Chapter 75 The Secret from Five Years Ago
A warm summer breeze drifted in through the window that wasn't quite closed.
Sophia rarely focused her gaze on William's face - his exceptional looks and incredible wealth, no wonder so many women threw themselves at him one after another.
She was certain that even forty or fifty years from now, William would still have no shortage of young women around him.
Hearing her words, William frowned, his temples throbbing. Just as he was about to explain that his relationship with Alice was purely a transactional repayment of gratitude, he received an urgent call from Tony.
"Mr. Smith, Ms. Rivera's in serious trouble!"
The previous conversation and the silence between them had made the restaurant so quiet you could hear a pin drop, let alone Tony's voice at full volume.
William immediately looked at Sophia's eyes, and the undisguised mockery in her expression made his gaze darken.
She stood up to leave the restaurant. "I won't disturb Mr. Smith's busy schedule."
Hearing Sophia's voice on the other end, Tony's heart sank: Oh no! I've affected the "ex" couple's relationship!
William grabbed her wrist. She looked down, meeting his deep eyes directly. The emotions in her eyes froze for a moment, but she quickly composed herself.
William held her hand and said, "Alice and I aren't what you think."
He directly turned on the speakerphone and said to Tony, "Continue."
Sophia, whose wrist was being held, struggled twice but couldn't break free. She could only stand beside William and listen to Alice's situation on the phone.
"Mr. Smith, Ms. Rivera's cosmetic surgery went wrong. Her body reacted to the medication. She's been transferred to another hospital for emergency treatment and hasn't come out of the operating room yet."
William frowned after hearing this. "Wasn't she going for reconstructive surgery? How did it become cosmetic surgery?"
Tony wasn't clear on this either. After arranging for someone to stay and look after Alice, he had followed William back to the country.
"Maybe... since she was already there, she figured she might as well get some work done?"
William's face darkened. Sophia couldn't help but laugh softly.
Meeting William's cold stare, she waved her hand. "I'm not laughing at Alice. I just think Tony's pretty funny."
William fell silent.
The coldness on his handsome, refined face faded slightly, his voice deep and captivating. "Tony, arrange for someone to follow up on this and do everything possible to save Alice's life."
Hearing this, Sophia's expression immediately darkened.
Her disgust for Alice had reached her bones, and hearing William's words, she felt disgust rising toward him as well.
Outside the window, the sunlight was bright and brilliant, but it couldn't shine into Sophia's heart at this moment.
She tried hard to pry open William's fingers gripping her wrist while stomping on his toes with real force.
William's brow furrowed slightly. Afraid of hurting her, he hadn't been using much strength, but seeing her resist so strongly, he could only loosen his grip further.
"Sophia, let me explain."
Unable to break free from his hand, Sophia said in defeat, "Fine, explain. I'd love to hear how earth-shattering your love is."
William sighed. "I don't love Alice."
His words made Sophia laugh, scoffing, "But you don't love me either. Five years ago in Empire City, that rainy night when you left me alone in the restaurant - you haven't forgotten that, have you?"
William was still trying to defend himself. "But you'd always wanted to eat at that restaurant, hadn't you? The food was already served. I couldn't make you come with me to deal with that mess, could I?"
"Besides, I left you bodyguards and a driver."
Anger swirled in her mind, making her rationality slip slightly. Hearing William's words, Sophia couldn't help but blurt out.
"Do you think I just wanted to eat at that restaurant? Do you know that day I was planning to..."
The rest of her words stopped abruptly!
Sophia's earlobes burned hot, shocked by what she'd almost said. She closed her eyes to calm herself.
From their first meeting, Sophia had known that William was actually a heartless, emotionless man.
Back then, though he didn't love her, he didn't love any other woman either.
Back then, though he wasn't a playboy, he was arrogant.
She thought that even if they were just a respectful married couple after marriage, respecting and supporting each other, life could still be happy and harmonious.
But she still couldn't guard her heart and unknowingly became attracted to William.
After James and Michael were born, William increasingly valued family. Sophia thought she saw hope and even began to expect love after marriage.
After confirming her feelings, she decided to confess to William. She booked a private room, ordered flowers, and just when she was full of anticipation, William left.
William keenly sensed that her unfinished words contained a story he didn't know about. His slender fingers gripping hers tightened.
They'd already been divorced for two years - why worry about some confession back then?
"Let go. I'm going to see the children." As Sophia broke free from William's grip, she heard his apology.
"...I'm sorry."
His elegant, quiet voice was intoxicatingly beautiful, yet she felt her eyes getting teary. She quickly looked up at the crystal chandelier above.
Proud as William was, he was practically all-powerful in Empire City. Even the most important people had to respectfully call him Mr. Smith when they saw him.
Throughout his life, few people or things could make him apologize.
Except for her, except for the three children.
Sophia thought that "sorry" was already William's limit, but unexpectedly, William continued.
"Five years ago, leaving you behind - I'm sorry."
"Rain Village, when Emily got hurt and I misunderstood you - I'm sorry for that too."
In all these years of knowing him, this was the first time William had apologized so seriously.
He hadn't known that the rainy night five years ago had affected Sophia so deeply.
At the time, Alice had been taken by someone from the underworld who enjoyed torturing women. He thought it was an emergency.
To William, it was just helping out someone who had saved his children's lives, with no personal feelings involved.
Sophia decisively turned her face away. "You can apologize, but I don't accept it. These two things aren't all you've done wrong."
The deliberately suppressed sob in her voice was like a bottle of vinegar spilling into his heart, the sour sensation gradually rising.
This unfamiliar emotion made his heart clench.
William realized he was feeling heartache for Sophia.
He released her wrist and instead gripped her slender arms with both hands, turning her averted body to face him again.
"Sophia, I think there are many misunderstandings between us. If you're willing, we can go through them one by one. Perhaps..."
William hadn't finished speaking when the phone on the table rang again.
Hearing Tony's urgent additional words on the other end, William's eyes suddenly changed emotion, and his hands gripping Sophia had already let go.
After hanging up, William looked at her. "I need to go out. Try to stay home with the children these next few days. If you must go out, take more people with you."
"The people outside are all old hands from the Smith family, reliable and trustworthy. Whatever you need, you can have them do it."
Sophia took in everything he said, but didn't feel much warmth from his concern.
She didn't want to hear his so-called explanations after the fact either.
Before the misunderstandings were completely cleared up, William didn't overstep. He just left a "wait for me to come back" and hurriedly left the Johnson Villa.
It was urgent, so William went straight to the airport.
In the car, Tony dutifully reported the cause of this incident. "The original partner's person in charge was removed from office. The current person in charge is demanding two more percentage points on top of our contract."
William's face had turned ice cold. "Then just switch to another partner."
William was abroad for a week this time.
It was during this week that Sophia became more certain of her inner thoughts.
Trying to win the love of a cold-hearted, emotionless man was like falling into a freezing abyss - to breathe again, you had to hold your breath and swim upstream through thick layers of ice.
She was actually quite satisfied with her current life. Setting aside those past sorrows, she'd built her own career and gained new possibilities in life.
She didn't want to destroy the happiness she'd finally rebuilt with the children.
As soon as William returned to Empire City, he immediately went to find Sophia, wanting to continue explaining what he hadn't finished before. But in the Johnson Villa garden, he saw Raymond, with Emily sitting in his lap.
Under the sun umbrella, Sophia, James, and Michael each had a camping chair, with a small box nearby full of fresh fruit and drinks.
On the other side was Raymond, holding Emily, feeding her fruit.
The closer he got, the clearer he could hear the children's voices.
James looked at his motionless fishing rod, puzzled. "Mom, why aren't the little fish biting?"
Michael, unusually quiet beside him, also kept looking at his fishing rod. "Mom, my rod isn't moving either. Do the little fish not like the bait I prepared?"
Sophia turned her head with a smile. "Fishing takes patience."
Seeing the confusion in both children's eyes and their restless expressions, she gently asked, "James, Michael, are you hot? Want to go inside and rest?"
James shook his head. "Not hot. I want to catch a big fish to make fish soup for Emily."
Hearing James say this, Michael wasn't to be outdone. "Mom, I can definitely catch a fish!"
Sophia praised them a few more times, then turned to look at Emily on the other side. "Emily, are you sleepy? Want to take a nap?"
Emily shook her head. "Mom, I'm not sleepy."
She slid down from Raymond's lap and picked up a fork from the small table to feed fruit to Sophia, James, and Michael.
Finally, she didn't forget to give Raymond a piece too, thanking him for taking care of her earlier.
Emily's voice was sweet and soft. "Raymond, eat."
Raymond's legs hadn't fully recovered yet. Naturally cool in temperament, sitting in the wheelchair actually added a touch of pitiable fragility.
He always looked at Emily with gentle eyes, and Emily really liked him.
This harmonious scene looked exactly like a family.
People feel pain because of emotions. William felt a tearing sensation in his chest, as if suddenly bitten on the neck by a wild beast's fangs, catching him completely off guard.
He seemed to understand what Sophia meant about feeling uncomfortable seeing him and Alice appear together.
Looking at Raymond appearing at the Johnson family right now, William found him extremely displeasing.
Emily was the first to see him, calling out in delight, "William?"
The others turned around simultaneously. Seeing the travel-worn William, their eyes showed different emotions.
Joy flashed across James and Michael's faces as they dropped their fishing rods and ran toward him.
Emily wanted to follow James and Michael's lead, but Raymond held her back. "Emily, be good. Wait a moment. You have watermelon juice on your face. Let me wipe it for you."
Hearing this, she obediently lifted her face. "Thank you."
Emily, letting Raymond wipe her cheeks, didn't see the disappointment in William's eyes in the distance.
Michael took his hand and walked toward the pond, saying as they went, "Dad, James, and I are having a fishing contest, but we've been waiting forever, and no fish are biting."
James consoled him, "It's okay, Michael. I haven't caught any fish either."
The path from the gate wasn't far. William's gaze stayed on Sophia the whole time - burning, urgent, and full of anxiety to clear up the misunderstandings, though his face maintained a calm, detached expression throughout.
Apart from initially turning to look at him when Emily called out "William," Sophia didn't look at him again afterward.
William pressed his lips together, suppressing the emotions in his eyes.
He led James and Michael to the pond's edge and immediately saw the tiny fish fry in the pond, along with the meatball-sized bait on James and Michael's fishing rods.
William's mouth twitched slightly. The two children had been sitting here for so long.
He casually asked the man in the wheelchair, "Why is Mr. Roberts here?"
Raymond smiled at this. "Nothing much, just came to say thanks."
His gaze fell gently on Sophia's face, his tone full of sincere gratitude.
Out of politeness, Sophia returned a "you're welcome" smile.
William clenched his fists. Beneath his calm, distant, composed face, his heart had long been swept away by wildfire, taking his rationality with it.
His eyes were cold yet sharp, meeting Raymond's gaze in the air. The surrounding atmosphere seemed charged with an undercurrent of tension.
"Dad, you should fish too! Let's all compete together!"