Being Pursued By Ex-husband

In any case, Perrin was relieved.

After their walk, he sent Sophia off to rest.

At the same time, Lukas had dropped Alexander off at his hotel. The latter had texted Sophia to let her know he had arrived about half an hour ago.

Sophia only saw his text then and fired off a reply. Alexander texted back almost instantly: Done with your walk?

Sophia: Yes.

A second later, Alexander sent her an audio message.

“What are your plans tomorrow?”

Sophia recalled Perrin's words earlier and inadvertently smirked. She decided to play a prank on him and called him back. “Granddad wants to introduce me to his friend's grandson.”

There was a longer pause before Alexander continued, “Where are you headed?”

“I don't know yet.”

“Hmm.” A moment later, Alexander added, “Get an early rest.”

Sophia thought he was angry and called out hastily, “Alexander?”

“What's wrong?”

Tentatively, she asked, “Are you angry?”

“No.”

Alexander was hardly an oblivious fool. He knew Sophia's grandfather had never warmed up to him, and he was painfully aware of Perrin's multiple attempts at matchmaking Sophia with another man.

So, no, he was not angry, but he certainly wished to have someone investigate the man Sophia would meet the next day.

Alexander appeared to be telling the truth, as Sophia surmised that his tone sounded the same as it always did.

Still, if she hung up now, Alexander would definitely think that the matchmaking was real.

She giggled and fessed up. “I lied. We're visiting Mr. Willis at the hospital tomorrow.”

Alexander appeared uncharacteristically startled. He recovered himself sometime later, a wry smile on his face. “Cheeky girl. Don't crack jokes like that next time.”

Sophia harrumphed and teased, “Well, I didn't think you'd fall for it.”

“I'll believe anything you say.”

Not even the static noise of the phone call could diminish the effect of his earnest words, which brought a furious blush to Sophia's cheeks.

She raised her hands to her burning cheeks and cast her gaze toward the night sky. “I've got to get up early tomorrow, so I better call it a day and wash up.”

“All right. Rest well.”

After their call ended, Sophia stared at her phone and smiled.

Perrin functioned at an earlier sleep schedule thanks to his old age.

When Sophia headed downstairs at seven in the morning, she bumped into her grandfather, who was back from an early morning walk. Perrin worried if she had enough rest and asked, “How do you feel? Are you used to getting up so early?”

Sophia shook her head and reassured him, “I went to bed earlier last night.”

Perrin nodded approvingly and commented, “Sleeping and waking up early is a good habit. Youngsters these days love to stay up late. Just look at your brother. He never heads to bed before midnight.”

“Well, Lukas is busy,” replied Sophia good-naturedly.

It did little to appease Perrin, who grunted and said, “Let's not talk about him! Time for breakfast.”

What good is it being so busy all the time? He's over thirty years old and still woefully single! Ugh, just looking at him frustrates me!

“Okay.”

The pair had finished their breakfast when Lukas sauntered downstairs.

Sophia was chatting with Kylie as Lukas approached the table and drawled, “Morning.”

“Morning, Lukas.”

Sophia shot him a sidelong glance and could not resist laughing when she recalled Perrin's earlier annoyance with Lukas.

Kylie noticed her amusement. A resigned smile appeared on her face as she uttered, “Your brother may be a grown man, but we just can't stop worrying about him!”

Sophia retracted her gaze from Lukas and spoke up for him. “Aunt Kylie, I'm sure Lukas knows how to manage his life.”

“If he knew how to manage his life, he wouldn't be barreling toward his thirty-fifth birthday with no girlfriend in sight. Honestly, I'm not rushing him to get married; Lukas has plenty of ideas of his own. Not that it matters. He isn't half as sensible as you, even though he's in his thirties!”

At that point, Kylie glanced at Perrin and continued, “What did I say, huh? Your granddad likes to hide his soft heart behind that sharp tongue. Did he give in last night?”

Sophia glanced at her grandfather, remembering their conversation the night before. She shot Kylie a grateful look and said, “Thank you, Aunt Kylie.”

“There's nothing to thank me for. I'm your aunt, after all. Truth be told, your granddad isn't really against your relationship with that Xenos boy. He just didn't want you to be unhappy. He's hung up on your history. You know what old folks are like. Give him some time, and he'll surely come around. Plus, he definitely wants a great-grandkid soon!”

Warning bells went off in Sophia's head. She quickly changed the topic and announced, “I'm going upstairs to get changed, Aunt Kylie.”

Kylie knew she was accompanying Perrin to visit Stanley at the hospital and nodded. She patted her niece on the shoulder and said, “Go on, then.”

Sophia darted to the safety of her room and changed. Lukas finally finished his breakfast when she came downstairs.

Since he had nothing planned for the day, Perrin promptly assigned him as their free driver.

On their way to the hospital, Perrin did not spare Lukas from a lecture on his relationship status.

Sophia listened quietly to her grandfather's impassioned speech, keeping her guard up lest he suddenly decided to include her in his lecture too.

Half an hour later, the car pulled into the military compound's hospital.

About two months ago, Sophia had heard from Perrin about his friend, Mr. Stanley Willis. Stanley was no stranger to Perrin's boasts about his pretty granddaughter, whose beauty rivaled that of Penelope in her youth.

He also knew that Perrin's daughter had gone missing when she was ten. Over thirty years of searching later, Perrin never reunited with his daughter, but he did find a granddaughter, and it was already an ending better than he could have hoped for.

Perrin had also boasted to his friend about his granddaughter's achievements. She was an outstanding scholar and a savvy businesswoman with several successful companies under her belt.

Naturally, Stanley could not wait to meet his friend's multi-talented granddaughter.

He used to dote on Sophia's mother, Rachel, and thus shared Perrin's sorrow over her disappearance for a long time.