Yvonne was efficient as usual. After receiving Sophia’s order, she helped Tanya and her family moved to a house that belonged to Sophia the following day.
At around three in the afternoon, Tanya gave Sophia a call. “Thank you, Sophia.”
Through the phone, Sophia could hear Tanya choking up.
“I should be the one thanking you, Tanya,” she responded.
“I would have acted the same way towards anyone else in the same situation.” Tanya paused and added, “I never held you responsible, Sophia.”
She blamed fate for being unfair, and Connor for being cruel, but she had never blamed Sophia.
After the call ended, Sophia stared outside the window, her mind drifting elsewhere.
She only regained her senses when someone knocked on the door. “Come on in.”
“Ms. Yarrow, I’ve arranged everything for Ms. Gomez. The doctor suggested that she receives treatment at the hospital for three months. She’ll get discharged if her condition improves.”
Sophia nodded. “What did Tanya say?”
“Ms. Gomez is willing to get treated,” Yvonne revealed. She handed the box she was holding to Sophia. “Ms. Yarrow, Ms. Gomez wanted me to give this to you.”
Sophia was startled, but she accepted the box. “Thank you. You can get back to work now.”
Yvonne nodded. “Sure, Ms. Yarrow.”
She then left and closed the door behind her.
Sophia was left alone in her office. She returned to her seat and opened the box.
When the lid was opened, a new fountain pen appeared in Sophia’s sight.
Sophia stared at the pen, lost in her thoughts.
If I’m not mistaken, this is the pen I lent to Tanya when we were taking our level four Ustranasion test back in university.
There were a few paper stars and a note under the pen with Tanya’s neat handwriting: Sophia, thanks for the pen. Be happy every day!
The tone of the note suggests that it was written by Tanya back then. It was likely that Tanya did not have the opportunity to return the pen to Sophia, as Sophia rarely went to the university.
Sophia collected her thoughts, uncapped the pen, and grabbed a piece of spare paper to write on.
It had been years, but there was still ink inside the pen.
After writing Tanya’s name on the paper, Sophia placed the cap back on the pen and returned the pen to the box.
Tanya is such a nice person. I can’t sit back and do nothing when she’s in this state.
Around four in the afternoon, Sophia received the copyright agreement that she gave to Samuel last night.
The comic adaptation rights to “Silk Stream” was hers, so all she had to do was to wait for Tanya to recover slowly.
At five in the afternoon, Sophia brought the newly drafted agreement to the hospital.
When Sophia arrived, the attending physician was briefing Tanya and Laura on Tanya’s recent assessment and current condition.
Sophia came to a stop at the door and knocked instead of heading in directly.
Hearing the sound, everyone in the ward turned over their shoulders to look at her.
Tanya seemed delighted to see Sophia. “Hey, Sophia.”
Sophia flashed a grin and walked into the ward. “Please continue.”
Ivan Zipwick, the attending physician, glanced at Sophia before turning his focus back to Tanya. He smiled warmly and said, “Ms. Gomez, you are unwell. If you follow my recommendations and complete the treatment, you should be able to return to your regular routine in due course.”
Tanya’s condition appeared to have improved and she seemed to have a high level of trust in Ivan. She responded, “Alright, Dr. Zipwick. I’ll follow your instructions.”
Ivan had nothing else to say. Tanya would be in the hospital for three months of treatment, so he was not in a rush to speak with her.
“I’ll take my leave now,” he said and left.
Before Sophia could protest, Laura had already poured her a cup of coffee.
Sophia had come straight to the hospital from work and got stuck in traffic at a corner right before the hospital. She had planned to drop by a florist to buy Tanya a bouquet of flowers, but the traffic delay made it impossible. As a result, she had to abandon the idea.
“Mrs. Gomez, you don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. You did so much for Tani, and all I did was pour a cup of coffee for you.”
Tanya watched them from the side. “It’s fine, Sophia. My mom hates owing other people favors.”
Since they said that, Sophia had to accept the cup with a smile. “Thanks, Mrs. Gomez.”
She lowered her head and offered the agreement to Tanya. “Take a look at this and see if you need to edit anything.”
It could be difficult for others to notice someone was experiencing depression.
Tanya seemed like a completely different person today compared to the previous day. If not for the emptiness in her eyes, Sophia would have thought that Tanya had somehow returned to the innocent young woman she had been in university.
However, she knew that wasn’t the case.
Tanya was still bewildered and afraid, but she didn’t want them to worry and pretended to be fine.
As that thought occurred to Sophia, she felt her chest constricting.
Tanya looked at Sophia before opening the agreement. Upon seeing the first page, she was shocked. “Is this the comic adaptation agreement for ‘Silk Stream’?” she exclaimed.
“Yes. I wasn’t lying to you yesterday, Tanya.”
“Sophia, are you sure I can do it?”
Over time, Tanya had been bullied so severely by those bad guys that she had forgotten her self-worth and abilities.
Jadeborough University was not as highly ranked as Quadfield University, but Tanya was still able to secure a spot in the most popular program at Jadeborough University despite coming from a small county. It was clear that she had excelled on the university entrance exam and was a top scholar.
However, her confidence was shattered after Connor’s violation and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband and her husband’s family.
Tanya had always been a fan of comics and dreamed of becoming a comic book writer as talented as Hayao Miyazaki. She decided to major in finance with the goal of earning enough money to support her parents within three years after graduation. After that, she would be free to pursue her dream without any financial constraints.
While Tanya’s plan seemed great, reality dealt her a harsh blow.
Yesterday, when Sophia told her about this, her first reaction was to doubt her own abilities and the veracity of Sophia’s words.
However, Sophia showed her the agreement to be the main writer of the comic book adaptation today.
“Filming for the online drama adaptation of ‘Silk Stream’ has begun and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. It will be broadcast on the Icecool website next summer. To reduce promotion costs, I hope that you will be able to begin serializing the comic in October and publish the finale alongside the online drama.”
Sophia’s lips curled after saying that. “Would that be too much of a burden for you?”
That wasn’t what Tanya was concerned about, for her main problem was doubting herself. “Sophia, you might not be aware of this, but I haven’t drawn in years. Besides, the pay…”
Sophia offered her three thousand for one episode and forty percent of the subscription income. Besides, she would also get a twenty percent commission for each comic book published.
The comic consisted of one hundred and fifty-six episodes, so Tanya would get paid at least four hundred and fifty thousand. When the online drama was aired, the online subscriptions to her comic would also increase. Since there were over one hundred and fifty episodes, they would publish the series in three books. After deducting the necessary charges, each comic book would earn at least ten from sales. Sophia offered Tanya a twenty percent commission, which amounted to two per comic book. Therefore, if one hundred thousand comic books were sold, Tanya would get paid two hundred thousand. If one million comic books were sold, she would receive two million.
It was pretty obvious to Tanya that Sophia was giving her money.
“Tanya, you might not know this, but I’m a businessperson. I have offered you this rate as I trust your ability. I believe that you’ll surprise me with the comic adaptation of ‘Silk Stream’ as the main writer.”
Tanya lifted her head to look at Sophia. “But Sophia—”
