Chapter 79

Sophia sat on the bed, eating the dragon fruit without really saying anything. Be it now or in the past, she had never been one to make friends easily.

“A good lawyer is someone who talks well, not a lot. If you keep spilling your guts like this, do you have any idea how much the opponent lawyer can get out of you?” Zachary knocked Clara over the head.

Clara’s eyes turned around and around, and she instantly fell silent, as though someone had pressed pause on her.

Still, her silence only lasted for ten minutes. “Your name is Sophia White, right? Will you still go back to work at Dream Club after this, Sophia?”

“...Yeah.” Sophia stopped eating her dragon fruit for a second, a hint of melancholy in her eyes. She did not know if her plan to seduce Charles would work.

Even if it did, would he really let her leave Dream Club? For all she knew, he would play around with her and then make her stay so he could keep humiliating her.

Even if the chances were slim, though, she had to give it a try. There was no other way.

“So you still have to go back, huh...?” Clara’s childlike face scrunched up into a frown. All of a sudden, she remembered something and abruptly leaped up, wrapping her arms around Zachary’s neck and her legs around his waist. She hung off of him like a koala.

The sight made Sophia choke for a second. She coughed a few times and pulled out a paper napkin to wipe the dragon fruit from her mouth.

“Get down,” Zachary said, holding her up slightly in case she fell.

“Zachary—” Clara hugged his neck, swinging back and forth as she said sweetly, “You’re friends with that Harris guy, right? Ask him to spare Sophia, c’mon! Please!”

Sophia blinked. She remembered hearing that Charles had a good friend who was a lawyer, but that person had been studying abroad this whole time, so she had never met him. Turned out he was Zachary Johnson.

There was a gleam in her eyes. Perhaps she could ask Zachary to put in a word for her with Charles. That might work.

Zachary gave her a thoughtful look and then pushed his wire-framed glasses back up his nose. Clara was about to shake it right off his face. “Get off of me first.”

“Not until you promise!” Clara simply refused. “Zachary, aren’t lawyers supposed to be allies of justice? Poor Sophia is being tortured by Charles Harris. Come on, help her!”

Zachary corrected her calmly, “No, prosecutors and cops are allies of justice. Lawyers are only in it for the money.”

Since it seemed he had no intention of helping, Sophia opened her mouth to say, “Thank you for the kind intention, Ms. Robertson, but it’s alright.”

However, the words were at her lips when she swallowed them back down.

She clenched her covers tightly and lowered her gaze, her breathing slightly faster than usual.

She could see that Zachary really cared for Clara, his student. What if... What if he agreed? That would increase her chances of achieving her dream of leaving Dream Club!

“Zachary—!!!” Clara wailed. “I won’t get down until you say yes!”

Zachary looked unmoved. “Keep hanging there, then. Just don’t complain when your arms get sore.”

“...” Clara sagged, mumbling, “No wonder you’re such good friends with that evil capitalist Charles Harries. Both of you are just the same...”

Sophia swallowed the dragon fruit she was eating, the light in her eyes dimming. “Thank you for helping me twice, Ms. Robertson. It’s alright, you don’t have to bother Mr. Johnson anymore. We’re standing in different positions, so I’m sure he has his reasons.”

Clara let go of Zachary’s neck and landed back on the floor, twisting her body back and forth awkwardly. “Actually, my mentor is not a bad guy. Once his parents told him to stop interfering in your brother’s case, he immediately dropped the charges.”

“You dropped the charges because of Mr. Johnson’s parents?!” Sophia looked up abruptly, her facade breaking slightly.

“That’s right.” Clara was mystified to see her react like that. “His parents know your parents a little, so they told him to stop interfering in your brother’s case, and he did.”

Her words sounded almost like a tongue twister, which she ended with, “Is something the matter?”

“Nothing.” Sophia put the dragon fruit down, her expression returning to normal. However, her hands were still gripping her sheets tightly.

Charles Harris brilliantly killed two birds with one stone there. Not only did he avoid any conflicts with Zachary over the case, he even managed to get that piece of newly-distributed land in G City from the Whites for free!

“Oh...” Clara dragged out the sound. She felt awkward and guilty because she could not help Sophia, so she quickly said that she needed to use the washroom and ran out of the room.

Sophia glanced at the ensuite washroom and pursed her lips.

“How did you get to know Clara, Ms. White?” Zachary went to the room door and closed it.

Sophia looked up at him and then looked down again, putting down the dragon fruit she had just picked up. Calmly, she said. “I’m working at Dream Club, and Ms. Robertson was a guest there. We just happened to meet once.”

“Did you just happen to meet her, or did you go out of your way to make sure you did?” Zachary pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose. The sunlight poured in from the window and reflected off his lenses so she could not see his eyes.

There was the faint smell of disinfectant in the room. The white sheets, white walls, and off-white floor were supposed to be comforting, but they were also slightly blinding.

Sophia put her hands on the bed and tried to move herself toward the pillow. “When I first met Ms. Robertson, the new secretary for the municipal committee had just taken office. Even the media had not reported anything about him yet.”

She smiled self-deprecatingly. “Are you suggesting, sir, that a newly-released convict like me without any connections managed to find out about the new secretary for the municipal committee before anyone else?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say you don’t have any connections.” Zachary slowly peeled a banana. “The Whites may have cut ties with you, but Mr. White seemed to have maintained contact with you.”

Sophia frowned slightly. “Even if I had known that Ms. Robertson is the secretary’s daughter, how could I have managed to get her to come to Dream Club?”

“Clara’s family has always done a good job of protecting her. She just graduated two months ago, so she doesn’t know the complexity of society. All she knows is to passionately help whoever she can.” Zachary bit into the banana and said slowly, “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any wiser by her side.”

“Ha.” Sophia threw the uneaten dragon fruit into the trashcan. “Then I hope that wise man could kindly advise her to stop worrying about a murderer like me. Her kindness is too much for me to bear.”

“Gladly.” Zachary raised a brow slightly and ate the entire banana in two or three bites before tossing the peel into a trashcan. “However, Clara can be quite stubborn, and she might not heed my advice. That’s why I hope you’ll avoid her from now on, Ms. White.”

Sophia suppressed the burning rage in her heart and said calmly, “In that case, please also thank Ms. Robertson for me and tell her to stop spreading her kindness everywhere. Her...” kindness might prove to be someone else’s burden.

Sophia stopped halfway through that sentence. “Just thank her for me. I’m tired and I’d like to rest now, so please leave, Mr. Johnson. Pardon me for not seeing you off.”

Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around!

Chapter 78 Scheming B*tches Overthink Everything “Thank you for your understanding, Ms. White. In return, I’ll put in a word for you with Charles, but I can’t guarantee anything he will do after that.”

With those words, Zachary walked toward the door.

Sophia blinked and spoke to his back, “Thank you.”

There was no reply.

Zachary neatly exited the room. The moment he closed the door, he closed that last ray of sunlight away as well.