Sophia snorted while thinking to herself, You came to me only after I was married, so I know what is going through your mind. After that, she replied, “Now that you’ve met me in person, you can leave now.”
As if unaware of the disdain and impatience within Sophia’s tone, Sophia’s father refused to give in. “Sophia, I miss you dearly after not seeing you for such a long time.”
With a chuckle, Sophia shot back, “Did you contact that woman? She told me almost the same thing as what you are saying. Did you have a discussion with her prior to meeting me?”
There was a pause in her father’s movement before he went on, “What are you talking about?”
Meanwhile, Sophia wore a smug look on her face. “You must already be remarried. Do you already have other children? Judging from how you look, you seem to be doing alright.”
Her pointed remarks left him feeling humiliated. On the other hand, the tipsy villagers began yelling at him. “Walter, you are such a prick! Both you and your wife abandoned your father and Sophia! You didn’t even come home when your father passed away, so why are you here now?”
With a pout, Walter said in grief, “I had my own problems, or else I wouldn’t have left them. I didn’t want to drag them down with my own problems.”
However, Sophia took a jab at him loudly. “Then why is it that you would marry and even have kids with someone else? Aren’t you afraid of dragging your other family down?”
Walter looked at Sophia while trying to explain himself. “Sophia, I know you blame me for what I did, and I deserve it. I owed you and your grandfather a lot. However, I am still your father. The fact that we are connected by blood persists no matter what happened between us.”
Smirking, Sophia continued, “We needed someone to perform the rites for the funeral when my grandfather passed away. Since you were nowhere to be found, I was the one who did it. You can ask the other villagers. They will tell you under what circumstances that I, the granddaughter of the deceased, can take the place of the eldest son to perform the rite.”
Walter knew the rules. If the eldest son was dead, the second-eldest son would take over the role. If the deceased had no sons, the daughters would perform the rituals. Only if all the children of the deceased have passed away that the grandchildren would take on the role.
Raising her voice so that all of the others could hear her, Sophia announced, “When my grandfather passed away, I was the one who performed the ritual, which means that ever since you abandoned me and Grandpa, you’re dead. Therefore, I no longer have a father.”
Walter took a step forward toward Sophia. “Sophia, I know you’re only saying that because of anger—”
However, John blocked his advance before the latter could reach Sophia. “Stay away from my wife.”
Although seemingly a little displeased by John’s actions, Walter smiled after staring at him for a while. “My dearest son-in-law, there is a slight misunderstanding between Sophia and I, so allow us to talk things through in the house. We are family after all, so let’s not be strangers.”
Before they could proceed any further, one of the older villagers spoke up. “Where are you thinking of going to when you don’t even have the right to enter the house? We were the ones who helped refurbish the house when one of its walls collapsed during a storm that year. Both Sophia and your father nearly died in there, but where the f*ck were you? Even if you come back now, you have now right to set foot in the house.”
Although Walter dared not raise his voice at John, the fact that everybody else was scolding him left him feeling exasperated. Thus, he snapped, “This is my house, and this is my family, so why are you even sticking your noses into our business? What right do you have to interfere with my family’s matters?”
As soon as he said so, a lot of the people began yelling at him. “We helped refurbish this house, so why don’t we have a right to voice our opinions? We built the house for your father and Sophia, but not for a twat like you!”
Walter wasn’t sure who to refute due to the sheer amount of people pointing fingers at him. Meanwhile, Sophia didn’t want to see him at all, so she said, “Since you’re here to meet me, you can leave now that you’ve seen me. Thanks to my fellow villagers, I am doing fine.”
However, Walter had a grim look on his face, as of course, he wasn’t there to merely check up on Sophia after having traveled such a long distance to where she was.
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