Chapter 90 No Explanation Is the Best Explanation
Sophia's eyes flickered as she guessed Joshua's intention. "She raised you to be a monster, but now that you're turning against her, have you considered whether you can handle the backlash from your crimes?"
Joshua fell silent for a moment. "She ruined my life. Should I continue pretending ignorance while she uses me?"
"Aren't you supposed to be a viper? You should know best how to lurk in the shadows." Sophia smiled teasingly, catching sight of Amelia appearing in the corridor, walking toward the entrance. She placed a hand on Joshua's shoulder and leaned close to his ear, whispering, "Go find Andrew. He'll help you."
Just as she finished speaking, Amelia burst through the doorway.
"Joshua! What are you doing to Sophia!"
The space was too dim, and the restaurant was large. From a distance, Amelia could only see two figures overlapping.
Joshua must be assaulting Sophia!
With his back to the door, Joshua heard the voice and quickly wrapped his arm around Sophia's waist, whispering in her ear, "Even a viper's stage sometimes requires cooperation."
Amelia rushed over and forcefully pulled them apart, shielding Sophia behind her. She glared fiercely at Joshua. "Sophia has a boyfriend. What do you think you're doing?"
Joshua flashed an innocent smile. "Her boyfriend's about to become someone else's fiancé. What's wrong with me pursuing her?"
Amelia was stunned. "What fiancé?"
Sophia also looked over suspiciously. The engagement news between the Green family and the Phillips family hadn't been announced yet. How did he know so quickly?
Regardless of where he got the information, now wasn't the time to continue this entanglement.
"Forget about him. Let's go." Sophia dragged Amelia away by force.
Watching the girl's retreating figure, Joshua curved his lips upward. She was more interesting than he'd imagined.
...
After leaving the restaurant, Amelia seriously questioned Sophia, "What were you two talking about? What did he mean about a fiancé?"
She didn't believe Michael would abandon Sophia to get engaged to someone else, but she also didn't think Joshua's words were baseless.
Sophia never hid anything from Amelia, but the engagement between the Green family and the Phillips family was big enough to shock all of Emerald City. Since Michael hadn't given her a clear message yet, this news naturally couldn't come from her lips.
Better to keep it secret for now.
...
Even though Sophia remained silent, and Matthew didn't want Michael to find out so quickly, the news still spread like wildfire.
Though it wasn't published in newspapers for the whole city to know, it had already circulated within their social circle.
Having just transferred from Luminous City to Phoenix City and arrived at their hotel, Amelia received the intel. She exploded from the sofa in fury, ran to Sophia with her phone in hand to interrogate her.
"What's going on? Michael actually got engaged to Harper?"
She never expected Sophia to lack the anticipated anger and heartbreak, instead calmly brewing coffee as if she didn't care about the matter at all.
"Sophia, give me some reaction! Your boyfriend secretly got engaged to another woman!"
"I know."
"You know?" Amelia's eyes widened in disbelief that Sophia had known all along yet kept it so tightly sealed, showing no signs of heartbreak. "Did Michael explain it to you?"
"No."
Sophia glanced at her phone. A whole week had passed, and Michael still hadn't sent her a single message. Even now that the engagement news was spreading like wildfire among the elite, he hadn't offered a single explanation.
She carried two cups of coffee from the bar to the living room. Amelia followed and sat on the sofa, staring directly at her. "It's spread to everyone now. He's not coming out to clarify or explain to you—is he really planning to abandon you? This Michael, once he gets what he wants, he doesn't cherish it. I'm buying a ticket right now to fly back and beat him up!"
Amelia grew angrier as she spoke, grabbing her phone to book a flight back to Emerald City.
Sophia pressed down on her hand, laughing softly. "No explanation is the best explanation."
He had said that day there must be some misunderstanding, that he needed to investigate before giving her an explanation. If he truly knew about being engaged to Harper, regardless of whether his resistance succeeded, he would have called to apologize long ago.
But even after the engagement news spread among the elite, he hadn't contacted her, suggesting he likely just found out himself. Given his personality, he probably felt that apologizing now would be useless—better to wait until everything was resolved before coming to appease her.
So she might as well wait a bit longer.
Amelia looked at Sophia with disdain. "Sophia, I never thought you'd become foolish because of love too."
Sophia curved her red lips. "It's not foolishness—I understand him well enough. Don't forget who raised me."
She'd mentioned before that Sophia was raised by Andrew and Michael. Most of her methods were learned from Andrew, and growing up alongside Michael day and night meant her thinking process was more like Michael's.
She wasn't blindly trusting Michael's love because she'd fallen head-over-heels. Rather, because she understood Michael, she could judge from his current reactions that there was indeed a misunderstanding, and Michael would handle everything before giving her a satisfactory explanation.
And Michael had indeed just learned of this, abandoning a boardroom full of shareholders to rush straight to the hospital.
Seeing Michael arrive with Arthur in tow, the nurse tactfully left and closed the door behind her.
Michael walked to the bedside, asking word by word, "Were you the one who spread the news to the Phillips family?"
Matthew's eyes darted away briefly, not knowing how Michael had found out so quickly when they'd clearly agreed with the Phillips family to announce it two months later!
But since Michael already knew, there was no point in hiding it further. "So what if I did? Harper and you are such a perfect match."
Michael gritted his back teeth. "When I asked you that day, why didn't you tell me?"
"You only asked if I told Sophia. I really hadn't mentioned it to her."
"Then how did she find out?"
"Maybe... she overheard when I was discussing the marriage arrangement with the Phillips family."
Though he said "maybe," Matthew knew Sophia had indeed heard from outside the hospital room door that day. That's why in subsequent conversations with Sophia, he didn't need to deliberately mention it—she understood everything.
Michael closed his eyes and slowly exhaled a turbid breath. "You arranged an engagement for me behind my back and manipulated Sophia into breaking up with me. Am I really your biological son?"
"What kind of talk is that? I'm the chairman of Green Group and your father—would I harm you?" Matthew also lost his temper. He'd spent half his life bringing Green Group to its current heights. How had he produced such a foolish son?
Michael no longer wanted to say another word to his father. "Rest well. I'm going to see Mom."
He turned and left the hospital room. Matthew frowned and urgently asked Arthur, "What's going on? Where did the news leak from?"
Arthur stood respectfully beside the bed. "Unclear, but currently all of Emerald City knows."
Matthew clenched his fist, his eyes rolling several times before making up his mind, "When does the new flagship phone launch?"
"Early next month."
"Have the media announce both families' marriage arrangement in the papers on launch day. Michael has lost his rationality—we have to force his hand."
Arthur lowered his eyes. "Understood. You rest and recover here, Mr. Matthew Green. I'll keep an eye on Mr. Michael Green."