Free Web NovelChapter 46: Chapter 46: Looks Like I’ve Gone Viral
Felix Preston’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Probably not... Sonia, did you think of something?"
Sonia Quincy put down her tablet and sat up straight. "I thought of someone."
The tension in Felix Preston’s voice was immediate. "Who?"
Sonia Quincy looked out the window, her gaze distant...
"Sonia Quincy, this is your only chance. Don’t make me play rough..."
"I’m asking you one last time. Are you going to get rid of this baby and get a divorce or not..."
"Yes, I was eavesdropping on you..."
The words Willow Quincy had spoken through gritted teeth not long ago echoed in Sonia’s ears.
Sonia took a deep breath, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said his name.
"Willow Quincy."
Felix Preston frowned. "Your brother?"
Sonia "mm-hmm"ed in confirmation and recounted her argument with Willow Quincy from that day, down to the last detail.
After listening, Felix fell silent.
Sonia said, "Willow Quincy has always been hard to read. When I was still living with the Quincy Family, he found fault with everything I did. He hated everything about me. But now that I’ve left the family and am finally free of them, he shows up and says all this bizarre stuff."
"He admitted with his own mouth that he’d followed me and eavesdropped on my conversations, so I’m a little suspicious of him."
Felix couldn’t figure it out. "But why would he try to hit me with his car?"
Sonia replayed Willow’s words in her mind, and a chilling theory began to form.
Felix froze for a few seconds, then he figured it out, too.
"He wanted to kill me. That way, you wouldn’t have to suffer with me, and you wouldn’t have to keep the baby."
"But why?" Sonia couldn’t understand. "He clearly hates me so much. Shouldn’t he be happy to see me suffer?"
"Or is the ’not wanting me to suffer’ just a cover? Is his real goal simply to see my life fall apart? To leave me completely alone with no one to rely on?"
"Is he getting revenge on me for standing up for Cecilia Quincy?"
Felix shook his head, then remembered Sonia couldn’t see him and spoke. "I don’t think it’s that simple."
"Huh?" Sonia didn’t understand.
Felix gave a wry smile. "I can’t really explain it. It’s just... a sudden gut feeling."
"Let’s not talk about him anymore. We should just wait for news from the police. I’ll tell Officer Lockwood about your suspicions."
Sonia nodded. "Okay."
They exchanged a few more words before Felix hung up to get back to work. Sonia picked up her tablet, finished tweaking the last few details of the design, and sent it to Mina Jennings.
Mina was finally satisfied. After a while, she sent Sonia the revision requests for the second design.
Sonia wasn’t in a hurry to start working. She turned off her tablet, set it aside, and picked up her phone to open the Spudster app.
A few days ago, she had promised her followers she would design a necklace for Whisperwind. To keep the post’s engagement up, she had been finding spare moments to work on it. Now that the necklace had a basic concept, she immediately created a new post and uploaded the rough sketch.
Her account didn’t have many followers, so it was unlikely her post would be seen right away. She scrolled through some short videos for a bit, and when she opened the app again, she saw that someone had already commented.
meme: [AHHHHHH, gorgeous! Such a hot design, back to seducing me already?]
Remind Me to Drink Water When You See Me: [Holy crap, this leaf pendant has such a Whisperwind vibe! Bloom, you’re my goddess!]
Just Wanna Get Rich Quick: [Draw faster, draw faster, Bloom, draw faster! I need to see the finished version of this necklace! It’s okay if you suffer, as long as I don’t have to!]
The few comments were all friendly. Since Sonia had nothing better to do, she replied to them one by one.
Bloom Preston:
[(raises eyebrow confidently) (tries to whistle) (fails) (awkward) (flashes a devilishly charming smile) (has spinach in teeth)... Woman, are you about to die from my charm? (in an ultra-sultry voice)]
[I’m not a goddess, just a humble artist.]
[You brat, how can you say something so cold? It’s sending shivers down my spine.]
Sonia thought her replies were perfectly normal, but the fans who received them couldn’t stop laughing. Dozens of "ha ha has" flooded the comment section, followed by even more explosive follow-up replies.
Sonia read through them one by one and found it all quite amusing. So she kept on replying.
The fans in the comments were all real people online. She’d post a reply, and they’d immediately post another. This back-and-forth built up a long thread in the comment section.
When she finally looked up, the sky outside was dark. Sonia glanced at the time and realized that three hours had somehow passed.
For three whole hours, she had been goofing off in the comments without making a single change to the design.
"...Oh my god." She sighed in regret, hating her own unproductive self.
Just then, a WeChat message arrived from Mina Jennings.
—Bloom, my friend, how are the design revisions coming along? I need this one for a meeting tomorrow afternoon.
—It’s—it’s not revised yet.
Sonia replied, feeling guilty but being honest.
Mina Jennings: Not revised yet? Did something come up?
...
Sonia glanced at the post, which had only a hundred likes but eight hundred comments, and gave an embarrassed smile.
—I know what you’ve been busy with.
Just as Sonia was about to reply, another message from Mina popped up.
’Uh oh...’
Sonia’s heart sank. She already knew what Mina had seen.
Sure enough, a second later, Mina sent over a screenshot of the post.
—Bloom, my friend, having fun messing around in the comments? Did you forget you still owe me two designs?
Sonia opted to apologize directly.
—I’m sorry, I’ll start on the revisions right now.
Mina Jennings: You’d better really be working on them.
Sonia Quincy: I swear I really am.
True to her word, as soon as Sonia sent the message, she immediately opened her tablet and began diligently revising the design according to Mina’s feedback.
She hadn’t been working for long when she suddenly had a bad feeling.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she couldn’t help but pick up her phone and open the Spudster app.
The post’s comments had already grown to over a thousand. As she looked at the new comments in her notifications, she was surprised to see a trace of Mina Jennings.
Mina’s ID was "A Little River is Sleeping." Right now, this "Little River" had posted a screenshot of a WeChat conversation in her comment section.
The content of the screenshot was the exact moment Mina had busted her for goofing off in the comments.
A Little River is Sleeping: Bloom Preston has surrendered. If anyone sees her goofing off in the comments again instead of revising her designs, please report her to me.
Bloom Preston replied: ...
All the fans in the comments were laughing.
A string of ellipses was the most Sonia dared to post. After sending that reply, she quickly tossed her phone aside and got back to revising the design.
She worked until Felix Preston came home, which finally gave her a valid excuse to put down her tablet for a while.
To avoid delaying the afternoon meeting, she got up very early the next day. While Felix was still asleep, she stealthily took out her tablet and continued to work.
She worked until seven, when Felix’s alarm went off, at which point she quietly put the tablet away again.
She leaned against the headboard, picked up her phone, and subconsciously opened the Spudster app.
She hadn’t checked it all night, and she had no idea what had happened, but her notifications were now filled with "99+" red dots.
’Holy crap, did I go viral?’
