Chapter 58
Evelyn felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head in late autumn.
She was cold from head to toe, unable to feel any warmth.
"Benjamin..."
She opened her mouth to call his name, but felt as if mountains and rivers stood between them, impossible to cross.
"Mr. White!"
Alice noticed her gaze and immediately turned around, crying out, "Please save Freya, she's been taken to the private room in the back."
He glanced at Evelyn, then his eyes fell on Alice: "Lead the way."
With those words, he strode toward the back.
Standing there, Evelyn felt ignored by Benjamin for the first time.
She wanted to follow, but her feet felt like they were filled with lead, impossible to lift.
"You're finally getting what you deserve."
Sophia's nasty voice came from behind, dripping with mockery: "Freya may not be in his heart, but she's someone he wants to protect."
"And now Freya has been set up by his sweetheart and lost her innocence. What do you think he'll think of you?"
Once some things happen, there's no way to fix them.
"How did you convince Freya?"
Evelyn took a deep breath and turned to face Sophia.
The panic and loss from moments ago had vanished from her delicate face, replaced by an unmistakable cold darkness in her eyes.
Sophia was startled by her gaze and immediately looked away.
"What are you talking about? I haven't been in contact with Freya at all."
"Really? Then we must be incredibly fated for you to show up here tonight. And Benjamin showing up early has nothing to do with you either?"
With each word Evelyn spoke, Sophia's expression grew worse.
By the end, Sophia's face was filled with various emotions, the strongest being fear.
But she forcibly suppressed it.
"Evelyn, there's no point in arguing. You have no proof!"
"In Benjamin's eyes, Freya and I have no connection because of you."
"And today, you deliberately spilled wine on Freya. You seemed kind to lend her your jacket to avoid embarrassment, but it was actually a signal to Jeremy to make his move."
One link after another, connected perfectly.
As one link in the chain, Evelyn couldn't find any loophole to clear herself.
She hadn't participated in this, but every link pointed to her.
After all, a woman's jealousy never needs to make sense.
And she had never hidden her dislike of Freya. Keeping Freya under her watch made it look even more like she'd been planning all this.
"If you don't want people to know, don't do it in the first place."
A smile suddenly appeared on Evelyn's tense face: "Sophia, why do you think you did this so perfectly, without any flaws?"
Evelyn appeared calm, but inside she was a mess.
Sophia and Freya shouldn't have had any connection, let alone team up against her.
And using a girl's innocence - where did such deep hatred come from?
At least in others' eyes, the pure and kind Freya would never do such a thing, which left only one conclusion—
As Evelyn's mind raced in chaos, footsteps sounded behind her.
She instinctively turned around to see Benjamin carrying a small figure in his arms.
Freya was wrapped in his jacket, curled up in his embrace, still sobbing softly.
She looked especially helpless and pitiful.
Benjamin stopped beside her, his voice emotionless: "To the hospital."
"Why go to the hospital?"
Sophia changed from her earlier vicious manner to her understanding act: "This has nothing to do with our Evelyn. Don't go making wild connections."
Freya, curled in Benjamin's arms, visibly shrank, her crying seeming to grow quieter.
Sophia wasn't explaining for Evelyn at all - she was practically slapping a "mastermind" label on Evelyn's face.
Even Alice, impulsive as she was, didn't dare speak against Evelyn in front of Benjamin.
Instead, Sophia's explanation looked exactly like a cover-up that only made things worse.
Benjamin looked at Evelyn and Sophia standing together, his brow furrowing slightly before relaxing.
"She was drugged and needs medical treatment."
As he spoke, his eyes fell on Evelyn.
Was he waiting for her response, or an explanation?
Her mind was in complete chaos, unable to react.
Finally, without knowing what she was thinking, she forced out a sentence.
"I'm not feeling well. I want to go home and rest."
His eyes changed for a moment, his throat moving slightly as he said one word: "Okay."
Then Benjamin strode away without looking back at her again, let alone offering any comfort after what had happened.
After such an incident, the team building naturally couldn't continue.
Some people went to the hospital out of concern for Freya.
Others said their goodbyes and left.
In the end, only Evelyn remained, somewhat numbly settling the bill.
"Feeling bad?"
Sophia, like a poisonous snake, hissed out venomous words: "You hurt him again and again, so of course he won't trust you."
For Matthew's sake, Evelyn couldn't even remember how many times she'd gone against Benjamin.
As for the hurtful things she'd said to him, there were countless more.
Now that he hadn't said anything, what right did she have to feel bad?
"You should be grateful that his upbringing kept him from saying anything harsh to you in public."
"But tell me, did anything actually happen to Freya?"
"If it did, will she let you off as the mastermind?"
"And what will Benjamin do..."
Before Sophia could finish, a slap landed hard across her face.
Compared to the earlier slap, this time Evelyn used all her strength, holding nothing back.
The loud sound drew many eyes toward the checkout counter.
Feeling the surrounding gazes, Sophia's sense of humiliation burned like hot oil on her heart.
"You're the one who went after Freya, so what does hitting me accomplish? Don't tell me you want me to take the blame for you?"
The people present had already pieced together most of what happened.
The more curious ones had even found out every detail.
The eyes on Evelyn were filled with contempt.
She paid them no attention, only looking at Sophia before her.
"What he'll do to me, no one knows."
"But the Brown family's bankruptcy is already foreseeable."
"Don't provoke me again, or I don't know what might happen to you."
With those words, she walked out of Miso & More and got into her car like a walking corpse.
When her fingers touched the steering wheel, her tears suddenly started flowing as if a switch had been flipped, falling in large drops.
Did Benjamin think she was the mastermind who set up Freya?
Reborn once, she'd still walked into Sophia's trap. Was there no way for her to have a happy ending with him?
Her phone suddenly rang. Evelyn instinctively picked it up - it was a message from Benjamin.
[Ms. Thomas, I'm not doing well, so Benjamin rushed me to the hospital.]
[Please don't be angry. There's nothing between Benjamin and me.]