Chapter 151 Your Ex Has Been Following Us the Whole Time
The more Sophia acted this way, the more guilt Mr. Murphy felt.
But he also could not ignore Daffy's opinion and just go ahead and get married, as doing so would likely mean he and Daffy could never reconcile. He would have to wait and see.
After leaving the private dining room, Daphne headed towards the restaurant’s exit.
Lydia immediately followed, her eyes as bright and sparkling as always, "Sis! Wait up. Why are you walking so fast?"
"I can barely keep up," Lydia caught up to her and rushed out the words.
Daphne looked behind her and, not seeing Mr. Murphy or that woman, asked, "Why did you come out?"
"Because I'm my sister's little shadow," Lydia said, her hair plaited in two braids and wispy bangs across her forehead making her look extremely adorable. "Hehe," she giggled.
Daphne gently rubbed Lydia's small head. They walked out of the restaurant together. Instead of heading straight back home, they decided to stroll around the nearby mall.
At first, Lydia chatted idly, pulling Daphne into conversations about minor things. As they talked, she gradually steered the topic toward the matter at hand, "By the way, sis, what did you mean by what you said in the private room earlier? Did you discover something?"
Asking their father wouldn’t be appropriate, and even if he did ask, Daphne might not have answered.
Lydia was perfect for the job. Who else would become Daphne's caring confidante?
"Has Sophia always dressed the way she does today?" Daphne asked as they browsed, glancing at Lydia.
"Not always, she settled into this style about a year ago," Lydia pondered before replying, and then asked, "Is there a problem?"
Daphne paused in the middle of selecting a silk scarf for Lydia, "Haven’t you noticed her style is very reminiscent of someone?"
"Reminiscent of someone?" Lydia muttered under her breath. She rubbed her chin, thinking hard, mentally sifting through everyone she knew.
Suddenly, it hit her. She froze, her eyes widened, and she slowly looked up to say, "You mean, mom?"
"Yes," Daphne nodded, then resumed the conversation as they continued to shop, "Her clothes, accessories, makeup... they're all extremely similar to how mom dressed."
"Now that you mention it, something occurred to me," Lydia's brow furrowed with concentration.
"What is it?" Daphne turned to face her.
"The first time I met her," Lydia began, feeling more uneasy by the second, "she spoke to me with a tone and demeanor very much like mom's. I was quite unhappy since Dad brought someone home so quickly after Mom passed. But Sophia always acted so nicely, I didn’t feel like I could critique her."
Now that she thought about it, Sophia might have been doing it on purpose, deliberately adopting those traits to lower Lydia's defenses.
"Sis," Lydia suddenly felt stupid for not having seen it earlier, "Do you think she intentionally mimicked mom’s habits and style to keep dad around?"
"I don't know," Daphne shrugged.
Whether Sophia had deliberately copied their mother's style or their dad had bought her clothes and jewelry that mirrored their mother's taste, she was unsure. Either way, she found it unacceptable.
Lydia, still deep in thought, was suddenly distracted by two figures not far off. She paused. ‘Wasn’t that... their jerk of an ex-brother-in-law? What was he doing still accompanying young women on shopping trips?’
"Sis, let’s go check out that area," Lydia said, tugging at Daphne to move away. She didn't want the jerk hassling Daphne again, "Nothing is interesting here."
Daphne, puzzled by her sister's hurried behavior, simply followed, her mind racing to understand the sudden change of direction.
As she was trying to make sense of the situation, a crisp voice laced with a touch of surprise called out to her, "Daphne?"
Both froze in their tracks simultaneously.
Daphne turned toward the source of the voice and saw Charles first. He was clad in a suit, radiating an aura of cool detachment, and then she noticed Aubrey standing beside him. She is portrayed as an unassuming and confident girl.
If it hadn't been for her call last time, Daphne wouldn't have known that Daisy had ended up in the hospital because of something Austin had done.
Lydia, observing the circumstances, whispered to her sister, "Do you know them?"
"Kind of," Daphne said with an indifferent tone.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Aubrey approached them. "Is Daisy doing okay now?"
Daphne nodded, "She's fine."
"That's good."
They exchanged a few more casual words.
Lydia was someone who couldn't keep things to herself.
Ever since Aubrey and Charles had come over, her gaze had been bouncing between the two, genuinely curious about how they'd come together.
Lydia knew that Aubrey was the younger sister of Edwin, the CEO of the Smith Group.
‘Had Charles moved on so quickly?’
"Don't get the wrong idea; it was Marcus who asked Mr. Lancelot to accompany me shopping," Aubrey said, exuding a comfortable charm.
After speaking, she turned to Charles and spoke while allowing a little distance to creep into her tone, "Mr. Lancelot, I'm going to shop with Daphne and her company. You don't need to stick around."
"It's okay," Charles's gaze had been fixed on Daphne since he first spotted her, and even now he only offered a brief, "I'm free."
Aubrey had a faint hint of embarrassment across her face. But she understood well enough that it was Daphne whom Charles fancied.
While she pondered this, Aubrey's eyes rested on Charles, and she excused herself, "Would you mind waiting for me here? I need to visit the restroom."
Charles replied with nonchalance, "Sure."
With that, Aubrey left. Now only Daphne, Lydia, and Charles remained in the corridor of the mall.
"Shopping with your sister?" Charles initiated the conversation, his handsome features a gift from the heavens.
Daphne, "Not really." With that short response, she put an end to their brief exchange.
Not wanting to linger in Charles's presence, Daphne said to Lydia, "Let's go."
"Okay!" Lydia always followed her sister's lead without question.
Charles's eyebrows furrowed slightly. He considered following them but then thought of Mr. Marcus's instructions to keep Aubrey company. His feelings were a mix of conflict and contemplation.
At that moment, Charles received a WhatsApp message.
Aubrey: [Mr. Lancelot, I've made plans with my sisters, so I've left early. You hang out with Daphne and the others.]
Seeing this, Charles didn't wait any longer and followed suit in the direction where Daphne had gone. He didn't know why he was doing this. He just felt that watching Daphne walk away without doing anything would leave an aching void inside him.
For the past few days, he had been visiting Marcus's old friends upon Marcus's request.
He wasn't sure if it was something Marcus had mentioned to them, but after each visit, they seemed to think about introducing their granddaughters to him.
This visit to Don Marcus was no exception.
Lydia glanced back and saw Charles catching up, whispering to Daphne, "Sis, your ex-husband keeps following us."
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