Before it was even nine o’clock last night, Sophia fell asleep. And at around six o’clock in the morning, she woke up. Right then, the room was still pitch black.
After ending her call with Katherine the previous night, she set her phone to the Do Not Disturb mode straight away.
Turning on the lights, she groped for her phone and saw that she had a call from Yvonne three minutes after Katherine’s call. It rang for eight seconds before the other party hung up.
At once, she recalled Katherine mentioning that she and Alexander made the trending list last night. Unbidden, she arched a brow and logged into Twitter.
At that hour, the trending headlines from last night were still there. The trending headline about her and Alexander occupied the sixth place down the list though she had no idea whether it had dropped or was ranked such from the very beginning.
Clicking in for a look, Sophia saw that someone photographed her and Alexander when they bumped into each other at the hotel in Coldbridge. That aside, there were also pictures of her in Alexander’s car after she wrecked the Whitton residence that day and of them both at the airport yesterday.
According to those photos, the user who broke the news claimed that she and Alexander had rekindled their romance.
Hmm, rekindled our romance? How intriguing! It sounds as though there was really something between Alexander and me in the past. How hilarious!
Exiting Twitter, Sophia navigated to WhatsApp. Katherine sent her many messages before calling, all castigation of Alexander and some screenshots of her riposting the netizens.
She replied with an emoticon before sitting up and getting off the bed to wash up.
It was very early, so she planned to do some yoga.
Mere moments after she had finished her yoga practice, she received a call from Yvonne.
“Should I deal with the matter about you and Mr. Xenos on Twitter, Ms. Yarrow?”
Gazing up at the ceiling, Sophia ordered, “Investigate the identity of the person who published it.”
Someone who dares to tail Alexander and me definitely isn’t simple.
“Understood, Ms. Yarrow.”
As Yvonne spoke, she paused for a moment before venturing, “Oh yes, do I need to do anything about the matter in Coldbridge, Ms. Yarrow?”
“Not at the moment.”
“All right. See you later, Ms. Yarrow.”
“See you later.”
It was the first day of work after the new year, so Sophia couldn’t be absent from the meeting on the first day, no matter how lazy she felt.
Sunshine Group had a meeting at ten o’clock in the morning, so Sophia drove over after breakfast.
She didn’t attend the meeting at nine o’clock. Rather, Yvonne attended in her stead. She only made an appearance at the executive meeting at ten o’clock. That was Sunshine Group’s practice, and all the long-time employees were aware of it. Unless one made it to the top, one would never know the identity of the boss behind the scenes, Suny.
The executive meeting took almost two hours. After leaving the conference room, Sophia glanced at the time, only to see that it was already a quarter past twelve.
The executive meeting took almost two hours. After leaving the conference room, Sophia glanced at the time, only to see that it was already a quarter past twelve.
She turned her gaze to Yvonne. “Shall we have lunch together, Ms. Leighton?”
“Sure, Ms. Yarrow.”
No sooner had the two of them stepped out of the elevator than they bumped into someone from the Johnson family by sheer coincidence.
It was someone Sophia once met at the Xenos residence, Richard. The man was Miguel’s biological brother and Charles’ cousin.
“Why are you here?”
Evidently, Richard was very much surprised to see Sophia there.
He had always looked down on her, so his tone was questioning the instant he opened his mouth.
Quirking a brow, Sophia answered unhurriedly, “I work here.”
Beside her, Yvonne initially planned to speak, but she tactfully kept quiet after stealing a peek at Sophia.
“Why would Sunshine Group employ someone like you?”
“Mr. Johnson, Ms. Yarrow is a talent Suny attaches great importance to. Please show her some respect.”
Although Richard looked down on Sophia, he didn’t dare do the same to Suny. It was common knowledge that Yvonne was Suny’s secretary, so he naturally didn’t dare scorn her either.
As soon as she had spoken, the arrogance on his face vanished at once. “I’m sorry, Ms. Leighton. I came here today to see Suny.”
Yvonne looked at Sophia instinctively. The latter’s lips curled up, and she flashed him a smile. “I’m sorry, Mr. Johnson, but Suny won’t see you if you don’t have an appointment.”
“You have no right to speak here!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Johnson, but Ms. Yarrow is Suny’s new assistant.”
In response, Richard snorted. “Is she even worthy of being—”
“Apologies, Mr. Johnson.”
Yvonne had security come over, and Richard was dragged out half-forcibly.
Sophia eyed Richard’s back before inexorably shifting her gaze to Yvonne. “Why is he here?”
Following that, Yvonne told her about Richard and Miguel having had someone establish a company out there. However, it wasn’t doing well as a problem cropped up with its capital chain. As such, Richard’s motive for visiting was naturally to resolve that pressing issue.
Dipping her head, she added beside Sophia’s ear, “Their company especially collaborates with the companies of the Johnson family under their control.”
Sophia tutted softly. “Miguel and Richard are something else.”
Despite Charles’ personality, they still dare to get up to their tricks behind his back. If he were to learn about this, the show would probably be exceedingly interesting, yes?
“Should I do something about this, Ms. Yarrow?”
“It’s the Johnson family’s affairs, so we won’t meddle.”
Besides, Charles might not necessarily be unaware of them doing all this. Who knows, he might be waiting for them to do something huge so that he could get them in a single fell swoop.
“What would you like to eat for lunch?”
Compared to that, the food for lunch was more important.
Yvonne was stunned for a moment. When she had gathered her wits about her, she chose a place Sophia favored.
She knows my favorite foods like the back of her hand. Tsk-tsk. With such an attentive secretary, why would I need a man?
Yvonne had no idea that she gave her goddess such a feeling. If she knew, she would probably dump her boyfriend.
After lunch, Sophia went straight back to the mansion.
Ever since Katherine joined the filming crew, she no longer sought her out on WhatsApp all day long.
Just when Sophia woke up from her nap, she received an email from Yvonne.
The truth of the matter of her and Alexander making the trending list had come to light. It was a person who never crossed Sophia’s mind—Elise.
She initially thought that it was Bethany. After all, there had been no news from the latter for quite some time, and rumor had it that she had gone for filming.
Well, Elise is really bold. Never mind that she dares to make a move against me, but she even dares to go against Alexander.
Turning on her computer, she logged in to her email and sent a copy of the information to Charles.
Since the matter previously hadn’t managed to keep Elise in line, she wasn’t going to be merciful.
After hanging up the phone, Sophia went on Twitter again, but the headlines about her and Alexander had already disappeared.
Of course, that couldn’t have been Elise’s chickening out and deleting them. Most likely, it was Alexander who had someone remove them.
No sooner had she exited the page than she received a call from an unfamiliar number.
Actually, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, for it was Alexander’s other phone number.
Sophia blocked one of his numbers previously, forgetting that he still had a secondary number he rarely used and didn’t block it as well.
Should I take this call?
She stared at her phone screen that lit up. About five seconds passed before she answered the call, “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve already had someone remove those photos on Twitter.”
“Actually, I don’t mind, so you didn’t have to tell me this specifically.”
On the other end of the line, Alexander frowned slightly. “I mind.”
“That’s your business.”
While saying that, Sophia chuckled softly. “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
The instant she had finished speaking, she hung up the phone. Then, she blocked that number of Alexander’s as well.
