Chapter 72 Chasing Stars Successfully
"Not really." Sophia was completely open about it, seeing no reason to hide anything from James. She told him honestly, "The Smith family is old money—there aren't many families that could match our social standing. I have a close friend, and both our families just assume we'll end up married eventually, so there's been no rush to get engaged. But nobody expected that I wouldn't actually be the Smith family's biological daughter."
James's curiosity was piqued. "Who is he? Can I meet him sometime?"
Sophia smiled mischievously. "That's staying secret for now. I'll tell you once we make things official!"
"You promise you won't keep it from me?"
"Promise."
"Alright then." James readily accepted Sophia's decision. "Any guy you'd fall for must be pretty amazing."
They went to help Mary close up the shop, and Ray came to pick them up afterward.
Sophia put all her gifts away in her room, noticing Joshua's present still sitting on her desk.
She'd tossed it there carelessly last night without opening it.
Remembering how Joshua had insisted she'd definitely love it when he gave it to her, she hesitantly unwrapped it.
Inside was a layer of raffia grass with just a single thin piece of paper.
Sophia pulled it out and glanced at it, instantly shocked.
She quickly dialed a number.
"Hello, Beth? Could you do me a favor?"
"Of course, anything I can help with."
After a brief conversation, the call ended.
Sophia opened Facebook and stared at her empty chat history with Joshua, growing more curious about who this person really was and what his motives were for approaching her.
She sent him a message.
Sophia, [Joshua, tomorrow at 6 PM, Celestial Peak Hotel.]
"Sophia, wash up for dinner!" Evelyn's voice called from outside.
"Coming!"
Sophia slipped the paper between the pages of a book and tucked it back into the desk organizer. She left the other gifts scattered on the floor to deal with after dinner.
After composing herself, she headed out.
"Evelyn, have you figured out your work situation?"
During dinner, Sophia asked about Evelyn's internship.
"Yeah, I got placed during campus recruitment—I'll be interning at a private hospital here in the city. I start reporting next Monday."
As everyone knew, medical student internships were essentially paying to work—not only was there no salary, but students had to pay tuition fees. And if you made any small mistake at the hospital, you'd face hundreds of dollars in fines.
So Evelyn wasn't particularly thrilled about landing the internship. Instead, she felt worried that after all these years of studying, she'd still be putting financial strain on her family during her residency.
"Evelyn, why did you choose clinical medicine in the first place?" Sophia had been curious about this for ages and finally had a chance to ask directly.
Evelyn loved Bruce so much—why didn't she study interior design instead of choosing the grueling medical track?
Evelyn sipped her orange juice and fell silent for a long moment before answering, "I never want to have to put my family's life and death in someone else's hands."
When her grandfather had been seriously ill, she'd spent time caring for him. Leukemia—the only treatment options were chemotherapy after chemotherapy. Her grandfather was too weak to endure it and eventually passed away.
She thought that if her family ever faced life-or-death situations again, she wanted to understand the medical terminology, to have a deeper grasp of the pathology and condition, and to have a chance at saving her family's lives. Even if the outcome still wasn't what they hoped for, at least she'd have no regrets.
Sophia fell silent. She hadn't expected Evelyn to have given up her dreams and talents for her family's sake.
"Hey, I haven't asked you yet." Not wanting the mood to get too heavy, Evelyn quickly changed the subject, her eyes lighting up as she stared at Sophia. "Do you really know Bruce the designer?"
"Of course I do." Sophia didn't deny it, even pulling out her phone to show Evelyn Bruce's social media as proof. "Look, his Instagram feed."
Bruce rarely posted, but he'd set his account to public, so there was still quite a bit of content.
There were photos of him and his signature sarcastic rants.
Whenever he encountered particularly difficult clients, he loved venting on social media.
Evelyn held her sister's phone, staring at those all-too-familiar sarcastic comments, her pupils trembling with excitement.
She never imagined she'd actually get to see her idol's Instagram feed!
"Who's Bruce?"
Ray, completely out of the loop, sat frozen with his mouth slightly open, looking incredulous.
It couldn't be the Bruce he was thinking of, could it?
James gave him a confirming look and nodded.
Ray immediately gasped. The Bruce who became famous at sixteen and was internationally renowned by twenty—that genius interior designer Bruce?
And Bruce was Sophia's friend?
Sophia could see their shock and curiosity, so she volunteered the information, "I knew Bruce before he became famous. We're pretty close."
As for how they'd ended up friends, she couldn't quite remember.
She only recalled that when they first met, she really disliked Bruce's sharp tongue—she thought he was too harsh and rude.
After becoming friends, she often found that he was right—some people really did deserve to be cursed.
Evelyn turned to face Sophia directly, her expectant gaze fixed intently on her. "Sophia, could you ask him for an autograph for me?"
What? An autograph from that guy?
Was that reasonable?
Knowing him, he'd probably write something passive-aggressive on it.
"Getting an autograph is such a hassle."
Sophia frowned. Bruce was in Silverlight City, and besides, his handwriting wasn't even good—why would anyone want to collect evidence of his poor penmanship?
Evelyn thought her request was too presumptuous. After all, a major designer like Bruce must have an incredibly busy schedule. Asking him to sign something and mail it over really was inconvenient.
She was about to apologize when she heard Sophia say, "Why don't I just arrange for you two to meet when he comes back to Emerald City?"
Evelyn's eyes instantly went wide. Could she actually meet her idol? Had she successfully become a fangirl?
"Let's not talk about that right now."
Sophia really didn't understand what was so special about Bruce—he was just a designer, after all. No big deal.
She glanced at Evelyn and steered the conversation back to the internship, "Evelyn, are you really not considering working in a field you actually enjoy? I saw the interior design sketches you did of our house—you have real talent."
While learning medicine for her family's sake was admirable, Sophia didn't agree with that choice.
Every industry had top talent, and without that 1% natural ability, the other 99% of effort wouldn't amount to much.
Life belonged to you alone. If studying medicine wouldn't make you better than people with natural talent in that field, why not use your own gifts to develop a career that truly belonged to you?
"Evelyn, I think you'd have a brighter future in interior design than in medicine."