Being Pursued By Ex-husband novel Chapter 410

Chapter 410 You Are Simply No Match

Sophia's question brought a blush to Charlize's cheeks. However, as the older woman was the first to learn about her crush on Spencer, she comfortably shared, “After I got home from dinner with you that day, I did as you told me to. I told him I was merely his subordinate, so he had no right to meddle in my life after working hours. I also said I had no obligation to take instructions from him after work...”

At that time, Spencer's face darkened as soon as he heard her utterances, but Charlize remembered Sophia's advice and pushed ahead with the plan, continuing to tell him off. Subsequently, she followed Sophia's instructions wholly, limiting their interactions to work-related matters.

In the first few days following the confrontation, Spencer would put on a grim face whenever they met.

Charlize had a hard time pulling through more than a week of tense interactions with him. Luckily, her university club buddies initiated a gathering to celebrate the birthday of their club leader just as she was on the verge of giving up on her standoff with Spencer. The group chat with the buddies was lively and fun, which successfully distracted her. Eventually, she did not find Spencer's poker face as terrifying as before.

Still, she was disappointed that Spencer had not softened his stance and initiated contact with her. Sophia had warned her that if he did not do so, it simply meant he was never interested in her.

However, that feeling of disappointment was dulled by the excitement of attending the highly anticipated gathering with her university buddies. Suddenly, work did not seem so unbearable and agonizing anymore. Finally, the weekend arrived, and she packed her bag to head to the beach for the gathering.

She was close to her friends from the university club and always had a good time with them. They had planned lots of exciting and enjoyable activities for the gathering, such as surfing, barbecuing, camping on the beach, and so on. Even the schedule itself screamed fun.

The weather was fantastic that weekend, and the getaway chased away Charlize's blues.

They went snorkeling during the day and were enthralled by the beauty of the underwater world. In the evening, they sat on the sand, celebrating the club leader's birthday with a barbecue feast while playing the game of “Truth or Dare.”

It all went well until the birthday boy made a love confession to Charlize, and that surprise move stunned her.

All her friends were in cahoots with her admirer. They used the pretense of a birthday celebration to allow their club leader to make a surprise love confession to her.

The site was beautifully decorated with romantic fairy lights, and their friends enthusiastically cheered them on. Charlize's admirer was a perfect gentleman too, so it was a flawless and beautiful confession session. However, her heart was with Spencer, and when she thought of how he had given her the cold shoulder and had not invited her for a game of badminton in the past ten days, she felt sad all of a sudden.

Despite her low spirits, Charlize felt obliged to politely reject her admirer without making anyone feel awkward. After all, he had put a lot of effort into planning that occasion.

Just as she was contemplating the best way to handle the situation, Spencer suddenly appeared out of nowhere to crash the party. He took her hand in his, turned to her dumbfounded admirer, who was still awaiting her response to his confession, and said, “I'm sorry, but she's taken. She's my girlfriend.”

The stunned Charlize was led away by Spencer, and in her daze, she did not notice where he was bringing her. By the time she recovered from the shock, she was already on a quiet stretch of the beach, away from everyone else. All she could hear was the soothing sound of waves crashing on the shore.

Charlize took a few seconds to compose herself before trying to confront Spencer.

She tried her best to appear confident and in control, just as Sophia had advised. However, she was too nervous and ended up stumbling over her words. To her surprise, she saw Spencer's face break into a smile.

The man looked absolutely dashing when he smiled. If not for the tense situation they were in, Charlize would have been happy to stare dreamily at that mesmerizing smile forever.

However, she found it impossible to laugh along with him since he was laughing at her. At the thought of Sophia's words, she flew into a rage and growled, “What are you laughing at, Mr. Lacroix? Don't you think you owe me an explanation for saying something so misleading?”

Probably because she felt humiliated and furious, her countenance was cold when she said those angry words to him.

Deep in her heart, she was already mourning the end of her crush and sadly imagining a lonely life ahead for herself.

At that point, her imagination was running wild. While she hesitated on whether she should simply go all out and take advantage of him, Spencer suddenly reached out to gently wipe the tears from her cheek. “You are so dumb, Charlize Johnson,” he chided gently.

Enraged by his condemnation, Charlize shed more tears. Then, he added, “Can't you tell I'm deeply in love with you?”

With that confession, he lifted her chin to turn her face toward him and kissed her.

It happened eight days ago, but it still felt surreal to Charlize.

She gave Sophia a shy glance and continued, “From that night onward, we became a couple.”

Something came to her mind, and she could not help but wonder out loud, “You're so amazing, Ms. Yarrow. How did you know he likes me too?”

Charlize was innocent and a little oblivious in love, but she was not dense in the head.

After that fateful day, she recalled all the past incidents and pieced together quite a fair bit of the puzzle herself.

However, she was still amazed by the fact that Sophia was so certain that Spencer harbored romantic feelings for her.

After all, she had only shared with Sophia what she did or felt as the one with a one-sided crush on Spencer.

Sophia gave her a smile and revealed, “Because you can't hide the love in your eyes.”

Worried that Charlize might not understand her point, she elaborated, “Initially, I was also second-guessing. After all, Mr. Lacroix is a successful young man who is also your direct superior. If he wanted someone to join him for a game of badminton, he could have reached out to many other people. It isn't necessary for him to choose you, his subordinate, to join him in the game. Getting one's subordinate involved in one's private life is something a superior would usually not like to do. However, when we met Mr. Lacroix after dinner that day, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was in love with you, Charlize.”

Sophia got Charlize another glass of juice before complimenting her. “You're pretty and lovable, so it doesn't surprise me that he fell for you.”

“I feel so dumb whenever I compare myself to you and the others, Ms. Yarrow,” Charlize confessed.

She was awed by the perceived huge intellectual difference between a genius such as Sophia and someone as common as herself.

It made her feel like a pathetic fool.

The two of them had been chatting for more than half an hour, so Sophia reckoned it was almost time for the cake-cutting session.

After taking a final sip of her juice, she smiled at Charlize and urged, “Let's get back inside. Mr. Quail should be cutting the cake soon.”

“Yup, sure!” Charlize nodded and stood up to walk back into the hall with Sophia.

Just as they stepped in from the balcony, they overheard someone mention Sophia's name.

Instinctively, Charlize looked at Sophia, who shook her head and made her stop in her tracks.

“Goodness gracious! How could Suny of Sunshine Group be Sophia Yarrow?”

“I find it absurd too! How is it that Sophia is Suny of Sunshine Group? It's impossible! If she really is Suny, then why didn't she refute us when we mocked her for being a gold digger back then?”

“Gosh! Who knows! Sophia is so weird! Why is she hiding the fact that she's wealthy? Could she be worried we'd rob her of her money if we knew?”

“Alas! Anyway, let's keep out of her way and not mess with her in the future. Look at what happened to Kay. Now she has to stay abroad and can't even return home!”

“Yup, we can't afford to offend her! She's being placed on a pedestal and is unrivaled in Jadeborough now. Moreover, she's also Alexander's girlfriend. From the way I see it, they are probably getting married soon.”

The three ladies standing before Charlize and Sophia had their backs toward the doorway to the balcony, engrossed in their gossip. Since they were in a corner, they probably thought that no one would overhear them.

Sophia could identify that two of the ladies were Kayla's friends, and thus, she could not be bothered to deal with them.

However, Charlize was deeply infuriated by what they had said and wanted to step in to rebuke them. Sophia held her back and jested, “Forget it. They said that they couldn't afford to offend me anyway.”

Sophia was not perturbed by their harmless gossip. To her, it was nothing intolerable.

Charlize, on the other hand, was still vexed. “Although they didn't say anything evil, I'm still offended by what I overheard. I'm not about to let them off without giving them a warning, Ms. Yarrow,” she insisted, pouting in annoyance.

Sophia noticed Charlize appeared to have taken the gossip quite personally, so she smiled and stopped trying to dissuade her.

Without further objections from Sophia, Charlize stepped forward and headed toward the gossipers with her glass of juice in hand. “Are you jealous of her well-deserved wealth? It's just too bad that you can only fume in silence, as you're simply no match for our capable and talented Ms. Yarrow. That feeling of inadequacy must be really depressing, isn't it?” she mocked.

Her appearance gave Maggie Bronson and her fellow gossiping partners a jolt. Upset with Charlize's scathing words, the three women turned around and were about to argue with her when they saw Sophia standing behind Charlize, looking at them with a half-smile on her face.

Knowing they were in the wrong, they hung their heads and sheepishly greeted Sophia before they scurried off with their glasses of juice.

As Charlize watched them flee, she spat in contempt and muttered, “Cowards!”

Sophia laughed softly and urged, “All right. Let's head back to Mr. Quail's party.”

“Okay!” Charlize happily agreed.

Satisfied that she had stood up for Sophia, she retracted her gaze and obediently joined her in search of her older brother and his friends.