She Is A CEO

After Lucia told what happened before, her tears cascaded down her cheeks.

Arthur was so heartbroken to see her tearful face. Despite the injuries on his body, he held her into his arms, and said softly, "Don't worry about it. I am by your side."

Lucia suffered no less than Arthur.

Finally confessing the secret she had kept to herself for a long time, Lucia cried and hugged Arthur's shoulders, as if she had to use all her strength to apologize, and said in a hoarse voice, "Arthur, I'm sorry. I didn't want to do that to you. I didn't want to say those things that hurt you ... but I couldn't help it."

When Lucia said that, Arthur was even more distressed.

While sobbing, Lucia continued, "Every time I say those words to you, my heart hurts so much, but Esmae is kind to me. Arthur, I'm sorry. I can't choose."

"I know I know..." said Arthur softly while patting Lucia's back.

Lucia can finally stop keeping secrets, crying and explaining to Arthur what she had been doing lately. And what she said when they met today, were all lies. Arthur listened attentively. Although his heart ached for Lucia's tears, the mood was really getting better.

As long as Lucia was willing to talk, no matter what it was, he was willing to carry it for her.

The two told each other their true feelings, for a long time did not pay attention to Sophie who was standing aside. Although she understood the truth, this truth was the same that she can not bear.

Finally, Lucia's emotions gradually settled down. Sophie sighed quietly only then, "Lucia, Esmae's full name is Esmae Wilson ..."

"Yeah." Lucia nodded, looking at Sophie's sad expression. She felt that there must be a hidden fact. No matter how to speculate, Sophie did not look like a person who took away other's man by force, so she asked,

"Sophie, the feud back then, was it actually a misunderstanding?"

Lucia's trust in her made Sophie smile, but the infinite sadness was hidden in her eyes. Esmae was the regret of her life and her husband, but also Sophie felt most ashamed for.

"I didn't expect the Wilson family to have so many things happen back then. When we were studying in USA, she was still home. She only reported the good news to us. Arthur's father and I didn't know about her father's illness. If she had told..."

Lucia listened and felt that Sophie was deliberately avoiding the betrayal, but she couldn't question it to her face, so she looked down at Arthur, who understood her mind and helped her ask the biggest question,

"Mom, is it true you betrayed Esmae to be with Dad back then?"

Sophie looked down and nodded slowly. This was indeed the truth. But there were too many explanations that Esmae did not want to hear at first.

"Take it easy and listen to me." Sophie sighed and soothed her son, then looked at Lucia and told the story of the past. Although she had spent time with Esmae, they had a completely different perspective. Sophie was indeed Esmae's best friend. At that time, Sophie was lively and mischievous, so she was very fond of Esmae, who came from a literary family and was gentle and quiet. Every time when she called her name, Sophie felt stable.

The two became good friends for three years in high school, and of course, there was that big boy Edwin.

Sophie was shocked when Esmae shyly told her that she had a crush on Edwin because ... the person Edwin liked was her!

Esmae may have forgotten that she and they may meet in high school, but Sophie and Edwin were classmates in the same junior high school. And two people were still in a same high school.

Sophie's family might have stopped her from studying at the time. The Richards family were businessmen, and in those days, her father had planned for his youngest daughter to return home to help with the business after junior high school. Because of Edwin, Sophie fought to attend high school and later finished college.

Although Sophie and Edwin didn't confess to each other, the two had long been tacit. They planed for each other in the future. One can imagine how complicated Sophie felt when she heard Esmae also liked him.

Faced with Esmae, who was shy but cautiously revealed her feelings to her, Sophie can't tell the truth. She thought that it was just Esmae's youthful fluttering, which might fade away with the passage of time. And she might meet other boys she liked, but she was wrong.

When Sophie realized the seriousness of the problem, it was too late. Esmae had already fallen deeply in love with Edwin. She didn't notice the way Edwin looked at her. She didn't notice that Edwin was always closer to her when the three stood together. She didn't notice that they were secretly holding hands together under the desks, and she didn't know that Edwin would bring her to his home after school or during holidays for studying and playing.

With Edwin, Sophie was always full of guilt. Every time she saw Esmae secretly glancing at Edwin with love, it would make her feel as if she had stolen something from Esmae. For this reason, she was especially good to Esmae and even once thought of giving up Edwin, but when she made this suggestion, Edwin got angry.

How can love be used as a tool to make up for friendship?

Edwin confirmed he loved Sophie and would not change.

Edwin proposed that they would tell Esmae the truth together, but Sophie refused. She couldn't bear to hurt her and didn't want to break their friendship, so it dragged on and on until she and Edwin both got into USA's universities in the entrance exam, while Esmae failed.

Esmae decided to repeat her studies in order to follow Edwin. Although Sophie knew it well, she still supported her decision and hoped that she could have a bright future.

She never expected that Esmae's father would fall ill in the year she resumed her studies. Money was nothing in the eyes of Sophie who was the daughter of the well-off family. At that age, she could not appreciate the hardships that an ordinary family needed to pay for a child to study abroad.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Sophie and Edwin came to USA. Although they went to different universities, they were both in New York City, and Esmae was not around. They had more time to hold hands, hug and tell each other their feelings.

A year later, Esmae reported a good news, and Sophie was in pain during that time. Because once Esmae arrived at USA herself, there were only two ways to go, either to continue to hide as before and pull away from Edwin, or to tell her directly and suffer all the consequences.

Both of these paths were something Sophie didn't want to face.