Sophia was surprised, for nothing happened between John and the woman that day. Furthermore, there were multiple CCTVs there since it was a banquet, so once someone checks the CCTV footage, everything will come to light. It’s indeed pandemonium with the public opinion now with this exposé, but the backlash when she’s proven a liar later will be exceedingly severe.
Instead of calling Zack back, she called John outright. John promptly answered the call, sounding rather placid. “Is the scandal on the Internet impacting you much?” Sophia asked.
John even chuckled as he replied, “Impact is inevitable since others have no idea what transpired.” Perhaps everyone is more willing to believe such a scandalous thing.
Sophia’s brows furrowed. “There’s CCTV footage, no?”
Heaving a sigh, John remarked, “They’ve probably destroyed the CCTV footage.” That President McCaw is no fool, so he won’t possibly stand out and accuse me boldly otherwise.
Sophia, however, found it rather hilarious. “All the CCTV footage is gone?” After all, while I’ve been avoiding the crowd when I was there that day, I did make an appearance at various events, so the CCTVs must have captured me.
“Since they dared to have the media publish this, they must have made the necessary preparations. Thus, there’ll likely be no clues from the CCTV footage,” John answered.
Sophia pursed her lips. At this precise moment, the arrival of the singer’s flight was announced, so she walked toward the gate.
On the other end, John startled. “You’re at the airport?”
Sophia hummed in assent. “The singer has arrived, so I came to pick him up.”
John was silent for a long while before he said, “You go ahead, then. I can handle things here by myself.” After saying this, he hung up on her without giving her any time to respond.
Sophia stared at her cell phone. Then, she truly pushed him to the back of her mind and stood there waiting for some time. Spotting the singer as soon as he came out, she jumped up and down as she waved at him. The singer was empty-handed, merely shouldering a guitar. When he reached her, Sophia looked him up and down with a frown. “Don’t you have any luggage?”
The singer was startled for a moment before he explained, “I have a friend here, and I’ll be staying at his place, so I don’t need any luggage.”
Sophia nodded slowly. “People like you who have traveled the world must have friends everywhere. My bad.” The singer merely chuckled and left the arrival hall with her.
As soon as they stepped out, however, a car drove toward them. Although Sophia didn’t know much about cars, she knew that the car had to be quite costly just from the looks of it. Her eyes bugged in bewilderment when the car came to a stop beside them, and the driver then alighted. Without sparing her a single glance, the driver went to the singer. “Young Master Ian, Old Mr. Morgan asked me to come and pick you up.”
The singer’s usually amicable face was now devoid of expression. Taken aback, Sophia smacked her lips and looked up at him, her tone questioning as she asked, “What’s happening here? Are you a prince who dressed as a commoner to mingle among the people?” The singer said nothing, wearing a long face.
Likewise, the driver hadn’t much expression on his face either. “Young Master Ian, please don’t make things difficult for me. Old Mr. Morgan has said that he’ll dismiss me if I fail to bring you home.”
Sophia blinked, at a loss as to her next course of action. I seem to be superfluous, standing here in such a situation. Feeling a touch discomfited, she moved a step to the side. “Er… Why don’t you just…”
Before she’d finished speaking, the singer took a step to the side as well and pulled her into his embrace. Stiffening, Sophia exclaimed in bafflement. With his arm around her, the singer walked toward the airport exit. “Don’t bother with him. Let’s go.”
However, before they’d even taken two steps forward, the door of the car behind the private car swung open, and a woman who was past her prime stepped out of the car. She had on a pair of sunglasses and dressed like a wealthy woman, standing by the car door. “Ian, come home if you’re done with your tantrum.”
Jolting, the singer stopped short. Sophia darted her gaze between the woman and him before asking in a whisper, “W-Who is this?” The singer didn’t answer her, and the woman didn’t say anything further, merely staring at the former. The singer pursed his lips, not making a move this time.
Meanwhile, the woman’s driver hurried over to take the guitar, but the singer swung a hand and stopped him from touching the guitar. Inhaling deeply, he then steered Sophia to the side of the car at the front.
Does this mean that he wants us to get into the car? Sophia didn’t hesitate much since there wasn’t any chance of getting out of this judging from the situation. She automatically climbed into the car, followed by the singer who slipped in beside her. After the driver had gotten in and started the car, she turned to look at him. “This stunt you pulled today has me feeling at a loss.”
The singer turned and gazed at her. “I’m sorry.”
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