Chapter 118 Cheating is Cheating

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Cheating is Cheating

Two cars were parked outside.

Walking in front were Julian Sterling and Stella Sutton.

The two had clearly just returned from out of town. Stella’s face still held the afterglow of excitement, brimming with smiles. Her eyes were exceptionally tender as she looked at the man before her. Unknown what intimate words they were whispering, she even tilted her head up to speak softly into his ear. Julian looked composed, but his pace naturally accommodated hers.

Sophie Winslow couldn’t help but freeze.

It was already past eight in the evening.

Julian had brought Stella back to their marital home? She wondered if this meant they were planning to stay the night.

This conclusion caused an uncontrollable wave of nausea to wash over Sophie. After all, this was the home she had meticulously maintained for seven years, now intruded upon by another woman. That subconscious, physiological repulsion made her deeply uncomfortable. However, she also knew that since they were already divorced, it was Julian’s freedom to bring whoever he wanted home.

Perhaps Sophie standing there was too conspicuous. Stella was the first to notice her. Her initially smiling eyes were instantly clouded with displeasure and a certain possessive condemnation. It was as if Sophie’s presence here was trespassing on her private domain. That absolute "hostess-like" confidence was particularly glaring.

Sophie wordlessly curled her lips.

Julian shifted his gaze slightly, fixing his eyes on Sophie. Though his eyes didn’t show surprise at her being here, his gaze swept over her up and down with a nonchalant dismissiveness.

Because Sophie was wearing pajamas, it was glaringly obvious where she intended to spend the night.

"Sophie?"

From behind, two more figures walked over. Upon seeing Sophie, their expressions underwent varying degrees of subtle changes. Especially Evan York. He had been flipping through a proposal in his hands, but upon hearing the commotion, he looked over, and his expression changed instantly.

He couldn’t believe Sophie had appeared here again. After all, when Julian and Sophie divorced, he had witnessed everything firsthand. Sophie’s attitude at the time was a resolute stance of having absolutely no feelings left for Julian. He truly thought she would leave without looking back. She had even been in close contact with Lucas Langley. He wondered what coming back meant now.

Finn Lockwood glanced at Sophie’s pajamas, then looked at Stella, who was frowning silently next to him. He immediately shook his head. "Sophie, did you not expect us to all come over together? Did we interrupt your grand plan?"

He figured that if they hadn’t come over together on business, it was quite obvious what Sophie was planning to do tonight. Had she planned to seduce Julian and bring their marital relationship back from the dead? And now, she had been caught red-handed by Stella.

"Aren’t you embarrassed running into Stella?" Finn smiled in a joking tone. But his words were densely packed with hidden barbs that could easily pierce someone until they bled profusely.

Sophie let out a very faint scoff. From the implications of Finn’s words, it sounded like Stella was the rightful lady of the house who had caught her cheating. Returning to the home she had lived in for seven years—did she even need Stella’s permission?

"Wandering around in clothes like that late at night isn’t appropriate, is it?" Finally, Stella spoke up. Her eyes scanned Sophie up and down, breeding a deep displeasure within them. Who was Sophie dressing like this for? She didn’t have the slightest bit of shame as a woman!

Sophie looked down at herself. She was wearing a silk pajama set, long sleeves and long pants, with all the buttons properly fastened. Stella’s attitude made it seem as if she were being grossly indecent and scandalous. She thought Stella was an absolute lunatic.

She simply met the other woman’s gaze head-on. "And running over to someone else’s house late at night is appropriate? Do you not have a home? Or is there no bed in it?"

Stella’s expression changed slightly. After all, Sophie’s phrase "someone else’s house" bluntly stated that she was just an outsider.

Finn’s smile faded. Naturally, he wasn’t willing to let Sophie bully Stella. "I heard that you threw a tantrum and insisted on moving out. Julian let you have your way and didn’t bother with you. Now that you’ve spinelessly sneaked back, didn’t you consider that you might be interrupting other people’s normal interactions?"

Sophie found it hard to believe such words could come out of a human mouth. She scoffed at the idea of interrupting their "normal interactions."

"An illicit affair is an illicit affair. Why sugarcoat it with such pretty words?" Her expression was calm, but her words left no leeway.

Finn was harshly choked by her remark, shocked by Sophie’s choice of phrasing. Even Stella couldn’t help but pale, her lips trembling slightly. In their eyes, Sophie truly was a feral girl raised in the countryside—vulgar, crude, and utterly unreasonable!

Julian’s dark eyes were profound as he fixated on Sophie.

Sophie knew it. Her ex-husband’s heart was aching for his darling again. It was fine for others to come to her door and provoke her, but if she talked back, it was her fault.

Sophie scoffed inwardly. She met his gaze and said, "If you have an issue with it, go ask your grandmother. She arranged this."

After speaking, Sophie picked up her watering can and pruning shears, continuing toward the back where the crabapple trees were planted. She couldn’t be bothered to deal with this group of people. How to get the divorce certificate back, and how to ensure the old madam didn’t revoke it—that would have to be discussed privately with Julian.

Because Sophie’s attitude was so sharp, Finn looked astonished. "Did Sophie go crying to the old madam again? Using the old madam’s authority to throw her weight around? She insists on relentlessly pestering Julian while pretending not to care at all. She just found a way out for herself and insists on claiming the old madam made her come back."

To them, this little bit of a woman’s pride was simply too laughable. They wondered who would ever believe Sophie didn’t come home voluntarily.

Evan then stepped forward, handing the proposal in his hand to Finn for him to read. He looked at Julian. "What’s the situation with her?"

What he actually wanted to ask was whether they were still getting a divorce. But he wasn’t sure if Julian had told Finn about the divorce yet. If he hadn’t, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to just blurt it out. Furthermore, if Finn knew the two had divorced, he would probably be even more sarcastic and mocking toward Sophie.

Julian thoughtfully glanced in the direction Sophie had left. He didn’t reply.

Evan pondered for a moment. "Does she regret it?" He figured that after getting a divorce, coming running back so eagerly just meant she couldn’t bear to leave Julian after all.

At this, Julian nonchalantly lifted his eyes. "Let’s head over to Mooncrest Pavilion first."

Mooncrest Pavilion was his office area, used for entertaining guests.

Finn flipped through the proposal, pushing the matter of Sophie to the back of his mind for now. He walked over with a smile and said, "Stella’s proposal is quite mature. Smart healthcare is becoming increasingly advanced, and all the major hospitals need triage robots to save labor and help patients navigate their visits. The applications are very broad."

Moreover, Stella was planning to seek out Helios to negotiate a collaboration to integrate the Digital Chinese Medicine database into the robots. It could help patients identify their symptoms and determine which department to visit. It would be an alliance of giants.

Hearing Finn’s praise, Stella’s mood, which had been soured by Sophie, instantly softened. "You flatter me. I’m still in the exploratory phase. After all, pharmaceuticals are my strong suit, but the current mainstream trend is artificial intelligence. I want to try my hand at it as well. Managing both will definitely be a bit taxing, though."

Finn reassured her, "Only a talented woman like you has the ability to balance both."

Saying that, Finn raised an eyebrow and looked at Julian. "Stella is about to take on a major project, while Sophie is still obsessing over how to attract Julian, her head full of nothing but petty romance. I reckon...

"Her harsh words toward Stella today were probably because Stella previously kicked her out of the Calyx clinical trial phase, stopping her from piggybacking her name on the credits. So she’s just taking her anger out on her."