The Returning Ex

Sophia slept through the day, and she only got up in the afternoon.
When she walked out of her room, neither John nor Zack was around.
She scratched her head and headed out, not knowing where she wanted to go. Ever since last night, she had been feeling
somewhat conflicted.
For reasons unbeknownst to her, she had a dream last night, and it was about things that happened a long time ago; things that
she thought she had long forgotten.
But they appeared to be so vivid in that dream: fights, curses, accusations, blame-passing.
They were all horrible things.
She could even feel somewhat suffocated as she thought about them now.
So, she sat back on the couch in the hotel lobby and stared at the hotel entrance.
It was as if there were many voices in her head, but she could not tell for sure what they were about.
She felt that she had nowhere to go, and if it were not for John and Zack, she would not know what was next for her.
The thought of this made her feel useless.
After a short while, she heard Zack’s somewhat anxious voice. “Why did you leave the room? We thought that you were
abducted when we didn’t see you in the room after we got back.”
Before she realized it, Zack had walked up to her and was standing opposite her.
Sophia grinned. How old do you think I am? Am I that dumb to be abducted?”
Zack liked this tone.
He was all smiles and walked up to her, patting her on her shoulder. “Now that’s what I like to hear. Your demeanor this morning
was making me feel extremely uneasy.”
She shook him off and stood up. “I wasn’t fully awake that time.”

Zack sized her up. “You aren’t fully recovered yet. You should be getting more rest now instead of wandering around.”
She nodded as she walked toward the elevator. “Yes, Mr. Busybody.”
Meanwhile, John was still in the hotel room. It appeared that Zack was the only person that was worried about her.
After Sophia went in, she went straight into her room before John followed suit after a couple of minutes. “Zack and I have eaten.
What would you like to eat? We can call room service.”
Sophia grunted, and that was all.
At this point, John reckoned that there was nothing else he could say to her, so he turned around and left.
One was in the bedroom while the other was in the living room; nobody was talking.
This was exactly how it was in the past when this was their default way of living. They always had nothing to say to each other.
After that, John had never followed up with her even though she had not eaten anything.
As she was sitting in a chair by the window, she heard John’s phone ring, and quickly answered it; he sounded somewhat polite.
“Hello.”
Based on his tone, Sophia could tell that he was not talking to anyone from the Constance Family or the Infinity Group.
She turned to the clock, figuring that it would not be a business call at this hour. If it was a private call, she could not think of a
person with whom John would be so polite.
She leaned on the window, trying to eavesdrop on his conversation outside her room.
At this point, John grunted and continued, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Not knowing how the other side responded, John then replied, “Yes, with Sophia.”
Sophia was startled. It must be someone she knew since that person knew her.
Very quickly, she had a guess, and she then giggled.
Being too smart was not always a good thing as it made one suffer.

After that, the other side said something else and she heard John laugh. “Forget it. I was just a little busy that day.”
Sophia exhaled and pursed her lips.
This phone call did not last too long and he hung up after saying a few more sentences.
After that, there was pin-drop silence in the living room again.
Just like that, they two had no conversations even until it was dark outside.
In the end, Zack came over. He suggested dining out and reminded them that they were flying out tomorrow to see if they
needed any help with packing.
Sophia did not have much with her, so it was easy to pack.
Zack came over and looked at her belongings and nodded. “Sophia, this is an easy task.”
Then, he turned around and looked at her. “I guess your fever is completely gone. Are you still feeling unwell?”
Sophia shook her head. “No. I’m feeling great.”
Zack suggested, “Let’s go and grab some food. We’ll eat something nice today as we probably won’t have time for meals after
this because of our early flight out tomorrow morning.”
Getting up, Sophia saw that John had already changed when she came out of her room.
For some reason, the two of them were still not talking to each other, making the atmosphere somewhat awkward.
When they arrived at the restaurant downstairs, another person appeared and sat down the moment the three of them were
seated.
It was President McCaw of the Infinity Group.
He was by himself, and the moment he sat down, he immediately said to John, “President Constance, I’ve been waiting for you.”