When they got to the 17th floor, the cops just happened to show up too.
Aaron's legs were like jelly, and he was as meek as anything, humbly and proactively spilling the beans to the cops about the whole hitting incident. He didn't dare to be sassy anymore, straight up confessed that he lost his cool after hearing some outsiders dissing Sophia, feeling like she wasn't living up to her duties as a daughter-in-law. In a fit of anger, he wanted to 'educate' her but seriously chose the wrong way to do it. He sincerely fessed up to the police and Sophia, apologizing for his mistake, with a super remorseful attitude. Faced with the police's stern talking-to, he kept on admitting his wrong and saying sorry, truly regretting his actions.
The cops first checked out the damage on Sophia's face, which was on the minor
side.
Following protocol, they tried to mediate, asking Sophia if she was down for
settling it that way.
"We're not going for mediation!"
Brandon spoke up, cool as a cucumber.
Sophia gave him a glance, stayed quiet for a moment, then looked up and softly said, "I accept the mediation."
Brandon whipped his head around to look at Sophia.
Aaron was also staring at her, disbelief written all over his face.
Sophia firmly told the cops, "I agree to mediation."
When the parties involved were up for it, it made things a whole lot easier, so they both signed the mediation agreement.
As the cops and Aaron were heading out, Brandon turned to Sophia. "Do you even realize what you're doing?"
"I know," she whispered back, "I want to see what Marian's up to. There's no way she doesn't know my brother's company is just a shell."
Marian reaching out to Aaron was fishy from the get-go, plus that sketchy design plan that looked like it was for some holiday estate, the whole situation was just weird.
So, Aaron couldn't end up behind bars now.
Even if he did, Sophia figured Marian would pull some strings to get him out, or if not, she'd use the opportunity to really get her hooks into Aaron.
The sweet nothings she was pouring into Aaron's ear today were clearly her working her charm on him.
With Aaron being a bit of a no-brainer, he'd probably end up even more grateful to Marian, hanging on her every word.
Sophia didn't want to give Marian the satisfaction, and she was worried that Aaron's cluelessness could drag down the whole family, Brandon included.
"I'm worried you'll get hurt again," Brandon said slowly, looking at her.
"That won't happen. He's all bark and no bite. After what happened today, he won't dare lay a hand on anyone again," Sophia said softly. "As unreliable as he is, he really loves my niece and he's scared of getting a record and messing up her future."
Brandon nodded, not pressing the issue.
"Let's get you to the hospital to make sure you're not hurt," he said.
"I'm fine, really." Sophia insisted, and to prove it, she even reached up to poke her cheek to show him, but Brandon gently pulled her hand away before she could touch it.
"We'll let the doc decide that."
No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Brandon took her straight to the nearest hospital,
and only after the doc gave her the all-clear did he relax.
"By the way, what brought you back all of a sudden?"
On the way home, Sophia turned to ask Brandon.
"My dad's health took another dip, came back to check on him," he said, keeping
Aaron's drama off the table to spare her any extra stress.
"Hasn't he gotten any better?" she asked softly.
"Uh-huh," he nodded, not keen on diving into that topic.
Sophia didn't push any further.
"I've got to hit the hospital again later, might not make it back tonight," Brandon said in a low voice, "You and Theresa can hit the hay without me." Sophia nodded. "Okay."
After Brandon dropped her off and checked in on Theresa upstairs, he took off. Sophia gave Theresa a bath, tucked her into bed, and right when she was about to conk out herself, her phone beeped with a message.
It was from Aaron.
He sent her a few voice note files, along with a message.
[Sophia, I screwed up by storming into the office and hitting you today, and I'm sorry for that. But I think it's important you know why I was so pissed. I didn't want to say it in front of your husband earlier, but now that it's just us, I'll cut to the chase. I actually went to see your father-in-law at the hospital today, and I heard some trash talk about you that made our family look bad, and that's why I blew my top and came after you.]
[I happened to record it. Take a listen to what they said, and maybe do some soul- searching.]