Chapter 197

She had not seen William for a period of time and noticed that he looked quite awful. There were dark circles under his eyes, his complexion did not look good, and he carried a faint smell of alcohol on his body too.

When he saw Sophia, lights slowly gathered in his hollow eyes. "Sophia? Why are you here?"

With the recognition that Jones Group had, it was completely unnecessary for them to come over to recruit anyone. However, ever since learning that Sophia and Charles were officially together, he could hardly concentrate whenever he worked, hence Leah found a job for him to do at the very last minute.

"I’m not obliged to report my whereabouts to you, right?" Sophia frowned, went past him, and continued forward.

William took several large strides and grabbed her from behind, holding her gaze firmly. "Sophia, let's talk."

He sighed, there was helplessness and sorrow in his eyes.

The middle-aged woman who came with William looked down, acting as though she was transparent.

"You already have a fiancée, Mr. Jones. Furthermore, there are so many pairs of eyes around here. If you don't want things to get too ugly then you better get your hands off right now," Sophia said coldly.

William did not let go but lowered his voice and said, "I just want you to sit down and talk to me. Is that too much to ask?"

"It may not be too much for others, but it is too much for me." The spot he touched felt as though it had just been licked by a fly. Sophia exerted her strength and shook him away.

She exerted a lot of strength that William staggered momentarily when he was not paying any attention. Fortunately, the middle-aged woman standing next to him supported him and prevented him from falling.

She came to the labor market just to see what sort of jobs she could do but did not expect that she would bump into William instead. Sophia was slightly irritated and was in no mood to continue browsing, hence she walked outside straightaway. However, she heard William saying behind her—

"Let's sit down and talk nicely for once. After that... I will give you a wide berth whenever I see you."

Sophia stopped in her tracks, then turned around, looked straight at him, and said without the slightest hesitation, "Okay."

She figured that this was a good deal if a chat was all it would take for him to stop pestering her.

At the sight of this, William smiled bitterly and resentfully before saying to the middle-aged woman next to him, "I’m going out for a while. I’ll leave the rest to you."

"Okay." The middle-aged woman responded. After a pause, she said hesitantly, "Ms. Jones will come over after her movies. What should I tell her if you haven't returned by then?"

William glanced at Sophia as she stood next to him. There was a flash of dilemma in his eyes. "Just tell Leah that I’ve gone out to discuss business with the president of Terra Enterprises."

The middle-aged woman left after saying okay.

Sophia sneered whilst standing next to him. Mockery was written all over her face.

William’s countenance turned grim at the sight of this and said with a frown, "Let's go."

Sophia followed him out of the labor market, during which he hesitated to speak several times. She simply acted as though she did not see it. When they got to the side of the car, he went in the driver’s seat, while she opened the rear door and sat directly behind the driver’s seat.

"Why aren’t you sitting in front?" William looked at her through the rearview mirror.

Sophia glanced at him and said sarcastically, "I’m worried that Leah would tamper with the car and I might end up losing my life not knowing what happened. The seat behind the driver’s seat is relatively safer.”

"You're just slinging mud at her!" William gnashed his teeth, feeling furious yet helpless at the same time.

Sophia turned her head and looked out the window without a word.

"This is my car. Leah will never tamper with my car even if she hates you!" William did not understand why Sophia was so ungrateful when Leah was so kind to her!

Sophia stared ahead and smiled inexplicably. "It’s hard to say."

Leah had fooled William big time that Sophia did not know if she should call him a fool or praise him for being a good brother!

"Watch your words, Sophia!" William clutched the steering wheel firmly. Even the veins on his forehead were bulging.

The arc on the corner of Sophia's mouth was gradually diminishing. She said with a wooden expression, "There’s no need to look for a place anymore. Let’s clarify things in the car and you can give me a wide berth the next time you see me."

There were changes in William’s countenance. Though instead of arguing with Sophia, he said, "Let’s go to the bar we used to go all the time.”

"It's still early. It won’t be open." Sophia frowned at his suggestion.

William put the car into gear. "I know the person who’s in charge of the bar. I can just give him a call."

"That’s too much trouble. Just go to the nearest coffee shop or fast-food restaurant." Sophia could not wait to take a long way around whenever she saw the Jones siblings. Had William not promised to stop pestering her in the future if they could just talk nicely for once, she would never even go out with him.

William took a deep breath and suppressed the surging fury in his heart. "You have to show me full cooperation this time if you want me to give you a wide berth when I see you in the future.”

Sophia clammed up after hearing what he said.

There was a hint of bitterness, anger, and resentment in William’s heart. Ultimately, all of them were reduced into helplessness.

The bar was in the city center, a great distance away from the labor market. It took them nearly half an hour to arrive. Sophia got out of the car and saw a “sorry, we’re closed” sign hanging on the bar entrance.

William walked in front of her and pulled the door open. "Let’s go in."

Sophia looked at the familiar words on top of the bar and her eyes flashed. She then walked past him and entered the bar.

At this point in time, the bar was completely empty. The bustling and lively atmosphere at night was nonexistent to the point that the emptiness made the place seem rather desolate.

The bartender was playing with the bottle. He beamed brightly at Sophia. "It's been a long time, Ms. Soph!"

"Mm." She had not been here for two years, yet everything here just seemed so familiar. She sat on the bar and was put in a trance as though she had gone back in time.

However, the feeling lasted for only a fleeting moment. She looked at the bartender's slightly distant eyes and could not tell why she smiled, though she knew that it was not because she was happy.

The bartender smiled at William again, "You’re here again, Mr. Jones? The amount of time you visited us lately is more than the amount of time you visited over the last two years!"

William made no reply but turned his head to glance at Sophia instead. He looked dreadful when he could not detect any reaction from her.

Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around!

Chapter 196 Where Did You Take Sophia To "Ms. Soph, do you want the usual, Margarita?" The bartender asked, looking up.

Sophia nodded.

“Give me a glass of the same thing," William said.

The bartender teased, "You’re still the same, Mr. Jones, drinking whatever Ms. Soph is drinking!"

Seeing that there was something off about William’s countenance, he changed the subject and said, "Only two Margarita after you’ve booked the whole place?"

"Mix up six glasses and leave them here. You can get off work after that," William said.

The bartender grinned. "Awesome! I didn't get off work until two o'clock yesterday. I’m dog-tired right now, just in time for bed!”

Seeing that neither of them had any interest in talking, he did not say another word and concentrated on mixing up the margarita. He whipped up six glasses of margarita dexterously and placed them in front of them. "Lock the door before you leave. I’m going back now!"