“The food is ready, Sophia,” Alexander called out to her, instantly snapping her out of her train of thought.
Sophia turned around and made her way back to the dining table.
Alexander had already served up the four dishes he made.
The huge difference in their cooking abilities showed that talent was just as important as skill.
Sophia was the type who would end up destroying half the kitchen if she was allowed to cook. Alexander, on the other hand, was a talented cook who could make simple household recipes taste like dishes from a fancy restaurant.
After having lunch, Sophia was about to clean up the table when Alexander stopped her. “I’ll do the dishes.”
“You’re the one who did the cooking, so it would only be fair if I did the dishes.”
“I don’t want it to be fair,” Alexander replied as he took the fork from her.
There was a dishwasher in the kitchen, so he didn’t need to wash them by hand anyway.
Even so, Sophia still felt happy when he offered to take care of the dishes.
“Do you want to meet my granddad, Alexander?” she asked.
Alexander paused and turned around to look at her. “Can I?”
“Nope!” Sophia replied with a smile.
Alexander ignored what she said and grabbed her by the hand. “When do I get to meet him?”
Sophia arched an eyebrow at him. “He’ll be celebrating his birthday in early August.”
I don’t want to anger Granddad on his birthday, though. That’s something Kayla would most probably do.
After giving it some thought, she added with a conflicted expression, “Wait, no, that’s not going to work. Then again, I can’t think of a valid reason for you to meet him any other day.”
Alexander knew she was doing this on purpose, so he asked patiently, “Your birthday is on the sixteenth of July. How about I visit the Dawson family with you before then?”
Sophia was a little shocked when she heard that. “How do you know when my birthday is?”
She actually had two birthdays. The person recording her date of birth when issuing her birth certificate had mistakenly written the twenty-sixth of July instead of the sixteenth. By the time her parents realized the mistake, it was too late to change it. While that was the official date stated on her ID card, Sophia always celebrated her birthday on the sixteenth of July.
Alexander swallowed hard as he replied, “You gave me a kiss on your birthday last year.”
Oh, that’s right! Katherine got me to play “Truth or Dare”!
Alexander felt somewhat nervous as he recalled what happened back then. “What if it wasn’t me? Would you still have kissed him?”
Sophia let out a nonchalant snort. “Of course I would! It was a dare, remember?”
She then retracted her gaze as she continued, “Yvonne said this watermelon is really sweet. Here, you should try some.”
Alexander let out a chuckle when he saw her response. “You know you wouldn’t have done it, Sophia.”
Since he had already seen right through her lie, Sophia figured there was no reason to hide it anymore.
“Why ask, then?”
Those words had barely left Sophia’s mouth when Alexander pulled her close. She was so stunned that she just blinked at him in silence.
“I wanted to hear you say it.”
“I know that! I’m not stupid!”
Why would he make me admit it?
“I didn’t say you were stupid. It just means you love me.”
Sophia burst out laughing when she heard that. “How are you so confident in yourself?”
Alexander pointed at her eyes as he replied, “Because I can see myself in your eyes.”
“And I see myself engulfed by flames of lust in your eyes,” Sophia retorted.
Alexander let out a helpless sigh. “Stop teasing me, Sophia. I’m only thirty-three this year.”
That’s the age when a man’s libido is at its highest!
Sophia blushed a little at the thought of that. “Here, have some watermelon, Mr. Xenos!”
Alexander was about to say something when Felix spammed his phone with calls and urged him to leave. Being the only one left in the mansion, Sophia felt an unusual sense of loneliness when she sat on the bed all by herself.
It was past midnight when she went to bed last night. Although she did sleep in that day, Sophia still found herself feeling somewhat tired.
Sophia was sleeping soundly until the sound of her phone vibrating woke her up. After groggily reaching for her phone, her eyes shot wide open when she saw the Dawson residence’s landline number on the screen.
It’s most likely Granddad!
“Hey, Granddad.”
“Are you busy, Sophia? I’m not disturbing you, am I?”
“No, I’m not really busy today.”
Feeling thirsty, Sophia went downstairs and poured herself a glass of water. She then sat down on the couch and continued her conversation with Perrin.
“Have you been busy lately?”
“It’s all right. How have you been, Granddad?”
Sophia knew Perrin wouldn’t have called her without a reason.
While she had a rough idea as to why Perrin called her all of a sudden, she only figured out half of the reason.
“Oh, I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!”
After a brief pause, Perrin continued, “By the way, Jadeborough has beautiful scenery, right? I haven’t gone out in many years now. I’m not getting any younger, so I need to head out while I still can.”
Sophia tensed up when she heard that. “What are you saying, Granddad? Anyway, you’re right about Jadeborough having great scenery. It’s by the coast, so we could rent a yacht and spend some time out at sea. Um… A friend of mine has a yacht, so I could bring you over if you’d like.”
“I may be old, but I can still get around on my own. You don’t have to trouble yourself to pick me up. My comrades and I will be having a gathering in Jadeborough a few days later. I’ll drop by for a visit then.”
Sophia took a sip of her water and let out a helpless chuckle.
Who would’ve thought Granddad would come to see Alexander instead?
Alexander came home to take her out for dinner at around six in the evening.
After getting into the car, Sophia flashed him a sympathetic glance as she said, “My granddad gave me a call about two hours ago.”
“What’s up?”
“He’s coming over to visit me in a few days.”
Given the incident on the internet a few days ago, Alexander knew Perrin wasn’t just coming to visit Sophia.
“Let me know when you have his arrival information. We’ll go pick him up at the airport together.”
“Okay!” Sophia replied with a smile.
Alexander maintained a calm look on his face, but he was actually a little worried deep down inside.
He had Felix do some research on Perrin a while back, so he knew that Perrin was a man of principle.
Practically everyone in the Dawson family knew what had happened between him and Sophia back then.
He figured Perrin was most likely coming to Jadeborough to confront him.
While Alexander wasn’t afraid of Perrin, he was worried that Perrin would object to their relationship.
Sophia had been all by herself since she lost her parents at the age of seventeen. As such, it was only natural for her to get attached to the Dawson family and care deeply about the members.
After fastening her seat belt, Sophia turned to look at him and asked, “Are you not afraid of my granddad? He might give you a hard time!”
“I deserve it, don’t I?” Alexander was very honest about it.
Recalling what happened in the past, Sophia clicked her tongue and said, “Yeah, you’re right. You do deserve it.”
This is retribution for what he did to me!
Alexander simply shot her a glance and drove on in silence.
He wasn’t afraid of Perrin giving him a hard time. Instead, he was worried about Sophia being put in a difficult spot.
