"Sophie, what are you spacing out for?" Her classmate from London, who worked with her at the restaurant, walked over to Sophie and patted her on the shoulder.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Sophie forced a smile at her colleague and said, "It's nothing, I just didn't sleep well last night. I'm not feeling very energetic today." Then she put her phone back in her pocket.
"Oh, same here. My sleep quality hasn't been great lately either. Could it be nervous exhaustion?" The colleague suddenly remembered something and asked, "Didn't you say before that you were planning to transfer schools? Before you transfer, are you going back to London for a visit?"
Sophie shook her head.
The colleague laughed. "I know why you're not going back. Sometimes I miss home too, but a round-trip flight costs so much money. Us international students, working a week here barely earns us less than 400 USD. One trip back, and next month we'd be drinking nothing but water—our living expenses definitely wouldn't be enough!"
Sophie smiled but said nothing. She just asked her, "Are you out here to make a call too?"
"Yeah! I snuck out while the boss wasn't looking." The colleague grinned mischievously. "Have you finished your call? You just came out, right?"
"I called a landline, but the person I was looking for wasn't there." Sophie grimaced. "I'll head back in then. The boss is coming out of the store; he's probably looking for people." She lowered her voice as she spoke to her colleague.
"Oh, got it! I'll go back as soon as I'm done with my call." The colleague quickly turned around to avoid being spotted by the boss.
Working at the restaurant was a job she had found a year after arriving in America.
Though the work was harder than it had been in London, at least it allowed her to support herself, and if she lived frugally, she could even save a little money.
Her life seemed to have always been this tough...
She was used to it by now, but what exactly was all this hard work for?
Hurrying back into the restaurant, Sophie's heart was still racing irregularly. Had Ned on the other end of the phone recognized her voice?
She shook her head, trying hard to shake the image of that person from her mind, comforting herself: Even if there were still feelings, it was just a natural reaction, nothing more.
"Did everyone go out to make phone calls?" The wise Chinese boss had always been kind to the part-time student workers like them, usually turning a blind eye.
Sophie nodded as she slowly walked up to the boss. "Just a few minutes. The WiFi signal is better here in the restaurant—it's strong even across the alley. Much better than in the apartment..."
"Oh, is that so? That's a pretty creative excuse! Sneaking off because the WiFi signal is too good! Haha!" The boss laughed heartily. "Half a month ago, you told me you were leaving here to go to Oklahoma. You must be going back to the UK this year, right? It's been three years since you last went home."
"Um, four years actually! I haven't decided yet—" Sophie replied.
Just then, a customer walked in, and the boss went to greet them, forgetting to continue the conversation with her.
As closing time approached, Sophie went to the employee break room to pack up her things, preparing to take the bus to her community college class.
The restaurant owner's words lingered in her mind, but returning home was something she could never consider.
Though she missed London and wanted to see her friends and her uncle, ever since the day she left the country four years ago, Sophie had known she no longer had any reason to go back.
She had a strong intuition that Ned knew it was her on the other end of the phone, yet his attitude had been distant and cold, not even letting her say her own name.
Isn't this what you wanted, Sophie?
The person on the other end of the line was her biological brother. He could never be her partner again. Was there any reason for her love to continue?
She asked herself, feeling a bitter ache in her heart.
She couldn't forget him, even though four years had passed, and even though, by blood, it was impossible.
But one day, she would surely forget!
She understood that forgetting was the answer to this question—a lifelong lesson for her.
When her shift ended, a friend came to pick Sophie up. It was the landlord's son, Connor Morrison.
"Sophie, I'm over here! I came to pick you up after work!" The loud, enthusiastic big boy shouting and waving wildly at her was Con, driving his beat-up car to get her.
"Why are you here?" Sophie asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she stepped out of the restaurant.
Con was the landlord's son, 26 years old, warm, cheerful, and had recently obtained his real estate license. He handled Airbnb short-term rentals and tenant screening. His family owned Morrison Rentals LLC—three buildings with six units each, totaling around 50 rooms of various sizes.
His girlfriend was Sophie's college classmate.
"Of course I'm here to pick you up!" Con was always grinning.
"You're picking me up? What about your girlfriend? Don't you need to pick.Rectangle her up?" Sophie always felt relaxed around him.
"She went back to Oklahoma today. I dropped her off at the airport this morning," Con said with a wink.
Sophie burst out laughing. "How long are you two going to be apart this time? Won't you miss her? This time she's gone back, who knows how long it'll be before she returns!"
"It's fine. In two months, I'll be going there to study too!" Con laughed carelessly.
"Wow! You're transferring to Oklahoma for school? Will Linda agree?" Linda was Con's mother.
Con shrugged. "I went to Japan by myself to study Japanese for a year before, and she couldn't do anything about it."
"But that doesn't seem right!" Sophie said as she got into the car. "You always ignore what Linda thinks; she'll be really hurt."
"No way, she won't be hurt at all. Let me tell you a secret!" Con leaned in mysteriously close to Sophie's ear and whispered, "She's long since gotten tired of me!"
Sophie rubbed her ear and burst out laughing. "I don't believe that for a second!"
Con pursed his lips, then started the car.
After driving Sophie home, he didn't leave right away. Instead, he plopped down on the living room sofa and continued chatting with her. While Sophie was in the kitchen making coffee, her phone on the coffee table rang three times—all from the same number. Sophie seemed not to hear the ringing, so Con picked it up for her.
"Sophie, your phone!" Con shouted loudly from the living room toward the kitchen.
"Coming!" Sophie quickly returned to the living room carrying two cups of coffee, took the phone from him, and answered, "Hello?"
"Sophie?"
"Oh, Archibald!" She immediately recognized his voice.
"The American guy who answered the phone just now," he asked first, his tone still fairly calm, "is he your boyfriend?"
"No," Sophie hesitated for a moment before replying, "he's the landlord's son."
Archibald was silent for a second. "Last time you asked me about the house, I've looked into it."
"Did you find a place near the school district?"
"Yes, I did. I'll email you the address and photos in a bit. As for the detailed information about the house, it'll take about ten days to get, because the landlord is currently vacationing on the East Coast." Archibald explained clearly.
"Okay, got it. Thank you!"
"Sophie," he paused, then said with some difficulty, "if you ever get a new boyfriend, you have to tell me. Let me know."
Sophie's grip on the phone tightened as she fell silent for a while. "Okay," she promised.
Archibald suddenly let out a soft laugh. "Actually, even if he were your boyfriend, you wouldn't need to hide it from me. I'm not the same as I was four years ago. I wouldn't lose my rationality and yell, and I wouldn't get angry with you... On the contrary, I would wish you well."
Sophie said nothing. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't want to explain.
"I admit," he exhaled a long breath and confessed to her, "I'm still waiting for you to come back, because I still like you—more than I did four years ago. But love can be sublimated into friendship. At least now, I think I can manage that!"
On the other end of the line, Sophie remained silent, deeply moved, yet still unable to speak.
"You don't believe what I'm saying?" Archibald asked.
"It's not that... I..." Sophie didn't know what words to use to comfort him—or more accurately, to reject him.
"Actually, I don't believe myself either!" he said self-mockingly. "But I'm the one with the best sense of humor, aren't I? So, if I try a little harder... I can probably really do it."
"Archibald..." Sophie didn't know how to comfort him. In fact, she didn't dare say any words of comfort, for fear they would hurt him even more.