Progress wasn't linear for the two of them.
One moment Sophia felt comfortable at John's side and the next he was doing something that caused her to question everything.
When they returned to her house, John decided he would go to the guest room and lie down for a while.
Sophia was happy for them to have a few moments apart. It was exhausting to be around someone who was such a mystery. Yet she felt bad because he didn't seem to do anything on purpose. He was someone heavily influenced by instinct and she couldn't blame him for that. It's all he had since his memories were gone.
She decided she would get into comfortable clothing and lay on the couch. Her favorite form of escapism was watching something to keep her mind off of things. A cooking show was calling to her.
As she tried to focus on the screen, exhaustion hit her like a train and she found herself nodding off. Giving in to her exhaustion, she fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours.
The only thing that woke her up was someone pounding on her front door, otherwise, she could have slept all night.
As she looked around the room in confusion with her heart racing, she realized it was evening.
Her mind went over who could be at her front door. She didn't hear John leave so she didn't think it could be him. Ethan certainly wouldn't treat their front door like that.
Feeling that there was no other choice, she approached the front door and looked through the peephole.
Standing on the other side of the door was Grant. It looked like he had just gotten off of work based on the clothing he wore. His tie was loosened though and the coat of his suit was nowhere to be found.
His curly blonde hair was a little disheveled which was unusual for him.
"Soph!" he shouted. "Open this damn door!"
With a sigh, she fumbled to unlock the door and opened it.
Without asking, he pushed into the entryway and glared down at Sophia, his shoulders heaving. To her surprise, she could smell beer on him as if he had gone out drinking after work.
"Are you kidding me, Sophia?! Ignoring my calls and forcing me to do this?" he shouted at her. "What, I wasn't giving you enough attention so you had to go run into the arms of some other mother fucker?"
Grant pushed her aside and looked around the dark townhouse, fully expecting to see someone sitting with her.
Sophia's eyebrows were lowered. She didn't take accusations like that too lightly.
"Grant, what the hell are you talking about?" she asked. "Are you drunk?"
"My boss, Sophia?!" he shouted, pulling out his phone and showing her the picture he had taken of her in the car with him. "I can't believe you would sleep with my boss!"
It was too much for Sophia. She put her hands on the side of her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't understand how she got roped into this situation.
Was John Grant's boss? She had no way of confirming nor denying this fact.
However, her reaction was to make him as upset as she had been waiting for him for a month. The high road didn't sound enticing, for once she wanted to stoop to his level. She didn't refute his claims even though she hadn't done anything wrong.
With newfound determination, she approached him.
"I don't understand how you're going to barge into my house and accuse me of cheating on you when you haven't so much as sent me a single text in weeks," she snapped. "What happened to you begging me not to break up with you when I found you in the arms of another woman? I thought you said you were going to do better. This last month has been eye-opening for me."
Grant turned quickly and grabbed Sophia by the shoulders, in his frustration, he gave her a shake. Her slight frame was easy to manipulate.
"You were stupid enough to take me back, so you have to pay for making stupid decisions!" he shouted. "I thought for sure cheating would be enough to get you off my back for a while. I'm tired of your little miss perfect act. It gets annoying after a while."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice no longer holding the anger from before. She was genuinely hurt.
She didn't know how he could say that when he saw her at her lowest point. She met him just after coming back from pastry school. He was by her side when her grandparents passed away. There was an entire year where she was so stricken with grief that it was hard to do anything besides work. The rest of the time she slept.
Sophia remembered a man who cheered her up with gifts and held her as she cried. He was there for her for so many things. It was clear to her that Grant was no longer that man. She didn't understand why he had to ruin everything.
"So, what? You never want to have sex with me, but you're just throwing it to whoever asks now, right?"
There it was. The truth.
For the entirety of their relationship, Sophia only tolerated sex because it was what Grant wanted but there was a point where she had to be honest with herself.
Each time they were intimate, she found more pain than pleasure. Her body could never respond to him the way she wanted and each encounter left her hurt and questioning everything.
For a long time, she browsed the internet searching for answers. Some said she was asexual. Others said she simply hadn't found the right guy yet. There were also articles on the internet telling her she probably had something wrong with her for not having a natural response to a man.
They went an entire month without sex before he cheated on her.
That's why she blamed herself. And that's why she took him back. He acted like he wanted her despite her deficiency.
He was squeezing her shoulders and she grimaced.
"Grant, stop!" she cried. "You're hurting me."
She tried to wiggle herself out of his grasp but it was no use.
Meanwhile, John had been trying to rest when he heard the confrontation. He had tried to ignore it but when it escalated to shouting he needed to see if Sophia was alright. His feet practically moved on their own. All he could think of was her safety.
The moment he saw her being grabbed by some man, he felt a familiar anger rise inside of him. He tried to resist, thinking of how she looked at him before, silently worried about his outburst at the park and wondering if she could trust him.
John grabbed Grant by the shoulder and turned him around, causing him to let go of Sophia.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" John demanded, his deep voice striking fear into Grant.
John was taller and he raised his fist as if he was going to hit Grant. He wanted to show Sophia that he could be gentle but the smug look on the guy's punchable face deserved to be rearranged.
However, John was met with a look of unbridled horror from the other man. He wasn't expecting his boss to be there. He came there assuming he wouldn't have to face him. Seeing the taller, more well-built man in front of him took all of his confidence away.
"Mr. Morelli? S-sir?" Grant asked, his blue eyes wide.
John's fist lowered and his eyes were wide. The name reached something inside of him. It was so familiar. It was like putting on your favorite shoes that had been broken in perfectly and were the most comfortable pair you owned. It just felt right.
John didn't remember anything else, but he was certain that's who he was.
"Does the name seem familiar?" Sophia asked, instantly forgetting about her own problems.
Grant backed away, running into the open door. He stumbled out to the stoop outside, almost fully falling after tripping.
"You really are screwing my boss!" Grant shouted, loud enough for Sophia's neighbors to hear. "My new boss, Soph? God dammit! Forget about us. You messed up, Soph."
Sophia had more questions but she didn't want to go after Grant. She didn't know how she would explain herself out of this one.
She closed the door and turned to John.
"So your last name is Morelli," Sophia said, trying to forget all of the other horrible things Grant had said to her. "I guess we finally have some answers."
Her voice was shaky. Grant's words had wounded her more than she wanted to admit.
"Th-that's so great," she said, trying to smile.
As she looked up at John who was staring down at her intently, she didn't know why her eyes started to water. Perhaps she was embarrassed he had to hear about why she was so unbearable to a man. Maybe she had finally realized how heartbroken Grant's betrayal made her.
"I-I'm stupid to be sad about him, aren't I?" Sophia asked, trying to smile but tears falling out of her eyes. "I-I should have left him when I found him screwing some lady in his apartment. I was so in shock I dropped the cake in his kitchen and ran off..."
The memory stung more than she remembered.
Her tears came forth steadily when she felt a pair of muscular arms wrap around her. It had been such a long time since she was comforted like that.
It made her realize that perhaps she could move on to better things.