Cooper nodded in response.
Old Master Fletcher gasped and took out his cell phone before dialing Michaelâs number while mumbling, âI want to give Mikey a callâ¦â
Cooper stopped him in his tracks. âOld Master, please donât let anyone know about this for now. She has forgotten about her past and I donât want to pressure her.â
He knew in his heart that Sophia would have to face her past the moment she returned.
He was aware of how her life story unfoldedâshe experienced love and hatred while the shadow of her childhood accompanied her all her life yet she carried herself with utter strength and optimism despite dealing with a serious episode of depression at one point in time.
As time passed them by, it seemed like she had completely forgotten her past. Why canât we let things be the way it is for her? Let the pain and the happiness be forgotten and never to think about it again!
As soon as he stepped out of the Fletcher Residence, members of the Mitchell Familyâs old faction quickly swarmed Cooper and inadvertently blocked his path.
âItâs really the family head!â
âCoop, it seems like youâre really back!â
Cooper felt comforted when he saw those people standing around him. It never occurred to him that twenty years would pass before he would see them again. Still, several of them had fervently been waiting for him to return home all those years.
âWell, Iâm back now.â It was an understatementâthey knew that his words carried an important implication deep down in their hearts.
Word now spread that Cooper did not in fact die, but he was smuggled to the coal mine and spent 20 years of life in hard labor. It was only now that he had been rescued from the trenches.
Sean did not feel like rationalizing what everyone else misunderstood. Coal? Sold to the mineshaft to mine coal? Only Old Master Fletcher can think of such an explanation.
It turned out that the Mitchell Family was divided into three factions in three respective homesâthe old house that was adjacent to the West Family was now occupied by Alex while Cooperâs factions had moved away.
When Cooper dropped by to have a look, the situation was much better than he imagined. At least the Mitchell Familyâs estate is still around even though it is crumbling.
The crowd warmly invited him to survey the estates that they owned.
The three factions currently fought each other like it was life and deathâeach party wanted to drown the other. Ever since Old Master Mitchell fell gravely ill, Cooperâs clan gradually lost their power and influence, becoming the weakest after being overruled by the other two factions.
Despite a mutual understanding and an unspoken agreement that was formed by the other two factions, each was persistent in wanting to emerge as the winner.
Now that Cooper was back, the situation in the Mitchell Family could finally be salvaged.
It only took a while for him to survey the estates before he formed an understanding of the current situation. He then declared lightly, âThereâs no problem. Itâs just a trivial matter.â
Upon hearing what he had mentioned, the people burst into tears. Thereâs no problem. Itâs just a trivial matter. This is Cooperâs mantra when he was the head. Now that he is around, surely all of the worldâs difficulties wouldnât be so difficult to resolve.
Now that he returned, he would definitely take what belonged to him.
Years ago, he gave up on his last name, identity, family as well as his ancestry while creating a new name for himselfâFass Michel, someone who originated from Northern Europe. However, he regretted his decision.After he became a father, his perspectives and mentality had changed, allowing him to understand why Woody was compelled to act in the way that he did.
Returning to the Mitchell Family was something that he truly desiredâhe wanted to be Cooper Mitchell again.
Sophia had no idea about what happened in the Mitchell Family. Cooper had promised to bring her out that day only to suddenly rush off, so she allowed Linus to take his place instead. It so happened that he was also heading to Sarahâs pet shop to bring the dogs home.
Sarah also tagged along in the same car.
As they were about to head off, Judge barked before he rushed inside the car and insisted on following them. If I do not do so, I will be dressed up like a doll!
Sophia was about to push the dog out of the car when Sarah added, âJudge, you are a big dog, so you shouldnât head to work today. For now, youâll stay home and accompany Carmen to play. Be obedient.â
The dog was now upset and opened his mouth, ready to scold the humans. âWooooooof! Woooooof!â
His barks were definitely directed at Sophia, who was also the one whom he wanted to admonish. I canât believe you want to have fun and leave me to babysit your child! In your dreams! I have eaten X! Does that scare you?
Judge was allowed to tag along in the end. Fortunately, Linusâ car was spacious enough to accommodate him, Sarah, her dog, Sophia and one big dog named Judge, making it a crowded space.
While they were on the road, the excited Sarah gushed. âThe dogs are really beautiful! I have lost track of the number of people who want to adopt them! However, Stanely is reluctant to let them go. Iâm sure if you have a word with him, heâd agree to it. Now that you have met Judge, youâll be able to tell that the dogs look exactly like him when he was a puppy! Itâs just a pity that Stanley is forever busy with work and unable to take care of the dogs. He forced himself to agree to let me put them up for adoption because of this,â she babbled.
Judgeâs owner is named Stanley⦠Is he the same Stanley Fletcher whom she went on a blind date with the other day? Does that mean he is Carmenâs gay daddy too?
The world was filled with such coincidencesâher blind date turned out to be a neighbor and it seemed that Cooper was well aware of it. No wonder he agreed to allow her and Stanley to go on that date! Sophia never expected her date to be a gay.
However, if that was the case, it would really be awkward since everyone was neighbors. It would be embarrassing whenever they bumped into each other in the future!
When the car was being driven out of the residential area and momentarily stopped at the gate for registration purposes, Sophia stopped a beautiful lady lingering at the entrance. She could not help but point at the figure and wondered aloud, âWho is that?â
Sarah glanced at the lady and her face instantly turned to a look of disgust. âA persistent salesperson.
Sheâs always trying to enter the residential area to sell her rat medicine! I had no luck in asking her to leave!â
An attempt to enter this sort of high-end residential area to promote rat medicine? There are surely other reasons why she could not enter.
The lady, who paced by the gate, was known as Irene stared at the car for a while as it drove away.
When she learned that Sophia was dead, she returned to Bayside City, thinking that her opportunity had arrived. Alas, no matter how long she waited, the person whom she wanted to meet would not bat an eyelid at her even if they bumped shoulders.
On the other hand, Sophia went to Sarahâs store. Sarahâs store had reopened after the annual holidays and business seemed to be good.
Judge would check on his puppies whenever he came over and sat by the cabinet window to keep an eye. He was an experienced father yet he still had to work and earn money to support his family.
Sophia looked at the puppies and thought that they looked really cute. She was ready to bring them home, but something made her hesitate. If Judge is already a noisy dog when he barks, it would be havoc if there are two more of them.
She gritted her teeth and hesitated for a long time. Meanwhile, Sarah eagerly called Stanley, who was the dog owner, to have a word with them. As it was the weekend and he had returned to the Fletchers to settle his family issues, he agreed to swing by in the afternoon to discuss the adoption process.
Truth be told, he really did not want to give those dogs away as they were like precious grandsons to him!
However, it was not like he had a choiceâhis work rendered him unable to take care of them. Michael had already kept more than 20 big orange cats at home and there was not enough space to move around, so it was impossible to accommodate another three dogs. Having Judge around was already giving him a hard time. If Michael had to deal with another two dogs⦠Well, Stanley did not have the heart to do that to him.
Hence, the dogs could only be placed for adoption. Stanley could not deny that he was relieved at the very least to know that Linusâ niece was interested in adopting the puppies. They would surely be well fed in that household.
After Sophia decided to adopt the dogs, Sarah ushered her to the luxury brand store next door to select a handful of outfits for the puppies.
Since it was a luxury item, it was obviously expensive and tailor-made for dogs with the capacity to burn a hole in their ownersâ wallets.
It was as if Sophia could not bring herself to accept that her father was a millionaire. She was given quite a sum of money to spend, but Linus delightfully paid for those items.
After they left Pourl, Sarah led them to a nearby restaurant to have a meal. âLetâs head over to the Crimson House. Itâs my treat!â