Bridget was there waiting for Sophia to go back. Though Benjamin lowered his voice, she still heard words like "Professor Normand" and "gambling." "Are you talking about Professor Normand in Glinton University?" she said, "I know him. His son is nothing but a loser!"
Sophia was surprised, "You know him?"
Bridget nodded, "Yeah. My dad is a professor of Glinton."
Sophia green used to work at Glinton. She wasn't familiar with every professor but had heard of them. Upon hearing Bridget's words, she asked, "Your father is…"
"Thompson, the dean of the physics department," said Bridget.
Sophia then said, "Well, Elma is your…"
Bridget was surprised, "You know Elma? She is my sister."
When Bridget heard that Sophia was a friend of Elma, she started talking about Elma. Since they both knew a person, there was a lot to talk about.
As Bridget talked about her younger sister, she couldn't help sighing, "Elma is stubborn. She loved Hammer as a child, but she refused to admit it. Hammer is a playboy. He always hangs out with various kinds of strange girls. I heard he is chasing a high school girl now."
Sophia was shocked. Was she a… strange girl?
She smiled, "No. That's not true. I know them both. They quite match."
Bridget shook her head, "I don't think so. Elma should be with a more mature man. Hammer is too childish. Actually, it all started with a joke from Hammer's father, who joked that he wanted Elma to be his daughter-in-law. Since then, Elma firmly believed that Hammer was the one."
Sophia was confused, "Principal Lewis said that?"
Principal Lewis, as she knew him, was not the kind of person who would make such a joke on a child.
Bridget said, "Mr. Lewis was grateful that Elma had saved Hammer's life and said it would have been nice to have Elma as his daughter-in-law. Many years ago, Hammer went swimming in a river and was so reckless that he drowned. At that time, Elma was with him and saved him."
Sophia knew Hammer was a reckless person, and his drunk driving just proved it. But… why did it sound familiar?
She could not help looking back at Albert.
Albert thought of the drowning he suffered, embarrassed as if his manhood had been blown away by her glance. He coughed and changed the subject, "Well, let's go to the hotel for a break. You must be tired."
Just as he finished, Benjamin poked his head from one side, "I'm going with you. I need to live somewhere."
"You're done with what you wanted to say, aren't you? Don't you go home?" Sophia said.
"I can travel here. It's so beautiful. If I go back now, it's a waste of such expensive tickets, isn't it?"
As they made their way back to the hotel, Sophia noticed that Bridget was looking around, looking nervously, as if on the edge of something.
When they got to the hotel, Bridget checked in. When Sophia and Albert went out in the afternoon, she didn't go with them, saying it was safer in the room. It was clear that the jellyfish incident had frightened her.
"Take me. I'll go with you," said Benjamin.
Albert coughed hard, turned his back on Sophia, and winked at Benjamin. It was a rare chance to be alone with Sophia. Although Benjamin had come to report the results of the investigation, he didn't want him, the third wheel, to be with them.
Benjamin said, "Oh, it's a long trip. I'm so tired that I have to take a break. You go first. I will go later."
Albert then smiled and looked back to Sophia, "Well, let's go. I've been to the tropical botanical garden once, and there's a lot of amazing plants. Shall we go there?"
Sophia nodded, "Yeah."
She also wanted to see these tropical plants with her own eyes. She had seen them in books before, but never in real things.
They took a taxi there. Most taxi drivers knew some knowledge of tourism. Along the way, the taxi driver kept introducing the travel sites of the tropical botanical garden to them. What a pity he wasn't a guide!
Soon, they arrived at the botanical garden. Albert bought two tickets and went into the garden with Sophia.
The design of the garden was unique. All buildings were of the classical garden style. As soon as they entered the garden, they saw some palm trees. In the garden, there were plants Sophia had never seen before.
Many tourists were taking photos with their phones. Sophia was not in the habit of taking tourist photos. Her eyes were like cameras. She could remember everything she saw. So, there was no need to take photos.
Albert, however, kept taking photos. He took photos of whatever he saw and couldn't even stop it.
Later, Sophia's phone rang. It was from Elma, who might hear of the accident and called to inquire about it since Sophia was there at the time.
Elma said, "Please protect Victor, Sophia. I believe you can do that because you're my idol."
Victor was the child who was almost attacked by the jellyfish.
"Don't say that. I'll take care of him. Don't worry," said Sophia.
Hearing Elma's tone, she asked suspiciously, "Has this child ever been through something before?"
Elma hesitated for a moment and said, "Yeah. Here is the thing. One year ago, Victor was attacked by a mad dog in front of our house. He would have been killed if my sister hadn't found out in time. He stayed in the hospital for a long time before he recovered. We checked nearby monitoring and found that the dog was deliberately put there by a man. But he was wearing a mask and sunglasses, and we can't see what he looked like. My sister was on tenterhooks for a long time after that. Recently, everything was fine, and she thought nothing would happen again. I didn't expect that… Anyway, someone wants to kill him."
Sophia said, "Is there anyone you suspect? Victor is just a kid. He can't offend anyone. If he… dies, will someone benefit?"
Elma said angrily, "Yeah. I suspect a man. He's the brother of my sister's husband. If my sister's child is gone, he will inherit half the family property."
Sophia didn't understand.. Elma explained to her.