Sophia was chauffeured over to the mysterious Fletcher Residence.
The Fletcher Family was huge; even though the family had split into several branch families, Stanley’s branch was one of the most important ones.
In reality, Sophia was feeling rather excited. There was a good chance that she would get to lay eyes on many notable people at Bayside City’s military compound such as Old Master Fletcher, who was Fletcher’s patriarch.
Old Master Fletcher was one of the nation’s founding fathers, and his name was known across the nation. He had many children throughout his life as well. Back in the nation’s early days, the country had lost many of its population to war; when the nation called for families to procreate, the man sired four sons and three daughters.
Old Master Fletcher was one of those people that even children knew. Over a hundred shows and movies were made about his life, so Sophia had already gotten used to the Old Master Fletcher that was portrayed on screen. It would be great if she could see the actual person in the flesh!
She just didn’t know whether he was still healthy enough for visits.
Sophia had studied all about Old Master Fletcher’s deeds every day in history class back in high school. He had a major hand in shaping the country as it was today, and he was also one of the ten generals in the nation. He was a loyal and heroic man, and his achievements were part of the nation’s high school history syllabus.
They were only allowed to enter the military compound if they had a permit, so Stanley sent someone beforehand to receive them. The car entered the compound, driving for a while more before reaching Stanley’s home.
The Fletcher Residence was located in a special area of the compound; the entire family lived here, having their own swathe of homes. Stanley’s own house was a bungalow, and they proceeded to park their car in Stanley’s garage.
Sophia took Nathan’s hand in her own and entered the Fletcher Residence with a thermal container in another hand.
Stanley’s house wasn’t luxurious in an extravagant manner; it still maintained a style that was in vogue a few decades ago. The house oozed a homey feeling that also felt like it was from years past, and photo frames hung on the yellowing walls. There were pictures of the Fletchers as well as a family portrait.
Sophia gazed at the family portrait, but she couldn’t spot Michael anywhere. However, both Joel and Stanley were in the picture.
When she entered Stanley’s room, Sophia saw him lying half-dead on the bed.
Stanley groaned weakly when he saw Sophia stepping in.
Hale and Gemma stood at the door while Sophia and Nathan planted themselves by Stanley’s bedside to talk to him. Stanley was hurt as he said, “I went to your house every day while you were sick and brought food for you. I even gamed with you and tutored you in math. But now that I’m injured, you didn’t even come to visit me once. Look—even Nate is glaring at me! I’m the patient here!”
As Stanley’s childhood friend, Sean was here too; they had been friends since they were still in diapers. Sean had come over to see Stanley since he didn’t have anything else to do, and he covered his mouth to hide his chuckle when he heard that.
Sophia grumpily opened the container and poured Stanley a bowl of chicken soup before handing it to him. “Here, I made some chicken soup. Eat it while it’s still warm.”
Stanley was beyond touched as he said, “So you do have a heart, Sophia.”
He picked up the bowl and began to blissfully down its contents. The chicken soup was absolutely delicious; all that simmering brought out the full flavor of the free-range chickens, and Sophia had added plenty of other nourishing ingredients as well. The soup was flavorful and the bits of chicken in it were tender. Stanley soon finished off the entire bowl of soup.
Nathan couldn’t help but lick his lips as he watched Stanley inhale the soup. When the older man finished it, Nathan peered inside the container to find that there was nothing left; even the scraps had been picked clean by Stanley, not leaving the slightest bit for Nathan.
Nate’s expression fell immediately.
Meanwhile, Stanley didn’t let Sophia leave even after he had finished the soup. He tugged on her hand pitifully and said, “I’m in so much pain, Sophia. My leg hurts; won’t you massage it for me?”
Sophia wasn’t happy about it as she grumbled, “You were a soldier, Stanley. What’s this bit of pain? Besides, your leg is fractured. What can I do about it?”
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