Sofia

I walk out of the doctor's office and immediately spot Adrian. He's waiting patiently for me at the reception area, sitting next to an elderly couple. He looks so out of place here. Well, I guess we both do seeing that every other person here is a senior citizen. Just goes to show how weird this whole thing is. Or how much of a mess I am.

He stands up to greet me and gives me a tight hug. "How'd it go, darling?"

"Good, I think. Dr. Kim is seriously awesome. I really liked him. They're going to do some more blood work and I need to schedule an endoscopy with him."

"Endoscopy? Is that the one where they stick a camera down your throat to check your stomach?"

"Yeah," I say grimacing. "I need to talk to the receptionist about it."

He nods and follows me there.

"Um, hi. I need to schedule an endoscopy with Dr. Kim," I tell her.

"Sofia right?" she asks, sorting some files on her desk.

"Yes. Sofia Durant."

"Okay, he does surgeries on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. What day do you prefer?"

"Um, Friday, I guess." That'll give me time to rest during the weekend.

"The procedure involves general anesthesia so you'll need someone to take you home afterwards," she informs me.

I look towards Adrian and he's already agreeing. "Of course, I'll take you."

"It's a pretty quick procedure," the receptionist continues. "It usually lasts 15-20 minutes plus recovery time so the whole thing should take an hour. You'll need to fast that morning and also fill out a form online prior to the appointment with your medical history."

She gives me a pamphlet that has all the information on it and circles the important information before giving it to me.

"The earliest time I have on Friday is 8am. Is that okay?"

I look towards Adrian and he quickly nods at me again. At least if it's at 8am he won't have to miss much school.

"Yes, 8am is fine."

"Okay, I'm putting you in for 8am for this Friday. Just make sure you arrive at least 15 minutes before the procedure. It's also done at a nearby hospital so you'll need to go directly to the address on the pamphlet."

"Will I be able to go to school afterwards?"

"No. You'll be drowsy due to the anesthesia and we don't recommend doing any activity for the rest of the day. That's why it's important you have someone escort you home."

Adrian rubs my back and I can feel the tension there. I don't like the idea of missing school again, but I suppose this is more important. I'm so thankful he insisted on coming with me today, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to schedule this so quickly. Maybe I can ask Nico to take me instead as I don't want to continue bothering him with this stuff and my parents won't be back until next week.

"Are there any side effects after the procedure?" Adrian asks looking worried.

"There can be some cramping afterwards and occasionally people might get a slight fever, but nothing too severe. The main thing is to rest."

"Okay. Anything else you want to ask?" he nudges me.

"No, I think I'm good for now."

"Just call us if anything else comes up. No need to worry though. You'll be in and out before you know it," the receptionist assures me.

"Okay, thank you."

Adrian guides me out of the office and pulls me into another hug as we reach the elevator. "Are you nervous?"

"Yeah, a little bit. It seems pretty standard though, like people get these things done all the time. At least with all these tests, they'll be able to tell me if something is wrong."

He kisses me on the forehead. "Yeah, I'm sure you'll be fine. And if they do find something, then they can treat it so you can start feeling better."

I sigh into his chest. "Thank you for coming with me, Adrian. I was thinking I could just ask Nico to take me home instead on Friday so you don't have to keep taking me everywhere."

"Are you kidding? No way, Sofia. I'm taking you on Friday. But we can tell Nico as well if you want, I'm sure he'll want to come too."

I nod and try not to let this whole thing put a damper on my mood. It's a pain in the ass dealing with all this health stuff at the moment, but I guess I'll just have to suck it up and go through with it.

When we arrive back home, we run into Nico in the kitchen. He's eating a grilled cheese sandwich, which is practically the only thing he can make on his own. He immediately stands up from the stool he's been sitting on, and he almost looks like he's been waiting for me to arrive home.

"Why didn't you tell me, princess?"

Oh, shit. What the hell is he talking about? His tone is angry, but I detect some amusement behind it so I'm not exactly sure what this could be about.

I feel Adrian tense behind me, and I wonder if Nico may be referring to us. I don't know if I have the energy to deal with that right now after the visit to the doctor. If it is, I'm walking straight back to my room and ignoring him.

"Tell you, what?"

His face suddenly lights up. "That you kicked Ruiz's ass! I can't believe you wouldn't tell me that."

Oh, that. I had already forgotten about it. Seems like such a long time ago, but I've been so caught up in Adrian and this health stuff it just seems so ridiculous now.

"You kicked Ruiz's ass?" Adrian pipes in. "When was this?"

I wave a hand dismissively at both of them. "I just twisted his arm," I clarify.

"That's not what I heard," Nico replies.

"From who?" How does he even know about this?

"One of the guys on the team. You forget that word travels pretty fast around these parts," he explains.

"Are you serious? So the whole team knows about this?"

"No, he just made a comment about it to me in class today. He thought I knew already, so imagine my surprise when I found out."

"You guys are worse than girls when it comes to gossip," I point out.

Ignoring me and completely proving my point he says, "Okay, so spill, Sofia. Tell me exactly what he said to you, what you said, and what happened."

I look towards Adrian and he seems equally as eager to know the story. I can't help but roll my eyes at both of them.

"You're making this into a bigger deal than it is. I ran into him in the club when I went to the bathroom. He made some obnoxious comment about my outfit and not having my guard dogs to protect me. He tried to grab me so I jacked his arm back and twisted it and told him I would break it next time he tried something and that was it."

"That was it? How the hell did you do that?" Nico asks unbelieving.

I shrug. "It wasn't so difficult. Leo taught me when I was in London."

"Seriously? I didn't think you were into that kind of stuff."

"I'm not. He just showed me some self defense moves."

"Damn, Sofia. I wish I could have seen that. Actually, do it to Adrian so I can see."

"What? No! I'm not doing that," I immediately reply. I turn towards Adrian and he's staring at me with wide eyes.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind. I kind of want to see it, too," Adrian admits.

"It's not gonna work. You already know what I'm going to do. It only works if you take the person by surprise," I explain.

"Just do a quick demonstration. It doesn't have to be the real thing," Nico says.

God, he's really not going to drop this so I might as well just get it out of the way.

"Ugh, fine. So I guess, Adrian, just pretend you're coming at me," I tell him getting into position.

He frowns at me. "Okay, but I'm not gonna try to grab you or anything like that."

I nod at him and he stands in front of me. He hesitates and looks towards Nico. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. Stop being a pussy. She's not gonna really hurt you," he tells him.

"I'm not worried about me, you idiot. I'm worried about her," Adrian responds.

"Just do it, Adrian. I wanna go take a nap already," I tell him.

His eyes flicker to mine and I see the understanding behind them. Yes, that means with you.

He grins and instantly comes towards me. I step aside and easily push his arm back. I lock it and try to bring it up over his shoulder, but he's too tall and I can't manage to put my weight over him. I immediately feel deflated and drop his arm.

"I told you it wouldn't work," I say quietly.

Adrian spins around to look at me. "Are you kidding? That was really good!" he says excited.

Nico suddenly comes over and gives me a hug. "That was awesome, sis! I can't wait to tell the rest of the guys on the team that my little sister can kick ass," he says proudly.

"What are you talking about? I didn't even do the whole thing. Adrian is too tall for me to do it properly."

"Well, you still got behind him and twisted his arm back so he couldn't grab you. That's the whole point, right?" Nico says.

I shrug. "I guess. I probably wouldn't have been able to get away though."

"You could trip his legs. That would work," he tells me. "Adrian, turn around again so I can show her."

He complies and Nico positions him as I had done before. "Okay, so once you got his arm pulled back, you'll want to push his body forward with your free arm and then with your foot trip his leg back to get him off balance and make him fall."

Nico quickly demonstrates the move after he explains it and before I know it Adrian is on the floor. Wow, that was impressive.

"What the hell, man? A little warning next time," Adrian complains as he stands up.

Nico rolls his eyes at him. "Now you try," he tells me.

"Do it from the beginning though," Adrian says.

I shake my head at both of them. "I don't want to do this anymore."

"C'mon, Sofia. It'll take two seconds, I just showed you," Nico argues.

I take a deep breath and look at Adrian. He nods so encouragingly at me, it gives me belief.

"Fine, what the hell."

"Ready?" he asks me.

"Yeah."

He comes at me again, and just like before I manage to dodge him and bring his arm behind his back. I shove his body forward and I try to trip him but he's way too heavy and it doesn't work. I can't even get him to move an inch.

God, this is so fucking frustrating. I thought I could do this, but I can't. This is exactly why I didn't want to do it. Because now I know I've been running on false hope. I'm so disappointed in myself, especially after seeing Nico do it so easily.

It reminds me that I can't protect myself after all.

It reminds me that I'm so damn helpless.

A knot forms deep in my stomach. I try to swallow but it gets stuck in my throat. My head swarms and I think I'm going to be sick.

"Sofia?"

"Just leave me alone."

Before either of them can respond, I quickly walk out of the kitchen and lock myself in my room.