When the three of them reached the high-speed railway station, Tanya received a message on her phone, informing her that Liam had already made a deposit of three hundred and fifty thousand in her account. That was two years' worth of her salary.
Tanya could feel tears welling up in her eyes when she saw the text.
Filled with a myriad of indescribable emotions and overwhelming gratitude, she looked at Sophia, who was next to her. “Sophia.”
Hearing her name, Sophia smiled and asked, “Have you received the money?”
Tanya nodded while showing Sophia the message on her phone.
“Shall we let bygones be bygones, then?”
“Sure.” Tanya nodded firmly. “I intend to buy a two-room apartment with this money. As for the money I owe you, I will pay it back slowly.”
“No problem.”
Sophia knew that with Tanya's grateful nature, Tanya would definitely feel bad if she were to reject her wish to pay back her kindness.
Just then, an announcement was made through the broadcast system, reminding passengers to get their tickets ready. Yvonne said to Sophia and Tanya, “Ms. Yarrow, Ms. Gomez, they are going to check our tickets now.”
Sophia picked up her bag and tapped Tanya's shoulder. “Let's go.”
The three women stood up and walked toward the turnstile.
Sophia's phone rang at the same time the train arrived at the station.
She smiled when she saw that it was Alexander who called. “Hey, Sophia, it's me. I'm already here at the station exit.”
“My train has just arrived at the platform.”
“All right.”
The train came to a complete halt as the call ended.
Sophia spotted Alexander the moment the three of them reached the station exit.
She turned to look at Yvonne and instructed, “Ms. Leighton, please send Tanya home.”
Yvonne nodded and replied, “Got it, Ms. Yarrow.”
Sophia responded with a smile before she turned her attention to Tanya and said, “Have a good rest, and get ready to start work tomorrow.”
“All right!” Tanya replied with glistening eyes.
Things were going smoother than expected, and Tanya was much stronger than Sophia had imagined.
It had been a long time since Sophia had been in such a good mood. She waved at Alexander and started walking toward him.
As soon as the woman was in front of him, Alexander reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Feeling self-conscious about the man's public display of affection, Sophia blushed. “Mr. Xenos, why are you so free? Don't you have meetings to attend?”
“Nothing is more important than picking you up,” Alexander said while gazing into her eyes.
“Sweet-talking doesn't work on me,” Sophia replied with a snort.
Looking at her, the man chuckled and replied, “Would it work on Mr. Dawson?”
Sophia glanced at Alexander and said with a cheeky glint in her eyes, “Well, I'm not sure about that. After all, you're the first man I'm introducing to him.”
The two of them continued chatting while walking away from the station. Watching their figures from afar, Tanya could not help but comment, “It seems that Mr. Xenos really loves Sophia a lot.”
Yvonne pursed her lips slightly. Even though she did not agree with a lot of the things Alexander had done in the past, she still replied, “He does.”
Tanya smiled and tilted her head to look at Yvonne. “Ms. Leighton, does it feel good to make money?”
Yvonne froze slightly before replying with a rare smile on her face, “Yes, it does, Ms. Gomez.”
“That's wonderful. I guess I will also get to experience the same feeling from now onward.”
“You can do it, Ms. Gomez!”
“Thanks!”
Tanya was determined to be like Sophia and live a happy life, one which would allow her the freedom to do anything she wanted.
As the car sped along the highway, Sophia swiveled her head to look at the man next to her. Suddenly, memories of their divorce flashed in her mind, and she could not help but call out his name, “Alexander.”
“Yeah?” the man responded softly, his eyes still focused on the road.
“Were you very happy when we divorced back then?”
After all, he had always wanted to get rid of her.
Alexander pressed his lips together when he heard the question and remained quiet.
After waiting for a while and receiving no reply, Sophia decided to drop the question and did not speak any further.
Eventually, silence ensued. She turned to look out the window, and her thoughts drifted to two hours ago when she waited at the coffee shop while Tanya finalized her divorce.
Perhaps how I felt at that moment was similar to how Katherine had felt when Alexander and I separated back then.
No words could describe the joy of seeing a good friend finally freed from misery.
Unknowingly, Sophia fell asleep.
She was drifting in and out of sleep when the car came to a stop.
Just then, she felt Alexander nudging her and opened her eyes. With a slight crease between her brows, Sophia asked, “Are we home?”
Right after she finished speaking, she noticed the straight road ahead of them.
“Why did you stop here?”
“I wasn't very happy.”
Sophia was taken aback for a moment, as she did not understand Alexander's reply. She only realized a second later that he was responding to her previous question.
“Oh.” She could not help but let out a chuckle.
Alexander suddenly looked at her and asked, “Were you very disappointed?”
Sophia curled her lips slightly and replied, “No.”
Even though she did feel upset and aggrieved, the truth was, she felt surprisingly calm when she was holding the divorce certificate in her hands. If she had to describe the feeling that she had felt at that time, it would be that of relief. She was relieved that she had finally decided to be kind to herself.
“Okay,” the man mumbled in response before he lifted his hand to touch her eye. “Precious, can I kiss you?”
Sophia's face flushed red at once. The next moment, she pointed toward the window at the side of the driver's seat and said, “I think you would have to get the traffic police's permission first.”
Upon hearing that, Alexander turned around and saw the police officer who was knocking on his window. He retracted his hand as though nothing had happened and rolled down the window. “We're leaving now.”
Not expecting Alexander to be one step ahead of him, the police officer was stumped for words.
Sophia's face was burning with awkwardness as it was the first time she had ever had police knocking on her car window. On the other hand, not a hint of embarrassment could be seen on Alexander's face.
Before Alexander drove off, he took a glance at Sophia and, as if he was being considerate, asked, “Are you feeling warm?”
“Just drive!” Sophia laughed in exasperation.
Fifteen minutes later, the car pulled into the mansion.
When Sophia was changing upstairs, her phone rang.
Alexander glanced at the caller ID, and when he saw Lukas' name on the screen, an inexplicable glint flashed across his eyes.
After leaving the phone to ring for a while, he finally picked it up and answered, “Mr. Dawson.”
Lukas furrowed his brows slightly when he heard the unexpected voice. “Where's Sophia?”
“She's upstairs changing.”
“It's not even six in the evening yet. Mr. Xenos, may I ask why you are with her now?”
Alexander replied in an even tone, “She had some business to settle in Bera earlier, and I went to the train station to pick her up just now.”
He sounded so nonchalant that Lukas was expecting him to ask if he had a problem with him doing that.
“Mr. Xenos, can you please get Sophia to call me back later?”
When Alexander heard that, he looked toward the stairs and saw Sophia walking down.
“Hold on. She's here,” he said before passing the phone to Sophia. “It's Mr. Dawson.”
After taking the phone, Sophia looked at Alexander with a half-smile and said, “Thank you.”
“Lukas?”
“Bad news. Grandpa already knew about what happened with the Xenos family.”
That was not great news indeed.
The smile on Sophia's face faded as she replied, “All right, I got it. Thanks, Lukas.”
Lukas hung up after that. When the call ended, Sophia flashed a smile at Alexander and said, “Mr. Xenos, maybe it's not a good time for you to make your grand appearance at my granddad's birthday celebration after all.”
“Okay,” the man mumbled in response before he lifted his hand to touch her eye. “Precious, can I kiss you?”
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