Sophia gave Callum a call to ask about it. âYou should pack your things up and make some space for us;
your dadâs about to get himself two more sons. Cade and I are probably going to snatch your role as the successor soon,â he said.
âF*ck off!â Sophia ended the call. She was now certain that Cooper and Anna had indeed made some progress. But for some reason, she still felt an uneasy feeling in her chest after learning about thisâ¦
â¦
Wednesday was the day of Sandraâs public swimming competition. She sent an invitation over to Sophia before the day itself. It was Sandraâs big dayâshe wanted Sophia to feel helpless as the latter watched her rising to power once again. Sandra did a lot of self-promotion before the competition day itself, for she wanted to show everyone what being the world champion looked like! She also remembered to include Sophia in the advertisements and promotions for her competitionâshe mentioned something about Sophia coming to support her as they were close friends. As a result, the animal and environmental protection workers all camped outside the swimming pool stadium on that day itself as they wanted to force Sophia to give a statement on her actions.
The inside of the stadium was filled with reporters and the press although the event itself was merely a national-level competition that didnât gain international attention. The size of the competition was far from international ones like the Universal Games, and it might be overshadowed by the Winter Universal Games, which had just ended. Regardless, there was still a large audience, for it was a relatively popular local event.
Furthermore, Sandraâs acts had been one of the hottest topics recently. Apart from all the previous remarks that she had made, her public act of destroying all her personal fur products had also attracted a lot of attention from the public. The Mitchell Group had undergone a large number of changes as well.
Ever since they had the large meeting at their ancestral grave, many of the senior workers in Mitchellâs Technology had quit their jobs there and went over to Cooperâs side. There were only a few Mitchells who remained in senior positions, but a skinny camel was still larger than a horse; the company managed to survive despite their loss of workers. Sandra was certain that she would be able to reclaim her fame and positive image on the day of the competition. Then, she would be able to save the Mitchells again, just like how she had saved them all those years ago.
Most of the participants of the swimming competition were unknown individuals, so Sandra wasnât bothered by them at all. All the cameras were turned toward Sandra; they practically broadcasted her entire warmup routine. Every now and then, the flashing lights of the cameras would strike against her delicate face, which was covered in waterproof makeup. A bunch of articles titled âThe Water Lotusâ and âA Natural Beautyâ had been drafted about two weeks ago.
âSophiaâs here!â someone shouted. All of the cameras quickly turned and went after Sophia. The Young Lady of the Mitchell Family, whose surname wasnât even Mitchell, had just obtained her position in the family for a short while. She had also just purchased a factory that manufactured mink products and another company that sold luxurious fur itemsâmany people had criticized her for this. The protests of environmental and animal protection activists against fur products had been growing in recent years, so her acts of purchasing these factories and brands were definitely going against the trend. This had gained her a lot of negative attention. Sophia didnât just show up to the competition that day; she had also put on a huge fur coat and brought a fur handbag along with her customized sunglasses from one of her own fashion brands. She wore her black hair in a slicked-back hairstyle that made her seem more elegant than ever. All the reporters and activists surrounded her the moment she showed up, and her security guards struggled to shoo the bunch of people away from her.
âMiss Edwards, what are your comments on the public anti-fur movements?â one asked.
âThere are many ways to protect the animals, and stopping the usage of fur is one of them. The protection of mother nature starts with you and me!â another exclaimed.
The reportersâ microphones were virtually pressing against Sophiaâs face, but she couldnât be bothered to reply to any of them. Her large sunglasses concealed any annoyance that she felt for the reporters.
However, the reports and activists continued to block her way. The environmental activists were especially passionate that day; one of them, a skinny man in glasses, swiftly passed through the crowd of reporters and stopped right in front of Sophiaâs face. âSophia, if our Earth is destroyed one dayâif all of the living creatures go extinct one dayâyouâll definitely have to take some of the blame! As a public figure, your words and actions have a great impact on many other people. Youâre going to pay for this someday!â he cried.
Sophia frowned upon hearing this before she glanced at the shabby-looking young man through her tinted sunglasses. His face was pale, and his hair was a mess, but his eyes were burning with intense passionâit almost made him seem like he was going crazy. Sophia didnât wish to respond to him, but the young man continued to pester her. âPrimates only used fur products in the past because they had no other ways of keeping themselves warm. Now that humans are living in a modern society, we no longer have to live brutal and ferocious lives like our ancestors used to. The sole usage of fur products is a sign of degeneration in our society; it highlights the return of our barbarity! Weâd be worse than animals if we continue to use fur products. Animals only eat meat to fill their bellies, yet humans use fur products simply as a pointless tool to enhance their appearances. There is no deeper meaning or beauty to such an act of killing for the sake of your own looks. All I see underneath your dressing is bags of bones belonging to animals that have died in vain. Sophia, your selfishness will ruin mankind forever.â The young manâs words received a great deal of praise from the people around him. Sophia looked like a coward as she quickly scurried away from them; her very act of wearing fur products was seen as the most sinful and ungodly deed right then.
Quinton, camouflaged in the group of bodyguards, was dressed in a suit and sunglasses as he gave an unimpressed yawn. Justin, who was dressed in an identical suit, quickly hissed at him. âNo yawning on the job.â Quinton secretly rolled his eyes at him. Linus had planted a tracking device into Quinton, so he couldnât go anywhere else even if he wanted to. He hadnât wanted to come to work today, nor did he wish to go back to being a teacher; he simply wanted to stay home on the couch, where he could watch his TV series and play with dogs and cats all day. But now, he was forced to be a bodyguard; he and Justin either had to follow Carmen or Sophia around the whole day.
Sophia and her large group of bodyguards simply treated the reports and activists as if they were invisible; they walked straight toward the entrance and headed over to the swimming competition.
Sandra obviously knew about the passionate activists who were waiting at the entranceâshe was the one who paid them to appear at the competition, her sole intention being to embarrass Sophia. Sh*t.
Why is Sophia so shameless?! Fine, I can still come up with articles even though Sophia didnât respond to anything. I was the one that hired all the reporters, anyway. JNS Fashion Group? Hah! She clearly thought too highly of herself! Iâm going to make her lose a fortune this time!
Once Sophia got into the stadium, she quickly found the spot that Sandra had reserved for her. There were heaters in the indoor stadium, so the place was warm. Sophia took her fur coat off to reveal a comfortable-looking cotton bodycon dress. Quinton broke his back just to find a seat beside Sophia; he quickly took her fur coat from her and covered himself with it once she took it off. Why would anyone swim during the winter? Itâs so cold! It feels the best to have some fur covering me! Quinton had used too many stimulants when he was younger, and the side effects were showing in recent yearsâhe often felt a chilly sensation in his bones. He would long for a fur coat even in his dreams.
âMove aside.â Justin shoved Quinton away and was about to take the fur coat from him when the competition began, so he quickly sat down to watch the match. Iâd love to see how Sandraâs going to make a comeback today!