Chapter 60
From Sophia's perspective:
The loud slam of the door made me flinch. Looking at the closed door, I breathed a sigh of relief.
The burning sensation in my body continued. I struggled to get up, walked into the bathroom, turned on the cold water, and splashed my face, trying to ease the discomfort.
It didn't work.
Still not enough.
Hot. Still so hot.
I filled the bathtub with cold water and submerged myself completely.
The icy water cleared my head a little, but my heart was full of pain and exhaustion.
When would this farce finally end?
I didn't know how long had passed, but the burning sensation gradually eased. I went back to bed and quickly fell asleep.
When I woke up the next day, it was already noon.
The physical discomfort was gone, though my head was still a bit foggy.
I got out of bed and walked to the window, looking at the view outside. My heart felt calm.
Soon after, a servant brought in breakfast. I casually asked, "Where's Grandma?"
"She went for a walk after breakfast."
"Where did James go?" I asked offhandedly.
Not that I cared about him—mainly because he looked pretty bad last night, and I wondered if he'd taken care of it.
What if he got sick from holding it in and blamed me?
The servant hesitated, then replied, "Mr. Smith left early this morning. I think he went to see Ms. Martinez."
Hearing this, I felt no surprise at all. In fact, I found it laughable.
Of course—the one he loved most would always be Amelia. No matter how much Amelia hurt me, he always took her side, doing everything he could to help her.
I let out a cold laugh and picked up my breakfast, eating slowly.
It would be best if James and Amelia just got together now and came clean to Indigo. That way there'd be nothing left between us, and the divorce could be settled sooner.
After breakfast, I turned on my phone, which had died last night and been left upstairs to charge.
Andrew's call came through.
The call connected quickly, and Andrew's voice came through. "Sophia, are you okay? Did you sleep well last night?"
"I'm fine, much better." I smiled, my tone relaxed.
Andrew continued, "Sophia, James didn't do anything to you last night, did he?"
"No, he left last night, and this morning he went to see Amelia." My tone was light and breezy.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm doing great."
After I stopped caring, I seemed to have become immune to anything involving those two.
My heart didn't hurt much anymore, and my chest didn't feel tight either.
I chatted with him a bit more, saying I'd come see him later, then hung up.
I tossed my phone on the table and went into the walk-in closet to find a change of clothes.
I changed into a loose cotton dress. Just as I stepped out of the closet, I heard a car engine turn off downstairs.
No need to guess—it was James coming back. I couldn't be bothered to deal with him and planned to ignore him.
As James and I passed each other, he watched me walk further away without any sign of stopping. He stepped forward and grabbed my shoulder.
His voice carried a barely noticeable hoarseness. "Are you feeling better? Last night... I'm sorry."
I let out a mocking laugh and turned to face him. "I'm fine."
Last night I'd soaked in cold water for hours. This morning I woke up pale, with wet hair hanging down—I looked pretty scary.
To avoid scaring people, I'd deliberately put on makeup when I changed, to make myself look normal.
But James didn't look too good himself.
His eyes were clearly bloodshot, stubble shadowed his chin, and he looked haggard overall. His suit was wrinkled, lacking its usual crisp neatness.
He probably didn't rest well after leaving last night either, maybe even spent a long time dealing with Amelia's situation. But none of that had anything to do with me, and I didn't want to waste energy on him.
My eyes held no warmth. I brushed off his hand and started to walk away.
James frowned deeply, stepped forward to block me. I immediately stepped back half a step, watching him warily, my tone distant. "Don't come closer."
He stopped, a flash of hurt in his eyes, his tone heavy. "Sophia, what do you think I'm going to do to you? Is this how terrible I am in your mind?"
I raised an eyebrow, my face full of mockery. "James, don't you know what you're like? Do I really need to spell it out and embarrass you?"
He opened his mouth as if to explain something, but the words died on his lips. He looked at me with complicated emotions.
I didn't want to waste more time on these meaningless topics. "Please move aside."
James looked at my cold demeanor and couldn't help but speak. "Sophia, can we just talk properly?"
My tone was ice cold. "Aside from divorce, we have nothing to talk about."
Seeing how eager I was to divorce him, the light in James's eyes dimmed. He asked coldly, "You want to leave me that badly?"
"Yes." I answered without hesitation. "This marriage was a mistake from the start. I've never been happy with you."
He was silent for a long time, then grabbed his clothes. "I have things to do. I'm leaving."
"Are you making excuses to run away? Even if you can escape for now, you can't escape forever." The more I spoke, the faster that figure walked away, almost like he was fleeing.
I snorted.
Who was he putting on this act for now?
I pulled out my phone to check the time while walking out, and bumped right into someone.
"Are you blind?" The girl's voice was clear and pleasant, just a bit harsh.
I looked up and shot back, "I was looking down at my phone when I bumped into you—that's understandable. You weren't looking at your phone and still bumped into me. If it wasn't on purpose, then there's something wrong with your eyes."
"Let me give you some friendly advice—if your eyes are bad, get them treated quickly. It'll be a real problem if you go blind later."
Juniper Fox, a rich heiress, had never been treated like this. She raised her hand to slap me.
I swung my bag at her wrist. She screamed in pain and pulled her hand back.
"Sophia, are you crazy? How dare you hit me! Believe it or not, I'll tell my cousin and have him throw you out!" Juniper was incredibly arrogant, lifting her chin high. "If you kneel down and apologize to me now, I might let you off."
I wasn't about to indulge her spoiled attitude. "Go ahead then."
Juniper had always treated me badly, but before, to avoid making things difficult for James, I'd always let her have her way.
Now that I didn't care about James anymore, why should I keep putting up with these people?
Juniper had never seen me so sharp before. She froze for a moment, then her face turned dark with anger as she shouted,
"Sophia, you bitch! I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"
She raised her hand to hit me again. I timed it right and grabbed her hair.
She was in too much pain to fight back. I raised my other hand and slapped her. "Love slapping people, do you? Let me show you what it feels like to be slapped."
Juniper's face turned red instantly. She screamed, "Sophia, I'm going to kill you!"
Too bad she wasn't as strong as me. Under my control, she couldn't move at all.
"What are you doing?" James walked in from outside.
Seeing him, Juniper immediately cried and complained. "James, Sophia's gone crazy!"
"Look what she did to me! My face hurts so much!"
"James, you need to punish her and make her kneel and apologize to me!" she demanded.
James frowned. "Sophia, let her go."
I gave a light push, and Juniper nearly fell. She turned around to attack me again, but James grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him.
"James, why are you taking her side!"
"This bitch wasn't satisfied with bullying Amelia—now she's attacking me too. If you don't put her in her place, she's going to walk all over you!"
James asked in a low voice, "What did you just call her?"
Juniper hadn't realized the danger yet and blurted out, "Bitch."
James's sharp gaze bore down on her. "Juniper, is this how you were raised?"
"She's my wife. If you talk like that again, get out."
Hearing James defend me, my heart felt nothing. He was just using me to put Juniper in her place.
Juniper's mouth had no filter. If she went around talking about him and Amelia, his image would definitely suffer, and the company would be affected too.
He wouldn't allow anyone to do anything that could harm the company.
But Juniper didn't know that. She just felt wronged that James wasn't on her side, helping her punish me. Her lips trembled. "James, you've changed. That woman has you so confused you can't tell right from wrong!"
James lifted his eyelids, his tone cold. "Looks like you want me to take action."
Knowing James meant what he said, Juniper didn't dare oppose him anymore and backed down. "James, I know I was wrong. I'm sorry, don't be angry."
James added, "Not only can't you speak properly, but is your brain broken too? Apologize to Sophia right now."
Juniper's eyes widened as she glared at me viciously.
I was surprised too—I hadn't expected James to make Juniper apologize to me.