Sophia's entire body froze.
Apologize to Olivia in public. Admitting in public that she's a mistress?
The Williams family, Cedarburg's biggest family after the Johnson Family, Lucas throws a sensational birthday bash every year, and to have her destroy herself at Lucas' birthday bash?
Unless she is crazy!!!
"Liam ..."
Sophia doesn't dare to dislike Noah and has to turn to Liam.
Liam's face was also hard, "Uncle, you're ruining Sophia!"
"Destroy? Who destroys who?"
Noah's gaze was quiet and cold.
"The engagement hasn't been broken. Olivia is still your fiancée, and you're defending another woman in plain sight.
"How do you expect Olivia to live with herself if she falls into the water and ignores her? Do you know how many people will laugh at her?
"Liam, you've embarrassed Olivia and disgraced the Johnson family, and we don't have fools like you in the Johnson family."
His last words were extremely heavy, and Liam banged his lips together with a mixture of weakness and more than a little annoyance.
Until this very moment, he'd never been sure that Olivia was really going to break off the engagement. Inexplicably annoyed, suddenly annoyed at being made to feel powerless as a puppet.
"Uncle, you owe Olivia; it's fine for you to pay her back for saving your life. It has nothing to do with me; I don't owe you to break off the engagement, right? It's fine, break it off!"
One day, Olivia would regret it and come begging for it, and when she did, he wouldn't compromise so easily.
Liam takes Sophia's hand, demonstratively shielding the man behind him.
"I don't want the shares, and I don't want Sophia to apologize in public. That's not possible!
"It's Olivia who wants to break off the engagement; she's being called names, she's being talked about, and she did it all by herself!"
Holding his breath in his heart, Liam practically growled out the last sentence.
"Apologizing is not out of the question unless you will let me marry Sophia!"
Knock--
Mason knocks on the door and reminds Noah that the meeting is in five minutes.
Noah dropped his pen, got up, straightened his sleeves slowly, and asked Liam, "Want to marry Sophia?"
Liam straightened his back and gritted his teeth, "Yes!"
Sophia's heart vibrated with joy.
Noah asks Liam, "Think about it and have no regrets?"
"No regrets!"
Noah was silent for a few moments, his cold features darkening a bit.
"Want to marry her, do you? Okay, two conditions.
"First, I won't take back the shares, but in the end, the fault lies with you, so you'll have to compensate Olivia by discounting the matrimonial home, giving her the money, and the two stores in your name on Main Street.
"Secondly, you must have your women, in public, apologize to Olivia to minimize the damage you've done to Olivia and to direct any outside attacks on you.
"As long as you do those two things, you want to marry Sophia. Fine, I'll handle the family, and I'll let you have your wish."
At those words, Sophia's head banged up, her eyes full of incredulity.
Liam thought he heard wrong, "Uncle, you ... are you serious?"
He was just rushing his words, not realizing that his uncle would actually agree.
Noah looked at him indifferently, "Whether you want face or marriage, consider it yourselves. You only have this one chance; it will not be valid after the expiration date."
Noah goes ahead to the conference room and asks Mason to take the two men to the parlor, where they'll have to give their answers after the meeting.
Mason takes the two inside and turns to leave when Liam pulls him back.
"Mason, what does Uncle mean?"
Why did Uncle suddenly agree to marry him and Sofia?
Mason actually didn't understand what his boss really meant, and at this moment, being pulled by the arm to ask, he could only try to maintain his boss's face.
"Olivia will be engaged one moment and will break off the engagement ... even if it is a life-saving favor, there must be a degree. President Noah probably thinks it's too much trouble."
The sound of the door closing sounded, and Liam was suddenly enlightened.
Is it too much trouble?
So, Uncle should be annoyed.
Everyone knows that Olivia has a deep obsession with him and has always been a non-marriage to him, and this time, when she's making a fuss about breaking off the engagement, it must be a gamble.
Who knows if she'll make a fuss about getting married again when her anger dies down?
A man like Uncle, even if he owed Olivia for saving his life, couldn't have indulged her over and over again, couldn't have let her go back and forth with her nonsense.
So he proposes to marry Sophia, and his uncle goes along with it to fulfill him.
Because the way to crack the deadlock is for him to marry another while Olivia is still slow.
...
To face? Or marriage?
It was a question that Sophia hardly needed to think about.
Face?
She wants to face, but in the face of dreams and Liam, the face is worthless.
Marrying Liam had been a dream of hers since high school, and if her face was more important than Liam, she wouldn't have taken advantage of the situation while Olivia was gone.
She'd do anything to marry Liam.
Sophia moved her chair next to Liam and leaned her whole body against his shoulder.
"Liam, I can apologize to Olivia, and I can take the heat for Olivia."
She heard Mason's line, too.
Noah supposedly doesn't want to be claimed indefinitely by Olivia with another life-saving favor, so he wants to settle this once and for all.
It was her only chance.
She's got to grab it.
For example, back in the day, after Olivia left, Ava asked her, "Want to take Olivia's place in Liam's heart?"
She gambled and won.
This time, she wanted to take a gamble, too.
Ava says she has an idea, but what's Ava got that's better than a word from Noah?
Sophia waited belatedly for a response and reached out to wrap her arms around Liam's waist, her warm, soft tone tinged with pettiness and pleading.
"Liam, I didn't expect anything before today; I love you, so even if it's a lover who's always under the darkness, I'm willing.
"But today, I spied a little light, and I wanted to catch it."
Liam knows that Sophia has suffered a lot following him.
He worked hard for the relationship, but when Olivia came back, Sophia hid and cried alone for a long time and packed her bags to leave, saying she didn't want to make things difficult for him.
He offered to back out of the marriage then, just to rebel once for Sophia.
As a result, his uncle used the shares and tempted him to compromise.
He knew in his heart that Sophia had never been able to recognize her own place because she loved him and because she dared not hope for more, and this time, she was moved, probably because her uncle promised to help.
He lowered his head and kissed Sophia on the forehead.
"Well, when the time comes, I'll apologize to you and won't let you face it alone."
He's willing to give himself and Sophia a chance.
At least for now, he wants to marry Sophia.
As for Olivia, even if she regrets it later, she does it for herself.
The meeting lasted until eleven o'clock, and Noah wasn't surprised to get answers from the two men; he only spoke to Liam.
"Remember, it's your choice."
When the two men were out, Mason came in holding a stack of papers to be signed and, in keeping with the principle of reporting on everything, went over the questions Liam had asked him earlier in the parlor, along with his answers.
Noah listens and is about to reach for his fountain pen when he pauses, looking up, his clear eyes puzzled for a moment.
"it's too much trouble?"
Mason saw this reaction from him and suddenly realized that he seemed to have misunderstood.
So, President Noah wasn't just annoyed with Olivia's back-and-forth?
Why, then, the sudden acceptance of Liam and Sophia?
Mason couldn't resist the curiosity and asked out in a small voice.
Noah casually picked up a file, flipped through it, unscrewed his pen, and slowly dropped his name.
"Liam wants to be a laughing stock, and Sophia wants to jump into the fire, so why not oblige them?"
Most importantly, if Olivia keeps tangling with Liam, that girl is going to be ruined sooner or later.
It was hard to believe that she wanted to stop this ridiculous and desperate obsession, so of course, he had to be quick and cut off the path to her regret.
There was no turning back, so she could keep moving forward.
In a careless tone, Mason heard the meaning of his words.
A laughingstock?
Indeed, with a status like the Johnson Family, a wife like Sophia is indeed a disgrace to bring out, and Liam is sure to be laughed at in the circle.
Their kind of male son, outside play even crazier, marriage is basically a union, the wife all famous white beauty, Olivia is just a little grumpy, but in all aspects are crushed, Sophia.
Fire pit?
Indeed, the Johnson Family is a pit of fire, not something the average person can tolerate.
Not to mention the rest of the Johnson Family, but just Liam's mother, who is notorious for being mean and disliking the poor and the rich. Sophia is afraid that if she marries there, she will not have a good day.
Mason realizes that his boss is avenging what happened to Olivia and, for a moment, wonders if he's doing it as a thank you or something else.
And didn't dare to ask more.
He only lamented that the Olivia girl could finally be relieved, it was so hard, and as a bystander, he was suffocating for the girl.
However, just as he was relieved, Mason got a call from Olivia at 4 pm.
"Mason, is Uncle free right now? I have something to find him."
Mason's heart banged, and the first thought in his head was: this girl regrets it? After a night's sleep, she regretted it. She doesn't want to break off the engagement again?
Mason conveys Olivia's words to Noah, worried that his own boss has worked for nothing and will have to suffer a grudge.
Noah listens but has a calm face of disbelief.
"Let her come."
Mason did his due diligence and called to inform us.
Olivia came over half an hour later, and Mason invited her into his office, made her a cup of coffee, and came out, closing the door behind him.
In front of the black desk counter, Noah slowly unbuttoned his cuffs and, seeing Olivia standing restrained, gestured toward her by pointing to the couch to his right.
"Sit."
Olivia turned and moved over, sitting down even more restrained than she had been a moment before, her back straight, her hands crossed in front of her knees, her pale fingertips rubbing back and forth without regularity, the tension visible to the naked eye.
Taking her nervousness in stride, Noah got up, paced to the couch across from her, and sat down, bringing his coffee up and handing it to her.
"Third chance to figure out what you want so soon?"
Olivia took the cup with both hands, feeling like she might find a crack in the ground later in embarrassment, and to prevent the cup from falling on the floor, she placed it directly on the coffee table after taking the coffee.
"Yes."
Noah lifted his chin lightly, signaling her to speak.
Olivia took the cup with both hands, feeling like she might find a hole to crawl into later in embarrassment. To keep the cup from falling on the floor, she placed it directly on the coffee table after taking the coffee.
"Uncle, do you lack a wife?"