Never in a million years would Sophia expect Alexander to walk out of the mansion just about ten seconds after Charlize went inside.
The second Sophia had Alexander in sight, the smile on her face gradually faded.
Through the half-open car window, she could see Alexander approaching with a handcrafted emulation bouquet in his hands. “I’m sorry for what happened last time.”
Sophia arched a brow. “Yeah.”
She gave a one-word response before adding, “I’ll make a move first.”
“Hang on.”
Alexander handed the bouquet over. “This is from Charlize.”
Had the flowers come from Alexander, she would never accept them. But luckily, not only were the flowers from Charlize, but they also looked beautiful.
She opened the car door and reached out to receive the bouquet. “Thanks.”
As Sophia spoke, she placed the emulation bouquet on the back seat. She then uttered, “Can you move further away, Mr. Xenos?”
That would make sense because the spot he was standing at was in her way. Be it forward or backward, she would definitely have to knock him over once she began to drive away.
Alexander refused to move an inch. “I didn’t drive here earlier. Could you give me a lift if you’re free?”
“I’m not free,” Sophia blurted out.
Without a second thought, she wound up the window before driving off while brushing past him at the same time.
Alexander took a step back. Watching the red Ferrari gradually driving further away, his dark eyes shifted a little. After a while, he wheeled around to leave.
Just as he turned to the back, he found Charles standing behind him.
“Do you need my driver to send you back?”
Darting his eyes at Charles, Alexander hollered, “Scram!”
Instead of going away, Charles grinned. “Didn’t you say that you didn’t drive here?”
Alexander completely ignored him and walked straight into the garage to drive his car out.
“Hey, wait up! I have something to tell you!”
Alexander stepped on the brakes on that note. He wound down the window and spared Charles a glance. “Speak.”
He was in a foul mood, so he didn’t really want to hear anything.
“Are you trying to woo Sophia all over again?”
Alexander furrowed his brows. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, I don’t. But Lize has taken a liking to Sophia, and I share her sentiments.”
What Charles meant was obvious.
The moment Charles dropped the words, Alexander’s face darkened. “Try if you dare.”
After saying that, Alexander stepped on the accelerator and drove away from the mansion.
Staring at the vehicle vanishing into the far horizon in a flash, Charles let out a chuckle. “Why wouldn’t I give it a try?”
Meanwhile, it was exactly nine at night when Sophia reached the mansion. Being in a good mood that day, she decorated the emulation flowers gifted by Charlize. After that, she took a relaxing lavender essential oil bath. With that, she had a good, comfortable sleep through the night.
However, things were different for Alexander. He didn’t have a pleasant night, for Charles’ ambiguous words kept running through his mind. On top of that, the mere existence of Stephen and Mason bugged him to no end. That night, sleep eluded Alexander.
Up until then, he still had no idea how to break the deadlock between him and Sophia.
Sophia had been reluctant to even have a word with him. Moreover, her visage would turn impassive as soon as her gaze landed on him.
Alexander stubbed out his cigarette, gazing at the dark sky outside the window. He could still remember vividly that day when Sophia came over to have him sign the divorce agreement, he had interrogated her for playing games with him again.
Thinking back, he would rather have Sophia playing games than being so distant and resolute with him.
February soon arrived. Sunshine Group, too, kicked off their New Year’s holidays.
Prior to that, Yvonne had already booked Sophia an air ticket bound for Coldbridge. The latter boarded the plane at about six in the evening and touched down in Coldbridge at half-past eight at night.
Coldbridge’s winter seemed to be way colder than that in Jadeborough. As soon as Sophia got off the plane, all she could see was the heavy snowfall.
Katherine would be back only tomorrow night, but Joshua had come back first the day before. Just when Sophia set her foot out of the airport’s entrance, she caught sight of Joshua.
She towed her baggage as she walked up to him. When she came face to face with him, a strange yet familiar female voice sounded from beside her. “Sophia! Joshua! It’s really you guys!”
The duo exchanged glances. Following that, Sophia looked up. “Seraphina Linfield.”
“It’s been a while, Sophia! Oh, the two of you are…”
“Friends,” uttered Sophia in a leisure manner.
Seraphina sneaked glances between Sophia and Joshua. “Goodness gracious. We’ve known each other for so many years already. Why bother hiding the truth?”
Sophia had had a bad impression of this woman standing in front of her. Back in high school, Seraphina had always been the nosy one. Not only that, but she had even enjoyed spreading rumors.
As Sophia heard those words, the smile on her face faltered. “We’ve got to go now.”
“Hey! Wait! Our high school reunion is tomorrow. You’ve long been absent. Since you’re back this time, you should at least come to have a look.”
Sophia lifted a brow and responded, “I’ll talk to you later.”
“What’s your WhatsApp number? I haven’t added you yet.”
Sophia fished out her phone and launched the WhatsApp app to add Seraphina’s number.
“We’ll leave first.”
“Oh, sure. Don’t forget our high school reunion tomorrow!”
“Yeah,” replied Sophia nonchalantly.
In truth, she wasn’t that close with her classmates from high school. She only had a so-so friendship with the males but not with those females.
Although Sophia, Katherine, and Joshua were all close friends for more than two decades, Sophia still disliked hearing the others claiming that she and Joshua were an item.
Even if Katherine didn’t mind, Sophia had to avoid any misunderstandings.
As the two of them walked off, Joshua threw out a question. “Are you really going to join the reunion tomorrow?”
Sophia giggled. “Nope.”
Upon hearing that, Joshua knitted his brows. “Seraphina has been a real nuisance since back then.”
Sophia couldn’t help but arch a brow as she listened to Joshua’s remark. “If she can still manage to pester me now, I’d bow down to her capability.”
Joshua was stunned momentarily, realizing that he had been worrying too much.
It was a half-hour drive from the airport to the city. When Sophia returned home, it was already almost ten.
She recounted the incident with Seraphina to Katherine while cooking pasta. As for Katherine, she was applying a mask on her face as she commented on the other end of the line, “That Seraphina is probably up to something bad. There must be something waiting for you tomorrow at the reunion party.”
She got more and more emotional as she spoke, so much so that her facial mask nearly fell off. “You better not be silly, Soph! Don’t go there just because they’re old friends!”
“Old friends, huh?”
Lifting her brow, Sophia felt that those words were foreign yet wondrous.
Katherine, in turn, thought that her friend had really gone soft. She leaped up from the seat and said, “Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly reminisced the pathetic friendship with them?”
“No way.”
Shaking her head frantically, Sophia served the pasta onto a big plate.
“What is it, then? As far as I know, you’re not a sentimental person. Did those people from high school really give you a warm and fuzzy feeling?”
“What are you thinking about?”
Sophia laughed at her friend who was mocking her indirectly. “I only remember the incident that happened during our sophomore year. It looks like it’s about time to get even with Priscilla Teasley and her gang for what they did back then.”
Katherine froze. Recalling the event that happened that year and listening to Sophia’s indifferent words, she couldn’t help but shudder. “Here’s a friendly reminder, Soph. It’s illegal to take someone’s life!”
Sophia raised her eyebrows and put on a half-smile, looking at Katherine. “Oh, really? How about taking a pig’s life?”
“Hello? How could you compare me to a pig?”
“Yes, incomparable indeed.”
Huh? Am I worse than a pig?
