Volume 5: Growing Up Chapter 311: Sophia's Departure
When Tommy rushed back from New York to the Eagle's Nest in Los Angeles after a long absence, the party had been going on for more than an hour and Otilia had already rushed to Washington.
Outside the brightly lit Eagle's Nest, Sophia O'Connor sat alone on a bench outside the hall door, looking at the night. Seeing Tommy getting out of the car and walking towards her, she stood up and looked at Tommy seriously, her eyes full of inquiry.
Tommy shook his head gently at her. "I rushed back from Long Island. I had hoped to spend the last days of my life at home, basking in the sun and spending time with my family. His family told me that if he chose to live at home, he would probably only have five months left... a long time."
Hearing Tommy's words, Sophia gently covered her mouth with her hand, then took off her glasses and gently turned her head away.
Tommy stepped forward and put his arms around Sophia, and whispered to comfort her: "This is Ben's choice. We have exploited this poor old guy for too long. He is tired, so he wants to enjoy a comfortable long sleep as soon as possible."
"It's okay... I just... I just haven't adjusted from the emotion of Susie leaving. When I heard you mention Benjamin, I couldn't help but think of Susie. If she hadn't insisted on skydiving around the world a few years ago, if we... had thrown a party like we are doing now and invited her to attend, so that she couldn't go, she might still be a good neighbor of Eagle's Nest with Jason." Sophia wiped her eyes gently, trying to control her emotions.
Ms. Susie White and Jason have been neighbors with Tommy for the past decade or so. However, after they moved in, they needed Sophia and Tommy to help take care of the house most of the time every year while the couple traveled around the world.
After retiring, Susie spent her life on various conquest games, from climbing the world's highest mountain to chasing the world's largest tides, from land to ocean. The sixty-year-old Susie lived as dazzling and wonderful as a queen. Finally, in a skydiving accident three years ago, God took her away.
Susie's departure was a huge blow to Sophia, Jason and others, because none of them could live as freely as Susie. She and Jason had never had children. After she passed away three years ago, although Jason did not sell the property here, he chose to say goodbye to old friends such as Tommy, Sophia, Susan, Holly, Mark and others. He could no longer live here, as it would make him always think of Susie and the wonderful days he spent with her, so he returned to his hometown, the small town of Greenville, Mississippi, and lived alone in the peaceful countryside.
The reason why Sophia lost control of her emotions was that Benjamin was her second old friend who was about to say goodbye to this world. It seemed that without realizing it, they had reached the age where they were ready to say goodbye to their friends forever.
Sophia wiped her tears with Tommy's handkerchief and walked inside with Tommy on her arm: "Come on, I'll take you to see Hilbert. He should be very happy tonight."
Although there were many guests at home, most of them should be his son's classmates, teachers and the like, but Tommy had no impression of him. He missed the initial speech at the party, so no one knew that he was Hilbert's biological father. Of course, it didn't matter whether they knew it or not. After all, Ottilia's image to the outside world has always been that of a single mother who selflessly dedicated herself to American justice while raising three children independently.
Sophia did not introduce Tommy to the others. She took him through the living room and came to an entertainment room where a dozen young men and women, who were obviously good students, were drinking juice... watching the two nerds operating the computer, and even cheered from time to time.
There were two nerds operating the computers, one of whom had messy blond hair, wore a well-fitting suit, round-frame glasses, and had bangs. That was Tommy's second child and only son, Hilbert Hawke, who was staring resolutely at the various data parameters listed on the computer screen.
The other one he had never seen before was an Asian boy with black hair and a well-mannered manner. Like his son, he was staring at the screen and operating the computer with full concentration.
The two people seem to be playing a competitive game of science or physics?
"I would rather see my son having uncensored sex with a bunch of mixed-race beauties in there... Yes, even if it's just some mixed-race girls, it should be more interesting than shooting at the computer." Tommy said to Sophia in a daze when he saw the scene in the entertainment room.
Sophia glanced at Tommy, signaling him to shut up. Ten minutes later, the kids in the recreation room cheered again. Hilbert angrily slapped the keyboard and looked at his Asian opponent next to him: "You win."
"Hilbert?" After the game was over, the very patient Sophia spoke gently.
Hilbert turned around and saw Tommy next to Sophia. He was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up, like a child who had made a mistake. He wanted to speak but didn't know what to say. Tommy walked towards him and patted his shoulder in a relaxed tone: "Happy adulthood, kid. Look, it's great that you have your own friends now. You don't need me to help you build a train like before."
"Uh... let me introduce my friend to you." Hilbert turned around and introduced the Asian boy next to him: "This is a friend I met when I was playing games online. We have known each other for five years, but we only met offline this year. He is from China and reported to the university this year. Yes, he, like me, also received an admission notice from MIT. We will be classmates."
"My name is..."
"No!" Seeing that the other party wanted to register with Tommy himself, Hilbert immediately interrupted him and said to Tommy with a rare smile: "His name is AngelBaby."
"What?" Tommy was stunned and looked at the other party: "Kid, your name is not common in American universities, but it is a common name in major strip clubs in the United States. Is this your stage name as a part-time gigolo? Sorry, I'm not discriminating, but this name..."
"It doesn't matter. My name is Cao Tianbao. I like the name that Hilbert translated for me." The boy smiled.
"Hey, kid, your name is awesome! If translated, you can write a very cool phrase in the name column of your admission letter, Cao AngelBaby!" Tommy laughed loudly and stretched out his hand and said, "Fuck all the angel dancers in America! Your dad must have studied in the United States and might have been hurt by a dancer, otherwise he wouldn't have given you such a great name. I'm Carlo, Carlo Leon, Hilbert's father, and a pet dealer who walks dogs for Hollywood stars."
Hilbert introduced a cute girl next to him who had brown hair, jeans, a T-shirt, and glasses: "This is Connie, uh... the girl I mentioned to you on the phone before."
"I remember it very well. At the high school graduation dance, I bought a sports car for Hilbert as a coming-of-age gift, hoping that he could drive away with his beloved girl that night. But he was like an ostrich, waiting foolishly for the girl to ask him about it. And he really just drove the girl for a ride that night, driving for more than 700 kilometers, causing the girl to catch a cold." Tommy shook hands with the girl with a sympathetic look on his face:
"You were the victim who was exposed to the cold wind for more than five hours that night, right? I deeply sympathize with your experience that night, girl. Next time you encounter this kind of thing, call me. I have a doctor who is very good at treating colds to recommend to you."
After greeting his son's other friends one by one and promising to get them some small gifts such as autographed photos of Hollywood stars or premiere tickets if given the chance, Tommy left his son and his friends to continue enjoying their party.
Sophia was in the corridor, whispering something to her bodyguard John. When she saw Tommy coming out, she looked at him with a smile and said, "I'm just about to ask John to arrange for someone to take me to San Francisco. You should use the next period of time to seriously prepare for your wedding with Otilia, and I can use this time to accompany Felice. She wants me to travel abroad with her during this summer vacation, and she's waiting for me to meet up in Boston."
"Why does everyone think the wedding is so important? Ottilia is like that. She thinks the wedding is more important than work." Tommy said impatiently when he heard Sophia also mentioned preparing for the wedding.
"Tommy~" Sophia smiled at Tommy's impatient face and said, "I have been with you for thirty-five years since college. I have had you for longer than Otilia. Even more than a decade ago, after she divorced and moved back to Rhode Island, Washington and New York, I have been playing the guest hostess here, entertaining guests as a hostess and accompanying you to some events, but there is her real owner here, isn't there? Everyone just hopes that you can really return to the family, Otilia, Susan, me, Bethia, Father Colin, Tony, Ashley, Jenny, Felice..."
"I told you before that if you are willing to have breast augmentation, I will consider officially registering our marriage. Then you won't have to be embarrassed and temporarily act as the hostess as my girlfriend or secretary. But you have always rejected my proposal of breast augmentation and insisted on keeping your chest flat. It will be more difficult for medical beauty institutions to make money from you than for that idiot Dennis to be elected president in this year's election." Tommy said.
"But you broke your promise, right? You said that if I remained flat-chested, you wouldn't be interested in me. Then what?" Sophia teased Tommy with a rare teasing smile.
Tommy walked along the corridor with Sophia on his arm and said, "After seeing too many plump women, I sometimes have the illusion that flat-chested women are more attractive to me."
"I'm going to visit Susan tomorrow and spend a day with her. Last time we talked on the phone, she said she wanted me to give her some advice on her autobiography. Then I'm going to Boston to pick up Felice. She wants to go to Korea this summer to learn about the intangible cultural heritage of ancient Asian architecture and the Korean master carpenter culture, which is an ancient Asian wooden architectural culture. You know, your daughter has always been interested in architecture and has loved using Lego to build all kinds of fantastic buildings since she was a child..."
"Excuse me, what the hell is there to see in Korea? Ancient wooden architectural culture? It's still debatable whether that country existed before World War II. It belonged to China in ancient times, Japan in modern times, and the United States in modern times. What local culture does it have?" Tommy was stunned:
"Even if I have never been to South Korea, I know that the ancient wooden buildings there originated from the Tang Dynasty in China. What you should consider is not traveling, but finding a new geography or history teacher for our lovely daughter."
"Okay, then I'll go visit Susan, pick up Felice, and then fire her geography teacher. You should prepare for the wedding seriously. Otilia has no shortage of suitors, and you don't want the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, whom you've spent your whole life encouraging to grow, to end up sending you a wedding invitation saying she's married someone else and asking you to congratulate her as her ex-husband. I know you 've never been . Felice and I will be back before your wedding."
"Why does everyone think that I should rush to get back together with her? It's as if I'm short of women." Tommy walked to a restaurant, sat at the table, picked up an apple from the fruit bowl, took a bite and asked.
Sophia took the opportunity to sit across from him and said sincerely, "You should have done that. You and her have been divorced for more than ten years, but everyone who knows you knows that you owe Otilia an apology. I don't think Otilia's anger that has been pent up for more than ten years will be so easy to resolve."
"I don't think it's that serious. Remember? Two years ago, the two of us had just sent Felice to the Danahou Girls' Boarding School, and then we made an appointment with Susan, who had just stepped down as mayor of San Francisco, to go on a self-driving hunting trip to Texas. We stopped in Houston for two days to rest. You and Susan went shopping, and when you came back you told me that you met Otilia who was in Houston to attend an international law conference, and she actually stayed in the same hotel as us. The three of you also made an appointment for an afternoon SPA massage together."
"Of course, Otilia also gave Felice a small gift for further studies and asked me to pass it on to her. I also told you that Otilia looks really well-maintained. You really should see her. She is so radiant after leaving you."
"Yes, that's the problem. In fact, I knew she was going to Houston for a meeting, and that's why I suggested going hunting in Texas by car."
"Then what?"
"And then, when you saw Otilia, I was actually getting dressed in her room, so you thought she looked fine, and she felt very guilty about you."
"You slept with her?"
"Not very often. About two to three times a year after the divorce. It's not that my ability has declined, but it's more difficult to have an affair with my ex-wife after the divorce... Wow, the warmth and kindness on your face just now seem to have disappeared in an instant!"
Sophia grabbed the apple she had just picked up and threw it at Tommy, glaring at him: "When you were traveling with me, you went to fool around with your ex-wife? You swore to me that Otilia hated you! There is no possibility for us to be together again!"
"That was an accident. I would definitely avoid you when meeting her before to avoid embarrassment. She encountered some work problems that time, and I had to teach her and give her the correct answers. We had agreed to just talk about her work and not involve family feelings, but... I couldn't help it. You know, although Ottilia is not very smart, she is definitely a stunner in terms of appearance and figure. You can't tell that she is in her sixties. Her security personnel also told me that there are many successful men in their thirties and forties who regard her as their peer and are ready to date her..." Tommy caught the apple thrown by Sophia and began to defend his behavior.
Seeing the murderous intent in Sophia's eyes, Tommy decisively got to the point: "The most important thing is that she didn't resist me very strongly at the time, so it just happened. Among old guys of the same age, my physical strength should be the best. You know this very well. After all, you fall asleep by touching my abdominal muscles every night. So I guess her anger should have subsided a lot after she saw that my physical strength and figure were not broken. Put down the fruit plate, Sophia, calm down, you never cared about my fooling around before..."
"That's because I didn't consider you, a second-hand commodity, as my boyfriend all those years ago. Because of your strong abdominal muscles, I treated you as a female product. It's okay to share products with other women, but not your own man!"
"You've finally made it, Sophia. I must admit that your metaphor about women's products is very destructive to me..."
"Disappear from my sight, Now!"
"You have the upper hand in the relationship between the three of us now. You see, Otilia feels guilty about you now because she feels guilty about having slept with me without telling you. And I also feel guilty about you now. What does this mean? It means that I planned this for your own good."
"You slept with your ex-wife behind my back, and it was for my own good?" Sophia grabbed the fruit plate and stared at Tommy. "When you and Otilia were married, you slept with her three best friends. When she caught you and the three Miller sisters sleeping together, why didn't you say to Otilia, 'Honey, I slept with your three best friends for your own good?'"
"That was different from the current situation. Otilia couldn't accept it not because I had sex with those three bad women at the same time. The real reason she couldn't accept it was because I confessed everything to her afterwards. I said that after I had sex with those three women, I also had sex with the mother who gave birth to their three beautiful daughters. That had a huge impact on Otilia at the time."
"You are a scumbag, get out! Listen to what you said, God, how can you do these things and still have a clear conscience talking about respecting women and children at the SHP Foundation!"
"I can explain..."
"Get out! Otherwise I'll show you a more lethal female behavior, which is how a woman breaks off those feminine products that hurt her!"
Under Sophia's fierce glare, Tommy pulled his chair away in frustration, stood up and walked out of the restaurant, whispering as he walked, "You know what? Sophia, when I paid you before, you never dared to speak so loudly to me. I have said long ago that it is the most correct choice for a relationship between a man and a woman to always be based on money. Once feelings are involved, equality will be broken and the status of men and women will change."
