Chapter 36 Don't Block My View
Silver Fir Academy, Oakwood High School, and Eastside High were all located in this area, with the three high schools forming a triangle around a bustling shopping complex.
Mary's beauty salon was situated in the complex on the side closest to Eastside High, and the space wasn't rented—it was actually property owned by Sophia.
Originally, Mary had planned to find a small, affordable rental near a residential area. After all, she was just starting and didn't need to aim too high.
But when Sophia, as her investor, saw the location, she expressed strong dissatisfaction. The residential area was full of ordinary working professionals with limited spending power, and no business there.
Besides, Sophia had several vacant commercial spaces that hadn't been rented out yet. Since she'd be covering rent and utilities anyway, it made sense to save on costs by using her own property.
After some consideration, she decided to let Mary use one of her smaller storefronts in this location.
It wasn't huge, about 1,600 square feet, but this was a prime commercial district and the central hub of three high schools. Even if they couldn't target students directly, they could certainly attract the parents!
And just like that, they had their customer base.
"Hi, Mrs. Johnson! James!"
It was only a ten-minute walk from Silver Fir Academy. Amelia burst through the door excitedly, and after politely greeting everyone, her eyes immediately glued themselves to James's face.
'God, how could anyone be that good-looking?' Amelia thought to herself.
Wayne pursed his lips, his eyes full of resentment as he stepped sideways to block Amelia's view. Only then did he speak politely, "Mrs. Johnson, we're friends of Sophia's. We heard it was your opening day and wanted to come show our support."
"Hello there." Mary beamed, pouring the two teens cups of specially blended coffee. "This is from our new coffee beans. I roasted them myself. Give it a try."
"Thank you, ma'am." The two accepted the cups graciously. They were experts at small talk, showering Mary with compliments that had her glowing with pride within minutes.
Today was the soft opening, with various complimentary coffee tastings to attract foot traffic. Quite a crowd had gathered to check things out, filling the cozy space with people.
James was helping out, too.
Amelia spent the entire time admiring James's appearance, wearing the expression of a complete fangirl.
Wayne rolled his eyes. It was bad enough that he ranked below Sophia in Amelia's heart, and he could accept being second to Michael, but now even James was above him in the hierarchy!
His position was precarious. At this rate, if Amelia ever decided to rebel against their engagement, he'd end up relegated to nothing more than her childhood friend.
No way. He needed to do something about this!
"Amelia, want to catch a movie this weekend?" Wayne subtly shifted position to block the girl's view of James.
Amelia frowned, grabbing Wayne's sleeve and pulling him aside. "If you're going to talk, just talk. Don't block my view of James!"
Wayne was speechless.
Her burning gaze followed James around, and when he caught a break from his busy work to glance back, meeting her starstruck eyes, he chuckled softly.
He was familiar with that kind of look. He knew he'd inherited his mother's genes and had what could be called an exceptional face; he'd been secretly crowned the most handsome senior at Oakwood High School.
Otherwise, his audition at Stellar Cinematics last Saturday wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
He was used to being stared at like that, but when the person doing the staring was Sophia's close friend, he felt a bit embarrassed.
Searching for a casual topic, he asked, "You two seem really close. Are you dating?"
Amelia shook her head, casually draping her arm over Wayne's shoulder with boyish confidence. "We're childhood friends at best. If same-sex marriage were legal, I'd definitely sweep Sophia off her feet in a grand wedding ceremony!"
Wayne covered his face in embarrassment. Saying something like that in front of Sophia's brother, wasn't she worried he'd think she was gay?
After knowing her for over a decade, he genuinely felt that Amelia acted more like a guy than most guys did most of the time. No wonder she couldn't get along with any girls except Sophia.
James found Amelia's straightforward, cheerful personality quite amusing and couldn't help laughing. "You still haven't answered Wayne's question. Aren't you going out this weekend?"
"Want to come with us?" Amelia asked excitedly in return. If she could drag James along, she'd get to admire the handsome guy for even longer!
But James shook his head. "I have a part-time job this weekend. You should ask Sophia instead."
Amelia immediately lost interest, pouting. "She definitely won't be free. She's too busy."
James wasn't sure exactly what kept Sophia so occupied, but from their recent time together, he'd come to understand that Sophia had built quite an empire for herself. Even though she was no longer a Smith, she still had many unknown assets and connections.
She wasn't your typical seventeen-year-old high school student.
Seventeen years of experience couldn't be fully understood in just a few days, and besides, those were Sophia's private affairs. James didn't pry, simply smiling and saying, "Well, you're always welcome to visit our house. The door's always open."
Seeing the crowd in the shop growing larger, Amelia and Wayne tactfully decided not to overstay their welcome.
The Cooper family car had been waiting outside for quite some time, but Amelia sent the driver away and pulled Wayne into the Martinez family vehicle instead, taking him to her family's winery to help sort through a new wine shipment.
Wayne sighed helplessly
...
Night fell, and the glass curtain walls reflected the city lights like brilliant stars, also mirroring Sophia's listless expression.
This restaurant again. Perhaps because she'd never had much of an appetite during her time with the Smith family, the one time she'd casually praised the strawberry mousse here as decent, Andrew had bought the place. Ever since, he'd brought her here for every meal.
But human enthusiasm was finite. After enough time and repetition, everything became tiresome.
Just like how she'd once grown tired of pleasing Mr. and Mrs. Smith just for a word of praise, and how she'd later grown weary of the Smith family's coldness and scheming.
"You went to all this trouble to drag me out for dinner—what exactly do you want to say?"
After years of battling each other, Sophia was too tired to beat around the bush with Andrew anymore. He'd come looking for her yesterday, and now he'd deliberately arranged this dinner. Clearly, this couldn't be settled in just a few words.
Andrew took a sip of red wine before speaking unhurriedly, "Are they treating you well?"
Sophia laughed. After all this buildup, he just wanted to ask her such a pointless question?
"However bad it might be, it's still better than being the Smith family's daughter."
Andrew's expression remained unchanged as he calmly set down his wine glass, neither confirming nor denying her response.
He'd known all along that Sophia planned to escape his control once she came of age. Even so, he'd still provided her with plenty of investment advice over the past two years, helping her accumulate assets for protection.
What he hadn't anticipated was that she'd return to the Johnson family, choosing to live with those poor, worthless people.
With the assets she currently possessed, if she put some effort into managing them properly, she'd have enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life.
Yet she insisted on meddling in the Johnson family's affairs, wasting time and resources.
Andrew was concise, "I'm back for good this time. If you won't return to the Smith family, then come live with me."