Female Novel
Chapter 618
Sophia was still in a daze, nor did she understand what was going on while being dragged by Mrs.Hensley to the entrance of the village. There was already a crowd gathered over there, but Mrs.Hensley managed to have them make way with a bellow. “Excuse us! Sophia is here!”
Parked behind the parting crowd was a car, beside which stood a man who seemed worn from travel.Frozen to the spot, Sophia stared at John before asking, “Why are you here?”
John seemed tired when he replied, “I’m worried about you, so I came.”
Her mind blank, Sophia stared at John for a long while before questioning, “How did you even gethere?”
John heaved a sigh upon hearing her question. “Won’t you let me go get some rest before this? I’vebeen driving for a long time, so I’m exhausted.”
One of the villagers approached them. “Sophia, so is he your man?”
However, all Sophia did was gaze at John in silence, as if she didn’t even hear the question.Meanwhile, John was all smiles when he told them, “Hello, I wanted to come with her, but I got heldback by some matters in my company. She was so impatient though, so she came back alone, whichleft me with no choice but to track her down like this, and it was tiring.”
The villagers knew nothing of their feud, so they ushered him in. “That’s true, the long drive must havebeen exhausting. Come on, you should go get some rest inside.”
After John got into his car, Mrs. Hensley gave Sophia a shove, so she got in as well. It wasn’t until thennovelbin
that she snapped back to her senses. She pointed the way to her house stiffly while John drove. Thetwo of them sat in John’s car for some time, seemingly not in a hurry to get off. Then, John heaved asigh. “I’m sorry that I never came to visit.”
Still in a daze, Sophia replied quietly, “You don’t have to apologize.”
Upon stepping out of the car, John noticed just how run down the mostly empty yard was. However, hewas rather unfazed when he stepped through it, only to find that the house was even emptier, and waswithout a decent piece of furniture. After looking around in the house, John saw the photo in hergrandfather’s room.
Standing by the door, Sophia asked, “Why are you here?”
John didn’t give her an immediate reply. Instead, he mumbled while checking out the photo, “So this iswhat you look like when you were a kid.”
As could be seen in the photo, Sophia was wearing a slightly tattered dress while her hair was combedinto two braids. It was apparent from her outfit that she was from a poor family, but her smile wasinnocent. Holding onto Sophia with a kind and loving look while seated, her grandfather was still youngwhen the photo was taken.
Truth be told, John could no longer recall what her grandfather looked like, as he had only met thelatter a few times. During the later days, he only ever saw her grandfather in a sickly state, so he wasrendered a mere shell of his former self. Sophia was leaning against the door frame with her brain in amuddled state, as she never expected him to find her here. After staring at the photo for a while, Johnsmiled. “Since Grandpa’s grave is just over there, I will go visit him when I have the time.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Sophia replied. “You don’t have to since we aren’t family anyway.”
John examined Sophia only to notice that she seemed less lively after a few days of not seeing her.Moreover, she seemed sluggish and somewhat depressed. Walking up to her, John touched her face.“You must’ve had it hard when you came over here.”
Sophia dodged him without a word, whereas John scanned his surroundings. “Have you eaten? Ilearned to cook a few dishes during the past few days, so you can have a taste.”
Seeing that Sophia remained silent, John went to the kitchen on his own. Before she could react, thevillagers arrived at Sophia’s house. The village hadn’t had a visitor in a long while, so John’s presencepiqued the villagers’ curiosity.