ringing tone repeated itself over and over. It wasn't until she was just about to cancel the call that she finally got an answer.
"Hey babe." Aaron spoke calmly on the other end as though he may have got over their previous heated conversation.
"Hey. Is now a good time to talk?"
"I'm always asking you that question." He chuckled and although Sophie smiled, she didn't quite mimic his laughter.
"I'm going to send you a few things, so check your emails." Sophie began while trying to keep this conversation as drama free as possible. If she approached it carefully, she hoped it wouldn't cause too many issues right away. "I know it's a big deal but I really want to do this Aaron and I'm going to speak to the kids later."
There was silence for a moment while Aaron didn't say anything and Sophie decided to just wait out the silence. Felix watched on in anticipation as she waited to see what Aaron's reaction was going to be.
"You've already made up your mind haven't you?" Aaron sighed as he finally broke the silence between them. "If the kids say yes, you're not going to give a shit what I think about it."
Biting down on her lip, Sophie then looked across at Felix before back to her computer screen where the email to Aaron was laid out.
"Yeah... you're right." She trailed off as an eerie vibe filled the atmosphere. "I want to move back to New York."
*
"You made that look strangely easy." Felix looked across at Sophie in shock as they made their way down the busy streets of New York.
They were heading to get a late lunch in one of their favourite places considering their day had been jam packed and it was about time they deserved a break. They were also meeting Felix's husband Mitch there too as he was currently babysitting Amiya, and Sophie was dying to see her baby girl after just hours of separation.
"It's not going to be easy at all because we share kids but it's easy in that we've both already made up our minds." Sophie replied while Felix frowned, trying to understand what she was implying.
"What do you mean?"
Hooking her arm through his, Sophie then guided him into the restaurant and waited to be seated before answering his question.
"Aaron won't move out here, I know that. Do I want him to? Of course, but I've accepted that it's not meant to be."
"What's not meant to be? The business or you two?" Felix probed as he started to panic.
"Me and him." Sophie replied coldly, without any emotion laced in her voice.
"But you just recently got back together, you had a baby..." Felix prepared himself to list off anything he could think of to prove Sophie wrong but she stopped him and slid her phone over to him.
Taking it from her, he then took note of the text from Kaia that was present on the screen.
'Sorry to be the bitch with the bad news soph but he was with Amie again. They were at a bar that Nate and I went to for dinner but they didn't see us. Nate said that Aaron hasn't said anything to him and he wouldn't have done to Jack but in case you wanted conformation, he's probably told Daxon. Have fun in New York! Love you girl! Xoxo'
Felix felt himself turn cold as he read the words from Sophie's friend yet he couldn't quite judge a reaction out of Sophie herself. She was displaying absolutely no emotion.
"This might not be true, she could have got it wrong-" Felix began, feeling the need to defend the situation in order to help Sophie but it became clear that she didn't want it.
"It's true. It's been going on for a long time, I knew about it way before Kaia told me anyway."
Felix was stunned at the way Sophie was dealing with this and couldn't believe she was sat there showing no emotion at all. It didn't make sense.
"Shit. Are you serious?"
Sophie just nodded her head as she looked across at the waiter who came to order their drinks. Still holding an expression as though she was completely unfazed.
"When did you find out?"
"When I was last in New York actually... with him and the kids."
When Sophie had brought the kids and Aaron over to New York for a few weeks, what seemed like an innocent comment from Aaron had very quickly kickstarted the curiosity and suspicions that lead to the answers.
...
FLASHBACK
"I spoke to Corey..."
"And?" Aaron questioned with immediate concern and frustration building in his voice.
"He kept refusing he ever got Amie pregnant, so..." Sophie replied and she watched the relief fill Aaron's body and a sense of calmness surround him.
She wasn't feeling quite so content though because Sophie's biggest issue in this was Amie, Aaron's ex. The thought of Phoebe being her child caused a sickening feeling to fill her insides. Although they had once held a partial friendship, that had very quickly ended when Sophie got with Aaron. From there, the woman hated her and the idea of her daughter being Aaron's ex-girlfriend's was a terrifying one.
"Can you speak to Amie and ask her if she ever had a child?" Sophie asked, trying to keep her voice composed and it seemed to work. Aaron had barely caught on with how much that thought bothered her yet only frustrating Sophie more.
"Yeah sure. I'll text her or something but I'm sure this is all just someone trying to fuck with us." Aaron replied as he reached out for his phone.
"Do you have her number?" Sophie asked, ignoring his comment and watching as he began typing away on his phone.
"Well obviously." He chuckled, as though it was just a normal thing to still have your ex's number, whom you didn't speak to 12 years later.
"Don't you think she would have changed it? I mean, it's been over a decade Aaron."
Aaron's face suddenly turned slightly pale when he realised what he had just thrown himself into. It hadn't even crossed his mind a second ago yet now he was waiting for the backlash he certainly was too tired to deal with.
"No, it's her new one." He tried to mumble under his breath to tackle it like a passing comment yet he should have known it wouldn't work.
"When did you last see her then?"
Shifting his body closer to Sophie once again, he attempted to pull her towards him yet she refrained. Realising she wasn't going to let him try and soften up something that really wasn't a big deal anyway, Aaron just continued.
"When we were split up and you were living here."
"You saw her or you were seeing her?" Sophie demanded the clarification due to the huge difference.
"Soph I don't know why this matters. You're just going to rile yourself up over nothing."
"I'm not, I just want to know."
Sighing, Aaron looked up to the ceiling wishing they had never even brought up this girl's name.
"Seeing her. But it was short and nothing serious. We were just fucking around really."
"Right." Sophie quipped before pushing back the covers as she attempted to get out of bed.
**
Even though the situation with Phoebe had ended up being the pair being messed with, Sophie had been immediately curious of Aaron's response.
He had confessed to seeing Amie during his and Sophie's break up and although she knew she couldn't be bothered about that, she knew Aaron and could tell when he was acting strange.
"You've known all of this time? Fuck Sophie, and you're still with him?"
Nodding her head and glimpsing up from the menu, Sophie caught sight of Felix's shock horror compared to her much calmer state.
"I started this whole expansion thing as soon as I found out."
"Wait, this isn't anything new?"
"I wasn't going to wait around in Brighton for him if he was sleeping with her behind my back. I just expected him to confess sooner."
"Did he know about your plans?"
"Nope." Sophie shook her head while leaning back slightly in her chair.
"I don't know how you are so calm about this?" Felix exasperated. "I would be so pissed and would have thrown everything in my sight!"
"I was when I first found out but it's been months. I could have approached him but I don't see why I should have to."
While Felix was dumbfounded by all of this, Sophie seemed to be dealing with it with so much more grace and as though she wasn't fazed in the slightest. She had it all figured out.
"So what are you going to do?" Felix asked the key question he was dying to know the answer to.
"Move back to New York." Sophie began simply. "I need to speak to the kids; Aaron and I will need to figure parenting things out too but we'll make it work."
"Does Aaron come into these plans or are you done with him now?"
Tapping her fingernails on the table, Sophie glimpsed down to her phone before back over to Felix.
"That's down to him now. I'm moving to New York and if he wants to stop fucking around behind my back he can come with me. But if my work is still getting too much for him to handle, then that's fine, it's over. I'm not fighting for him, I don't need to do that. I have everything I need."
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