Chapter 43
I didn't sleep well that night. Maybe it was the hangover, but my head felt like it was being squeezed tight, and my heart kept racing. I tossed and turned until the early morning hours before finally drifting off to sleep.
Early in the morning, I was woken up by a scream.
I pressed my aching temples and struggled to sit up. There was no bedding on the floor, and Oscar was already gone.
"You're awake?" Oscar pushed the door open and walked in with a big smile on his face.
"Did someone just scream?" I looked at Oscar as he came through the door. "Why didn't you wake me when you got up?"
Oscar had a smug smile and waved at me. "Hurry up and get dressed, or you'll miss a really good show."
What show?
Seeing the excitement in his eyes, I just threw on a long coat over my pajamas, slipped on my slippers, and headed for the door. But as soon as I got out of bed, my legs felt weak, and I started falling to one side.
Oh no, I was already sober from the alcohol - was my body still not adjusted?
The expected fall never came. Oscar quickly caught me in his arms. My back pressed against his solid chest, warmth passing through the thin fabric to my body. My head rested right on his shoulder, and I seemed to hear his strong heartbeat.
I straightened up as fast as I could, pretending nothing had happened, and walked toward the door on wobbly legs. "What show are you talking about?"
Oscar reached out to steady me. "Take it easy. Button up your clothes properly, don't let anyone see you like this."
As he spoke, he buttoned up all the buttons on my top, all the way up to my neck.
I couldn't worry about my racing heart now, because I heard Gregory's voice coming from the next room. "I'm sorry, Sophia, I don't know how this happened? Last night I clearly... clearly..."
Then came Sophia's crying.
My eyes lit up. This commotion sounded serious.
Hit them when they least expect it.
I quickly pushed open the door and appeared at their doorway, adding the appropriate expressions and actions, covering my mouth with my hand, unable to help blurting out: "Gregory, Sophia, how did you two end up sleeping together? You... hurry up and get dressed, don't let anyone see you."
As I spoke, I pretended to stumble accidentally, pushing the half-open door wide open.
Sophia screamed again, this time much louder, pulling the blanket to cover her chest. "Who told you to open the door? Get out."
I quickly nodded. "Okay, okay, just hurry up and get dressed."
I backed out of the room, but very carelessly forgot to close the door. There were people pretending to clean in the hallway, people standing on tiptoe looking up from downstairs, and people sneaking toward Robert's room on the first floor. I was sure that in less than five minutes, everyone in the villa would know that Sophia had slept with Gregory.
"Close the door!" Sophia cried out frantically, completely losing her composure.
Gregory grabbed a piece of clothing to cover his lower body and quickly got out of bed to close the door. When he saw me standing right at the doorway, his eyes were dark, and his brows furrowed deeply. I didn't dare look any longer and quickly let him close the door.
Hands covered my eyes, my back pressed against a solid chest, and a familiar scent filled my nose. "Don't look."
I pushed his hands away from my eyes, speaking loudly and pretending to be anxious. "How could this happen? Isn't Gregory Ms. Brown's brother-in-law? It's one thing for them to be close normally, but how could they openly sleep in the same bed here? Aren't they afraid of being laughed at?"
Oscar's lips held back a smile. He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms, his voice gentle. "It's okay, Dad will handle it. Stop staring, it's bad luck. Go back to your room and change."
"Everyone, go back to your own business. No one is to speak of today's events." Oscar's face turned cold as he spoke sternly to the servants who had gathered to watch.
After quickly changing clothes and washing up, Oscar and I went downstairs together. Robert was already sitting on the sofa, his face serious, gripping his cane so tightly it was trembling slightly. He was clearly furious.
Gregory and Sophia hadn't come out of their room yet. Oscar went over and sat down next to Robert. "Dad, don't be angry. They're young and hot-blooded, it's normal that they can't control their desires."
Robert gritted his teeth, almost breaking his cane in his grip. "Doing something so shameful, where does that leave the Lopez family's reputation? He's a married man. I didn't care that he was close with Sophia normally - I'm old, I can't control everything - but I never thought he'd do this kind of thing right under my nose. Tell that bastard to get down here right now, I'm going to skin him alive."
Oscar coughed to cover his laughter and quickly handed Robert a cup of tea. "It's not that serious. What if it's a misunderstanding? Maybe they just took off their clothes and chatted under the covers, and nothing actually happened."
I almost laughed out loud. If Robert weren't so angry, he would definitely have heard that Oscar was doing this on purpose.
Unable to control my expression, I could only cough and turn away, laughing behind their backs. Then I grabbed my phone and immediately sent Nina a message: [Breaking news, Sophia and Gregory ended up in the same bed.]
Nina replied super fast: [What? Weren't those two already hooking up?]
I thought about it carefully: [I don't think so. If they'd been hooking up already, Sophia wouldn't have screamed so badly today. Anyway, they're coming down now, I'll fill you in on the details later.]
I dimmed my phone screen and, like everyone else, followed the figures slowly descending the stairs with my eyes.
The tear stains on Sophia's face weren't dry yet. Her eyes were red - she'd obviously just been crying. She walked straight over to Robert. "Mr. Lopez, I don't know what happened either. I... I'm absolutely mortified."
Robert didn't respond to her, just frowned deeply at her, his voice serious. "Sit down first. Gregory, there are no outsiders here now. You tell me, what exactly happened?"
Gregory stepped forward, his face red and head lowered, his eyes sweeping across my face, his voice very low. "I'm sorry, Grandpa. Yesterday, Sophia went to a party and had some drinks, so she asked me to pick her up..."
Robert stared at him intensely, not wanting to hear the details. "Why didn't you take her back to The Brown Manor? How did you end up bringing her to the Lopez Manor?"
Gregory's face turned even redder. "Sophia was worried that Ms. Wilson hadn't come back and something might have happened. We thought we'd wait for Uncle Oscar to come back and say hello before leaving. Who knew... it all got so confused, I don't even know what happened after that."
"You bastard, how can you not know what you did?" Robert struck his leg directly with the cane, making Gregory's leg buckle and nearly knocking him to his knees.
Sophia quickly stood up, crying pitifully. "Mr. Robert Lopez, don't hit Gregory. I'm at fault too. I..." She suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed.
"Sophia!" Gregory immediately rushed forward to catch her in his arms. "Quick, call a doctor!"