Chapter 308 Torturing Body and Heart?
Finnley felt like something had slammed hard into his chest. He mumbled, "It doesn't hurt."
Hearing his words, Sophia's tears, which she had been holding back, finally fell, streaming down continuously.
Seeing Sophia's tears, his heart clenched painfully, as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand.
It hurt so much he could barely breathe.
He instinctively reached out his hand, gently wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes with his fingertips. "It really doesn't hurt. Don't cry."
At that moment, Finnley felt like he had fallen for Sophia.
It wasn't like he'd never seen women cry before, but in the past he'd only found it annoying.
But when Sophia cried, all he felt was heartache.
Sophia threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder and nuzzling against it.
"I'm sorry..."
She had been too presumptuous two years ago, thinking she had prepared everything perfectly, but in the end, she had only harmed him.
Though Finnley didn't understand what she meant, he still patted her back comfortingly. "It's okay, it's okay, it's all in the past."
He patiently soothed Sophia's emotions, feeling uncomfortable inside.
After a long while, Sophia's crying gradually subsided.
Finnley held her hands, gently removing her arms from around his neck and slowly placing them on the bed.
His movements were gentle, careful not to wake her.
He saw that even in her sleep, Sophia was still crying, which made his heart ache even more.
He sighed deeply to himself and stayed by her bedside the entire night.
Only when dawn was approaching did he return to the sofa to rest for a bit.
The next morning, when Finnley came downstairs, he noticed everyone looked at him strangely.
Especially Cillian.
With his straightforward personality, he'd never been good at hiding things - whatever he was thinking was written all over his face.
Finnley didn't think much of it and sat down at the dining table with Sophia.
At that moment, Cillian looked over with a complicated expression. "Benjamin, I didn't know you'd lost your memory yesterday. I'm sorry for yelling at you like that!"
Preston also looked at him with concern.
There was one more person at the table, someone who looked somewhat similar to him but with a gentler, more refined air - probably Alaric, the eldest son of the White family.
Alaric said, "Benjamin, now that you're home, everything will get better."
Finnley was surprised that Sophia had told the White family about his memory loss. He turned to look at her in confusion.
Sophia blinked and leaned close to his ear with a serious expression. "This explanation is more believable. If you accidentally slip up, you don't have to worry - you can use the memory loss as a cover."
"Okay." Finnley nodded quietly.
Actually, he'd thought of using this excuse from the start.
But at the time, he could only find some information about the White family online and didn't understand their personalities, so he didn't dare make things up.
Now, seeing the White family's reaction, he felt relieved.
This was good - with memory loss as an excuse, he didn't have to worry about the White family becoming suspicious of him.
He cleared his throat. "It's all in the past. Let me also formally apologize to you all. I'm sorry for making you worry for so long."
Cillian immediately waved his hand and pushed the dishes in front of him toward Finnley.
He declared righteously, "Benjamin, these are to express my apology. I specially asked the kitchen to make them. Eat them while they're hot! You haven't had home-cooked meals in two years - you must miss them?"
Looking at the dishes before him, Finnley's eyelid twitched.
This wasn't an apology - it was deliberate revenge!
Cillian also very "thoughtfully" brought him a glass of milk.
Perfect. Organ meats, milk... all the things he hated most.
He didn't believe for a second that Cillian wasn't doing this on purpose.
Finnley didn't pick up his utensils for a long time. Seeing this, Cillian clutched his chest, looking deeply hurt.
"Why aren't you eating? These are all your favorites from before! Or do you refuse to forgive me?"
Finnley glanced at Sophia and found her looking down, trying to suppress her laughter, with no intention of helping him out.
What happened to mutual benefit?
He helplessly rubbed his forehead, then picked up those dishes with his slender fingers and placed them back in front of Cillian.
"I'm injured, so I shouldn't eat such greasy food. You eat it yourself."
Cillian looked up at Finnley blankly. "You're injured? Where? Is it serious?"
Finnley gave Sophia a meaningful look. "Whether it's serious or not... you'll have to ask Sophia."
Sophia, who was drinking porridge, choked badly on hearing this and couldn't help coughing violently.
Under her family's gaze, Sophia's cheeks flushed - whether from embarrassment or from choking, it was hard to tell.
Meanwhile, Finnley smiled brazenly, putting his arm around her shoulder and saying affectionately, "Why are you so careless? Drink slowly."
She glared at Finnley, warning him not to talk nonsense.
Cillian quietly pulled the plates farther away, but this small movement was caught by Finnley.
He said with mock grief, "Cillian, although our family isn't short of money, wasting food is shameful. Make sure you finish these dishes. If you can't finish them, you'll have them again next meal."
Cillian wanted to argue, but when he met Finnley's dark eyes, he was too scared to speak.
He looked at those dishes, on the verge of tears.
He didn't like eating organ meats either!
What do they call it when you hurt yourself with your own scheme? This was it!
He wanted to ask Alaric and Preston for help, but they just kept their heads down eating, not looking at him at all.
Why was he the only one suffering?
In the afternoon, Chase and Eldon rushed over after hearing that Benjamin had returned.
Seeing Benjamin's familiar face, Chase's eyes immediately reddened.
He leaned on Eldon's shoulder, rubbing against his crisp, tailored suit, leaving a wet tear stain.
"Mr. White, I knew you'd come back!"
Eldon looked at the tear stain on his clothes, annoyed. "Chase, my suit isn't for wiping your tears."
"I'll buy you a new suit later. Don't worry about that right now."
Chase pulled Eldon's sleeve over to wipe his tears.
After wiping his tears, Chase stared at Finnley without blinking, looking him up and down.
"Mr. White, I heard you lost your memory? Is it true?"
Finnley nodded, looking at Chase with a hint of disdain.
This was really Benjamin's assistant? Way too unreliable!
Chase had no idea his image had already been judged by Benjamin.
He cried tears of excitement. "It's good you're back! It's good you're back! We've all been waiting for you to return, especially Mrs. White - she's suffered so much these past two years."
Finnley looked at Sophia. He'd heard this from many people already.
It showed how well-liked Sophia was.
He put his arm around Sophia's shoulder and said softly, "There won't be a next time."
Finnley stared intently into Sophia's eyes, and for a moment, he actually felt like he really was Benjamin.
Just then, an untimely voice rang in his ears. "Mr. White, you can't be like those novels where the guy loses his memory and lets down Mrs. White!"
"Chase, don't talk nonsense."
Eldon saw Sophia's face turn cold and quickly nudged Chase's arm to warn him.
But Chase ignored his hint and said seriously, "That's how it's written in novels - the male lead loses his memory by accident, gets a new girlfriend or fiancée, and torments the female lead physically and emotionally... you can't do that to Mrs. White!"
As he spoke, Chase suddenly sensed something was wrong.
He turned his head and met Sophia's ice-cold stare.
Chase quickly covered his mouth, not daring to say another word.
Sophia looked up at Finnley and asked with a fake smile, "Girlfriend? Fiancée? Physical and emotional torment?"