A meeting between his current lover and his former lover.
Recalling Katherine’s words, Sophia wanted to comment that Katherine’s description of them was wrong.
Clara may be Alexander’s current lover, but I’m not his former lover. He has never loved me.
The thought of that still brought a pang of misery to her heart.
After all, he was her first crush. The passionate love she felt during her teenage years would always differ from all other forms of love.
Katherine’s plan to shop the entire day ended up being interrupted by a sudden call from Jonice. When Sophia saw that Katherine, who was holding an umbrella in her hand, grumpily entered the car Jonice had sent for her, Sophia could not hold back her laughter.
“Argh! I wish I had a net worth of billions like you!”
Sophia looked at her friend and teased her. “Well, you’ll need to be as smart as me.”
Katherine was rendered speechless.
Well, my apologies for making such ridiculous remarks, then!
Once the car door closed, Sophia took a step back with an umbrella in her hand. She then waved and watched the car disappear from her line of sight.
It was only after two by then, and it would be a waste of time if she were to head back and sleep right away.
Therefore, after two seconds of hesitation, Sophia drove to the gym.
It was a weekday, so there were not many people in the gym.
After changing into boxing gear, Sophia entered the boxing room. When her instructor saw her, his eyes lit up. “You’re free today?”
Instead of answering her instructor, Sophia put on her boxing gloves and said, “One round, Mr. Leyburn?”
Her instructor, Aaron Leyburn, was a man in his fifties. He had used to box in Turlen when he was younger, and in a way, he earned a living by risking his life. After that, he had gone to box in Moranta for three years. When the boxing studio started asking him to fake the fights, he realized that he had been left behind. If he insisted on continuing, he would soon lose his life.
Hence, he made up his mind. After he fought in a few staged fights, he returned to the country to establish a boxing gym.
Sophia had been learning freestyle fighting and kickboxing in his gym since her university days, and he had always been the one to teach her.
Both freestyle fighting and kickboxing were sports that were physically taxing. When Sophia had first started out, she was as weak as any other girl, but she had been working out to increase her strength since then. After a few years of training, she had improved, and she was capable of exchanging a few proper blows with her instructor.
It was nothing unusual for an instructor to exchange blows with their student, but Sophia had never done that.
Firstly, she did not like physical contact. Secondly, although she had come to the gym to learn combat skills, she was not learning to fight for the sake of competition; she was only learning it for the purpose of self-defense.
Therefore, it was Sophia’s first time voicing out her desire for a fight. Naturally, her instructor would not reject her.
Aaron had known her for years, and to him, she was like his little sister. Thus, when he noticed her strange behavior, he could not help but ask, “Are you in a bad mood?”
“Are you scared?” Sophia returned with a question.
As she tightened her gloves, Aaron laughed. “It’s obvious that you’re in a bad mood.” Even though they had agreed to a fight, Sophia was a woman after all, so both of them did not go all out on each other.
Even though Sophia was not as experienced as Aaron, she was nimble and swift. For a long while, both were evenly matched.
As news about the pretty student fighting her instructor spread in the boxing gym, people began filtering into the room.
Samuel had brought Alexander along to the boxing gym, for Felix had told Samuel that Alexander had been working like a madman in his office all day and night for the past few days.
Afraid that Alexander would drive himself crazy, Samuel decided to sacrifice himself and drag his friend along to the boxing gym, since the latter did not have appointments in the afternoon. Samuel intended to let Alexander vent his stress and negative emotions.
Right after they changed into sportswear, Samuel heard from others that a beautiful woman was challenging her instructor to a fight. Immediately, Samuel forgot about his aim for the day and slung his arm around Alexander’s shoulders. “Alex, come on. Let’s go watch the show!”
There’s no way there’s a beautiful woman in a boxing gym; there are only burly men around. Samuel was not interested in the said beautiful lady, but he was curious about the woman who was brave enough to challenge her instructor to a fight.
However, Alexander pried his arm off and said, “I’m not going.”
With that said, he turned to enter a different room.
The room where the challenge was ongoing was lively as if a boxing match was taking place. The lively environment there was a stark contrast to Alexander’s lonely figure. It was as though he was unwanted by the rest of the world.
Without hesitation, Samuel decided to ditch his friend and watch the challenge. I mean, he’s a friend, and friends can be ditched at times like these.
Right as he entered the noisy room, he instantly recognized Sophia in the ring. At that moment, the usually gentle Sophia was agilely dodging her instructor’s quick punch.
A curse word escaped Samuel’s mouth at the revelation of the brave woman’s identity, and he quickly whipped his head to look out at the corridor before turning back to look at the stage. For a brief while, he had no idea whether to cheer with the others or to head out and get Alexander instead.
Even though the fight was neither a brutal one nor a bloody one, it was a fight of speed. The audience was captivated, and their cheers were getting louder and louder over time.
Samuel whistled as he was impressed by Sophia. In the end, his conscience overcame him, and he turned to run out to get Alexander.
“Alex, quick! Hurry up! It’s Sophia!”
Alexander was silently hitting a punching bag when Samuel’s voice sounded. The moment he heard the mention of Sophia’s name, he was stunned.
Then, he knitted his brows and glared at Samuel who was standing by the door. “Are you sleep-talking?”
“Sleep-talking? What are you going on about? The one who’s fighting with the instructor is Sophia! I’m an idiot if I were to lie to you!”
Alexander then gave Samuel another look. “You’re an idiot regardless of whether you’re lying to me.”
In the next second, he walked past Samuel and headed to the noisy room.
Right as Alexander entered the room, he saw Sophia cocking her head to the side and dodging the instructor’s punch. Her high ponytail flicked in a perfect arc in tandem with her move before her flawless side profile came into Alexander’s view.
At that very moment, Alexander recalled how suave she had been when she had lowered herself for a sweeping kick the other night.
While he was lost in his thoughts, Sophia had already reached out to grab Aaron’s clothes and swept her feet past his. Immediately, Aaron lost his balance, but Sophia grabbed him before he fell to the floor.
After Aaron regained his balance, he asked, “Were you enchanting me just now?”
There were over a dozen people by the edge of the ring, and those people were there for combat skill training. Right after Aaron’s words fell, thunderous applause filled the room.
Nevertheless, Sophia was unfazed by the response. She only felt thirsty, so she left the ring to get her thermos and down the water.
It was rare for others to encounter pretty young women like Sophia anywhere, let alone in the boxing gym.
Furthermore, not only was she attractive, but her fight earlier had captured the hearts of the audience as well.
Hence, just as she drank a mouthful of water, a man approached her. “Miss, how long have you been learning from Mr. Leyburn?”
Sophia looked at the man and said impassively, “Ten years.”
The man, who had only been learning how to box for three years, instantly chuckled awkwardly. “Haha! That means you’re my senior! I thought you were my junior at the start.”
After quenching her thirst, Sophia closed the lid of her thermos and smiled. “I have not served an apprenticeship under him, so I’m not your senior.”
With that said, she took her thermos and began walking out of the room.
The man quickly rushed after her. “But you are! Miss, what’s your name? Can I have your number? Shall we go for one round next time?”
Just as Sophia was about to reply to him, a familiar male voice sounded. “My dear sister-in-law, when did you come?”
My dear sister-in-law?
Sophia raised a brow at that. When she saw Samuel walking over with Alexander in tow, the smile on her face faded. “Mr. Schild.”
Samuel then took a glance at the man, who was trying to hit on Sophia, and said, “My dear sister-in-law, is he your friend?”
Not wanting the other man to keep disturbing her, Sophia went along with Samuel’s words. “I don’t know who he is.”
Realizing that Sophia was a married woman, the other man walked away. Still, when he left, he kept turning back to take glances at her.
She’s so pretty and strong!
After half an hour of fighting, Sophia was sweating profusely. Beads of sweat were rolling down her forehead, and she raised her hand to wipe them away. Then, she walked over to Alexander and said, “Alexander, do you want to go one round with me?”
Sophia’s voice was soft and clear when she said that, and even Alexander thought he had misheard her.
