Chapter 5

"Ms. Neville, are you okay?" Seeing Sophia's silence, Claire asked softly again, "You look so pale. Are you feeling unwell?"

She placed the transparent document folder she was holding beside Sophia. "This—Gerald said he won't pursue it anymore. Don't feel too bad about it."

Sophia's gaze swept over the folder, which contained the script Gerald had harshly criticized.

Claire continued in her gentle tone, "I really understand you. Being pregnant and still having to work must be really hard. And then something like this happens today—it's natural to feel upset. But it's all over now. I've already talked to Gerald, and he won't blame you anymore. Just be more careful and thorough with your work next time, and he won't get angry."

Her words were flawless. Anyone listening would think she was a kind and understanding girl.

But right now, Sophia only felt a heavy weight in her chest.

It wasn't her fault.

She had completed extra work on time and submitted a carefully revised script.

Someone had switched the files, and Gerald had condemned her without asking questions.

But now, everyone was making her admit fault.

Why should she?

Sophia didn't touch the folder. She slowly stood up and met Claire's still-gentle gaze. "Thank you for your kindness, Ms. Douglas. But it's not necessary."

Claire's perfect expression of concern froze for a moment.

Sophia continued, "It's already past working hours, and this document..." She pointed at the transparent folder. "I won't be revising it anymore."

Looking at Claire's slightly widened eyes, she said word by word, "First, this wasn't part of my job to begin with. It was extra work assigned to me, and I've already completed more than what I was supposed to do. Second, the revised version I submitted had no problems. That garbage on the floor that Mr. Churchill criticized—I didn't do that. So I have nothing that needs correcting."

Claire was stunned. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but was interrupted by another sharp voice.

"Sophia! What kind of attitude is this?"

Lily came striding over in her high heels. "Ms. Douglas was kind enough to speak up for you and clean up your mess, and instead of being grateful, you're being sarcastic? How ungrateful!"

But Sophia just gave her a brief glance.

She turned to Lily, her gaze sharp, no longer the submissive assistant she used to be. "Ms. Brooks, I'd like to ask you something. That stack of scripts you gave me before the end of the workday—didn't I revise and organize them as requested and send them to your email?"

Lily hadn't expected her to suddenly go on the offensive. She froze for a moment, then stiffened her neck. "So what if you did? If what you submitted wasn't good enough and Mr. Churchill wasn't satisfied, that's your problem!"

Sophia let out a cold laugh. "The final version I sent you and the one Mr. Churchill just threw in my face are completely different things. Why was the file I gave you switched out for a garbage version full of holes?"

She took out her phone, quickly operated it a few times, then turned the screen toward Lily and Claire. "This is a screenshot of the email I sent this afternoon. The revision times are all recorded. Ms. Brooks, do you need me to download that actual revised draft right now so we can compare?"

Sophia's words were clear and logical, with solid evidence.

Just because she usually suffered in silence didn't mean she was stupid or didn't know how to protect her basic work.

Lily's eyes flickered.

She hadn't expected Sophia to have kept backup evidence. She had always seemed so weak and easy to bully.

"You... what are you talking about! You just didn't do a good job, and now you're trying to shift the blame!"

Seeing Claire looking at her with suspicion, Lily panicked and started speaking recklessly. "Sophia! Stop making false accusations! So what if I don't like you? Look at yourself—you look like a pig, and you still hang around Mr. Churchill every day, dreaming of marrying into wealth! Look in the mirror! Would Mr. Churchill ever be interested in you? Only someone like Ms. Douglas deserves to stand beside Mr. Churchill! You're not even worthy of carrying Ms. Douglas's shoes!"

Her vicious words instantly pierced Sophia's heart.

Sophia's body swayed, and her hand instinctively went to protect her belly.

"Ms. Brooks!" Claire spoke up at just the right moment. "Don't say that. Ms. Neville is pregnant after all. It's normal for her emotions to be unstable."

She turned to Sophia, her eyes complex. "Ms. Neville, don't get too worked up either. Since it's past working hours, you should go home and rest."

Once again, she played the role of the kind and generous person.

Sophia looked at Claire's beautiful, innocent face, then at Lily's angry yet guilty expression, and suddenly felt the absurdity of it all.

She put away her phone and gave them one last look.

"Fine. I'm off work now."

With that, she ignored everyone else, supported her waist, and walked away step by step.

Walking out of the office building, Sophia made her way to a bench at the bus stop by the roadside and sat down, holding her cloth bag in her arms.

A wave of grievance washed over her.

Why was it that no matter what she did, no matter how much she endured, all she got in return was blame and slander?

Just because she loved the wrong person and married the wrong person, did she deserve all this?

The bus arrived, and Sophia got on in a daze.

She stared blankly at the blurred figures across the street, her thoughts drifting uncontrollably back many years to that rainy night when she had felt equally abandoned by the world.

She wasn't the Neville family's biological child.

She had been found lost and left at the orphanage door, with only a blurry old photograph beside her.

The Neville parents were kind-hearted and adopted her, giving her a home and the name "Sophia Neville".

On impulse, she lowered her head and took out an old wallet, opening it to reveal a yellowed old photograph hidden inside.

The photo showed a boy and a girl—the boy about ten years old, the girl only four or five, with her hair in little braids, smiling somewhat shyly. The boy had his arm tightly around his sister's shoulder, making a silly face at the camera.

This was the only thing she had on her back then, her only connection to her past and her blood relatives.

The girl in the photo was her, and beside her was her older brother.

She still remembered that her brother had been very protective of her, always looking out for her.

But beyond that, memories of where home was, who her parents were, and why they got separated—these crucial memories were like being locked behind thick fog. No matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn't recall them.

Over the years, she had tried to search for them but had never been able to find her real family.

The little girl in the photo had delicate features and a clean smile.

Over the years, she had looked at this photo countless times, imagining what her family looked like, and countless times compared it to her reflection in the mirror, trying to find traces of similarity between herself and the photo.

But after an accident, she had gained a lot of weight, and her face had changed somewhat, to the point where she barely recognized herself.

However, at this moment, perhaps in the daze after such emotional turmoil, as she stared at the little girl's features in the photo, another face suddenly flashed through her mind.

Claire's face.

Those delicate eyebrows and eye contours, the way her eyes curved slightly when she smiled...

Sophia suddenly felt that the image of the little girl in the photo bore some resemblance to Claire's young, beautiful appearance.