Sarah came over with some food. She served Sophie a bowl of mushroom soup before serving another bowl to Tristan.
“Have some soup!”
“Thank you, Sarah,” Sophie said gratefully. She felt guilty for getting into trouble, causing everyone to worry about her.
Sarah chuckled. “We're a family, so please don't stand on formalities. We must teach Quinton a lesson so he'll learn from his mistake.”
How dare he hurt one of us? Who gave him the guts to do so?
“All right, you don't have to worry about this. I know what to do,” Tristan told her. He didn't want to talk about this anymore.
“Mm.” Sarah stopped thinking about the matter.
Despite not knowing what happened for real, she wouldn't press on as Tristan told her not to.
“What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? You only ate a little.” Sarah was upset at how Tristan didn't finish her soup. After all, she spent a few hours cooking it!
“I'm not hungry,” came Tristan's reply.
“Tristan, drink more soup. I think Sarah's soups are amazing,” Sophie insisted. He's an adult. How can he eat this little?
“Okay.”
Hearing that, Tristan got himself another bowl of soup.
Sarah rolled her eyes. I knew it. My little brother is all grown up and belongs to someone else now. I might be his elder sister, but he won't listen to me. Nevertheless, it only took one casual comment from Sophie to make him do as told. How can there be such a vast difference between us?
After finishing the soup, Tristan wasted no time in getting rid of her. “You can leave now.”
“Tristan, you ingrate. I spent a few hours cooking the soup for you! How could you kick me out after finishing it?” Sarah complained. The real reason she came here was to visit Sophie.
We didn't even get to talk for long. How could he ask me to leave now?
“Mr. Tristan, you should get back to work. Let me chat with Sarah,” said Sophie.
“I'm not busy,” Tristan quickly replied.
Indeed, work wasn't important now, for his top priority was Sophie.
Sarah snapped, “Tristan, what are you doing? Sophie and I would like to chat in private. Do we need your approval for that?”
She then pushed him out of the room.
Others might be afraid of him, but as his sister, she wasn't scared of him at all.
When Sophie and Sarah were left alone, Sophie could finally heave a sigh of relief.
“He cares about you a lot. Don't take it to heart,” Sarah said.
Of course, Sarah would side with her brother. In fact, she felt terrible for him as he had never acted this way before.
Since he was young, he had extraordinary self-control and would get everything he wanted with his own ability.
This time, he obviously got a shock.
He was flustered because he cared too much about Sophie.
Sophie nodded. “I know, Sarah.” She could understand why Tristan acted that way.
“Mm. You need to be careful from now on. I was shocked to learn about it, so I can understand how Tristan felt.”
Sophie bobbed her head in response. I was too careless.
“Remember to be nice to him for now. He'll return to normal in a few days,” Sarah advised. She was afraid Tristan was traumatized by the incident.
As the girls chatted inside, Tristan went to the living room. When Felix arrived, he saw Tristan smoking alone there.
It had been ages since Felix saw Tristan smoking.
Hmm, I think he rarely smoked after meeting Sophie. I remember him saying second-hand smoke isn't good for ladies.
“What's wrong?” Felix broke the silence.
They grew up together, so it was pretty obvious something was off about Tristan.
“Oh, it's nothing. I suddenly had the urge to smoke. That's it,” Tristan answered calmly. I can open the windows later. That way, the smoke will clear in no time.
“Mr. Tristan, you don't have to think too much. Look, she's perfectly fine now. Everything's all right,” Felix comforted him.
Sophie was indeed capable enough to be able to protect herself even after taking the drug.
“Mm,” Tristan grunted.
He knew she was fine now, but thinking about what could've happened would still cause dread to gnaw at his insides.
What would I do if something happened to her? I cannot lose her.
Felix suddenly asked, “To be honest, will it bother you if Sophie were to lose her virginity this time? Would you still want her?”
Hearing that, Tristan pinned Felix with a withering glare. “Do you think I'm that kind of person? I'm only worried about one thing—she got hurt. No matter what happens, I won't give up on her.”
Fine. It seems that I was too superficial to think that way.
Sighing, Felix inquired, “Then why are you in a dilemma?”
“I'm not in a dilemma. My heart aches for her so much that I can hardly breathe,” Tristan replied honestly. He assumed no one could understand how that felt.
Felix nodded understandingly.
He would also feel the same if the girl he liked were to experience that.
In fact, he dared not imagine how he would react if Ysabelle were to go through that.
“Fortunately, everything turned out fine. Isn't that right?” Felix responded.
Fortunately, it was Sophie who went through the ordeal. She was strong enough to stop things from going astray.
Felix couldn't envisage what would happen if Ysabelle were in Sophie's shoes.
“But I still feel bad. We've been together for a long time, and I know what kind of person Quinton is. However, I did nothing to stop that matter from happening.”
“That wasn't your fault. No one knew Quinton was bold enough to carry out that act,” Felix protested.
He was of the opinion that Tristan shouldn't be blaming himself for the incident.
Right then, Arius returned and overheard their conversation.
“Mr. Tristan, everyone knows you care about Sophie a lot. However, the incident wasn't your fault,” Arius said in an impartial tone. “If you keep blaming yourself, what would Sophie think?”
“Yes! Sophie will be sad if you keep acting this way,” Felix chimed in.
It was Quinton's fault, so all they had to do was to punish Quinton for his misdeeds.
There was no need for Tristan to overthink.
“Mm.”
That night, Tristan and Sophie were left alone. Sophie had recovered completely.
Tristan was dealing with work in his study, so she stayed in the living room to watch a TV show.
The show playing on the TV was really boring, but she kept watching it.
In the end, she gave Mark a call.
The latter was pretty startled to receive a call from Sophie.
He initially dared not answer her call, but what was done could not be undone.
No matter what, he still had to solve the problem. After convincing himself, he answered her call.
“Sophie, this has nothing to do with others. It was my sole decision. You know how much I like you,” Mark said hastily.
Sophie was speechless. Does he think he can solve the problem by saying that?
Mark urged, “Why aren't you talking? Are you mad at me?”
“Mark, we've been friends for years. Do you think I don't know who you are? It's really upsetting to hear that from you,” Sophie responded.
Everyone knew his character, so there was no need for him to say those words just to protect the culprit.
They weren't fools, after all.
She assured him, “Don't worry. I won't hurt your father.”
Quinton was his father, so she was willing to give him one more chance.
“Sophie.” Mark felt pain flare up in his heart. “I'm sorry for hurting you.”
He never wanted to see any of them get hurt, but alas, things didn't turn out the way he wanted.
“Stop apologizing to me,” Sophie replied impatiently. That wasn't what she wanted to hear.
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