Sophia felt as though she had heard a joke, and the fact that it was coming out of Alexander’s mouth just made the whole scenario even more ridiculous.
She quirked her lips into a smile and looked at Alexander, asking, “So, what does this have to do with you?”
“What does this have to do with me?”
The anger in Alexander burned brighter, and his heart ached as though it was being stabbed. He tutted lightly, an indecipherable expression shrouding his face.
Sophia had never seen his expression like this before. She instinctively retreated a step back, but Alexander reacted quicker than her.
Alexander stretched out a hand and directly pulled Sophia into his arms. Then, he pinned her against the wall beside him, lowered his head, and pressed his lips against hers.
He worked so hard on the kiss that he almost sucked out all of the oxygen in Sophia’s lungs.
Sophia’s hands and feet were both restrained by Alexander. The latter loomed over her like a mountain, and she could not muster any strength to free herself.
The mall was bustling with people. With Alexander’s tall and slim model-like physique, he still managed to catch the attention of passersby despite being dressed only in a simple black coat and trousers. Everyone around them cast a glance in their direction instinctively.
Sometime later, Alexander finally loosened his grip. Sophia immediately raised her hand and slapped him.
He glanced down at her and suddenly stuck his tongue out to lick the corner of his mouth. The action lent him a devilish air on top of his usual aloofness.
“I’m reminding you of what we used to be.”
Sophia merely glared at him coldly before she turned around and left.
She did not think there was anything between her and Alexander that was worth talking about anymore.
Alexander did not chase after her. He stood on the spot and watched Sophia go down the escalator until her figure disappeared from his sight. Then, he glanced around coldly at the onlookers.
Shuddering, the people around him hurriedly turned their eyes away, pretending they had seen nothing.
Alexander frowned, took out his mobile phone, and called Felix. “Make an appointment with Joshua for me.”
Felix did not react for a second. “You mean Mr. Joshua Lewis from Technology Innovations?”
“Do you know a second Joshua?”
Felix quickly responded, “Understood.”
He wondered why Alexander wanted to meet Joshua again. Is there a new project that Mr. Xenos wants to collaborate with him on? If so, this is a big deal.
At the thought of this, Felix hurriedly set aside what he was currently doing and called Joshua’s secretary.
As soon as Alexander walked out of the mall, Samuel came up while tutting him. “You did an amazing job.”
He quirked his eyebrows into a mocking curve. In response, Alexander shot him a cold look. “I believe the ownership transfer of the sports car hasn’t been settled yet. Am I right?”
The mockery subsided from Samuel’s face the moment he heard Alexander. He raised his finger and pointed at Alexander’s lips. “I’m giving you a sincere suggestion. You should go to the restroom and deal with what is on your lips. Otherwise, there may be a ruckus later if you return to the company in this state.”
Alexander frowned. He turned around, went back to the mall, and headed to the restroom.
He looked into the mirror and saw his lips were stained with red lipstick. It must have transferred over when he was kissing Sophia earlier.
Alexander stared at his own reflection and thought of their transient kiss just now. After having tasted her lips, he actually found himself longing for more.
It was not until another person entered the washroom that Alexander snapped back to his senses. He lowered his head, dampened his fingertips with water, and wiped the lipstick off his lips.
“How do we pursue a woman?”
Samuel was sharing in the chat group with Charles and Justin about how Alexander had forced a kiss on Sophia when he heard Alexander’s words. He was so shocked that his hand trembled, and his phone fell straight to the ground.
Alexander shot him a disdainful glance and added, ”I shouldn’t have asked you. You’re single too.”
Samuel, who had just picked up his phone and was about to reply to Alexander, was dumbfounded.
Sophia returned to the mansion with a sullen face. She washed her lips with water several times after she came back.
Staring into the mirror, she could see that her lips were flushed red. She had washed off most of her original makeup with her vigorous actions.
Has Alexander gone crazy? The man who used to despise even holding my hand actually kissed me today? How ironic. It’s funny to even think about it. We’ve been divorced for eight months, and the man is still sulking over the past and regarding me as his property. He himself used the past tense. How could he not understand that the past is the past? What a joke!
She was thrown off guard by what had happened today. Sophia was quite happy for Katherine and Joshua, but her mood was ruined the moment Alexander forced a kiss upon her.
Back then, she chose to leave the marriage while taking nothing in order to divorce Alexander on good terms. All she wanted was for them to become peaceful mutual strangers to each other.
However, after Alexander did such a thing, Sophia did not think that she could possibly make peace with him.
The anger in her heart blazed even more fiercely. Sophia was not only angry, but deep down, she also felt a little sad.
Alexander had been giving her the cold shoulder for three years. Now that she finally wanted to let go, he suddenly changed his attitude and put on an affectionate act, refusing to let her go.
Sophia was so angry that she decided to go for a kickboxing session in the evening to vent her frustration. She spent the whole evening practicing in the club.
After an intense session that left her drenched in sweat, she felt much better. Then, she took a shower, changed her clothes, and got ready for dinner.
Taking out her phone, she noticed that there were two missed calls from Joshua.
Sophia frowned. She stood at the door looking at the gray sky outside before she called Joshua back.
Joshua was probably busy as he did not answer the phone the first time she called. It took him more than ten seconds to pick up the phone when she called the second time.
“Alexander’s secretary suddenly invited me for a meeting today.”
Sophia’s mind wandered off to Alexander. “I bumped into Alexander at noon. You can just ignore him.”
“All right,” Joshua responded. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Sophia let out a light chuckle. “Anyway, I wish you a successful marriage proposal in advance. I just finished my boxing practice, and I’m a bit drained at the moment. I’m heading off to dinner.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up the phone, Sophia looked up at the sky before she headed left to the nearby commercial district for dinner.
It was already past eight o’clock at night when she returned to the mansion. The wind during a winter night was piercing cold.
Sophia had practiced boxing for more than two hours today and was exhausted. She filled the tub with water and submerged herself in it. If it weren’t for Genie calling out to her, she would have dozed off.
After taking a bath, Sophia put on a face mask and set her alarm clock for tomorrow. She was ready to go to bed.
However, she could not sleep.
Getting up, she opened a bottle of wine and drank half a glass. Now that she was feeling tipsy, she finally dozed off to sleep.
Early next morning, Sophia woke up as soon as the alarm clock rang.
She turned off the alarm and entered the bathroom in her cotton slippers to wash up.
As she sat down and was about to start her skincare and makeup routine, her mobile phone on the desk rang.
Sophia tilted her head and glanced at the screen. The call was coming from Katherine. She quirked her brow and turned on the speaker. “Why are you calling me this early in the morning?”
“Are you up, Soph? Have you seen the trending headline today? I’m so pissed off. Bethany is stirring up trouble again. Go and take a look yourself!”
Sophia raised her eyebrows. “I just finished washing up. What did Bethany do this time?”
As soon as Sophia finished her words, Katherine babbled on like a machine gun, “Didn’t she participate in a reality show? The first episode just aired last night. That b*tch was making some innuendos about you!”
