Chapter 382 Mr. Bryant, No Acting Spoiled
"Not today, tomorrow." Sophia gently patted his hand, signaling him to let her go.
Finnley froze for a moment, then heard Sophia continue, "I promised Matthew today that I'd go find him at the Lumina Group."
Hearing Matthew's name, Finnley's heart immediately tensed up.
Although Sophia had already explained last night, he absolutely couldn't let his guard down around Matthew.
Even if Matthew was only possibly his rival.
Sophia saw right through his thoughts. She reached out to pinch his cheek and explained in a low voice, "I've developed a new cosmeceutical formula and need to take it to the lab for research. Going to the Lumina Group is just to report the situation to him."
"Really?"
Finnley slowly relaxed, feeling like he was being too anxious about everything now.
It was like he wasn't himself anymore.
"Really." Sophia promised earnestly.
Finnley held Sophia's hand and wouldn't let go. He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, "Then I'll go with you."
Sophia felt the soft, moist touch on her forehead and couldn't help but laugh softly, "Mr. Bryant, no acting cute."
"So will you agree or not? If you don't agree, I'll keep going." Finnley's eyes held a smile as he gently nuzzled her with his cheek.
"Fine, I really can't do anything with you."
In the end, Sophia couldn't resist his cuteness and agreed to let him come along.
Finnley immediately brightened up, the smile in his eyes deepening as he put his arm around Sophia's shoulder and walked out.
Chase had driven away their previous car, so they went to the garage to get a new one.
Finnley opened the car door and placed his hand above her head to prevent her from bumping it. After she was seated, he closed the door and drove toward the Lumina Group.
Matthew was in a meeting when Oscar reported to him, and he immediately sped things up.
What should have been a thirty-minute meeting was compressed to just ten minutes.
The employees had long gotten used to this and not only had no complaints, but were silently grateful in their hearts that Sophia had come at the right time.
Every time Matthew called a meeting, he would get very angry and scold them harshly.
Matthew was usually such a gentle and calm person, but during meetings, he seemed like a different person.
Whenever he was about to start criticizing them, they would silently hope in their hearts that Sophia would come.
If there was one person in this world who could stop Matthew's anger, that person had to be Sophia.
After the meeting ended, the employees all breathed a sigh of relief, happy to have escaped disaster.
Matthew had no idea he was such a terrifying presence in his employees' minds. Hearing that Sophia had arrived, he immediately quickened his pace to his office.
When he saw Finnley's figure, his eyes turned cold, but when he looked at Sophia, he returned to his usual gentleness.
"Sophia."
"Matthew!" Sophia's eyes lit up and she immediately stood up from her chair, ready to walk toward Matthew.
However, as soon as she stood up, a pair of warm hands landed on her shoulders and pressed her back down into her seat.
Sophia looked up at Finnley in confusion.
Finnley cleared his throat and said in a low voice, "He has his own feet. Just sit properly."
Matthew walked over and stopped in front of Sophia, his deep eyes overflowing with tenderness.
"I waited for you all morning and wanted to have lunch together, but I didn't expect you to come only now."
Finnley immediately became unhappy.
Matthew needed someone to accompany him for lunch?
Was Matthew being dramatic?
Besides, Sophia still had to eat with him!
If Matthew was so capable, he should go find himself a girlfriend instead of always clinging to his wife!
Sophia glared at him, then smiled apologetically at Matthew, "I'm sorry, Matthew. We were busy moving this morning and forgot to tell you."
"Moving? Where did you move to?"
Matthew frowned. He remembered that two years ago, Sophia had moved back to the White Manor to live with Preston.
Why were they suddenly moving out now?
"Don't overthink it. We just moved back to Maple Grove Villas. Clifton said going to places he's been before would help restore his memory."
"That's good." Matthew relaxed, as long as Sophia hadn't been mistreated at the White Manor.
He turned to Finnley and asked, "How's your memory recovery going? Feel free to ask if you need help."
"Okay." Finnley nodded, his attitude cold but not objectionable.
Matthew also sensed his hostility and didn't say more to him. He sat down at his desk on his own, "Sophia, you've finished developing the new formula?"
"Yes, there's detailed information here."
Talking about business, Sophia also put away her smile and became serious, "There's a detailed formula and proportions here, plus an additional storage environment requirement compared to before."
Matthew's gaze fell on the storage environment section, and his expression paused, "Why are the requirements so high this time?"
Sophia explained, "This formula includes a new ingredient. This ingredient works very well, but its activity is unstable. If it's exposed to air for a long time, it will have the opposite effect."
"But won't it also be exposed to a lot of air during use?"
"Yes, so I added an ingredient that promotes absorption. I brought it here to have the lab research it first and see how effective this type of ingredient is."
If the experimental results weren't good, they'd have to find a new ingredient.
This was a necessary part of product development. Matthew didn't ask more questions and handed it directly to Oscar to take to the lab.
Before they knew it, two hours had passed. By the time Sophia and Matthew finished discussing business, it was already dark outside.
Finnley had been staring at Sophia for as long as they'd been talking.
Finnley's gaze was intense and focused, his dark, deep eyes radiating brilliant light.
It was hard for Matthew not to notice Finnley's unusual behavior. He finally shook his head helplessly and slowly stood up.
"Come on, let's have dinner together. We'll talk about the rest after the research results come out."
Finnley instinctively wanted to refuse, only wanting to spend time alone with Sophia, but before he could speak, Sophia had already agreed decisively.
"Great! I want to go to that newly opened restaurant. I heard the food is really good."
"Okay, then we'll go there." Matthew casually picked up the jacket draped over his chair and walked out with Sophia.
Finnley watched Matthew and Sophia walking side by side with a resentful expression. The more he watched, the more frustrated he felt.
Did Matthew and Sophia really have that much to talk about? They were so engrossed in conversation that they'd forgotten about him.
Whether it was because his expression was too resentful or not, Sophia, who was walking ahead, paused and turned to wave at him, "Hurry up and keep up."
"Coming."
Finnley immediately quickened his pace and walked up to Sophia.
To assert his claim, he deliberately reached out and pulled her into his arms.
Sure enough, Sophia still cared about him.