Chapter 290 What Is the Meaning of Marriage
Elodie was straightforward by nature - almost every emotion showed on her face.
Sophia let out a helpless laugh, her bright eyes looking in Benjamin's direction, brimming with amusement.
Benjamin happened to turn around just then. Their eyes met across the distance, and in an instant, his expressionless face seemed to thaw like melting glaciers, his cold demeanor softening.
Elodie stood beside them, stunned.
Even from such a distance, she could feel the invisible understanding between Sophia and Benjamin.
They had an indescribable harmony that no outsider could penetrate.
She opened her mouth, suddenly at a loss for words.
It wasn't until Sophia called out to her that she slowly snapped back to reality.
"If you have nothing to say, I'm leaving?" Sophia raised an eyebrow, the smile at the corner of her lips deepening.
Elodie realized she had been staring at them in a daze. A blush crept up her cheeks.
"Wait! I have something to say! I just wanted to tell you that I actually envy you. You're lucky to have met Benjamin."
Sophia blinked in confusion, not understanding what she meant.
Elodie gave a bitter smile. "You probably don't know this, but my mom and dad weren't in love - theirs was a business marriage. My mom's too strong-willed, and my dad's completely clueless about romance. So all these years, they've basically just been polite to each other."
"So?" Sophia's brow furrowed slightly.
"My mom always wanted a son to inherit the Smith Group, but as you can guess, she and dad have no feelings for each other and are both busy with their own things, so there's no chance." Elodie spoke quietly, her mood growing increasingly low.
"So my mom has always treated Caspian and Ernest like her own sons. She's strong-willed, and when she found out Caspian was heartbroken over a girl, she almost lost her ability to think rationally. That's why she did that thing where she tried to humiliate you with money."
Sophia pressed her lips together slightly, her understanding of Juno refreshed.
Sophia said softly, "I never blamed her."
She was telling the truth - before today, she hadn't even remembered who Juno was.
All the words Elodie wanted to say got stuck in her throat. She looked at Sophia, wanting to speak but hesitating, her eyes suddenly becoming moist.
"Sophia, thank you."
Sophia laughed helplessly. "Is that the only thing you know how to say?"
"What?"
A flash of confusion crossed Elodie's eyes.
In this moment, she shed all her pride, revealing instead a trace of innocence that belonged to her age.
Sophia suddenly felt that Elodie wasn't so annoying after all.
"Since you're being so sincere, do me a favor."
Elodie froze again. "Sophia, don't push your luck! We're even now!"
"Fine." Sophia nodded slowly, a smile on her lips. "So what?"
Elodie looked utterly defeated, feeling like she'd been tricked, but thinking of Ernest's illness, she held back!
"Fine, what favor? I'll help you just this once!"
Her proud expression was actually quite cute, reminding Sophia of someone else... Cillian.
Sophia couldn't help herself and reached out to pinch Elodie's slightly puffed cheek.
It felt as soft as she'd imagined.
She'd never understood why Adelaide always liked to pinch her cheeks, but now she finally got it.
This soft touch was truly irresistible!
Having her cheek pinched, Elodie instantly bristled like an angry cat, eyes wide, glaring at Sophia. "You, you..."
She beckoned to Elodie, signaling her to come closer.
Elodie looked at her suspiciously, but eventually leaned her ear over.
Sophia whispered a few words in her ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear.
Elodie's expression changed immediately. "Are you sure?"
"Sure."
Elodie fell silent, her brow furrowing. "Fine, I'll help you just this once. Consider it compensation from my mom. After this, you two are even!"
"Deal."
After reaching an agreement with Elodie, Sophia walked out of the hospital.
Benjamin was currently at the hospital entrance, leaning against the car, head lowered, seemingly lost in thought.
She jogged over and stopped in front of Benjamin. "Did you wait long?"
"Not really, get in." Benjamin's gaze paused for a moment on Sophia's cheek, then moved away without a trace.
He opened the car door, waited for Sophia to get in, then got in himself.
Since arriving in Harmony City, Eldon had been acting as the driver, wearing a sour expression every day while driving.
Come to think of it, making a tech geek who wasn't good at communicating with people run around outside every day, not only driving but also running errands for Benjamin - what kind of torture was that?
Looking at Eldon's gloomy face, Sophia laughed unkindly and suggested, "Why don't you call Chase back? At this rate, you're going to lose an excellent employee."
Benjamin glanced at Eldon in front and scoffed, "He just lacks opportunities for practice. Almost thirty years old and doesn't even have a woman in his life. All day long just hugging his computer, probably wants to sleep with it at night."
Eldon retorted indignantly, "That's called passion. What's so great about marriage? Code is much easier to understand."
Hearing this, Benjamin slowly dropped his smile, sighing inwardly. After all this time, Eldon still hadn't emerged from his past shadows.
On the way, Sophia received a call from Francis. Eldon temporarily changed direction and took her to the research institute.
Before leaving, Sophia's wrist was suddenly grabbed.
She looked back at Benjamin in confusion. "What's wrong?"
Benjamin stared at her, lips pressed tight, saying nothing.
Meeting his eyes, Sophia suddenly withdrew her hand from the car door, leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips. "Mr. White, see you tonight."
Benjamin's expression immediately softened, a smile playing at his lips. "Go on."
This was completely different from his cold expression just moments ago.
Having been with him for so long, Sophia had long figured out his temperament - sometimes he could be cold and hard, but he was also easy to please.
Her eyes crinkled with a smile. She leaned over and kissed his lips again, then took advantage of his daze to quickly push open the door, get out, and close it - all in one smooth motion.
Any later and she probably wouldn't have been able to get out of the car.
Only after running far away did Sophia slowly stop, her cheeks flushed with an unusual redness.
This blush didn't fade even when she entered Francis's office.
Francis and Elijah were discussing academic matters. Sophia stood at the door and knocked.
"Sophia's here? Come in quickly." Francis put down the materials in his hand and beckoned to Sophia.
Sophia walked in and politely greeted Francis.
Francis got straight to the point. "Sophia, let's not beat around the bush. I heard you went back this time to find alternative medicine. How's that going?"