Chapter 136 This Belated Affection Is Truly Worthless!
Hearing the sound of Sophia parking, the man slowly turned around.
Their eyes met, and both froze for a long moment.
He looked just as she remembered—handsome and refined, with deep-set eyes, gentle blue eyes like the ocean, a straight nose, and thin lips that curved into an elegant smile.
He looked at her with a slight smile and said, "Sophia..."
The man straightened up and was about to walk toward her when Sophia expressionlessly stepped on the gas pedal.
The gate of the Johnson Villa closed mercilessly before his eyes.
When Sophia returned to the master bedroom upstairs, she pulled the curtains open just a crack and could see the man still standing in the same position, looking up toward the third floor of the villa.
She closed the curtains again and went into the bathroom with her pajamas.
That night, Sophia dreamed again of those three years studying in Port City.
When she woke from the dream, dawn was breaking.
But Sophia had completely lost any desire to sleep.
She glanced at Emily sleeping sweetly beside her, lovingly kissed Emily's cheek, then got up, freshened up, and went downstairs.
Sophia wanted to make herself a cup of coffee and brought along Emily's empty milk bottle from the nightstand.
The morning light outside filtered through the sheer curtains into the living room, making everything visible, so she didn't turn on the main lights downstairs.
But as soon as she came down the stairs, she saw a tall dark figure sitting on the sofa. Sophia reflexively threw the milk bottle at it.
"Sophia! It's me! It's me!"
Lucas's pained voice rang out. He covered his forehead where Sophia had hit him and quickly went to turn on the living room lights.
"Why are you sitting in the living room like a statue so early in the morning instead of sleeping?"
Sophia saw he was wearing pajamas, rubbing his forehead with one hand, looking at her with hurt and aggrieved eyes.
Lucas said, "I went to bed early last night and woke up early this morning, too. I wanted to come down for coffee, but the machine was out of beans."
He had planned to go back upstairs to lie down, but then he heard movement at the stairs. At this hour, it could only be Sophia. Thinking of the two men he'd seen last night, he wanted to stay and ask her about it.
Who knew she'd mistake him for an intruder and hit him with a milk bottle.
Sophia found the coffee beans, poured them into the machine, and started grinding. The sound of the machine broke the silence in the living room.
Seeing Lucas's reddened forehead, which looked quite painful, Sophia found some ointment from the medicine cabinet and said to him, "Come here."
"Sophia, be gentle. I'm fragile, I can't take it. Your strength is really..."
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything more. Just be gentle!"
After applying the medicine, Sophia went to wash her hands.
Lucas silently followed her, hesitating before saying, "Sophia, I saw your jerk ex-husband William yesterday, and also... that guy from the Franklin family."
Lucas knew that Sophia had lived at the Franklin Villa for three years—after all, he'd met her at a party at the Franklin Villa.
Since he'd started, he might as well say it all.
"William came around six. He played with James and Michael for a bit and even held Emily. It really pissed me off!"
Lucas saw Sophia as his own sister, so he had no patience for William, who had let her down.
"He left at eight, and at eight-thirty, that Franklin family guy's car showed up. He didn't knock or anything, just stood there the whole time."
At this point, Lucas carefully asked, "Sophia, I heard from friends in Port City that after you left, he went abroad for college and didn't date anyone until graduation. All these years, he's never had anyone by his side either."
"You're single now, too. If he pursues you, could you two possibly get together?"
While making coffee, Sophia said, "There's no possibility between him and me."
Lucas was confused. "Why not?"
"No possibility means no possibility. Drink your coffee."
After saying this, Sophia took her coffee cup and went upstairs, leaving Lucas downstairs looking confused, staring at his empty coffee cup, and sighing.
Back in the study, Sophia didn't turn on her computer to organize data. Instead, she opened the window and stared at the distant sunrise while holding her coffee, lost in thought.
She was moving forward.
But... he seemed to still be stuck in the same place.
-
It was Sunday today, so the two kids didn't have school. Sophia stayed home to spend time with them.
In the afternoon, the lawyer handling the custody case called her, saying William wanted to talk to her in person.
This matter had been temporarily delayed because of all the incidents that had happened one after another. After returning, she had the lawyer follow up on it as soon as possible.
Sophia had keenly noticed that William's attitude toward her seemed off. She really didn't want to keep wasting energy on him.
Hearing that the meeting was scheduled for after work hours, Sophia hesitated.
Learning that the location was the Peace Group conference room, she thought about it and agreed.
Lucas came downstairs and saw her putting on her shoes. He asked curiously, "Sophia, it's almost dinner time. Where are you going?"
Sophia said, "To talk with William about the custody issue."
Lucas immediately said, "I'll go with you!"
"No need. I'm going with the lawyer. You stay home with the kids. I'll be back soon."
Hearing the lawyer would be there too, Lucas felt more at ease and nodded. "Then go and come back early. I'll have the kitchen save you some late-night snacks."
Sophia nodded and soon drove away from the Johnson Villa, heading toward Peace Group.
When she arrived at the underground parking garage, the lawyer was already there.
Tony was also waiting for her.
He gave her a professional smile and said, "Ms. Johnson, Mr. Smith is waiting for you upstairs. This way, please."
So far, everything seemed normal.
Sophia wasn't unfamiliar with Peace Group. During the five years she was married to William, she'd been here once or twice.
Each time was after employees had left for the day, coming to bring him specially prepared health meals made by their home chef.
But William never ate them, just kept his head down working.
After a while, Sophia couldn't be bothered to bring meals anymore. William wouldn't starve to death at the company anyway.
She remembered William's office was on the 28th floor.
But Tony pressed the button for the 29th floor.
If she remembered correctly, that floor was the rooftop, wasn't it?
Sophia directly asked about her confusion.
Tony explained, "The elevator doors on the 27th and 28th floors have a temporary malfunction. Workers are fixing them, so we need to take the stairs down from the 29th floor."
His explanation was clear, so Sophia didn't think much more about it.
The elevator quickly reached the 29th floor.
Before even stepping out of the elevator, Sophia smelled a very strong scent of roses. She felt more and more that something wasn't quite right.
Seeing the wariness in her eyes, Tony's nerves tightened internally, but he tried hard not to let her see anything unusual.
With a gentle smile on his face, he gestured with his hand, "Ms. Johnson, the stairs are this way. Please."
He led Sophia out of the luxurious elevator lobby, and she saw the entire rooftop decorated with roses, as well as William standing there with an uncomfortable expression on his face, holding a bouquet of purple roses.
Sophia thought to herself: 'What is William up to now?'
She turned to leave, only to see that the glass door was locked, and Tony and the lawyer had disappeared.
In the elevator, the lawyer's mouth was covered by Tony. The lawyer's muffled protests went unheard.
William was also very uncomfortable with such a showy approach. His whole body was stiff, without any of the calm composure he had at the negotiating table.
He walked up to her, but before he could speak, he heard Sophia's decisive and firm voice.
"I don't like you, I refuse to remarry, and I won't agree to give you custody."
She spoke without hesitation and without mercy.
William fell silent.
His long, well-proportioned fingers gripped the purple roses tightly, his voice low.
"These... were all picked from the Smith Mansion garden."
Sophia laughed coldly and pulled up the social media post where Alice had posted about cutting the roses Sophia had planted.
William frowned. "I didn't know about that."
"Then what do you know? William, you say you don't love Alice, that what you did was just to repay her for saving Michael."
"But Raymond saved him, too. Why don't you have him live at the Smith Mansion, have him dine with James and Michael, and pave the way for him in business?"
Sophia's sharp words directly blocked the script William had prepared in his mind. His handsome face was filled with low pressure, his eyes pitch black.
She took a deep breath and smiled coldly. "William, this belated affection is truly worthless!"