Chapter 237
Sophia tried to analyze the situation from Stanley’s words; Irene hadn’t been able to remember Michael
and got together with Joel. Irene couldn’t remember Michael, but he could remember her! If Michael saw
Joel and Irene together in a while, he would be so sad!
Bing worried all of a sudden, Sophia quickened her pace forward; both Stanley and Nathan were
anxious about their uncle and father as well. The three of them walked quickly and soon spotted
Michael’s car.
However, Michael had already gotten out of the car; he was also wearing sses with a wide frame and
a ck top hat that almost covered half of his face. Meanwhile, Irene and Joel were standing directly in
front of him.
They were holding hands, whereas Michael stood there alone.
Sophia immediately quickened her pace and walked to his side, listening in to their conversation.
Holding onto Joel, Irene looked at Michael and said with a smile, “I didn’t expect that you are Joel’s
younger brother, Mr. Taylor. I really didn’t think of it! My apologies!”
Michael’s wide-framed sses were blocking his expression. His voice sounded indifferent as he said,
“Nice to meet you too.”
The atmosphere was harmonious, and nothing was off.
However, Sophia was stunned.
In that moment, Michael must’ve felt really ufortable. Nothing was more cruel than saying ‘nice to
meet you’ to someone he once loved—or might even still love.
Michael must be heartbroken now, but he pretended to be okay so he could save hisst bit of dignity.
The entanglement between Michael, Joel, and Irene must be deeper than Sophia could ever imagine,
and it was impossible for her to see through nor intervene.
Sophia didn’t know anything about Michael’s past, and she had no idea what happened to him. In fact,
she was always an outsider to him because he had never seemed to open his heart to her.
But now, Sophia wanted to help him! She didn’t want him to face it alone!
Hence, she squeezed Nathan’s little hand and whispered, “Go to your father.”
No longer being uncooperative, Nathan smiled sweetly and ran over like a butterfly, throwing himself into
Michael’s arms as he yelled loudly, “Daddy!”
Michael embraced Nathan—who hade running all of a sudden—and noticed Sophia at a nce.
Irene knitted her brows and asked Michael, “Is he your son?”
Looking at Nathan, Michael nodded and replied, “Yes, he’s my son.”
Standing next to Michael, Sophia suddenly felt a warm embrace around her cold hand. Michael took her
hand and openly said to the two of them, “The Madam.”
Michael didn’t brush off the introduction by simply saying ‘this is my wife’. Instead, he introduced Sophia
formally as ‘The Madam.”
At that moment, Sophia’s mind went nk as she didn’t know what to reply.
Stanley’s jaw dropped in shock as well, but he immediately understood the situation.
Michael had no courage to face Irene, so he simply asked a random woman to pretend to be his woman!
Stanley sighed to himself, Poor Uncle Michael!
Irene was stunned for a moment, but she immediately came around and said with a smile, “We have met
earlier. She’s very beautiful!”
Still holding Sophia’s hand, Michael lowered his head and looked at the girl beside him gently. “Yes,
she’s very beautiful.”
Sophia lowered her head as she was feeling shy.
After the short conversation, the Fletchers left and Sophia got in the car.
As the car moved, the family of three didn’t speak at all; the atmosphere became dull.
The sun came out at noon, but it started raining again in the afternoon. As the fine raindrops hit the
window, Sophia looked out and gazed at the gloomy mountains and rivers; her eyelids had be
droopy as well.
Suddenly, a bumpy ride woke Sophia up. She opened her eyes and looked out of the window, realizing
that there was nothing but deserted woods around them.
What’s going on?
ording to the speed of the car, we should be back in the city and in the inner ring by now; why are we
in the middle of some deserted woods?
It was a bumpy journey as well. The roads changed from main roads into smaller ones, and they seemed
to have not been repaired for a long time as it was full of holes, making it extremely bumpy.
The rain stopped. Sophia opened the window and noticed that the car was moving toward the vige.
Although it was getting further off the city, it was bing more familiar as well.
This is t-the suburbs of Riverdale!
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My hometown!
“Hubby, did we take the wrong way?” Sophia asked Michael immediately.
Michael smiled in return and replied, “No, we didn’t. We’re here to sweep your family’s tomb.”
While talking, the car stopped right outside the vige where Sophia used to live.
Upon getting out of the car, Sophia couldn’t believe everything that happened in the past.
After so many years, she had actually returned to this ce!
The vige had been demolished during the year of Sophia’s high school entrance exam, but her uncle
and aunt were not removed from the ce. Hence, they shifted the entire me onto her. She had just
finished her exams at that time; not only did she receive first ce in her year, she was also epted
into Riverdale High School. However, her uncle and aunt wanted her to get married in exchange for
betrothal money. Furthermore, the man was a bachelor in his forties.
Sophia was unwilling to give her life away to a bachelor in his forties, so she called the headmaster of
Riverdale High School for help. The headmaster came to the vige to reason with her aunt, but after a
big fight, Sophia waspletely chased out of the house.
Since then, Sophia had never returned and didn’t have the chance to sweep the tomb.
Sophia didn’t expect that Michael would actually remember this incident.
Sophia had her mother’s surname, but when she was born, her mother died. Later on, her maternal
grandparents passed away too. Along with her mother, they were buried at the hilltop right outside of this
vige.
The car stopped at the bottom of the mountain, and the group walked up the mountain to look for the
graves.
After the spring rain, the mountain was bleak and the wind soughed. There was no one about the remote
area; the vige was a kilometer away, and it seemed pretty deserted. Several graves were hidden
among the cluttered weeds.
The group of people went up the mountain. As the mountain was rugged, they changed into the rain
boots they had prepared in advance and walked unsteadily up the mountain.
Soon, Sophia found her grandparents’ and her mother’s graves.
On top of her grandparents’ grave, there were some traces indicating someone had cleaned the tomb
together with the remnants of joss sticks and paper money, but they were all soaked in rain. On the other
hand, no one had visited Sophia’s mother’s grave for a long time.
ording to Sophia’s family tradition, girls were not allowed to sweep the tomb, so it was always her
uncles who came. Since they believed that Sophia’s mother had died disgracefully, she was unworthy to
be brought up after her death; they simply set up a gravestone for her and that was it. During the New
Year celebrations, they didn’t even pay their respects to her with the joss sticks and paper money.
Michael took off his windbreaker. Only wearing a T-shirt, he picked up the equipment they brought and
began clearing the weeds.
After working the whole day, they finally cleaned out the graves. Two of the graves were next to each
other; one was Sophia’s grandparents’ and the other one which looked older and damaged was her
mother’s. Under the sun and rain, the words on the gravestone had already blurred.
After clearing out the graves, Sophia and Michael began arranging the joss sticks and paper money
before paying their respects to the deceased.
After burning the paper money, Michael took out a mat and was about to kowtow.
Sophia stopped him immediately. “Don’t… “
How can I possibly let him kneel down?
The floor is so dirty!