Chapter 8 Used Goods

• As Sophia slept late and drank two cocktails the night before, she was nursing a bad hangover. However, Katherine called her early in the morning, disrupting her sleep.
• “What is it now, Ms. Famous?” Sophia asked snarkily. As a matter of fact, she was always bad-tempered after waking up in the morning.
• She had been suppressing it for a long time while living with the Xenos family. Now that she didn't need to hold it in anymore, she was as irritable as a beast that had just been released from its cage.
• Katherine should be glad she was not in front of Sophia.
• “Did I wake you up?”
• Rolling her eyes, Sophia got out of bed while massaging her temples. “What is it?”
• “Your ex-husband and his first crush are trending. Now, the whole internet is discussing whether you two divorced on peaceful terms because both of you cheated.”
• Startled, Sophia woke from her drunken stupor. “You yourself called him my ex-husband, so there is no need for you to risk your life to tell me about him in the future.”
• On the other end of the phone, Katherine rubbed her neck. “I'm sorry, Soph. You can continue sleeping! I won't disturb you anymore!” she blurted before hurriedly hanging up.
• Sophia threw her phone onto the bed and buried her head in the pillow again.
• Yet, Katherine's words resounded in her mind. Restless and unable to sleep, she called out, “Genie, help me boil some water.”
• “Yes, Ms. Yarrow.”
• Sophia walked into her bathroom in her slippers and saw herself in the mirror. Her hair was an utter mess, and her skin was dull after a night of drinking. She hated the way she looked.
• Sophia, you just got a divorce. It's not a big deal.
• Half an hour later, she stared at the news on her phone.
• Though she would be lying if she said she felt nothing, she had expected such a thing to happen someday. Now, reading the news about Alexander and Bethany, she had the urge to laugh.
• With that, she exited Twitter. Since we're divorced, Alexander and Bethany having a date in the middle of the night has nothing to do with me anymore.
• After eating breakfast, she put on makeup and a long, blue dress before driving the dusty Ferrari in the garage out to Specter Entertainment.
• The last time she came, Mason had led her in, while Katherine walked her out. As such, the receptionist treated her respectfully upon seeing her.
• “Ms. Yarrow, are you here for Ms. Quinn?”
• Sophia smiled. “Yes. Is she here?”
• “She just arrived. Let me press the elevator for you.”
• “Thank you,” Sophia said with a nod.
• Looking at the courteous receptionist, she remembered the receptionists at Odyssey, and she could not help but smile self-deprecatingly.
• How badly did Alexander treat me to make his company's receptionists look down on me? Well, it's my fault too. Why did I have to act like a simp? In the end, all I gained was a divorce.
• The elevator doors slid open with a ding, drawing Sophia back to reality.
• She stepped out of the elevator in her silver high heels and made her way to Katherine's office.
• Upon seeing her, Jonice asked in surprise, “What brings you here, Ms. Yarrow?”
• “Just here to take a look.”
• Smiling, Sophia pointed at the closed door of Katherine's office. “May I go in?”
• “Sure! Kath is alone inside. Since you're here, can you persuade her to stay low for the time being? Lots of paparazzi have their eyes on her recently. I spent lots of effort to stop last night's incident from being publicized.”
• Sophia nodded. “Thank you for your hard work. I'll tell her to be careful.”
• Jonice was one of the few people who knew Sophia was a major shareholder of Specter Entertainment. She was also aware of the latter's friendship with Katherine. Katherine was a happy-go-lucky person, and only Sophia and Joshua could handle her. Thus, as Katherine's assistant, Jonice was only there to clean up the former's mess.
• A sense of relief flooded Jonice when Sophia agreed to help. “No problem. I won't waste your time anymore, Ms. Yarrow.”
• Upon entering Katherine's office, Sophia saw the dazzling woman staring excitedly at her tablet for some reason. Her expressions were so vivid that she lived up to her name as an award-winning actress.
• “What are you looking at?” Sophia asked, sitting down beside Katherine and patting her crossed legs.
• Katherine did not expect Sophia to come just as she was reading about Alexander and Bethany's news. She answered with excitement, “I'm reading gossip about your ex-husband and his first crush! It seems rather touching.”
• Sophia slid her a look. “What did you say?”
• A shiver ran down Katherine's spine, and she immediately plastered a righteous expression on her face. “Those two are so shameless! How can they get together when Alexander just got a divorce? Are they afraid no one will know they are each other's one true love?”
• Sophia poured herself a cup of coffee. “You're talking too much.”
• Truly terrified now, Katherine cried, “I'm wrong! To make it up to you, I asked someone to get me two tickets for Lillian White's art exhibition. You can go with Mason and show off before those two! Alexander is not that good anyway. He's just a secondhand good you abandoned. Mason is much better than him.”
• Raising her eyebrows, Sophia countered, “I dare you to say those words before Alexander.”
• Of course, Katherine had no guts to do so. “We are civilized people. It's not good to fall out in public. Instead, we should embarrass them in a refined manner. Believe me, if you bring Mason along, the netizens will side with you!”
• “Come on! Stop dragging Mason into the mess. Did you not see the comments of his fans who desire to become his girlfriend?”
• “It's fine. Mason is planning on brushing up his acting skills to become a talented actor. He can afford to lose those fans who want to be his girlfriend.”
• Sophia almost believed her for a second. “Tell me. What games are you playing?”
• “Uh... I heard that Bethany invited Alexander to be the special guest.”
• Sophia froze. After a few seconds, she turned to look at Katherine. “Are you trying to entertain yourself by seeing me with the two?”
• Katherine dodged Sophia's gaze guiltily before throwing her arm over the latter's shoulder. “Don't say that, Soph. Think about all the mistreatment you experienced for the past three years in the Xenos family. Alexander ignoring you is the root cause. Not only did Bethany invite Alexander, but she also invited Kristen and Thalia. Do you know what others are saying about you? They say that even though you stayed in the Xenos family for three years, you're nothing compared to Bethany's invitation.”
• Katherine's words made Sophia recall an incident that occurred two years ago. Back when Sophia was turning twenty-five, Katherine had helped plan a small party for her birthday. Originally, she planned to tell Alexander and his family the truth regarding her wealth during the party, but aside from Katherine and some other friends, no one from the Xenos family came.
• To make things worse, Thalia even uploaded a screenshot of a group chat she had created with the people that were invited. She had sent a message asking them whether they would attend Sophia's birthday party, and everybody's answer was the same: No.
• After the screenshot went around the upper-class circle, everyone laughed at Sophia for overestimating herself. They mocked her for thinking she would fit in just because she married rich and wore pretty clothes. It was ridiculous to them that she would copy them and organize a birthday bash.
• A wave of misery welled up in Sophia when she recalled the past. Lowering her gaze, she said, “There's no point in going with Mason.”
• Katherine clicked her tongue. “What do you mean? Thalia is an obsessed fan of Mason. Recently, Bethany's company contacted Mason's assistant as they wanted to collaborate with him and organize an art exhibition. Two years ago, you couldn't get the Xenos family to come. Now, they won't get Mason to go either. Oh! This is quite thrilling!”
• Giving Katherine a meaningful look, Sophia commented, “You amaze me. You even know how to set me up now.”
• “No, I won't dare to do that.”
• Silence hung between them for a moment. Unable to hold herself back, Katherine asked, “So, are you going or not?”
• Sophia took a sip of her coffee. “Of course. Why won't I go?”
• I actually want to see how Thalia furious will be when she finds out her idol is with me.