When the sun had just begun to show its smile upon the face of earth, Sofia was awakened by feathery kisses of her devoted husband trailing a ticklish and warm path down her shoulder, causing goose bumps to erupt everywhere.

She unfolded her eyes to Max's sluggish grin and then he greeted her 'morning' with the kind of fervent kiss that had her toes curl inevitably. And as she returned the favor, they'd made love again. The sleep had not completely abandoned her eyes, and as Max loved her so slowly - with so much intensity, she lapsed between dozing off to the darkness of slumber and relishing the incredible pleasure.

It was eminently serene. Almost as though it were a dream.

While their sleek bodies moved so sensually against one another in the most intimate ways, Sofia wondered if sex felt like this to everyone else as well – this overwhelmingly feverish and all-consuming.

Last night, Sofia was frozen for a long minute after Max had pointed out the fact that they'd not used any protection which he had apparently kept at the bedside drawer earlier, but had forgotten completely about after the eventful day. He seemed unusually silent at the little slip up, his face void of emotions and she could not figure out what was going on in that mind of his. She guessed that he too would find it a little too early – the prospect of becoming a parent at this stage of their marriage. However, Sofia relaxed a couple seconds later recalling that the date of her period was just around the corner and a round of unprotected love making wouldn't really end up with her getting knocked up. Max had just smiled and buried his face in her hair when she told him just that.

"We should do this...," back to their morning escapade – she moaned when he shifted a bit, still buried inside her even after they were both sated since a while. "A lot."

He chuckled, nose buried in the crook of her neck, voice husky from both sleep and the exhaustion from their recent activities. The vibration of his chest rumbling with the chuckle had her tremble.

"That's a splendid idea which's going to be materialized no matter if you had voiced it or not."

She had her arms wrapped around his shoulders as he still lied upon her. Feeling his lips stretch up to a huge smirk, she swung a hand and placed a loud slap on his back. "You sound like a brute."

"But I AM a brute," was his cheeky retort.

The basta*d!

She loved these easy banters between them. They confirmed that Max was indeed her best friend first and foremost, despite the fact that he had become many more things to her along the way.

--

"I'm Joe Ramsey, Jason Ramsey my father – the owner of Ramsey chain of restaurants," divulged the unknown man rescued unexpectedly from Sofia's raid into Mevil's mansion.

"Master chef Jason Ramsey?" Sofia cried, her eyes widening.

Joe nodded solemnly.

"Mevil had his eyes set on the restaurant dad has opened right next to his still under-construction hotel." While a gaping Sofia had yet to recover from her surprised state, Joe described. "Mevil's weary that right next to dad's restaurant his business's going to fail miserably, which technically I think it definitely will. Not that I'm boasting or something, but hell - it's damn true that my dad is one of the best chefs globally."

Sofia had finally calmed down from the high of this newly received information. Inhaling a long breath she nodded in agreement.

Jason Ramsey was her idol in the world of professional cooking. Therefore, she couldn't be blamed for her frozen state of utter surprise. Who could, after all, tell that she had mistakenly rescued her favorite chef's only son!

Hail destiny, the mastermind of all extraordinary situations!

"By kidnapping me, Mevil was trying to force my dad into transferring the entire restaurant property to his name. I was imprisoned by that peeve since three days now," Joe grunted and then sighed tiredly. "You know, it takes a little time to do all the - transferring property to someone - stuff. But you saved me, Sofia, and I owe you my two eyes."

Two eyes! Now that's odd.

Joe explained himself seeing Sofia's flabbergasted face, "Mevil threatened to stick a screw-driver into my eyes had dad delayed completing the demands."

Oh!

Joe was starting to yawn and slur while leaving no stone unturned to voice out his gratitude; praising how Sofia saved his eyes and his life through her hired goons. Soon, he had his eyes closed, mouth however moving - speaking incoherent things.

This guy seemed truly a mental in many ways.

Watching Joe drifting off to sleep Sofia began drifting off too, but into some particular memories that had transpired just this morning, memories that caused her whole body to blush.

It made her wonder if she were to become a human tomato very soon!

"Thinking about a certain morning?" muttered a voice next to her ear and she jumped a bit getting startled. "Or a certain brute perhaps?"

She looked at Joe snoring in front of her on the guest bed. And then focused sideways to Max standing next to the sofa she was sitting on, his mouth stretched into a teasing smile.

She'd been caught red handed.

She didn't answer. She just stared at him while moving to stand on her feet.

Freshly showered, very much ready for office, with his black suit on, standing tall with the right amount of muscles prominent under that fitting shirt – Max looked every bit a scrumptious male.

She would have pounced on him straightaway if not for Joe –son of her favorite celebrity chef— snoring away like a train approximately twelve feet away.

"If you keep staring at me like this," Max strolled closer to her. "I'll have to introduce you to more of my brutish ways."

He stopped when he was merely an inch away from her.

"I'll take the risk then," she smirked up at him boldly, biting her bottom lip when his eyes darkened. "And get familiar with those ways you're talking about."

His nose almost touched hers and she could bet her left leg that he was going to kiss her right there and then.

But a bored voice from from somewhere interfered, "Just make sure to take that introduction out of this room, I don't want to end up dreaming about anyone else's sexual encounters other than my own."

While Sofia gasped and backed off from Max with a red face, Max just - well, he looked utterly irritated at the interruption.

"By the way," Joe yawned. "Are you guys trying voyeurism?"

"You were sleeping," Max deadpanned.

"The medicines make me drift in and out of sleep without a notice," Joe raised a brow. "Anyway, then you guys are attempting to fulfill some kind of a fantasy, right? Like - getting it on in front of a sleeping man, while every moment the thought of him waking up and getting traumatized with the sight of seeing you doing the dirty would make you the rebellious kind of excited."

Max's lips were now pressed into a thin line. One look at his face and Sofia could tell that his irritation over Joe had successfully escalated.

"Joe!" Sofia chastised softly. "We were doing nothing of that sort."

"I was just merely trying to kiss my own wife in my own home," she heard Max mutter beside her. Thankfully, it was inaudible to Joe's ears.

Changing the embarrassing topic, Sofia told Joe to take care of himself while she left for work. Joe here was highly excited hearing that Sofia was a professional cook too — that she was running her own small restaurant.

The admiration in Joe's sparkling eyes was quite palpable. He promised that he would visit Mary's and share a tip or two he had learnt from his father. Joe here was also following his father's footsteps, in his last year at the culinary school back in the U.S. and the only heir to his father's dynasty.

Undoubtedly, Sofia was ecstatic with Joe's promise to share some cooking tips and recipes with her.

Coming back to their room, Max was literally shoving his laptop into the bag.

"I don't like him," he announced out of the blue. "Not one bit."

Sofia on the other hand was struggling with the lock of the window.

"He talks rubbish and he doesn't have any manners," he went on. "The bloody moron's a refugee under my roof but doesn't care to show any gratification about the fact."

Sofia glared at the window hard. "The window is jammed!"

Max growled from where he was sitting at the edge of the bed. "You're not even listening to me, Sof!"

Sofia spun around quick with her hands on her hips. "That's because you're complaining like a crabby child."

Max looked at her incredulously. "He's fascinated with you."

His out of the blue comment caught Sofia off guard. After a second of pregnant pause she threw her head back and laughed at the hilarity of what Max had said. "That is just preposterous, Max," she said between laughter. "Jason Ramsey's son – the next star master chef is definitely not fascinated with the plain me! We just share the same interest in cooking, that's all."

However, Max didn't share her humor. "You sell yourself too short, Sof, and can't seem to notice what kind of effect you leave on the vulnerable male population. From where I see it, Joe is the damsel who you've saved from distress," he breathed. "He's definitely fascinated with you."

Again, a moment of silence later Sofia began laughing. She stalked towards a now sulking Max and straddled him making him lean back on the bed. "That's definitely jealousy I smell, dear husband."

When Max tried to protest defensively, Sofia cut him off with a quick kiss on the lips, "Besides, that poor guy's going to contact his father now and leave probably in a couple hours to the hotel he's staying over here in Asthel."

Now that got Max to relax.

Sofia rolled her eyes.

This guy could be so possessive at times! Though it was troublesome at times, she had to admit that it was kind of cute as well.

If there is light in love, there is some darkness too.

Having a quick breakfast, Sofia stood at the drive-way, bidding their both refugees farewell as they left. Max had left already. He had a case this afternoon that needed an intense preparation he said.

"I will never forget what all you've done for me, Sofia," With teary eyes Genevieve held Sofia's hands.

"You've literally given me a new life."

"Make sure you fill this new life with as much happiness you can," Sofia smiled. "But of course after we send Mevil to where he belongs – inside a jail cell, locked away forever."

Max had made arrangements to send Genevieve and her brother Harry over to a faraway, heavily guarded secret location where Mevil would not be able to reach out with his dirty paws.

Sofia believed that nothing could go wrong from here.

Genevieve nodded with a happy sob. Sofia was wiping away her tears when Joe chose to shove himself in between the women and drag Sofia into a bone crushing hug. "I will never forget you as well!"

Sofia coughed a little, feeling loss of breath and patted his back awkwardly. "Uh... same here."

"Oh...," Realizing he was suffocating her, Joe stepped back rubbing the back of his neck. He turned serious a moment later.

"No, I'm serious, Sofia. You're my hero and I'm indebted to you forever. Tell me what can I do for you?" Joe indulged. "Steal my father's secret recipes and supply them to you? Bring him over to promote your restaurant? I can even beat someone up for you too."

Now... now..., he's going a little overboard!

"Well, I already have people to do that beating up someone bit," Sofia cleared her throat, grateful that Max was not around to listen her say this. Vagga was almost a forbidden topic between them. "Also, it will be morally very evil if I receive secret recipes of your father stolen by you. I would rather settle with those simple tips you promised me earlier."

Joe's grin was blinding.

--

Sofia left for Mary's right after Genevieve with Harry and Joe left in separate cars.

A busy day passed by until she locked the front doors of her restaurant, it was already eight at night. She had arrived late and thus had to stay for those extra hours.

Anyway, she thanked the heavens for the efficient and dedicated staff she had, otherwise she feared she would have to stay at work and run around like a headless chicken till midnight.

She greeted Bean with a smile as the man opened the gates for her car. Debbie came bounding in cheerily and chatted away while accompanying her up the stairs.

"You won't have to bother getting your clothes from the room you were staying in all this time," Debbie beamed. "All your stuff has already been transferred to the master bedroom. Sir's strict order."

Sofia didn't know whether she should thank Debbie, or chastise her saying that she could have done the task by herself, or blush to her heart's content. Because, by seeing Debbie's beaming face it was apparent that the girl was quite aware of the development in Max and her relationship.

But even this embarrassment felt like one of the best contentments existing, Sofia basked in the feeling of which.

When Max came back home from work, she was there to greet him at the door, just how after a long day of labor a wife welcomes her husband into the comfort of home with a warm smile.

The moment he saw her stood before him, the exhaustion on his face dissipated as though it were never even there in the first place.

"The best thing to see after returning home," he ran a thumb at the side of her smiling lips. "How was your day?"

"As usual," Sofia pressed her palm on his coat covered chest. "And from the look you had earlier on that face of yours I guess yours had been quite," She paused to hook her arms into his as they started for their room. "Strenuous?"

"Uh-uh," He shook his head. "It's been remarkable in many ways."

"Won a case or two?" she suggested.

"Better," He smirked. "The number of cases me and my expert team of lawyers have filed upon Mevil ensued an urgent arrest warrant. While we speak about it, police is already hounding that bas***d down. He's soon to be presented in the high court for the amount of offences, for all the crimes he'd committed. All of his properties are also going to get raided by the end of tonight."

And that is how evil finally is defeated.

"That was impossibly quick," Sofia breathed out in relief and joy. They'd reached their room by then. Shrugging off his coat from his shoulders and throwing it off into the closet, Max reached out to her, cupping her face in his large hands. "I can go to any lengths and make all impossibles possible, to make sure you're safe."

Sofia recalled every bad and every good he did since she could remember. Indeed, it had always been because of her—for her.

It was not the first time that this epiphany had descended upon her, but unlike all the other times she could finally articulate the emotions that gripped her as consequence, throughout the rest of the night until consciousness left her.

~

Well, hello everyone! 

I'm back with an update after months, omg! And I feel so damn guilty but if I just say that life has become a little too busy and rough, would you understand and perhaps forgive me? 

How are you all doing in the recent state of suffering the entire world is facing due to a pandemic I still can't believe I'm witnessing during my lifetime, in this modern age?

Like many other families mine has also experienced the touch of this cold deadly disease. My grandma was diagnosed with Corona and all thanks to the almighty God and our health professionals, who are no less than superheroes, she has recovered. 

I understood panic when she was diagnosed. We were afraid for the entire family. 

So please stay safe everyone. Follow all the rules to steer clear of Covid-19, for yourself, for others.

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Lemme know about your thoughts about this chapter. Tell me which was your favorite part/line/dialogue, what moved you, what irritated you. 

Lots of love,
Lara.