Turns out, walking away from Sunday brunch didn't help Sophie feel any better. As a matter of fact, she was hungrier which meant she was way angrier. Hangrier.
Why couldn't their orders be served before the confrontation? Lola should've been more thoughtful about her timing. It was Naomi's turn to pay too! Not that her friends concerned themselves with such petty arrangements.
Sophie parked her car outside a fast-food chain after driving listlessly for half an hour. If anything was going to stop an ocean of tears from leaving her eyes, it'd be a good ol' heart attack-inducing burger, stacked with ten layers of cheese and coated in two layers of oil.
Good choice, she thought to herself. Her stomach churned in agreement. She wouldn't allow heartbreak to reach her heart first. If Sophie died that day, it'd be from filthy grease worth pretty change.
Walking towards the counter dressed in luxury brands from head to toe meant nothing to the other customers. Here, in the world of commoners, no one cared enough to double-take your outfit, much unlike the behavior of the wealthy.
A normal person shouldn't be that concerned with determining whether your outfit was a dupe or not, that was something Sophie would never change her mind on.
It was a breath of fresh air being able to stroll around without having a ruler beside her to measure her value every second.
She kept her tone light as the cashier took her order, a burger meal with the adorable rabbit figurine as her toy. Lord knows customer service workers weren't paid enough to deal with the consequences of rich people's problems so she smiled and maintained her politeness throughout the short exchange. It restored a sense of normalcy in Sophie's life when the cashier smiled back at her.
Walking to the only available booth with her order on a tray, her bubble of pleasantry popped as a child's persistent whining broke her ability to hear alongside her remaining sanity. Even worse, the adult accompanying the little girl was as useful as a fly, opting to ignore the unsightly tantrum in favor of a phone call.
Sophie deadpanned, uncertain if this was any better than the tense silence the people in her life constantly subjected her to.
After a solid fifteen minutes, she stood up and sprinted towards the bathroom, uncaring if anyone were to take her table or the rest of her meal. Good on them for being able to stand that much noise coming out of a brat's voice box.
She had no reason to be there, no reason other than convincing herself that punching a child was a moral transgression. She lathered her hands in soap, rinsed, and repeated. Twice. Thrice. Four times.
Deeming herself calm enough to deal with the frustrating existence of children, Sophie walked to the exit of the bathroom, only to bump into a much smaller body.
Oh, great. It was just her luck.
"Watch where you're going, ugly hag!" The child sounded ten times more infuriating than Sophie remembered. It was a tragedy the brat was allowed inside the women's bathroom, despite evidently being a girl.
Sophie usually had the patience to handle situations like this with patience and care, presenting herself as a graceful fairytale princess straight out of a storybook.
On darker days, she had the mental fortitude to know when to walk away.
After a horrendous week though, she was ready to lash out at any moment. Children weren't an exception.
"Who are you calling an ugly hag? You're the one acting like you're going through a midlife breakdown, kid."
"What?" The brat's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Do you even know who I am?!"
"No, but I sure as hell know you need a whooping."
The kid's disbelief only doubled. A sick sense of satisfaction bloomed inside Sophie's chest at the sight of the brat's jaw wide open.
Heh. Take that, annoying child.
At that point, she was going to get blacklisted from heaven after picking a fight with a probably nine-year-old girl inside the filthy restroom of a second-rate fast-food place. But the little brat reminded her way too much of the entitled bastards she had to deal with thanks to Luke's family connections and Sophie was out for petty revenge.
"Ugh! I hate adults. First uncle, and now this lame hag!"
"Your uncle probably just wants you to stop eating all the junk in this place. Why are you taking it out on me?"
She probably shouldn't have asked in the first place, even if it was mostly rhetorical. She had no right to intrude on the lives of strangers. But a distraction felt so tempting and bullying the snotty and the infuriating appealed to her inner desires.
"Because I wanted the bunny! But he was stupid and got me the fat, ugly rhino toy!" The kid replied, whinier than before. Moral transgressions be damned.
"Why did I ask? Ugh." That seemed to offend the child further, her face red and tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes. Briefly, Sophie wondered if she sported the same expression during brunch when Lola dropped the biggest truth bombs on her.
Her heart softened in sympathy—only a little bit though.
"You wanted the bunny toy?"
The brat nodded wordlessly, silent for once.
Sophie reached for her dress' pockets, pulling out a hard object. "Here, we can exchange. I can have Mister Rhino and you can have Miss Bunny."
The expression on the brat's face was noticeably gentler, almost as if she wasn't used to being spared any kindness or consideration. The thought hurt Sophie more than she realized, even when she knew it probably wasn't true. The brat's shoes looked expensive, they were likely bought straight from the newest collection of a noteworthy brand.
Those shoes alone were probably worth more than the building they were in.
The brat's hands were soft as she took the rabbit from Sophie's hands and replaced it with a rhino, her smile small but bright nonetheless. She never bothered to thank Sophie, the little spoiled brat, but it didn't matter. The adult between the two just wanted to get out of the bathroom, the pungent smell was starting to drive her insane.
She wasn't counting on the brat following her to her table. She wasn't counting on extending the exchange at all considering how unpredictable everything has been for the past few days.
Sophie's gaze lowered in concern. "You should go back, kid. You're uncle's probably wondering where you've been."
"Bon? I've been looking everywhere for you."
A masculine voice interrupted the little brat before she could reply to Sophie. Looking up, she was met with strikingly blue eyes, bordering on silver, and jet-black hair resting on a pretty face. The man Sophie recognized as the adult sitting at the table next to hers, across from the brat, was now in front of them, eyes wide and panicked.
Even in his frantic state, Sophie had to admit, he looked like a model amongst all the average folks dining in the fast-food place. He didn't even look like an uncle. Sophie was expecting someone older, but he looked to be around her age.
"No! I don't want to go with uncle!" The little brat, Bon, went unignored as her uncle's eyes scanned the stranger next to her with barely contained anger.
"Who the hell is this, Bon? Did this stranger force you to go with her?"
Sophie was insulted, he was talking to the spoiled child like she wasn't even there. And no, she'd never be the type to ask random children to come with her, the idea was just straight-up preposterous.
Getting caught sitting next to a little girl whose name she didn't even know wasn't helping with her case though.
Her defenses remained despite her better judgment. It wasn't her fault the brat was so set on being clingy and weird with strangers.
"You know, if you spent a moment away from your phone, you'd realize I didn't ask her shit and she just followed me here."
He snarled. "Cursing in front of a child? Pretty bad impression already. And who are you to tell me how I should treat my niece when you're so caught up on talking to random children?"
"A concerned citizen who just so happened to run into a crying child in the bathroom." She shot back, the split second of shame on his face made her feel like a saidst. "And you started the cursing, mister can't-differentiate-between-a-rhino-and-a-rabbit."
"Hell isn't a curse word if that's what you're on about, creep."
"Creep? Excuse me?! I was only trying to help!"
"By dragging my niece with you to your table, sure."
She rolled her eyes. "Little brat, tell him I did no such thing. If your uncle wasn't so slow, he'd leave me alone by now."
"Leave her alone, uncle! You're the creep!"
Sophie couldn't begin to imagine the turmoil inside the other man's head right now. She almost burst out laughing at the troubled expression on his face.
Admittedly, even Sophie was surprised by the brat's willingness to side with her. Maybe the simple gesture of handing the child her bunny toy did matter a great deal. Or maybe the brat was just as petty as Sophie.
Although, she would've preferred to have her honor defended without the screaming. She was starting to feel embarrassed by the amount of onlookers watching the aggression-fueled interaction, sticking their noses where they shouldn't be.
Her amusement died pretty fast once the security guard walked over to three of them, visibly aggravated.
"Ma'am, Sir, the other customers have made multiple complaints about you in the past hour. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."