Chapter 80 She Never Once Looked Back
Before Sophia could answer, Amelia, who had been watching the entire scene unfold from the elevated balcony, was already covering her mouth and crying tears of joy.
No wonder Michael had managed to win over their precious Sophia—he was absolutely eloquent!
"Is it really worth crying over?" Wayne glanced at Amelia with disdain.
It was just a confession. Open up TikTok, and you'd find dozens of identical proposal scenes—nothing original about it!
Amelia glared at him, instantly stopping her tears. "What do you know? Romance should progress naturally like this—courtship, confession, dating, and eventually marriage. The process of getting to know each other, understanding each other, and falling in love is the most touching part!"
Speaking of this, Amelia's nose began to sting, and now she was crying from frustration. "Unlike me, who had an engagement arranged when I was so young that I never even had the right to choose."
Wayne's eyes flickered, and he found himself speechless.
He had always known. While many people thought he and Amelia had an ambiguous relationship, there was actually a clear distance between them.
Amelia had always treated him as just a good friend, with absolutely no romantic feelings.
Even though he had been secretly in love with Amelia for five years.
He also knew that Amelia preferred gentle, refined types like James, not rebellious playboys like himself.
Personality was hard to change, but he had been trying—getting into investments, building his own business ventures, hoping that in Amelia's eyes he wouldn't seem so worthless.
But she never once looked back.
"If you want to date someone, you can," Wayne said suddenly, the atmosphere turning somber.
Amelia looked at him strangely. "What are you talking about? I'm your..."
Before she could finish, Wayne interrupted, "Our engagement was ridiculous from the start. If you're worried about the relationship between our families, I can approach your family about calling off the engagement."
Amelia was stunned, staring at Wayne for several seconds, unable to read his intentions.
Sophia was right—men's hearts were impossible for her to fathom.
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Amelia forced a smile, trying to gloss over the awkward atmosphere.
But Wayne couldn't smile. "I'll give you time to think about it. Just say you want to break off the engagement, and I'll immediately discuss it with your family."
Having said everything he needed to say, Wayne had no mood to stay any longer and turned to leave.
Amelia's heart inexplicably panicked, and she called out to his retreating figure, "How would you explain it to your family?"
Wayne's steps paused, but he didn't turn around. "Don't worry about that. For the sake of our friendship, I won't put you in a difficult position."
Downstairs in the sky garden, Michael had been waiting for a long time without getting any reaction from Sophia.
He moved the bouquet aside slightly to get a clear view of Sophia's expression.
No surprise, no emotion, no joy—just indifference.
He had considered that Sophia might not like this type of confession, might not like the scene setup, had even thought she might not like what he was wearing today, but he had never considered that she might refuse.
Just when Michael thought his confession had failed, Sophia suddenly crouched down, reached for his tie, and lowered her head to kiss his lips.
Michael was stunned. The thunderous cheers around them seemed to have nothing to do with him—he couldn't hear anything, seeing only her face so close to his that he could even see the fine hair on her skin.
The cool, soft sensation on his lips made this moment of racing heartbeats and heightened senses stretch those brief two seconds into an eternity.
Sophia released Michael, her eyes curved in a warm, gentle smile. "I'd be happy to be your girlfriend."
Michael exhaled in relief and laughed. He leaned in to give her a light peck on the lips. "You scared me to death. I thought you were going to reject me."
Sophia pulled Michael up with her, taking the bouquet from his hands. "I was just thinking that neither of us should look up to the other in our relationship."
So she had crouched down to accept his affection at the same height, then pulled him up to move forward together as they had for the past sixteen years.
The confession ended beautifully, and the crowd dispersed. Only then did Sophia learn that Michael hadn't originally planned to confess in front of everyone to avoid pressuring her—it was hotel guests who had heard about the confession and spontaneously came up to watch the excitement.
So, today's scene had become inevitable.
The girl who had pushed her forward was a hotel staff member who had originally planned to guide her over, but with so many people around, it had turned into pushing her out instead.
Sophia couldn't help but smile, feeling the warmth transmitted through Michael's large hand as she curved her lips. "Why make such a big production? Couldn't you have just said this privately?"
"A confession has to be formal! I even had Amelia come to record it."
As Michael spoke, he searched around for Amelia but couldn't find her. "Amelia's becoming more and more unreliable. Let me call her."
"No need to call—I'm here!"
Amelia rushed over and hugged Sophia tightly, tear tracks still visible on her face. "My Sophia has finally fallen into Michael's clutches!"
Sophia sighed helplessly. "I'm just dating now, not getting married!"
"Where's Wayne?" Not seeing Wayne anywhere near Amelia, Michael was quite surprised.
At the mention of Wayne, Amelia's expression became uncomfortable. She released Sophia and pursed her lips. "He... had something urgent to handle and left early. I'm leaving too—I won't disturb your date. I'll post the video on Instagram later!"
Without waiting for Sophia to react, she darted into the elevator and closed the doors.
Sophia could tell something was wrong with Amelia's mood, but since she didn't seem to want to discuss it in person, possibly because Michael was present, she decided to video call her tonight to ask about it.
The two went to their pre-reserved private dining room. A server wheeled in a cart to serve their dishes and quickly withdrew.
Michael held Sophia's hand with their fingers interlaced, never letting go. Sophia raised their joined hands and asked with amusement, "How are we supposed to eat like this?"
"I'll feed you," Michael said, staring at Sophia's lips with burning, seductive eyes.
He didn't look like he wanted to feed Sophia dinner—more like he wanted to devour Sophia herself.
"Michael!" Sophia shot him a displeased look, and he finally chuckled and released her hand.
Sophia had just picked up her fork to start eating when she found herself, chair and all, being dragged away. Watching the plate of shrimp growing more distant, her eyes widened in shock.
Only when the armrests of both chairs were touching did Michael seem satisfied, wrapping his left arm around her waist while using his right hand to serve her food.
"Sophia, let me serve you."
The young man's love was naked and burning, flowing through those deep eyes.
Sophia didn't refuse. "I want to eat the shrimp."
Michael placed some cut steak in her bowl. "Eat the steak first—I'll peel the shrimp for you."
"Okay."
After Sophia finished the steak and took a sip of sparkling water, she turned to look at the young man beside her, who was bent over using his knife and fork to peel a small bowl of shrimp for her.
She couldn't help but curve her lips into a smile and leaned over to kiss his cheek.
"Michael, I'll always love you, too."
She was responding to what he had told her after getting drunk last time—'I will always, always love my Sophia.'