Chapter 64 Don't Force Me!
Sophie was practically dragged out of the living room.
"Arthur! You're hurting me!" Sophie struggled hard, but Arthur didn't let go. He kept pulling her out until they reached the yard.
"What the hell do you want?" Arthur let go of her hand, his voice thick with suppressed anger.
Sophie rubbed her reddened wrist, tears welling up in her eyes.
"What do I want? I should be asking you that! Arthur, are you going to keep your promise or not?"
"What promise?"
"Don't play dumb!" Sophie's tears fell. "At the hospital, you said it yourself—you'd divorce Aria next month and marry me!"
"It's been half a month now. Look what you've done! Not only haven't you mentioned divorce, you took her shopping and got photographed for everyone online to see! Do you know how people at the company are laughing at me?!"
She screamed, tears streaming down her face.
Arthur watched her cry. Strangely, he should have felt sorry for her, but he didn't.
All he felt now was irritation.
Not long ago, whenever Sophie cried, his heart would ache terribly. He would have wanted to give her the whole world.
But now, watching her cry and shout, he just wanted to cover her mouth.
How did this happen?
He took a breath and said patiently, "Sophie, my mom just got out of the hospital. She can't handle any stress right now."
"Divorcing now isn't appropriate." He tried to keep his voice calm. "Just let me handle this."
"Wait? How much longer do I have to wait?"
Sophie cut him off. "You keep telling me to wait. First it was three months, then it became next week, then it became a month!"
"You keep giving me hope, then disappointing me over and over."
She grabbed his sleeve, clutching it tightly.
"I don't see any signs of you two divorcing. All I see is that not only haven't you left her, you've let her move back in and you're getting closer to her!"
"Tell me the truth—have you... have you actually fallen in love with her? Are you planning to give up on me?"
Arthur's Adam's apple bobbed.
He realized he couldn't even give her a quick denial.
Sophie looked at him, then let out a bitter laugh.
"I knew it. I knew this would happen..."
"Sophie..."
Sophie wiped her tears. When she looked up again, her eyes were startlingly bright.
"Arthur, I'm giving you two choices. Either you announce our relationship right now and let everyone know that I, Sophie, am the one you truly love, the one you're really going to marry! Or..."
She stared at him intensely. "I'll kill myself!"
Of course she wouldn't actually kill herself, because she knew Arthur would never, ever let her die.
Arthur clenched his fists.
"Sophie, don't force me." His voice was heavy. "Now isn't the time."
Seeing Sophie still staring at him like that, he took a deep breath and asked back, "Do you really have to be so unreasonable and force me to choose between you and my mother's safety?"
Sophie's breath caught.
She began to realize she might have pushed too far.
But then Arthur continued, "I won't go back on what I promised you. I just can't ignore my mother. Can you understand that?"
Sophie quickly weighed her options in her mind, then said, "Then you at least need to do something to put my mind at ease."
She dropped the hysterical mask and switched back to looking pitiful and wronged.
"You didn't go to the company today, so you don't know how nasty people's comments were."
So that's what this was about.
Arthur cupped her face, wiping away her tears with his thumbs, saying patiently, "Tomorrow I'll go to the company with you..."
His voice became even lower as he whispered in her ear, "...and let everyone see, okay?"
Having pushed things this far, Sophie understood when to back off.
She buried herself in his arms, sobbing and nodding. "Okay, but you have to hurry. I don't want to keep waiting like this."
Arthur held her, his hand gently patting her back.
But his eyes looked into the distance, vacant.
This wasn't what he wanted. He understood that clearly now.
But he had to go through with it. Sophie had saved his life. He absolutely couldn't betray her.
But it seemed that between them, all they had left was "she saved his life."
After Sophie left, Arthur stood outside for a long time before returning.
In the living room, Elizabeth and Aria were watching TV in awkward silence.
Elizabeth glanced at him but said nothing.
"Mom, I saw Sophie out," Arthur said.
"Mm." Elizabeth responded coolly. "That was thoughtful of her to come see me, but don't let her come again. I'm not well, and I don't have the energy to deal with these things."
The words were very direct. She might as well have said Sophie wasn't welcome here.
Arthur's expression changed, but he didn't argue.
Seeing that Arthur seemed to have more to say, Aria tactfully stood up. "Mom, I'll go upstairs and organize some things."
"Okay, you go ahead." Elizabeth patted her hand. "What do you want for dinner? I'll have Ann arrange it."
"Anything is fine. Whatever you decide."
Aria went upstairs.
Arthur watched her disappear around the staircase before sitting down across from Elizabeth.
"Mom, actually Sophie..."
"Tell me the truth." Elizabeth interrupted him. "Is what they're saying outside true or not? Have you and Aria really gotten to the point of divorce?"
Seeing his mother's face already looking wrong, Arthur quickly said, "No! That's just rumors from outside. I'm not divorcing her."
"We just had a small disagreement and she's a bit upset, but it's absolutely not at the point of divorce."
Elizabeth looked at him seriously. She knew her son well, and seeing that his expression didn't seem like he was lying, she believed him.
Sophie sat in her car, her face dark.
She gripped the steering wheel tightly, her fingertips turning white.
Her phone was on the passenger seat. She grabbed it and sent a message.
[When are you going to make your move? I can't wait much longer.]
A few seconds later, a reply came: [What's the rush? This kind of thing needs to be done slowly, or you'll scare her off.]
Sophie bit her lip and sent another message: [I don't care! I want you to hurry up! Before the end of this month!]
This time she waited a long time before the reply came: [Don't worry, I'm already preparing. There's an art exhibition next week. I'll run into her there. Don't be too anxious, or people will notice.]
Sophie stared at the screen, a smile slowly forming at the corners of her mouth.
Aria, let's see how much longer you can be smug.
Without this baby, what will you have left to rely on!