Rifia

## Image Gallery

Rifia/Image Gallery

**Rifia** (**Ri**/chard and So/**fia**) is a semi-canon pair between Richard and Sofia.

## Relationship

It was love at first sight for Sofia when she first met Richard in Little Ladies: Courtesy. Despite her constant flirting she did towards him. Sofia soon lost her feelings for Richard after he unintentionally ruined her expensive dress.

Ever since then, the two possessed a mutual dislike for each other due to Richard's great loathe towards Sofia's snobby personality, wealthy lifestyle and family background, and choice of clothing which he described as 'outrageous'.

Despite the two bonded at the end of Little Ladies, the two remained reluctant to accept each other, their newfound acceptance was immediately strained afterwards in Keeping You Waiting: Time Management and so on. The two had a tendency to act cold and hostile towards the latter, not wanting to admit their gratitude towards the opposite (mainly Sofia) whenever one attempted to help or praise the other. In spite of this, the two gradually displayed a warmer and nicer side of them over time.

Their relationship, however, leaped into greater change soon after; The two demonstrated amiable behaviour towards one another throughout the entire Book 23. As Richard acknowledged Sofia's (horrible) experience she had with her schoolmates. He then displayed a warmer side towards Sofia whom he called a "friend".

In Spick & Span: Cleanliness, Richard and Sofia's relationship soon became closer and more intimate. Despite the fact that the two still constantly get onto each other's nerves and constantly bicker over small matters, the two still greatly cared for the opposite's well-being.

It is hinted that Richard might have a small crush on Sofia, as he complimented her as a "doll" (especially since Richard is the type of person that holds high standards to one's appearance) and in one occasion when Sofia visited Richard uninvited, Richard brought up that he might potentially "bully" her since they were alone in the house. Richard also increasingly tend to tease and make fun of Sofia in the events of Spick & Span: Cleanliness.

## Synopsis

### Season 1

#### Little Ladies: Courtesy

Prior to the two meeting in person, Richard did not get to see Sofia when his mother brought her to see her friend and Sofia in their house.

The two finally met on a subsequent day on the school grounds. With both sides not knowing each other yet, the two had polarizing first impressions– it was love at first sight for Sofia, but disgust for Richard as he called Sofia a "gaudy girl" and a "circus freak". Richard saw Sofia once again when Anthony happened to drag Sofia pass his class for violating the school's dress code.

Over the next couple of days, Richard often bumped into Sofia whenever he walked to school, and with Sofia attempting to flirt with him all the time. Some time after school, Richard happened to see Sofia at a luxury shop as he stood outside the store to see Sofia flaunt. He then thought of Sofia to be as cute as a doll, and also a live portrayal of a fictitious fairy tale villain.

The two met once again when Sofia stole Richard's jacket and shoes to hide herself from getting caught by Anthony and Andrew. Richard chased after Sofia in attempt to retrieve his clothing from her and suceeded, only to have his jacket drenched with mud. Richard blamed Sofia for the damage of his jacket, but was retorted when Sofia punched him to the ground, calling him a "bully".

Richard was later dragged along to help Sofia to purchase new clothing for her at a mall. Richard could no longer tolerate Sofia's behaviour as he reprimanded her. Sofia then argued back, assuming how the reason of him scolding him was because of his poor background. This emotionally offended Richard, as he lied how he fancied Sofia in attempt to get her flustered as he left, wishing a karmic payback on Sofia for her actions.

When Richard saw a young girl on the streets crying over her spilled ice cream as her mother tried to console her and offered to buy her a new one. Richard then bore the intention to check on the well being of Sofia after his earlier encounter with 3 thugs. When he arrived, he discovered an unhurt Sofia, as she questioned Richard if he had brought her the food he promised. The 3 thugs arrived soon after as they attacked Richard. Sofia desperately went to ask for help to save Richard from passer-bys, but was denied by all of them due to their suspicion of her being a bad person because of her gothic clothing. When Sofia came back, she saw the 3 thugs gone, and an injured Richard sitting along an alley. Richard then stood up and left, dismissing Sofia while doing so. Devastated, Sofia froze on the spot as she cried.

The two met during the next day when they were once again walking their way to school. Richard addressed how the kid who just called Sofia beautiful as "blind". Sofia tried to greet him, but was given the cold shoulder when Richard explained how they had never met before. Sofia stood behind, saying how she wanted to apologise to him.

When Richard was going to get his reputation spoilt during his encounter with his childhood bullies, Sofia showed up and saved Richard from the twins by posing a threatening demeanour towards the two. A confused Richard asked Sofia on her reason for doing so, but she just explained how she just do what she thought is right. Richard displayed his gratitude towards Sofia as he accompanied her to school.

#### Keeping You Waiting: Time Management

The two met outside the school gates as both sides complained about seeing each other's presence. Sofia then noticed Joni and Mikael in front of them and proceeded to stalk them to the music room. Richard, out of curiosity, followed Sofia from behind. Richard hid behind a wall and saw a saddened Sofia as she stood outside the music room, looking at Candy JEM and Mikael having fun while practising for the upcoming concert.

Prior to the concert's rehearsal time, Sofia stood outside the concert hall, Richard showed up behind her, catching Sofia by surprise, as he asked Sofia for her presence in school during a weekend. Sofia was later on accepted by Mikael to replace Joni with her during the concert.

Richard once again popped out and frightened Sofia when she was eavesdropping Candy JEM on their way home. When Richard asked the then prideful Sofia whether or not is she happy to take up Joni's role during the performance, Sofia denied him claim. Richard wishes faith for Sofia during her upcoming performance, with the latter blushing when hearing his response.

During the day of the concert, Sofia purposely excused herself from the performance, texting Emilia that she had a cold. Richard, who was there to see Sofia perform stopped her from exiting the school gates and questioned her sudden change of mind for her not performing. Sofia humbly explained how she felt more comfortable and happy if she performed with her friends Zara and Qistina instead. Coincidentally, Zara and Qistina just arrived in school as Sofia ran over and hugged the two. Richard stared at the three from behind as he smiled.

#### Rules of Popularity: Reputation

Before Sofia could pay for an expensive gown with her credit card to the store's sales clerk, Richard snatched it away from Sofia to prevent her from buying it, thus making the latter furious. After giving a warning to the sales clerk for his trickery and deceiving behavior, Sofia ended up getting mad at Richard; yelled at him after they departed from the store. Hence, starting an argument between the two. Qistina and Zara then commented on their relationship and said that it had been simpler in being friends with Sofia ever since she befriended Richard.

Richard and his mother later paid a visit to Sofia's house. Politely greeting the latter's mother, Sofia's mother was flattered by Richard's politeness and praised him, making Sofia furious as she threw a tantrum in front of them and nearly tried to spill out Richard's true behavior to them before getting ceased by him. Dragging the spoilt princess away from the mothers and into the kitchen, Richard explained the difference between Sofia's personality and his in attempt to correct Sofia's point of view towards the similarity of their behaviors.

One a subsequent day, Sofia avoided getting into a conversation with Richard on the way to school by cause of the argument she had with him before. Zara then brought up the fact that she saw Richard as a nice and considerate person, which greatly angered the latter as she confronted her- not until Richard appeared and attempted to cease Sofia's rash action towards her friend. Saying that he came to apologize to Sofia for the arguments they previously had, the latter brushed off before realizing that Richard had stole her earrings. Struggling to get her accessories back, Richard immediately slipped his gym shirt onto Sofia so that she can avoid getting a dress-code violation. He then proceeded, not knowing Sofia was staring and blushing at him from behind.

Richard later approached Candy JEM's class, wanting to ask his gym shirt back from Sofia. Announcing his reason for coming into the class, the classmates shuddered as they stared at Sofia in disbelief of her actually being the reason for Richard's visit to the class. Sofia then shamelessly revealed to Richard that she had thrown his shirt away, stunning him (and Zara and Qistina). As Zara argued with her, Richard tried to get use to the current status of his gym shirt and patted her on the head, which made the latter blush at Richard's smile- all of which were sighted by Sofia at Richard and Zara from behind.

The following day, Sofia attempted to sneak into Richard's classroom to return Richard's gym shirt that she owed him. Sofia then peeped from the entrance of the classroom, noticing Zara was giving a brand new gym shirt to Richard on behalf of believing Sofia would not return his original to him, leaving a blank expression on Sofia's face.

Soon after, Sofia was approached by a worried Qistina. Qistina's commotion alerted Richard and Zara as they walked towards the two. Richard then questioned Sofia for her presence outside his class, and got utterly confused when a furious Sofia reacted angrily at him.

After the incident of Sofia being blamed for pushing Qistina and Zara down the stairs, Richard visited Sofia in attempt to get enlightened on whether the latter was to blame for her two friends' injuries. Sofia got mad when Richard described her as a hard-hearted person and argued back, not knowing the words that she had spilled out had impulsively hurt the latter's feelings. The two were later approached by Sofia's mother, whom eagerly welcomed Richard's for his sudden visit to their home. Covering up his true feelings he had then, Richard politely denied Sofia's mother's offer to go inside the house and proceeded to go back home. A saddened Sofia ran up to her room and locked herself up and wept, regretting for what she had said to Richard.

A few days later, Richard visited Zara and Qistina at the hospital. When Zara told him not to mistake Sofia as the culprit whom pushed her and Qistina down the stairs, Richard replied saying that he had acknowledged Sofia's personality before.

When Sofia got ridiculed and bullied by several schoolmates of hers, Richard punched one of them in attempt to avenge Sofia for what the bullies had done to her. Noticing Sofia still traumatized by the bullies' mean act, Richard proceeded to pull her up from the ground, telling her that she had done nothing wrong to deserve this. The traumatized princess then fainted, shocking Richard and Candy JEM, all worried about Sofia's condition.

Sofia was then brought back to her home. Awakening from her slumber, she saw herself in her bedroom lying on bed. Hearing a commotion right outside her room. Sofia quickly knew the voice as Richard's as she quickly laid back down to pretend that she was still asleep. Carrying a tray of prepared food for Sofia, Richard entered her room and wanted the latter to eat it. Purposely acting cold and hostile to Richard, Sofia then sheepishly thanked him for rescuing her from the bullies. Reacting to Sofia's compliment with a smile, Richard said that he truly felt to smile for her when she questioned it, making the latter blushed in embarrassment.

Noticing that Richard was still in her room while she was eating, Sofia immediately suspected Richard for adding something 'weird' in her porridge. Fidgeting around on her bed, Richard commented that he saw her actions adorable was the reason why he could not stop smiling. Richard then questioned on Sofia's bullying she had from her classmates, Sofia replied by saying how she and her classmates truly felt about one another, making her having little friends in school. Richard then acknowledged her feelings and comforted her, saying that he was her friend and he would always support her.

Candy JEM then came and paid a visit to Sofia. Joni then noticed how angry Sofia was for them budging into her room, she teased Sofia and Richard that their sudden visit might be the reason that made Sofia so furious, and questioned the two's relationship for being intimate after Richard exclaimed thoroughly on how Sofia had pressured herself.

On the following day, after Sofia exited her classroom with a few new friends she had made, Richard was seen standing outside Mrs. Lawson's office, being punished for defending Sofia by punching the bully the other day. Richard then felt happy for Sofia for making progess in rebuilding her reputation. Anthony, whom was looking out for Richard, hit him, thinking that he wanted to flirt with Sofia and her friends.

#### Athletic Ace: Sports

During the basketball competition between Sacred Hearts Primary School and a rivaling school, Sofia was seen sitting at the stands watching Richard and the others preparing for the next round of the competition.

#### Spick & Span: Cleanliness

Sometime after school, Sofia approached Corey to question the Basketball team's training session in order to know Richard's current presence. Once knowing it was cancelled, Sofia then went to Richard's house to pay a visit.

Sofia's sudden visit took Richard by surprise, as the princess proceeded straight into Richard's room without his permission. Richard then ceased her from entering, as he explained about the fact that since they are alone in the house, he might "hurt" her. Nevertheless, Sofia ignored his warning and went to his room.

While Sofia was arranging her comic books into Richard's bookshelf, Richard picked up one of her comics and scanned and read out the somewhat inappropriate and racy title and cover, much to the girl's dismay and embarrassment. When Sofia attempted to retrieve her book from him, Richard assumed that the reason behind why she hid her comics in her place was because of her failing grades which resulted in her parents not allowing her to read them.

## Evidence

* Sofia fell in love at first sight with Richard in Little Ladies: Courtesy when she saw him talking to a few admirers on his way to school. Sofia then constantly flirted with him whenever possible, but soon lost her feelings for him after Richard accidently bumped into Sofia and ruined her clothes when trying to retrieve his stolen jacket from her.
* The two had occasionally helped each other before.
	+ Sofia helped Richard to get rid of his arrogance and high standards for people, ever since then, the two had become friends.
	+ When Richard's childhood bullies were about to reveal Richard's true nature (his arrogance and rudeness) to his friends in attempt of ruining Richard's reputation, Sofia dressed up in her gothic clothing and scared the bullies (and Richard's friends) away. Hence preventing his good image from getting spoiled.
	+ In order to help Sofia to reset her reputation, Richard did a huge part in helping her- even to a point of getting himself in trouble; ended up getting punished by Mrs. Lawson for physically hitting a boy that bullied Sofia.
* Sofia tends to blush whenever Richard complimented on her dainty appearance.
* Joni brought up the fact that Richard and Sofia had bonded and became more intimate with each other.
* When Sofia went to Richard's house uninvited, Richard warned Sofia that he might "bully" her since they were alone in the house:

* After seeing Sofia was constantly sneezing, Richard provided Sofia with his jacket to help her deal with her allergy.
* When Sofia sneezed three times in a row, Richard teased Sofia, stating the superstition of that is a sign of how when one is in love.
* Sofia was jealous of Zara's friendship and crush she had on Richard.
* When Joni thought why Sofia was upset about their sudden visit, she brought up that Sofia was angry because they interrupted their 'personal' conversation. Sofia was blushing when Joni mentioned it.
* Anthony mentioned how he always see the two making up for each other's shortcomings whenever they are together.

### Fan Book

In commemoration of *Candy Series* 5th Anniversary, an official fan book published by the authors revealed several information regarding Sofia and Richard's relationship.

1. **In a Q&A section, Richard was asked about Sofia:**

* **Question:** What do you think of Sofia?
	+ **Richard's answer:** She's a person with many weaknesses.
* **Question:** What are her weaknesses?
	+ **Richard's answer:** There are so many it'll take three days and three nights to list them out.
* **Question:** What is it about her that made you befriend her?
	+ **Richard's answer:** She's very frank, and she doesn't hide her weaknesses (although this is bad too).

**Sofia was also asked about Richard in the Q&A section:**

* **Question:** What do you think of Richard?
	+ **Sofia's answer:** He's a black-hearted, two-faced hypocrite. He always does things that I despise!
* **Question:** So why do you treat him as a good friend?
	+ **Sofia's answer:** Because I can be myself around him.

2. In a relationship chart between a couple of *Candy Series* characters, how Sofia and Richard see each other were stated: Sofia think of Richard as a two-faced hypocrite while Richard think of Sofia as an unruly wayward with princess syndrome.

3. Sofia sees Richard as a foe, and often argue with him whenever they meet. Nevertheless, the two understand each other's feelings and character.

4. Richard helps Sofia whenever she is in distress– to a degree of physically attacking people who mistreated her (noticeably when Sofia was bullied by 3 boys when they hanged dummies which resembled Zara and Qistina to scare her). Richard also likes to make fun of people, including Sofia.

## Among The Fans

Rifia is possibly one of the most shipped couple in Candy Series. The relationship of Rifia is arguably the less comedic and more serious of *Candy Series* ships. The fans also ship this pair because despite the two's constant arguments and objections to the opposite, they still bear a strong bond of trust and often support each other whenever one is in trouble. The pair also appeared in some of Candy Factory's artwork. Currently, this pair is the main focus of several books of Candy Series, such as:

* Little Ladies: Courtesy
* Rules of Popularity: Reputation
* Spick & Span: Cleanliness
* In This Together: Unity
* Correcting a Big Spender: Concept of Money

Rifia rivals with Riczara, which is a pairing between Richard and Zara and Rimia, which is a pairing between Richard and Mia, and Eafia, which is a pairing between Eason and Sofia.

## Other Media

### Candy Cuties

Rifia along with a few Candy Series couples appear in some Candy Cuties book. Rifia is featured in:

* Candy Cuties Vol. 8

## Reference

1. ↑ Spick and Span: Cleaniness, page 123-124
2. ↑ Rules of Popularity: Reputation, page 38-44
3. ↑ Athletic Ace: Sports, Page 14
4. ↑ Rules of Popularity: Reputation, page 139
5. ↑ Spick & Span: Cleanliness, page
6. ↑ Rules of Popularity: Reputation, page 151