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Alongside the head of the village and his secretary, a few other families came for the meal as well. Although they
got themselves some alcohol. John turned down their offer to drink, as he might need to be driving later, which
managed to stop the villagers from persuading him to drink.
Meanwhile, Sophia was shown to her seat, but her stomach was churning as soon as she smelled the aroma of the
chicken dish. Considering the occasion, she decided she should push her queasiness down even though all she
wanted to do was throw up.
As soon as everybody had arrived, the feast began. The villagers were in a jolly mood while they chatted, telling
John that they had been wanting to pave the roads, but with how poor and how few people they had, they never
managed to gather up enough funds to do that. Going with the flow of the conversation, John suggested that the
younger men in the village should head out in search of other jobs, as farming wouldn’t sustain them.
Upon hearing what he said, the people of the older generation heaved a sigh. “We wanted to do things that way
too, but there aren’t a lot of jobs for us around here. If the young’uns move too far away, there won’t be anybody
left to tend to the lands since the only ones left will be the children and old folks like us. It would be a waste of time
if we ended up not having any crops to sustain ourselves, nor were the young’uns earning enough while working
away from the village.”
What the old man said reminded Sophia of those times when she used to help her grandfather farm their land,
which was tough work, to say the least. After giving it some thought, she said, “Actually, there is something that I’ve
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtbeen hesitating to tell you. If you’d like to do so, John and I can bring a few people with us when we leave. I know a
manager who needs some people to work on some manual labor in a small company. Other than their salary, food
and accommodation will also be provided to the workers. If anybody is interested to come with us, they can bring
their family along.”
John turned to look at Sophia with a smile. “Yeah, so you can think about it. Anybody who would like to leave can
come with us.”
When they heard what Sophia and John said, the villagers were keen to go. Not only would they be provided with
food and accommodation, they could also bring their family along. Those without an elderly person in the family
could just leave the village right away. Sophia heaved a sigh while recalling those times when the villagers helped
her out when her grandfather passed away, so she considered the gesture as repayment to their kindness.
The meal proceeded in an increasingly jolly atmosphere, but before they finished their meal, someone came
running in from outside. “Sophia, you have to hurry! You have a guest at home!”
Another guest? Sophia thought with a frown. It was Buddy who reported the news, but he had a glum look on his
face. “You should go check it out. It’s your father who came.”
Startled, Sophia didn’t grasp the full extent of the situation at first. Despite being tipsy from their drink, the villagers
around the table shot up from their seats as soon as they heard that her sorry excuse of a father came back. They
reacted even more violently than she did while flocking to her house.
Meanwhile, there was already a crowd gathered in front of Sophia’s house. As it wasn’t harvest season yet, the
villagers weren’t as busy. Sophia and John arrived a little later, only to see a man standing in the yard after
squeezing past the crowd. With his hands behind him, the man was staring at the house. Although Mrs. Hensley had
been cursing at him for a while, it didn’t incite any form of reaction from him, as if he had heard nothing.
Walking up to the man, Sophia asked, “Who are you looking for?”
The man turned around to look at her, but Sophia no longer remembered what her parents looked like, as their
presence had long since faded from her memories. Therefore, she didn’t recognize the man before her at all, so
she repeated herself, “Who are you looking for?”
After examining her for some time, the man finally said, “Sophia, it’s me, your father.”
Mrs. Hensley spat, “You shameless b*stard! You never contacted your daughter throughout the years, so why are
you back now? Where were you when she needed you most?”
Ignoring everybody else, the man walked up to Sophia, but John stepped in between them before the man could
reach her. “Don’t come any closer.”
The man stared at John for a while before saying, “You must be my son-in-law. Oh, look at you! We never got to
meet each other despite the fact that you’ve gotten married such a long time ago. I am Sophia’s father, and I
came to pay her a visit now that I know she got married.”
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