Sophie ushered her uncle inside, head bowed, knowing she was in the wrong.
"I never imagined you'd keep something as big as quitting your job and moving out from me. How could you treat your uncle like a stranger?" Matthew stood in the living room, shaking his head as he spoke.
"Uncle, everything is my fault. Scold me all you want! But I swear it's not because I'm treating you like an outsider—I was just terrified of making you worry!"
"No matter what, you should have told me about something like this! Even if you were afraid I'd worry, you can't handle everything alone like this! How can you be so stubborn and disregard how your family feels? You've really gone too far, child!" Matthew's words and tone were unusually stern—this was the first time he had ever spoken to Sophie so harshly.
"If something happened to you out there on your own and I had no idea where you were… Just thinking about how you'd have no one to help you in that moment fills me with dread!" Matthew's voice cracked slightly with emotion. "Sarah would never have raised you to act this way…"
Listening to her uncle's stern reprimand, Sophie's heart twisted into a tight knot.
"I'm sorry, Uncle… I won't do this again next time…"
She lowered her eyes, and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.
She offered no explanation for the heartbreak she had felt when she left C&C back then.
At that time, the pain had been so overwhelming that she had almost wanted to disappear from the world entirely.
Looking at Sophie now—seeing the weary shadows beneath her eyes—Matthew suddenly felt a deep pang of sorrow…
"Alright, just remember: don't ever do this again." His tone softened.
"I know." Head still bowed, Sophie rubbed her fingers hard behind her back and answered in a choked voice.
This child is so pitiful!
From the moment she was born, it seems her fate was destined to be one of suffering.
Here is the natural, fluent English translation of the provided Chinese text, preserving the emotional tone, internal monologue, dialogue style, and character names:
"Uncle, how have you been lately? How's Auntie? Are Thomas and Jack doing okay?"
Wiping away her tears, Sophie asked casually about Matthew's recent situation, trying to sound relaxed.
Matthew snapped back to reality. "Uh, everyone's fine, nothing's wrong… except that you didn't tell me about quitting your job or moving out."
Sophie lowered her head, at a loss for words again.
"I know everything about you and the young master. Mr. Harrington told me himself. He hopes that you…" Matthew trailed off awkwardly, unable to continue.
Sophie's head jerked up as she processed his words. Uncle Jonathan surely doesn't know that I'm his daughter too. Does that mean, just like my birth mother Victoria, he doesn't want me to be with Ned?
Is it that he simply hopes Ned will marry someone from a matching family background?
And women like me and Mom—penniless and lowly—can only ever be toys for the idle amusement of young masters from wealthy families…
Over the past half month, Ned had been waiting downstairs at her small apartment, accompanying her to handle the funeral arrangements. Though he remained as cold as ever on the surface, Sophie could still catch glimpses of fervent longing in his eyes from time to time. His love for her hadn't faded.
The sudden loss of her mother had hit her too hard. She often couldn't sleep, juggling intense part-time jobs, apartment hunting, and school applications, leaving her in poor shape overall. Yet Ned would check on her well-being, asking how she was holding up.
It felt as though they had never "broken up." In the evenings, he would even call proactively, concerned about her, urging her not to overthink things and to get enough rest.
She knew this love was immoral, illicit—but deep down, Sophie still secretly rejoiced, as if a tiny spoonful of honey was melting sweetly in her throat. The man she loved still loved her just as before, didn't he? She couldn't even bear to tell Ned that she was moving, or that she was preparing to apply to universities in the United States and planning to leave London.
"Sophie, Sophie," her uncle's voice interrupted her wandering thoughts. "What are you daydreaming about?"
Sophie stiffened her neck, refusing to look down, still staring blankly at the ground ahead. "Uncle, you don't need to worry. We've already broken up. It's all over." She spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact tone, as if she had made up her mind.
Matthew gently placed a hand on Sophie's shoulder. "Child, if there's anything going on, just tell me honestly—don't keep it from me—"
Sophie blinked, then looked straight at her uncle. "We were only together for a very short time. Mom knew about it, but she was always strongly against it. So I didn't know how to tell you. Even now, I still feel like being with him was somehow inexplicable. Since we've already broken up, there's nothing more to say."
Matthew lowered his eyes and fell silent.
Here is the natural and fluent English translation of the provided Chinese text, maintaining the emotional depth, dialogue flow, and narrative tone:
"Uncle, I know I've been very willful, so I'm sorry for my behavior."
She lowered her head and spoke each word deliberately. "I never imagined that Mom would… take her own life because of this. Even now, I still can't believe it's real." Tears fell silently down her cheeks, one after another.
Matthew stared at his own knees as he replied, "This isn't your fault. I'm to blame too. I stood by and watched Sarah and Mr. Harrington fall back into that same deadlock, and I didn't do everything I could to stop it. I'm useless—I didn't have the money to cover Sarah's medical bills. If anyone's at fault here, it's me. My guilt is the greatest!"
"Uncle…"
"Let bygones be bygones!" Matthew lifted his head and looked at Sophie, then continued, "We won't bring up the past anymore. It's already behind us. Let's forget it all and look forward instead." He tried to comfort her with these words.
Sophie said nothing. She remained silent, with no response to give.
After seeing her uncle—who had offered to help her move—off, Sophie picked up her only two suitcases and took the bus to a remote area in north London, where she had just rented a tiny room. The house was very old, the transportation and surroundings weren't great, but at least the rent was cheap.
She looked around the small room from all sides, her heart feeling unbearably heavy…
Her uncle's visit had served as a wake-up call: she could no longer indulge in this illicit love. For both moral and practical reasons, she had to pull herself out of it. She had to keep herself busy, forget about romance, forget all the pain…
Yet those fine, lingering threads of heartache stabbed at her like needles. They would probably never heal in this lifetime.
Besides her evening restaurant shifts, Sophie now had the entire daytime free. She continued her part-time job at the convenience store in University College Hospital, working five days a week. The location was convenient—the bus ride to her evening restaurant job took only fifteen minutes, so the two shifts connected almost seamlessly every day.
On the remaining two weekdays, she went to the amusement park entrance to work as a costumed character, six hours a day at £15 per hour—a decent income as well. In this way, she filled every single moment of her schedule to the brim.
All her jobs required long hours of standing. By the end of her restaurant shifts, she would be hunched over a small stool washing dishes for more than three hours straight. The intense physical demands had already made Sophie's back feel as though it might never straighten again.
Still, she pushed herself to keep working without the slightest slack. The relentless busyness actually helped her survive—at least when her mind was fully occupied, she didn't have to think about the things that broke her heart.
"Sophie?"
Archibald, who rarely joined university classmates for gatherings, spotted her at the restaurant entrance while she was greeting guests. Today's dinner was to send off a Canadian classmate, so Archibald had just come along for the fun. He hadn't chosen the venue and was visiting this restaurant for the first time.
"Welcome!"
Seeing a group of young people crowding at the entrance, Sophie hurried forward. "How many in your party? Do you have a reservation?"
She hadn't even heard Archibald calling her name.
"Ten people. We booked a private room for 19:00," the leading classmate answered.
Sophie quickly checked her handheld PAD and located the reservation details. She then used the walkie-talkie to notify the private room server: the guests had arrived and were ready to be seated.
With perfect politeness, she led the group herself—through the main dining hall, down a quiet corridor, all the way to the secluded private room. Only after handing them over to the room's dedicated server did she turn to leave.