The Returning EX (John and Sophia) novel Chapter 20

Sophia thought John wouldn’t come anymore, but she thought wrong. He came that very afternoon, and he brought fruits with him too. When he arrived, Sophia was playing blackjack with Zack.

John stopped at the doorstep. The door was ajar, and he could hear what they were talking about. From the sound of it, Sophia was fine now; she could even laugh. “I don’t need a caretaker. I’ve been in the doctor’s office because of this condition more times than I care to remember. It’ll take me a couple of days, but I’ll be fine.”

Zack had a strip of paper on his face, and it dangled around when he talked. “That’s because you don’t take care of it. The doctor told me so. Can you take this seriously?”

Sophia smiled. “I’m winning this.”

Zack looked at his cards and tossed them away. “Yeah, I give up.” He continued, “Say, the boss doesn’t know about this, does he? I don’t think he knew about your condition until last night.”

Sophia tossed her cards onto the bed. “Yep. He knows nothing about this at all.”

“You’ve been married to him for a year, and he knows nothing about this?” Zack mumbled.

Sophia chuckled. “It’s normal. He doesn’t know much about me anyway.”

“So how did you get through all those days anyway?” Zack looked at her.

Sophia tidied all the cards. “Maybe because I let everything slide.” She looked down. “If I have to dwell on every little thing he did or didn’t do, I’d have a heart attack on top of my gastric problems, so yeah.”

John stared at Sophia from outside. He had always seen this smile of hers before this; it looked fake, but also helpless.

John went inside quietly, then when Zack looked back, he was shocked. He and Sophia were sitting on the bed together, but when he saw John, Zack quickly jumped down, looking awkward. “Boss, you should have called before you came.”

John put the fruits he brought on the sofa, not looking at Zack. “If I did, you wouldn’t have gossiped about me behind my back.”

Zack looked at Sophia and smiled awkwardly, but Sophia didn’t return it. After seeing John, she couldn’t even smile, but John didn’t mind. “The partner has run into some problems. Maybe they’re trying to change the terms, so we’ll be staying here for a few days longer.”

Zack arched his eyebrow. “We’re staying?” He looked at Sophia.

Sophia didn’t look at them, nor did she hear what John said. All she did was look outside the window. She was petite to begin with, and with her wearing the patient’s clothes, she looked pitiful.

“Oh, that’s nice.” He meant for Sophia to hear that. “Mrs.… I mean, Sophia has to stay here for a while, so we can take care of her.”

Sophia looked back at Zack and chuckled, while Zack winked at her. “Um, it’s getting late, so I’ll be buying us some dinner. You guys carry on.”

There were a few hours away from dinnertime, so Sophia knew Zack was trying to give them some space. John should know that too, but none of them talked.

Zack took his phone and quickly left the room. After closing the door, he looked inside through the window. John was sitting on the sofa, while Sophia leaned back against the bed and covered herself.