As soon as the waiter left, Victoria cut straight to the point.
"You are to stop clinging to my son."
She didn't bother with pleasantries. "If you leave my son alone, I'll give you money. Name your price—whatever it is, I can afford it."
Sophie froze. So the "buy-off" scene she had rehearsed in her head was happening right now, raw and immediate.
Victoria continued without a flicker of emotion. "I know exactly what girls like you want. Growing up poor, it's only natural you'd envy families like ours. That's why what you're doing is… understandable, in a way. I'm willing to overlook it. I'll pay you a sum of money, and we can all move on with our lives."
Sophie stared at Victoria's moving lips. "You… want to pay me…?"
Before she could finish, the waiter returned with their drinks. Both women fell silent.
"Yes," Victoria said the moment he walked away. "Just name a figure."
Inwardly she sneered, certain the girl's fox tail was finally showing.
Sophie looked at her numbly. "You said earlier that 'what I'm doing'… what exactly is that?"
Victoria narrowed her eyes. "I was trying to be delicate because you're a young woman. But since you're bold enough to ask, I'll say it plainly."
She fixed Sophie with an icy glare. "I already know the little scheme you and your mother cooked up. When your mother was young, she degraded herself, became a home-wrecking mistress, and destroyed my family. And now her daughter is no better—she's seducing my son. Don't even dream of tricking him into anything."
The word "mistress" hit Sophie like a snapped wire in her brain. Her head spun; she felt dizzy, unable to form a response. She had never known—never once suspected—that her mother had such a shameful past.
"Right now my son is infatuated with you; he'd give you anything. But you won't be smug for long. I know my son very well—he's always had women falling over him. Once the novelty wears off, he'll forget you in no time."
Seeing the unfocused look in Sophie's eyes only fueled Victoria's anger. "Hey! Are you even listening? Your mother did something that disgusting and still fantasized about her daughter getting revenge through my son? Delusional. My son isn't that stupid."
Sophie snapped out of her daze, her voice unnaturally calm. "Is that what you really think? The mistress, the revenge… all of that is just your own speculation. My feelings for Ned are real, and they're not something you can break apart just because you say so."
She looked Victoria straight in the eye. "I won't take a single cent from you. Love can't be measured with money. And besides… you don't understand your son at all."
Victoria's anger flared at Sophie's composure. "Go home and ask your cheap, shameless mother yourself. I will never let her succeed."
Sophie lowered her gaze to the tabletop. "Please stop slandering my mother."
"Facts are facts. Even after twenty years, nothing can erase the truth that she wrecked someone else's family and played the mistress. You're the illegitimate child born from that affair. I will never allow 'incest' to happen to my son." Victoria finally spat out the word she'd been holding back.
Sophie's brows knitted together. "What did you say? 'Incest'? Incest between whom?"
She took a slow sip of her orange juice to steady herself, then spoke deliberately. "Madam Chairman, I can understand a mother's feelings. I know you don't like me—maybe even hate me."
She continued unflinchingly, "So I understand why you don't want me to be with Ned."
"You understand?" Victoria's smile turned colder. "And just what do you think you understand? How dare you claim to understand me!"
Before Victoria could finish, Sophie cut in. "But I also hope you can try to understand Ned's position. He's with me because he wants to be—no one is forcing him. If he chooses to stay with me, why do you have to stop it? If you truly know your son as well as you say you do, you should realize he's a man with a mind of his own. Trying to control his decisions will only backfire."
Those words only infuriated Victoria further. "What exactly are you implying right now? Are you saying you understand my son better than I do?!" Realizing they were in public, she forced herself to lower her voice.
"That's not what I meant. I just hope you can respect our decision," Sophie replied, meeting her gaze without flinching.
"Respect? That's rich!" Victoria's eyes widened in disbelief. "You dare lecture me about respect? Have you shown even a shred of respect to me, his elder?"
At that point, Victoria's patience was utterly spent. Her face turned livid with rage. "Fine, fine. I'm done wasting my breath on you. How much? Just how much will it take for you to leave my son? Name your price, right now!"
"I won't take a single penny," Sophie replied, looking her straight in the eye, perfectly calm.
Victoria could no longer contain herself. She let out a cold, furious laugh. "Hah! So you're holding out for more, is that it? Just you wait. The show's far from over. In the end you'll walk away with nothing…"
With that, she flung a few bills onto the table, stood up abruptly, and stormed out without looking back.
Sophie remained frozen in her seat, unable to move for a long, long time…
Only when the waiter came over and asked if she would like to order did she finally stand up and leave.
From the very beginning she had known no one would ever bless this decision…
"Since you've already made your choice, Sophie, you have to be brave and keep walking forward," she told herself.
She thought of Ned, thought of the fate that had brought them together.
So many things in this world seem predestined. In truth, she'd never really had a choice. The path had simply unfolded this way…
When two people meet and their hearts are moved, it happens in a single instant.
And in that instant, everything is decided.