"Yes, of course, I'll play. Let's begin then..." Herring casually gave out a Bamboo One.
As soon as Sophia saw the image of a bird, she shifted her gaze at Hugh, who she thought was behind her. It was an instinct rather than a need. But Hugh had gone outside already.
She had to sound out Herring, "I have three birds here, could I... Claim a tile for a quadruplet?"
When he heard this, Herring exclaimed out loud, "Oh, little Sophia. How could you do this to me?"
As per the rule, he would lose money if Sophia did that.
Sophia slightly grinned, "Are you blaming me for your bad luck?" Then Sophia got a new card from the other side as June advised her to do. But it seemed useless. So she just gave the card out.
Looking at the Bamboo Three given out by Sophia, Herring glanced at Colin, who appeared very calm. "Don't you want it?"
"No!"
...
While Hugh was having a conversation on the phone outside for half an hour, Sophia was playing inside the whole time. People say that newbies usually had better luck. Tonight, it was true. Sophia won a lot, nearly winning every round.
So she also became addicted to it...
Sophia was still immersed in the thrill and excitement of playing Mahjong when Patrick and June had to leave the table.
In the course of playing, she had eaten all the peeled macadamia fruits beside her. The waiter served two more dishes of dried fruits. Sophia kept eating until her stomach was stuffed with them.
At around ten o'clock in the evening, everyone left the No. 8 Cruise Ship.
Sophia tightened her coat when they got out. She asked Hugh, "Shall I send you back to your home?"
She sensed that Hugh would be unable to drive since he drank.
Hugh did not refuse and directly sat in the seat beside the driver in Sophia's car. Then, Sophia suddenly remembered one thing, "Wait for a moment!"
She rushed to Colin's car and called out to him, "Mr. Li!"
Colin turned around and looked at her rather indifferently.
Sophia took something out from her pocket, "Mr. Li, I want to give this back to you. The password is..."
The man got into the car and drove away without looking back or saying a single word.
The more cold-hearted Colin appeared to be, the more necessary Sophia felt it was to give the 50 million back to him.
The reason why he didn't accept it might be that he didn't care about it at all.
She drove Hugh back to his apartment. Hugh softly whispered to her, "Sophia."
"Why?"
The man looked at her with such affection. "Colin will get married at the end of next month. He will have a family of his own soon. Do you know that?"
This was what she tried hard to avoid. No matter how she convinced herself not to care, her emotions would always get the best of her. She could feel her breathing tighten a bit, "I know."
"Then marry me after he gets married!"
... Did Hugh just propose to her? It made Sophia utterly speechless. What would she do? How would she react?
Hugh didn't let her speechless reaction affect him. He smiled reassuringly, "You don't have to answer me right now. Just think of it when you are back. No pressure at all."
She nodded half-mindedly, "OK. I will."
"Drive carefully on your way back. Call me as soon as you get home. I need to know that you're safe."
"OK! Thank you, Hugh." Sophia's mind was a bit blank now and she could only say OK. How could her intelligent and creative mind fail her at times like this?
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