Though Katherine had bumped into a disgusting person, she still had a satisfactory meal. After all, it was a seafood feast worth over four thousand. Every mouthful was worth a lot of money.
Ah… Being friends with a wealthy person feels great.
Before leaving, Katherine ordered a portion of seafood pasta to go with the noble excuse of buying it for Jonice.
Sophia could not be bothered to expose her. It was just pasta, after all. It wasn’t something she couldn’t afford.
After the bill was settled, they walked out of the restaurant and were instantly stopped by Sharon, who had been waiting outside. “Ms. Quinn, Ms. Yarrow.”
Katherine never expected Sharon to take the initiative to greet them. Smiling, she said, “It’s been a while, Ms. Xerxes. Your tweets on Twitter seem to be quite viral.”
There was a change in Sharon’s countenance, but she quickly snapped out of it. She did not stay back and wait for the two of them just to have an argument with them. “I came out to have a meal with a friend. I wasn’t expecting to bump into you two today.”
Sophia smiled faintly. “Do you need something, Ms. Xerxes?”
Sharon eyed the beautiful woman in front of her. For some reason, Sophia’s indifferent expression always made her feel guilty.
However, she assumed there was no way Sophia would know Hanson, so her fear gradually dissipated. “It’s nothing. I just wanted to say hello.”
Pausing momentarily, she cast Katherine a glance before voicing her true motive, “Ms. Quinn, you’re in the entertainment industry, too. I’m sure you know how nosy the paparazzi are these days. I was afraid of being misunderstood, so I stayed back to say hello.”
In other words, Sharon was saying she had nothing to do with Hanson, and she hoped Katherine would shut her trap if the paparazzi took pictures of her and Hanson.
Sharon had another motive for staying back to greet Katherine, which was to make others think they had a meal together. If the paparazzi snapped pictures of them, Sharon could use them to clear her name.
Katherine saw right through Sharon’s tricks without needing Sophia to tell her about them.
She could barely control her urge to roll her eyes. However, there were many passersby, and she did not want to get into an argument with Sharon, which could give the paparazzi more news to write about.
“Oh, I see. We’re done saying hello now. Your friend must be waiting for you. You’d better hurry over, Ms. Xerxes,” prompted Katherine.
Sharon stole a glance at Sophia, who had only spoken once from the start of the conversation. The former could not help but feel strangely uneasy.
“Ms. Yarrow, you’re not a part of the entertainment industry. I hope you won’t go around spouting nonsense if your friends ask you about today’s matters.”
Katherine was already unhappy about Sharon using them. Now that the latter was speaking to Sophia in such a bossy tone, Katherine’s fury sprang to life. “That’s really funny, Ms. Xerxes. Sophia never spouts nonsense. I can vouch for that,” she snapped.
She paused before adding, “Of course, Sophia prefers to speak the truth.”
Sharon’s expression tensed, and she fell silent, for she could tell Katherine was mad. Nodding, she said, “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I was just worried Ms. Yarrow might get dragged into some gossip. Anyway, my friend’s waiting for me. I’ll get going now. Let’s talk another time.”
With that, she pulled her mask up and spun on her heels.
“Wait, Ms. Xerxes!” Sophie called out.
Sharon furrowed her brows, feeling a little annoyed. “Is there anything else, Ms. Yarrow?”
“We aren’t friends, aren’t we?”
Those words dumbfounded Sharon. “What do you mean?”
Sophia’s lips curled to form a subtle smile. “Nothing much. It’s exactly what my words imply.”
Sharon thought Sophia was doing that on purpose, so she thought little about it. “We’re not close.”
“Yes, exactly.” Sophia nodded. “Indeed, we’re not close. So, what does today’s matter have to do with us?”
Sophia’s simple sentence felt like an invisible hand that slapped Sharon across the cheek.
At first, Sharon thought Sophia was merely asking that question to humiliate her. To her surprise, not only did Sophia not regard her as a friend, the latter had zero interest in getting involved with her matters, too.
With that, Sophia turned to Katherine and said, “Let’s go.”
Katherine couldn’t help raising her hand and clapping silently. As they walked past Sharon, she whispered, “Ms. Yarrow, we’re actually not that close. There’s no need to say hello when we meet next time.”
Sharon was baffled.
I never wanted to say hello in the first place!
Meanwhile, Sophia did not think much of Sharon’s matter. Since she had a meeting in the afternoon, she sent Katherine back to Specter Entertainment before returning to Sunshine Group.
The moment her meeting ended, Katherine’s messages came flooding into Sophia’s phone.
The first text read: Hahaha! Sharon’s trending now! She even mentioned me on Twitter to clarify it’s just a normal gathering among friends.
Katherine: Hahaha! I replied to the tweet with “We’re not close, Ms. Xerxes. Please don’t tag me.” And now, Sharon’s manager has contacted us, asking me to post a tweet to explain that I was just joking.
Katherine: Soph, this is hilarious. I can’t wait for the day when Sharon gets exposed. Who knows? She might even get exposed before our program is even broadcasted.
Raising a brow, Sophia scrolled through Twitter only to find news about Sharon and Katherine all over the platform.
Of course, Sharon was trending on Twitter for the picture of her having lunch with a mysterious man. Katherine, on the other hand, was trending because of her sarcastic reply to Sharon’s tweet.
Noting that, Sophia scanned the replies. Sharon’s fans are impressive. They’ve gone to Katherine’s profile to scold her.
Ever since Katherine’s alternate account came to light, she became self-indulgent. Everyone on the internet now knew she was Sophia’s best friend and greatest fan. Moreover, she was notorious for scolding others without cussing out, yet still able to hit a sore spot with her victims.
It had been almost two months since Tanya was admitted to the hospital, and she was visibly getting better. According to the attending physician, she could be discharged by the end of the month if her condition maintained the same without encountering any event that would agitate her.
Of course, Sophia was happy to hear that. In fact, her smile was wider than usual when Alexander came to pick her up at night.
Alexander turned sideways to look at her. “Why are you smiling?”
Curling her lips, Sophia answered, “Tanya’s going to be discharged by the end of this month.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yep.”
Good news, indeed.
Alexander caressed her face and retracted his gaze. His lips, too, curled into a smile.
He was happy if she was happy.
Having just finished work, Samuel looked out of the window to watch the sunset. Strangely, he felt a little sad about having to eat dinner alone again.
Ever since Alexander and Sophia got back together, he became a lone wolf.
Samuel felt as if he was abandoned by Alexander, who was once a single pringle like him. Just as he was about to give the latter a call to catch up and mend their relationship, which was on the verge of collapsing, his internal phone rang.
That annoyed Samuel, who was ready to get off work and head home. “What is it?”
“Mr. Schild, Sharon and Ms. Yarrow’s friend got into a misunderstanding. They need your help to sort it out.”
Samuel had been the peacemaker in many situations like that. However, he did not agree to it right away when he heard Sophia’s name. “What happened exactly?”
The secretary merely explained it was a misunderstanding caused by saying hello over a meal. Apparently, neither Sharon nor Katherine was at fault. Basically, it was just a tiny misunderstanding. However, the matter had gotten quite ugly on the internet, and it would not end well if Katherine refused to give in.
To Samuel, it did sound like a trivial matter. Yet, for some reason, he recalled the time when he got tricked by Sophia at the golf course. “You make it sound easy, but this is Alexander’s girlfriend we’re talking about. Why don’t you try handling it yourself?” Alexander’s not one to be trifled with. The same goes for Sophia. Now that they’re dating each other, who’d dare to mess with them ?
