Chapter 59 Go Sleep at Your Lover’s Place

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Go Sleep at Your Lover’s Place

"Makes sense. You’re good friends with Ivy Hawthorne." Julian Sterling didn’t seem to care much, his tone casual.

Even though Ivy wasn’t exactly a favored daughter in the Hawthorne family, having her as a bridge made it unsurprising that Sophie Winslow would have Adrian Hawthorne’s contact information.

Besides, given what day it was, almost every message on WhatsApp was a mass-sent New Year’s greeting. The one Sophie received was most likely no exception.

"Yeah. How else would I know Adrian?" Seeing how little Julian cared, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk tugged at the corners of Sophie’s lips. She looked down and replied to Adrian: [Happy New Year.]

DING—

Adrian replied almost instantly.

[I’m returning to the country next month.]

Sophie didn’t overthink why Adrian was sharing his itinerary with her.

[Alright, see you then.]

Naturally, she would never reveal that Adrian was Lydia’s legal father and, in many ways, her benefactor. If Adrian hadn’t registered Lydia under his own household, Sophie would never have been able to settle her daughter, let alone keep her a secret.

But a secret like this couldn’t be hidden forever. Once her divorce from Julian was finalized, he would inevitably find out. By then, it would be too late for him to snatch her daughter away.

"Alright, I’m going to take a shower." Julian, as expected, had zero interest in the matter. Not caring who Sophie was chatting with, he turned toward the bathroom with a cold, indifferent expression.

Sophie suddenly remembered how Julian had mistakenly pulled her into his arms first thing that morning. Was he planning to stay the night again?

"You’re sleeping here?" she blurted out.

Julian paused while unbuttoning his shirt. Before stepping into the washroom, he cast a flat glance at her. "Then enlighten me. Where do you think I should sleep?"

"At your mistress’s place, obviously," Sophie thought. Outwardly, however, she maintained a calm facade.

Julian ignored her, shutting the door and turning on the shower.

Sophie frowned for a long moment, but she soon figured it out. It wasn’t that Julian actually wanted to stay. Madam Sterling and the others were all staying at this hotel. Even if Julian was dying to go see Stella Sutton, he had to lay low. If Madam Sterling and Barbara Coleman found out, Stella would likely face the music.

Sophie had absolutely no desire to be used as a convenient cover. She grabbed her laptop, went straight to the guest bedroom next door, and locked the door behind her.

They were scheduled to visit the traditional medicine plantation base the next day to inspect the medicinal herbs they needed. Unconcerned with what Julian might think of the locked door, Sophie shut down her laptop and went straight to sleep.

She woke up at three in the morning and groggily got out of bed to get a glass of water. As she passed the master bedroom, she noticed the door was wide open, the room illuminated only by the neon lights filtering in from the window. The bed looked like it had been slept in, but it was currently empty.

Julian had actually gone through the trouble of getting up in the middle of the night just to find Stella?

Sophie’s sleep-hazed eyes gradually cleared. A mockingly bitter smile tugged at her lips as she poured her water and returned to her room. She wouldn’t need to flatter herself by locking the door anymore. After all, his mind was never on her to begin with.

***

The next day.

A large team of over thirty people set off for the traditional medicine plantation base. They toured the concentrated planting areas for rare medicinal herbs as well as the finished product sections, holding a brief meeting halfway through. Prices for several medicinal ingredients were negotiated, though the final agreements weren’t locked down until the afternoon.

Sophie found the herbs here to be of even higher quality than she had imagined. Grabbing some samples, she pulled Peter Preston back to her room to discuss optimizing their formula ratios, opting to skip the team dinner.

Halfway through their discussion, there was a knock at the door. It was a hotel server pushing a room service cart, upon which sat two slices of cake.

"I’m sorry, we didn’t order room service," Sophie said, looking confused.

The server smiled. "You must be Miss Winslow, right? Miss Sutton was craving mango cake, but all the bakeries around here are closed for the New Year. Mr. Sterling specially hired a pastry chef at a premium rate to come to the hotel and make it. He asked us to bring a slice for you and Mr. Preston."

The polite smile on Sophie’s lips almost slipped. She had deliberately avoided the team dinner to stay out of their way, yet they still went out of their way to rub it in her face? She had zero desire to know the exhaustive lengths Julian would go to pamper Stella!

Let alone the fact that...

"We don’t need it. Take it back. Our Sophie is allergic to mangoes." Peter walked over from the suite’s living room, a grave expression on his face.

The server froze for a moment. "I apologize. Mr. Sterling and the others were unaware. Please don’t take offense."

A short laugh escaped Sophie’s lips. It was hard to tell if it was self-deprecating or purely mocking. "It’s fine. It’s perfectly normal that he doesn’t know."

After sending the server away, Sophie felt a sharp throb in her temples. Her brain had already been running in overdrive trying to develop the new drug, yet Julian and his entourage somehow always managed to show up at the perfect time to make her life difficult.

"He has absolutely no idea you’re allergic to mangoes?" Peter poured a glass of water and handed it to Sophie.

Having a server bring a cake—one specially made for his mistress—to Sophie, his actual wife? What kind of message was that? Was Sophie’s life a complete joke to him? To be insulted like this!

Sophie sat back down and flipped through the pharmacology report. "His mind has never been on me. Why would he know?"

It wasn’t like figuring out what dishes she liked to eat. Anyone as smart as him could observe that just by sharing a dinner table. But knowing what foods she absolutely couldn’t touch required deep, attentive understanding—something built on the premise of love. That was the fundamental difference between her and Stella.

"But you literally saved his life. How can Julian be so cold to you?" Peter felt she deserved far better, his tone lacing with indignation.

Saved his life...

Sophie’s gaze grew distant for a moment. That was over a decade ago. Given Julian’s status, there was never a shortage of greedy, malicious people willing to risk everything for a payout. He had been kidnapped by bandits and barely made it back to the Sterling family alive.

When she found him, he had already been beaten to a pulp by the kidnappers. Clinging to his last breath, he had been running through the barren wilderness for God knew how long. By the time their paths crossed, he had collapsed on the side of the road.

If she hadn’t already spent a few years studying medicine under Mr. Caldwell, applied emergency tourniquets, and then sneaked back to steal a pile of Caldwell’s rarest medicinal herbs to use on Julian, there really would have been no saving him.

At the time, she hid Julian in an attic to let him recover. It was just a pity that, later on, Julian left without a single word of goodbye. It wasn’t until she returned to Kingsford and met Spencer Sterling that she coincidentally crossed paths with Julian again. Yet, by that point, he didn’t even recognize her.

Her thoughts drifted back to the present. Sophie chuckled lightly, stretching her back as she replied, "Using the fact that I saved his life to guilt-trip him into loving me is inherently unreasonable. That’s not how feelings are built. I’m just a doctor; I only did what I had to do. If I can’t keep my mindset straight, I’ll end up destroying myself from the inside out."

Peter couldn’t help but sigh again. "You’re just too open-minded. You make people think you’re naive and don’t care, which is exactly why they walk all over you."

"I won’t be like that anymore." Sophie continued to flip through the data spreadsheets. In the past, she had endured it all because she loved Julian. From now on, she was going to put herself first. All of this... to hell with it!

***

The return trip after inspecting the traditional medicine base didn’t take up too much time. Sophie had originally planned to head back with the group.

However, Madam Sterling called her. "Sophie, I’ve made plans to visit the temple tomorrow to burn incense and pray. Why don’t you accompany me to pray for blessings?"

Sophie thought about it. There was a temple around here that was rumored to be highly effective. If she could pray for Lydia and her grandfather, it would be a good thing. She agreed, letting Peter and the rest of the team head back first.

***

The next day.

Sophie got ready early in the morning. After waiting a long time without any word from the older woman, Sophie called to check in.

"Sophie, I had an emergency and had to leave first," Madam Sterling said. "But I made Julian stay behind to keep you company. The two of you can come back together. Now that it’s just the two of you, you can enjoy some private time together as a married couple."