Chapter 72
Although Joshua had proposed to Katherine, she did not have time to enjoy any quality and intimate time with him.
After the proposal on the night of the thirty-first, Katherine had flown to Baykeep the following day to attend the filming of a program.
She stayed in Baykeep for two days before flying to Salinsburgh and finally returning at eight o'clock at night yesterday.
Sophia heard Katherine's angry voice just as she stepped into the office. She arched a brow and knocked on the door. "It's me."
Katherine hurried over to open the door when she heard Sophia's voice. "Do you miss me, Soph?"
Sophia glanced at her and turned sideways to dodge her hug. "Who pissed you off?"
She did not tell Katherine to prepare an office for her, so she had always gone to Katherine's office whenever she visited the company. Therefore, Sophia was very familiar with the room's layout. She strode past Katherine and sat on the couch before gazing at the latter. "I heard you shouting even before I entered earlier."
Katherine had been bottling up her anger for some time. She immediately started to rant continuously after meeting with Sophia. "A staff from a media company contacted Jonice just now and said that someone had sent them photos of Joshua's proposal the other night, requesting them to publish those pictures."
Even though Joshua had proposed to Katherine, their relationship remained undisclosed to the public.
Those who were present that night were all Joshua and Katherine's close friends, so none of them would have committed such a despicable act.
Sophia raised her brows. "Who sent the pictures?"
"Someone I don't know." While saying that, Katherine took out her phone and showed Sophia the video. "Do you recognize this person?"
Sophia glanced at the screen and shook her head. "I don't know."
Katherine's face flushed in anger at the thought of being backstabbed by someone. "That person should pray hard that I do not identify them. Otherwise, I'll let them know what are the consequences for stabbing me in the back!"
Sophia chuckled. "Aren't you afraid that they'll drag you down with them in desperation?"
Clearly, Katherine had not considered that possibility because her expression froze and the murderous glint in her eyes dissipated instantaneously upon hearing Sophia's words.
Am I suppose to take this lying down?
Sophia received the cup of hot coffee handed to her by Jonice. "First, we need to investigate the identity of that person."
"I feel more at ease with your assurance!"
Sophia clicked her tongue. "Did you mention those things in front of me on purpose?"
"Do I strike you as that kind of person?"
Sophia kept quiet and merely regarded Katherine with an amused look.
The latter felt guilty as Sophia stared at her in silence. She cleared her throat and said, "Let's talk business."
Sophia took a sip of the coffee and blinked lazily before responding, "Go on."
When she heard Katherine asking her when she would visit the company while they were on call, Sophia had guessed she must be planning something again.
"It's nothing major. I'm just wondering since our company's annual meeting is around the corner, the number of participants would be sizeable, and deciding on the venue would be an issue. Hence, why don't we just hold the annual meeting on your yacht?"
Sophia placed down her cup and bored her eyes into Katherine. "Nothing major?"
Katherine was conscience-stricken. "Boohoo. I'm just trying to lower our company's expenses, Soph."
Sophia snorted. "I'm not short of money."
"Well, I am!"
Now that Joshua had proposed to her, their marriage would not be far along.
Whenever Katherine was reminded of her bank balance, she had the urge to save up every penny she could.
Sophia rested her chin in her palm. "No way."
"Boohoo. Soph," Katherine pleaded coquettishly.
Katherine, the usually cold, indifferent, and achieved actress was hugging Sophia's arm and acting coyly at that moment.
Sophia could not help but laugh. "Where did you learn this from?"
She thought her demeanor was disgusting.
Katherine could not care less about that. She only needed her method to be effective.
Sensing Sophia conceding, Katherine grabbed her arm and shook it a few times. "Please pity me, Soph. I'm so poor. Boohoo."
Unable to stand her behavior, Sophia retracted her hand. "That's enough. Stop acting that way. I'll agree to your suggestion." She paused briefly before adding, "Didn't Joshua buy the mansion by the sea you fancy? Why do you still need to save up?"
"That's a house that I like. I want to buy him his dream house too."
Sophia regretted being curious and asking that question. Otherwise, she would not have to listen to Katherine and Joshua's public display of affection.
Right then, her phone rang.
Katherine stole a glance at Sophia's phone screen and saw the caller ID was a string of numbers, so she did not know who had called her.
Sophia was puzzled when she saw the caller ID.
She was not familiar with that unknown number, so she directly rejected the call.
Katherine made a face at Sophia after the latter hung up the call. "I heard you went to Stephen's parents' house to have a meal. So, tell me. What's going on between you two?"
"What's going on?" Sophia smiled. Her phone started ringing again just as she replaced it in her bag. "Nothing's going on."
She took out her phone and noticed it was the same number calling her as before.
She reckoned that could not have been an error since the caller had contacted her twice.
Therefore, Sophia gestured at Katherine before picking up the phone and answering the call, "Hello, this is Sophia speaking."
"Hello, Ms. Yarrow. It's me."
Sophia recognized that voice to be Megan's at once. She was slightly intrigued. "What's the matter, Ms. Queen?"
"I still have some doubts regarding that incident related to the vase, which I wish to clarify with you. Do you have some time for us to have lunch together, Ms. Yarrow?"
Megan shared a similar personality with Thalia. Both were snobbish, arrogant, and unreasonable wealthy young ladies.
Sophia had instructed Yvonne to send thirty thousand to the Queen residence. The latter had reported to Sophia that she was almost immediately chased out of the place by Megan.
Unexpectedly, Megan had called her after a few hours and "calmly" invited her to lunch.
It seems like I've underestimated her.
"Sure."
Sophia thought her life was getting a little too boring, so she figured she should spice things up to make her life more interesting.
"In that case, let's meet in private room three at Golden Sun at half-past eleven."
"Okay."
After hanging up the call, Sophia looked at Katherine, who was burning with curiosity. "It's Megan."
"Megan?" Katherine frowned. "That young lady from the Queen family who is very close with Thalia?"
Sophia curled her lips into a smile. "You have a good memory."
Katherine snorted coldly. "Why is she looking for you? Didn't she say that you should be thankful to Alexander for successfully marrying into their family?"
That night, Megan had not only insulted Sophia to her face, but she had also colluded with Thalia. One of them was responsible for verbally humiliating Sophia, while the other would record the whole scene. Then, both of them would upload that video to their personal social media account.
Everyone regarded that incident as a joke in the past. Naturally, Sophia became a laughingstock because of that.
When Katherine had seen that video previously, she was infuriated to the extent of attempting to settle the scores with Megan at the latter's residence. In the end, Sophia was the one to stop her from being rash.
Although two years had passed, Katherine was still enraged whenever she was reminded of what had happened. Abhorrence instinctively surged within her every time she heard Megan's name.
Sophia gazed at Katherine and briefly described to the latter the things that had occurred that day. "This lunch could be a trap."
Katherine's somber expression lightened up a little after hearing the whole story. "Hmph! What a snob! I'd like to see their faces when they know you are Sunshine Group's chairperson someday."
Sophia grinned. "We should keep a low profile."
Katherine howled. "I also wish to live a low-profile lifestyle like yours, having the money to purchase a yacht that cost fifty to sixty million on a spur."