Is this destiny?

~ New York ~

Sophia is on the street, sitting by herself on a bench in the shade, nearby a large fountain which has a huge cup-shaped sculpture in the middle. Water is dancing upwards from the middle of the cup, and the mist from the fountain carried by the occasional breeze is providing a pleasant relief from the scorching summer sun in the concrete jungle of Manhattan.

Why is Sophia by herself on the street in the middle of the workday? She sneaked out from the office in order to enjoy a rainbow slushy. Yes. A slushy.

She saw a street vendor selling them earlier, and Felix firmly objected her having anything like that because it's not sanitary. He gave a long speech how those syrups are sitting there for who knows how long before they are used and replaced, and even then it's probably just a refill. And people are sneezing nearby the slushy cart, which means germs! So, he gave her a firm 'NO' for slushy treats or any other street food.

But Sophia really wanted this icy treat, and she resorted to sneaking out after telling her secretary that if Felix asks about her whereabouts, she is busy.

Her phone buzzed and she checked it. Third message from Felix. Sophia wondered, if she is out for that long? No. Only about twenty minutes. Why is he sending her a third message already? Why is he asking what she is doing? Does he have a sixth sense or something like that? Usually, when they are in the office, hours can pass before he messages her. Why is this a third message in twenty minutes how she left?

Sophia took a bite from slushy while carefully looking around to ensure that Felix is not watching her from somewhere. If she texts him that she is buried in documents, or in a meeting, and he is watching her… that would be embarrassing.

Sophia's eyes landed on a young lady who was in line to buy a slushy. 'Why does she look familiar?'

Young lady reminded Sophia of someone, but she was not sure of whom… an unpleasant feeling is associated with that young lady.

Sophia reached for her jacket lapel and pressed a button on her brooch to initiate a high-definition recording. Sophia smiled at the thought that this brooch is a device that Felix personally created for her. It is a very stylish brooch with gemstones arranged in a hexagonal pattern. Besides looking pretty, it has a GPS and high-definition camera with different features, such as night vision and x-ray. Of course, it can be accessed by Eve. Sophia is currently using the camera to secretly record that young lady, so that later she can observe her up-close when she zooms into the video.

Also, with this recording handy, if necessary, Sophia can ask Sarah to do a facial recognition… because that woman really invokes unpleasant feelings in Sophia, and she is not sure why.

Sophia was fixatedly staring at the woman on the other side of the fountain, who was now getting herself a slushy, when her phone started ringing. Sophia nervously fidgeted before picking up.

"Yes, my darling hubby?"

"Mmm…" Felix's voice came from the phone. "You are not responding to my messages, so I got worried. Are you OK?"

"Yes, yes. Perfectly fine!"

"Your secretary says you are busy. Make sure you don't work too much."

Sophia's back stiffened and she let an awkward laugh. "Don't worry, don't worry… few more documents and I will reach a point when I can take a break."

"Let me know if you need a massage. You know my services are always available."

Based on his voice, Sophia can tell that he is smiling. But she is guilty of sneaking out, so she can't enjoy it. "Oh, not now. I will give you a call in a bit. OK, my dear husband?"

"I see… Are you sure you don't need a massage? You look tense."

Sophia's face fell. She glanced on the side and saw Felix walking toward her. He had an 'I-caught-you' expression while slowly advancing toward her.

Sophia's mind was scrambling for an excuse, but nothing good came to her. So, she meekly smiled.

Felix sat next to her on the bench, glanced at the slushy in her hand and then squinted at Sophia. "I'm waiting."

"For what?" Sophia blinked few times.

"For an explanation."

Sophia still didn't find anything useful in her mind, so she went with the obvious. "It is what you see. I'm having a slushy."

"I thought we discussed this."

Felix smiled, but Sophia can tell that he is upset.

"No, no, we didn't. You talked about it. And you said it's a NO. But you didn't take my opinion into consideration."

Felix almost rolled his eyes. "What is your opinion?"

"My opinion is that I want a slushy… Didn't you hear that pregnant women have cravings? And if I don't fulfill them it will be bad for the baby?" Sophia didn't have any problems sounding like a child who was wronged.

Felix looked at Sophia helplessly. "Mrs. Martin, I told you that is not healthy, and it's not nutritious either…" He sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You can share my slushy." Sophia hovered a plastic spoon filled with blue and purple colored ice in front of his mouth. "I even got for the bodyguards…"

Felix glanced around and saw four bulky men eating colorful slushies. He stifled a laugh and opened his mouth in surrender.

Sophia happily placed the spoon in his mouth.

"What do you think?" Sophia eagerly waited for his response.

"Sweet ice." Felix flatly said.

Sophia wrinkled her nose in protest and leaned into Felix's embrace while enjoying her slushy.

"Oh, I recorded a lady." Sophia remembered after some time. "She was standing there, buying slushy. She looked familiar, but I can't remember from where…"

"During pregnancy memory issues are common. It's just due to hormones, and after delivery it will return to normal." Felix explained.

"I'm not comfortable with memory loss idea… I always remember people, names… And this one is almost there…" Sophia frowned as if she is trying to squeeze that woman's identity out of her brain. She gasped. "OH! Impossible…"

"You remembered?" Felix craned his neck to get a better view of her face.

"Yes. But it's NOT possible." Sophia was visibly shaken. "She should be dead…"

"What?"

Sophia frowned. She was not sure if she should tell this to Felix or not. "I will ask Sarah to do a facial recognition. To confirm… before I make some crazy claims."

Sophia texted Sarah: "I stored a video on the cloud share. Woman in blue top and khaki shorts. Can you confirm if that is Katherine?"

Sophia stood up from the bench and faced Felix. "Let's go back to office."

She carelessly dumped container with leftover treat. She didn't feel like having it anymore.

…

Sophia entered her office and paced back and forth for a minute before her phone rang.

It was Sarah. "Katherine who?"

Sophia took a deep breath, glanced at the door making sure they are closed so no one can overhear and spoke with difficulty: "The one who six years ago said she is pregnant with Mark's child… and she killed herself."

There was a long silence until Sarah asked: "You are kidding, right?" She knew that Mark and Sophia had a fallout because of some third woman, but she didn't know it was something like this. And did Sophia say that the woman killed herself?

"Sarah… I don't think I will forget her face as long as I live. Can you confirm if it's her… or her twin sister? I will send you some information so you can find out details about Katherine's suicide." Yes, Sophia thought that this makes sense. Twin sister would explain this! On the other side, if that was Katherine, what does that mean?

Sophia noticed that Sarah is not responding. "Sarah?"

"Yes, yes…" It took some time for Sarah to react. She was still processing what Sophia said. "I will look into it and get back to you as soon as I have something. Send me the information you mentioned, and also the exact time and location where this was recorded? It will help me use surrounding cameras to track her movements."

"Sure.. I will send you right now."