Chapter 203 Two Years Ago at the Hospital...
William thought back to all the holidays, big and small, when he would habitually have people prepare jewelry.
As far as he knew, the wealthy ladies in their circle all loved jewelry. He assumed Sophia would like it too, but after Emily's wake-up call, he suddenly realized that perhaps she had never liked it at all.
Faced with his sudden question, Sophia paused before answering, "There's no point in talking about this now."
Divorce wasn't meant to give a man a chance for reflection.
They were already divorced.
Sophia didn't like to dwell on the past.
She stood at the door and waved to Emily, "Sweetie, it's time to go home."
William stood up and walked closer to her, "I think it is very meaningful."
"If you didn't like them, why didn't you tell me back then? If you had told me you didn't like these things, I wouldn't have continued...."
He remembered that the first time Sophia received jewelry, there was joy in her eyes.
When did it change?
Halfway through his sentence, William suddenly recalled a fleeting figure at a banquet. At the time, he thought he had seen wrong.
But thinking back on it now, that person might have been Sophia.
He grabbed the wrist of Sophia, who was trying to leave, his eyes deep and locked on hers. "Did you think I also gave them to Alice, so that's why you didn't like them?"
"No." Sophia pulled away his hand and took half a step back.
A flicker of emotion passed through William's indifferent eyes as he pressed forward, "The jewelry I gave you was personally selected by me. Besides you, I've never given jewelry to any other woman."
It was like Emily had given him an epiphany.
Certain details he had overlooked suddenly flooded from the depths of his memory into reality.
"However, Peace Group has partnered with jewelry designers. When the PR department sends jewelry to long-term female clients, they choose from these designers' works."
"But the jewelry I gave you was all custom-made by me personally... I thought you liked these things."
He looked down at her, slight ripples appearing in his eyes, hoping to see some emotion in hers.
Unfortunately, the Sophia before him was far too rational.
Having stepped out of an unsuitable marriage, standing outside looking in, she could see more clearly than when she was inside.
She didn't interrupt William, just smiled faintly.
After he finished, Sophia responded calmly, "I see."
William's thick, firm lashes trembled slightly, then lowered, his voice slow and heavy, "Mm, drive carefully on your way back."
Emily, who had gotten in the car early, quietly waited for the two adults to finish talking.
She even waved at William before leaving.
The courtyard returned to silence.
William looked down at the velvet gift box in his hands and discovered that Emily had put smiley face stickers on every piece of jewelry.
He watched Sophia and the child's departing figures, just catching Emily's backward glance and wink, and the corner of his mouth tugged upward slightly.
His daughter was truly thoughtful.
Back home, Sophia carried Emily to wash her face and hands.
Emily obediently stood on her little deer stool, washing her hands, playing with the soap bubbles, and shaping them into a heart.
She looked up at Sophia with a smile, "For Mommy."
Looking at Emily's increasingly defined and delicate features, her gaze involuntarily fell on the dimples on both sides of her cheeks—this was the most obvious trait she inherited from William, something even her two brothers didn't have.
Sophia had also searched her heart.
Would it be unfair to Emily not to let her acknowledge her father?
She washed Emily's hands clean and, carried her to the dressing room to change into more comfortable home clothes.
While changing, Sophia asked her, "Do you want a daddy?"
Emily, who had just taken off her jacket, looked at her and shook her head.
As if seeing the worry in Sophia's heart, Emily nestled into her arms for a hug and said on her own, "I don't need a daddy."
Whether it was her two brothers or Daddy, once placed on the same scale as Mommy, Emily would always choose only Mommy.
"If Mommy likes, I like."
"If Mommy doesn't want, I don't want either."
Sophia's eyes reddened.
Let them call her selfish or cold-blooded, but she had to admit that Emily's words became her source of reassurance.
Ever since women have children, society has imposed all kinds of rigid conditions on them, like...
How can you not let the child acknowledge her father?
Why won't you let the child have more love from the father's family?
The child's father has changed. Why won't you let the child get close to him?
Sophia really wanted to say, On what grounds?
She gave birth to the child, raised her with all her heart and soul. Why should a man be able to unconditionally have her daughter just by buying some gifts and showing some patience?
From William's behavior, she vaguely sensed that he might have already guessed Emily's identity.
If he wanted to acknowledge his daughter, fine.
The prerequisite was that Emily was willing.
Sophia continued changing the child's clothes. The moment she finished, she kissed the child's face, looking at her with gentle and serious eyes.
"Emily, if one day you want to acknowledge your daddy, Mommy won't stop you. You just need to tell Mommy, okay?"
She put the decision in Emily's hands. If she truly wanted William as her father in the future, she wouldn't prevent it.
Emily nodded with only a vague understanding.
On the other side, William appeared at the hospital where Sophia had discovered her pregnancy, sitting across from the hospital director.
The surveillance footage from two years ago had long been automatically overwritten by the system. The director wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, helpless.
"Mr. Smith, the country has its laws, the hospital has its rules. A patient's condition is personal privacy. As the director, I especially cannot leak patient privacy."
As a well-known private hospital in Empire City, those who came here for treatment were all prominent figures from various circles.
Although they couldn't compare to the man before him, the professional ethics of doctors still had to be upheld.
William knew he couldn't find out anything, so he settled for the next best thing, and asked which room Sophia had stayed in.
Director, "Top floor VIP ward, 2801."
It happened to be vacant recently, so the director immediately took William to that ward, saying with a smile, "This one has the best view."
Standing by the window, William discovered that from this ward, one could actually see the three-dimensional letters at the top of the Peace Group building in the distance.
When Sophia stayed here, what did she think about?
He asked the director to leave.
He sat on the ward sofa himself, looking at the hospital bed for a long time.
"Oh my god! Did you see that man at the elevator just now! William, Empire City's richest man! Isn't he so handsome!"
In the hospital restroom, a new female nurse asked curiously, "Pearl, he's not sick, so why did he stay in that ward so long?"
"I'll tell you secretly, but don't tell anyone. The day his ex-wife found out she was pregnant, he was trending on social media for taking his son to dinner with his mistress! You don't know how pale his ex-wife's face was when she was brought in that night."
"What about the child?"
"I remember the day after the trending topic, the woman from the news came to see her, and then she was so grief-stricken that she lost the baby."
Although the two female nurses were whispering, this floor was all VIP wards and very quiet, so their conversation was quite clear.
After they left, William emerged from the men's restroom across the way, his face pale. When washing his hands, both hands were trembling. He looked at himself in the mirror, silent for a long time.
When he left the hospital, the sky began to drizzle. The black Maybach sped along the elevated highway, driving all the way to its destination.
William looked at the Polaroid photo in his wallet, his fingertips slowly tracing over the woman's face in the picture.
After a long while.
He said to the driver, "Take me to Empire City Prison."