After 9 years, William was returning, now an extremely wealthy and powerful top dog. It was a chilly Tuesday morning. The weather was calm and the skies blue. Being the early hours of the day, much of the city was still in oblivion. East of the airport, a bird “white Learjet 75 private aircraft” was prepping for landing.

On the airport, a fleet of Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce Phantom limousines surrounded by men in black awaited. Amongst the fearsome, tough-looking, no-nonsense men was Nicholas, William’s right hand man and one of the executor of his personal affairs.

Shortly, the jet landed. As it was taxing to William’s private hanger, the men in black walked from the limos and aligned beside the red carpet to receive, welcome, and protect their rajah as was required of them.

Momentarily, the jet halted in line with the red carpeting. The door opened and out came William, accompanied by two more men in black. He then shook hands with Nicholas and walked towards one of the limousines as they conversated.

“Welcome back Sir William. You should know that, we found Sophia, as per your instructions. She is okay but…she has been living miserably ever since you last saw her. Even worse, she has been bullied terribly by her family for her actions and current appearance,” Nicholas informed.

Upon hearing these news, William was very upset. To add salt to the injury, the emotions triggered an even more perturbing memory. On 13th September 9 years ago, 52 members of his family were wiped out by a fierce bomb explosion at their family corporation’s reunion party. Were it not for Sophia, whom saved him and his sister’s life after which, they both fled to the Northern region, they could be among the severely burnt dead bodies recovered at the scene.

Ever since, only 16 years of age, through the years, he has struggled his way up and managed to become the youngest and most well-known warlord in the region. His younger sister, Kate, worked her way as well and became the most deadly hacker around the world.

After a short while of silence, lost in the disturbing memory, he finally responded.

“Thank you Nicholas. All that matters is, she is still alive and, now we know where she resides. That gives comfort to my soul.”

Far end, on the Southern side of the city, in a medium sized, not well varnished house was Sophia’s habitation. After she was badly injured during her efforts to rescue William and his younger sister, she was disfigured and lives covered in blankets since. Even worse, when her family found out about her actions, they humiliated and discriminated her for the doings and the transformed appearance.

House-arrested by her physical appearance, she was bounded indoors for the best part of her days. She depended on, Brendah, a servant she had assigned to her by her grandfather. It was only during the night that she could take a short stroll. She could not risk going far off the small house for the risk of catching cold and infections. Her body was extremely weakened by the injuries she got back then.

The best and protective part of her outer skin was taken away by the injuries. In comparison to how beautiful she was before the accident, her current appearance was heart-breaking to even look at. Her joy had completely melted from her face. She could hardly do anything considered fun by the normal lot. The only fun she had was, sharing stories with her helper, whom happened to be not fun-loving at all.

In other words, her helper was more of a reflection of her current inner state after the toll on her for years of house arrest and her new look. The thought of her future life with her childhood friend killed her by the hour. In comparison to how she dreamt of her future before the incident and then, she really had a good enough reason to be gloomy.

Back to William, his day was about to get darker. The fact that his men had found Sophia brought him a little smile on his face but, the news of her current state shredded it all away again. Even worse, Nicholas had some more stubbing news about Sophia.

“I think it is also good for you to know that, Jefferson, Sophia’s grandfather plans to get rid of her once and for all.”

“And, what exactly is that supposed to mean Nicholas?”

“He plans not to kill her but, to betroth her. In fact, according to his statement, anyone willing to marry her will be thanked.”

“That is no good news Nicholas, but, every cloud has a silver lining I guess. I look forward to his gratitude Nicholas. I look forward to his gratitude.”

Nicholas then went ahead to explain to him that, Jefferson had already found two suitors for her. Unfortunately, none of them was good enough for her. Due to her current state, no man in his right man senses would dare ask for her hand in marriage. As for this reason, one of the suitors was an old city beggar.

Having lived the best part of his life alone and without a chance of ever getting a wife, having Sophia’s hand in marriage was an express highway to paradise.

The second suitor as Nicholas explained was nothing better. He was an addicted gambler and a junkie. For his case, no sane woman in her right senses would ever want him for a husband. Since Sophia had not much of an option, she was the perfect candidate for him.

On hearing all these told to him, he got angry by the minute. Being his best childhood friend, he really felt bad for Sophia. Besides, back then, he had feelings for her but did not get a chance to tell it to her.

With all that in his mind, the need to show his gratitude to her, and the fact that Sophia was the reason he was breathing, he had no other choice but to become a suitor as well. That very moment, he changed his plans to making it officially known to her grandfather that, he was to be one of the suitors.

Despite his request being strange in the eyes of everyone else, her grandfather saw him as the best suitor for her. Firstly, he was wealthy and most of all, a noble and normal handsome young man. Be that as it may, only Jefferson saw things in that manner. The rest of her relatives had different opinions on the same matter.

They much hated Sophia so much that all they just wanted was to get the hell rid of her and her troubles. More demonic, some of her relatives did not even care how low the husband was as long as she got off their hands. In fact, they hoped the worst for her and that she got a low-level good-for-nothing man for a husband.

Eventually, the long wait for all the parties was over and the day came. Kibich city became the second Merchant of Venice. This time, William was Bassanio ready to win Portia’s hand in marriage, in this case, Sophia.

As it turned out, destiny was in their favor. Luckily, William made his choice wisely, won the contest and in turn, Sophia’s hand in marriage. He became Sophia’s official fiancé. His joy upon this shocked everybody that was witness including Sophia herself. She could not still comprehend how such a wealthy, powerful, handsome young man would ever want her for a wife despite his wide range of choice from the most beautiful of women.

She felt perturbed and worried to the stomach than ever by the turn of events. Deep down, she was afraid that, the day had just sentenced her to more years of pain and anguish. William had changed drastically since the last time they met. She had not yet recognized him as her childhood friend.

To her relief, William showed affection towards her, was gentle and took her to his villa. As if that was not enough, he mentioned to her that he was a doctor and was going to cure her condition. He was very determined and confident that he could cure her and make her the happiest girl in the world.