Jason set down his knife and fork, a crease forming between his brows as he pulled out his phone to scroll through the latest news from home.
The old photos were gone, but Grace and Connor’s public apologies were still pinned at the top of the page. The deeper he read, the tighter his brow furrowed. From the wording alone, it was clear just how much Sophia had been hurt by what they’d done.
He looked up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sophia didn’t seem bothered at all. She took a big bite of her cheese-laden pizza. “It got sorted out pretty quickly. Estelle helped me.”
Jason noticed the comments mentioning the Capital University forum. He tapped open the site and scanned through the threads.
Diana’s original post had been deleted, but Robin’s clarification was still up, and the replies underneath painted a picture of what had happened.
His eyes turned frosty. “Where’s Diana now?”
“She’s been arrested,” Sophia replied, her tone almost gleeful. “Estelle said she’ll be locked up for a few years at least—no way she’s getting out soon! I mean, it’s bad enough she slandered me, but when she went after you? Honestly, I wanted to storm down to the station and kick her myself.”
Jason’s mood had been sour, but at Sophia’s words, a tenderness flickered in his eyes. “Am I really that important to you?”
Sophia took a big gulp of vegetable soup, answering as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “Of course you are!”
She’d barely finished speaking before she paused, realizing what she’d just admitted. Her eyes darted away as she pretended to focus on her steak.
Jason’s gaze was unwavering. “When I asked you earlier, you wouldn’t say a word. Now you’re finally being honest.”
Sophia’s cheeks flushed even redder. “Stop changing the subject!”
He chuckled softly, but his voice was still a little heavy. “It’s hard to believe so much happened while I was away.”
“It’s really not a big deal,” Sophia said with her usual optimism. “What happened with Connor and Yolanda looked like a coincidence, but it was just Diana stirring the pot from behind the scenes. Now it’s all handled, and I can finally have some peace.”
She suddenly remembered something and shot him a look. “None of this bothered me much, but I was actually happy to clear things up with Robin. Then, out of nowhere, you started ignoring me.”
Jason looked up. “You’re not the only one who suffered. I was miserable too. I’d planned to fly back tomorrow and talk things through, but I never imagined you’d come all the way here.”
By the time Jason came in, she was already fast asleep.
She really was exhausted.
He reached out and gently brushed the loose hair from her face, a pang of regret twisting inside him. He admitted it—when he saw those photos, he’d been angry, jealous, even panicked, wanting to teach her a lesson.
But the moment he saw her, eyes red and brimming with tears at the restaurant, he’d regretted everything.
And when she cried, he kept asking himself—what was he doing? How could he ever bear to hurt her?
Sophia was inexperienced when it came to relationships, but the truth was, so was he. Despite loving her for so many years, he still stumbled along like a traveler setting out with nothing but hope and no real preparation.
This time, he’d learned his lesson: never shut her out, never make her sad. He wanted her to feel, always, that with him, there would only be joy.
There was still a long road ahead for them, but the most important thing—no matter what happened, no matter what they faced—was that they trusted each other and walked forward, side by side.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)
Looking forward to reading your updates....
May we please have more updates. Thank you...
May we have more updates please....
Thank you so much for the updates today. Now that Yvonne knows that Gonzalez has established who's really in charge of the Hansen house hold she and her mother are treading carefully. It will be interesting to see how Jenny will get the information to see if Adrian is paying for Norah....
With Adrian last comment, he's gonna get whipped and wonder what happened. Thank you so so much for the updates....
May we please have more updates. Thank you....
I would like for Norah to secretly have her memory restored and not tell anyone just to observe how everyone is trying to keep mess going....
Janice and Adrian don't want Norah to be with Xavier....
Thank you for the updates. You do keep us in suspense....
Curious as to how, what, when and where Norah will get her memory back of Xavier....