Chapter 154 She Wasn't Like This Before
Mark was speechless. ‘Damn you. Why don't you say these things to his face, don't you know relaying these words could be deadly!’
"And as a decent ex-husband, one shouldn't keep bothering their ex-wife," Jesse's words piled on, "Don't think a couple of days of courting will make Daphne look back."
Mark's heart was racing. He was truly scared of his boss's icy demeanor.
"Lastly," Jesse’s voice came once more.
Mark was on the verge of a breakdown. ‘There's a last point? Testing the brotherhood, huh?!’
"Daphne is now my girlfriend, and if he has any sense of shame, he’ll back off," Jesse stated, and then ruthlessly ended the call.
Mark had started driving the car forward again, Jesse's words echoing in his ears.
As if to lighten the mood, he attempted a forced smile and said, "Jesse's just joking; don't take it seriously."
"He never jokes," Daphne said flatly.
Mark was close to tears. Miss Murphy too had stabbed him in the back.
"Can you tell him after you get out of the car?" Charles wasn't upset at all about the earlier conversation; he genuinely didn't sense the possessiveness and love that one would expect from a boyfriend toward his girlfriend, or hostility toward a romantic rival in Jesse's words.
It seemed more like he was standing up for a friend.
Mark paused, "What?"
"Don't pretend to be in a relationship if you've never dated," Charles said, lifting his eyelids slightly, his eyes deep and inscrutable, "It's pretty embarrassing when you get caught."
Daphne fell silent.
Mark was confused for a moment.
Suddenly, Mark grasped the meaning, "You mean Jesse and Miss Murphy..."
He glanced at Daphne in the rearview mirror.
Sure enough. Her expression was composed!
"You don't have to pretend to be in a relationship with anyone else," Charles said to Daphne, "If you're just trying to get rid of me, even ten fakes won't work."
Daphne furrowed her brows.
She really couldn't fathom what was going on in his mind. "What on earth do you want?"
"Remarry you," Charles replied, his gaze intense, clashing with her clear black and white eyes.
Daphne refused to engage with him; she had given him chances before. Some things, once missed, are missed forever.
For the rest of the journey, they didn't speak. Daphne checked the route and picked up her phone to text Lydia, giving her Charles' address.
Upon receiving the message, Lydia instructed the bodyguards to load up the car with the items Charles had sent over.
Mr. Murphy, seeing Lydia bustling about, asked, "Lydia, what are you doing?"
"Returning Charles' things," Lydia didn't hide the fact.
Speaking of this, a look of concern furrowed Mr. Murphy's brow.
Lydia noticed and casually asked after seeing the bodyguards carry item after item to the car, "What's wrong?"
"Did your sister tell you why she doesn't like Sophia?" Mr. Murphy pressed his lips together before voicing his concern.
Lydia paused. The playful look on her face vanished.
Her emotions were always transparent, and at that moment, she looked a little upset, "You're not concerned about why sister didn't come back; instead, you ask such irrelevant questions."
"What's wrong with Daffy?" he asked.
"She was taken away by Charles,” she replied.
Hearing this, Mr. Murphy felt a slight relief amidst his worry.
His mind was preoccupied with the family lunch planned for that afternoon, a point of contemplation all day, "Don't worry too much; if Charles dares to mistreat your sister, Dad won't let him off easy."
Lydia knitted her brows and stood there, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time, "Dad."
"What's the matter?" Mr. Murphy asked, looking up.
"Do you not love my sister anymore because of what happened today?" Lydia, in the throes of adolescence, was sensitive about everything.
Mr. Murphy frowned, "What are you talking about, girl?"
"If it were before, the moment you heard that Charles took my sister away, you'd rush to get her or make a phone call," Lydia couldn't hide her concerns, and her heart clenched at the thought.
Mr. Murphy was left somewhat speechless by the question. He turned and walked inside with his steps less steady than usual.
Lydia followed him, "Are you upset with sis?"
"I'm not upset with her, I just don't understand why she, who is usually so kind, would behave that way towards you or Sophia at the dinner table today." Mr. Murphy was human, too, and had his emotions.
Seeing Lydia get a little angry, he added, "Right after you left, Connie said she understood you guys, even adding that if she were your age and her dad brought a new person home, she would feel upset too."
Before today, he hadn't anticipated these things happening.
He would have preferred Daffy to have stayed away and simply told him to his face that she didn't want them to get married; it would have been easier for him to bear.
He respected her wishes to not get their marriage registered.
But for her to say such things in front of Connie, was... quite hurtful.
"So, you are blaming sis," Lydia blurted out the words.
Mr. Murphy pinched the bridge of his nose in silence.
It wasn't that he blamed her, he just wished that Daffy would understand him a little more, seeing how Connie, despite feeling hurt, still comforted him.
"I don't blame her," Mr. Murphy said, his heart still aching for Daphne, "I just feel that saying you don't like someone in front of others is a bit impolite; she wasn't like this before."
Lydia's eyes reddened with anger. She couldn't bear to imagine how sad her sister would be if she knew what their father thought of her.
"Do you want to know why sis doesn't like Sophia?" Lydia's way of addressing Sophia shifted, "Because her clothing, makeup, and accessories are all exactly like mom's! Even her demeanor, she's imitated it to nearly ninety percent!"
"Not only sis, if I had noticed earlier, I wouldn't have liked her either!" Lydia dropped this sentence and left.
Thinking about it now, it was honestly quite horrifying.
Sophia's transformation happened so subtly that if her sister hadn't pointed it out, she would have never noticed.
Watching his younger daughter run out, Mr. Murphy stood there stunned, pondering over Connie's changes these past few months, rubbing his tired brow.
How did things turn out this way? After much consideration, he took out his cell phone and sent a message to Sophia.
Meanwhile, on Lydia's end... Sitting in the car with reddened eyes, she didn't care how her dad treated her; after all, she had her sister. But she couldn't stand to see her sister mistreated.
While other kids saw their fathers or Gavin as heroes, her hero and deity was her sister. The person who would appear whenever she was in danger, the one who would fulfill her wishes. Thinking of this, she steadied her emotions and spoke to the driver and bodyguard seated in the front of the car, “Don’t let my sister know about what just happened.”
“Of course, Miss,” the two replied in unison.
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