Sophia felt appalled after hearing what Patrick wanted to say but chose to ask Claire to deliver his
message instead.
Patrick was still the same as he was five years ago.
Even if he said something bad about someone, he could still say it so subtly.
His word had always easily put all of one's efforts to hell, negating all of them.
Sophia took a deep breath to calm herself down before replying, "Then, Miss Williams, please tell the
president that being young and naive is the only explanation for my persistence."
Yes, when she had been young and naive, she would chase after him for five years without caring
about the consequences.
It wasn't until much later that she realized that he had another woman in his heart.
But she still chose to be the moth to his flame as she willingly accepted her role as a bystander in their
relationship.
In the end, what she got in return was his unapologetic dismissal of their shared past.
Now, she didn't want to get her hopes up and end up hurting herself for the second time.
The past was already in the past, and the current Sophia had already lost her pride and arrogance.
She lived a mediocre and peaceful life, just like the majority of the population.
Now, her only hope for the future was to have a stable life and to earn more money so she could afford
to give Emma a better life so that her mother's illness could stabilize a little.
She sealed her desires and pointless hopes tightly in her heart, and the rest, she just treated it as a
wild and absurd dream in her youth.
Her dream of a fairy tale romance was long gone; the magic slowly faded away with time.
The next day, she officially stepped into the building of Evans Enterprise Media as a temporary
employee.
Sophia looked around at the sleek interior of the building in awe as she made her way to the data
center evaluation department.
The manager, Lianna, was wearing a fashionable black suit with thick makeup and red lips.
She stood in front of everyone with her back straightened as she held the morning meeting.
"This month's performance has been deficient.Was I being too lenient with everybody? Do you think it
is acceptable if you arrive late then leave at an earlier time? If you only have this kind of working
attitude, then I am sorry.The Evans Group will not keep such an employee.Please think about it if you
guys did enough work, or do you just want to get your salary without any performance?"
Lianna walked back and forth in her seven-centimeter high heels.
When she spoke to the point of excitement, she had almost used all of her body movements and
gestures to make her points.
The atmosphere in the evaluation department was gloomy.
The employees of the evaluation department were almost all women.
Such as the popular saying goes, "Females are always starting the drama"
When there were more than twenty women in one department, the working environment would be
nothing more than competing for fame and profit every day.
The competition was between women who wanted to see who dressed better and who wore the prettier
makeup.
The people from the network engineering department once joked that every time they came to the
evaluation department, they would get suffocated by the smell of perfume and wouldn't be able to smell
anything for a week.
These words had been 60% exaggerated and 40% truth.
Sophia was the only external transfer employee here.
She already anticipated that the petty chores like buying drinks, replacing the water dispenser, cleaning
the office, and running small errands would naturally be her responsibility.
To prove her prediction, Lianna sent her to the General Manager's office to get a document as soon as
she finished the morning meeting.
The General Manager's office was on the top floor of the building, the same as where the President's
office was, but on the other side of the floor.
Unfortunately for Sophia, she had an abysmal sense of direction.
Lianna told Sophia to exit the elevator and then go left, and the innermost door was the General
Manager's office.But she couldn't tell which side of the floor was east at all.She was a directionless idiot
who could only distinguish left and right after leaving the house.
Sophia looked around, hoping to ask someone for direction.But the corridor was tranquil, and there was
no one to ask.She couldn't just walk around randomly, but she couldn't go back and ask Lianna, either.
Fortunately, one of the doors swung open at that moment, and a man in a suit walked out.She quickly
stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, sir"
The man kept his gaze down at the file in his hand before he hurried away.He didn't even hear her
finish asking and casually pointed to the direction behind him.
Sophia instantly felt relieved.
"Thank you!" she called after the man, but she doubted he even heard her.
Sophia was amazed at how easily she had gotten to the top floor.
She lightly knocked on the pearwood door of the nearest office she found, not even glancing at the
words on the door to distinguish whether they read the General Administration Office or the President
Office.
She pushed the door open and entered.
"Hello, Ms.Parson asked me to..."
Several people who were signing contracts looked at her simultaneously, and one of them had a sharp
glare in his eyes.
Sophia didn't remember how she exited the room.She only knew that she kept saying sorry over and
over again.
Sophia was afraid that she had interrupted a severely important contract signing.
Even if she lost her life, she wouldn't be able to pay back the losses they would have if that contract fell
through.
In the end, Lianna was also summoned to the President's office because of Sophia's mistake.
"Sophia, are you an idiot? You have been a working adult for a few years already, but you still managed
to make this kind of inconvenient mistake.Didn't you see the words written on the door? Or do you not
even know how to read English?"
Sophia lowered her head in embarrassment.It was the first time she had been scolded badly by her
immediate superior.She couldn't even say anything to defend herself.
Sophia felt annoyed with herself.
It was all because of this damn lack of direction that got her in trouble.
While Lianna scolded her, several men in suits at the end of the corridor suddenly walked out.
Patrick, who was walking in the front, had one hand in his pocket.His eyes were indifferent, and his
footsteps were heavy.He did not stop despite the numerous people crowding in the corridor.
Behind him was his assistant, John Ward.
John glanced curiously at Sophia, who had her head lowered.
Upon seeing her face, he was puzzled.He seemed to have seen this woman somewhere before.
Then, it dawned on him; he had seen a picture of this woman in the President's phone.But he was still
unsure.
"Sophia, did I not tell you clearly, or were you just not listening?"
Lianna continued to scold her aggressively.She did not even bother restraining herself despite the
group president, Patrick's presence.
"Are you so stupid to not even distinguish north, south, east, and west?"
Patrick's figure was getting closer and closer until he was just by Sophia's side, but then, he passed by
just like that.
Sophia's eyes watered in disappointment.
To prevent him from seeing the sad expression she had on her face, she lowered her head even more.
Even so, she could still feel his powerful presence as he walked by.
The spotless black leather shoes stepped on the high velvet carpet and seemed to make a sound.
Every step he took was like a stomp on her heart.
Five years later, he was still in a high position and had control of the Evans Group, but on the contrary,
Sophia had to be busy working every day to earn a living.
It was six o'clock in the evening when Sophia decided to go to a coffee shop and catch up with her best
friend.
"No way! So you're saying he didn't recognize you? You were together with him for five years! He is too
heartless."
In the coffee shop, her best friend, Fiona Sheepe, complained loudly, feeling unhappy for her.
"This is not the first time you heard of his ruthlessness."
Sophia shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't feel hurt on the inside by his behavior.
When he had forced her to abort the child in her belly back then, she already lost all hope that he'd
become a changed man.
In the past few years, to support her family, she couldn't even eat a mouthful of food when she was
busy, let alone put on makeup.
Sometimes, she almost couldn't recognize herself.
It was no wonder that he also didn't recognize her when he had seen countless people.
Moreover, it had been five years since they last saw each other.
It was neither long nor short, but it was just enough to forget a person.
Fiona had been Sophia's friend for many years.
Fiona was very clear about Sophia's love experience.
Sometimes, she often wondered if she could find another woman in this world who was as silly and
persistent as Sophia.
"To be honest, if you had a chance to turn back time where I let you know beforehand that your cousin
is the one he loves, would you still fall in love with him?"
Fiona looked at Sophia with sad eyes.
Sophia didn't want to answer, so she opted by saying, "There are no ifs in this world."
For the sake of the conversation, let's just pretend there is, Fiona pressed.Sophia stirred her coffee
with her spoon absentmindedly.
"Who knows.No one can stop a fool in love.This was Sophia, a fool in a five-year-long unrequited
love.Fiona wanted to crack open her best friend's head to see if something was wrong with her, but she
held back.It was her fault when she chose to ask Sophia.Fiona sighed before deciding that the best
course of action would be to change the topic.
"By the way, I have contacted the part-time job hiring you asked me to contact.If you have time, you
can be on duty this Friday."
"Thanks."
Sophia smiled happily.
Fiona was just about to throw things over to complain about her politeness when Sophia's cellphone on
the table began to ring.
It was her mother, Maria Hill's number.
Sophia made a shushing gesture to Fiona and picked up the call.
Her mother's voice spoke through the phone, "Sweetheart, why haven't you come back yet? Didn't we
agree that you are going to that blind date today?"
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