Chapter 248 - 247: Sophie Finally Meets Layla

Eunji woke up a day after as she was very exhausted from the flight.

She was not able to take a rest when she arrived at France. She had to save her mom immediately and took a return flight home.

She always had a struggle when taking flights since then and that never changed about her.

She was really beaten up.

On the other hand, Layla was recovering pretty well.

It was nice that Master Liu was with them. At least she could talk with an acquaintance about the past and could give her a reliable update on what happened while she was away.

But to her disappointment, Master Liu didn't disclose much. He gave the right to reveal the bigger things to Eunji.

After all, it was her life they were talking.

Layla understood Master Liu's intention so she didn't pressure him that much.

Of course, she was even happier and over the moon when she met her precious granddaughter.

At first, Sophie was very shy to see her grandma but moments after she was comfortable with her, she showed her usual behavior.

She warmed up pretty quick and that was a good thing.

Sophie was very hyper when she was around her grandma.

Maybe that was just a child's normal behavior when meeting a long lost family member.

Surprisingly, the bond as grandma and granddaughter could not be denied between them.

Sophie had this charm that drew people towards her. And oh boy! Her grandma had become one of the victims of her charm.

The little girl was spoilt by the adults around her. The only person who could control her was her mom.

Sophie listened to Eunji but would boss around sometimes to everyone especially when she's not in a good mood.

She would throw a tantrum in front of everyone but would shut up when she faced her mother.

We didn't need to argue where she got that from.

Sophie's very talkative, too. Which reminded Layla of little Eunji when she was a child. The time before her husband's responsibility and their family background ruined her childhood.

As she thought of this, she could not help but be sad.

Layla was still on a wheelchair but he would be calling a physical therapist to come over so she could start to learn walking again on her own.

She was in a coma for nine years. And her muscles on the legs had lost its former strength.

So she had to undergo therapy for that.

Master Liu had already given her a session of acupuncture to stimulate the nerves and to promote better blood flow on her legs so she could walk sooner.

Especially that someone wanted her grandma to chase after her.

For the meantime, she would be accompanied by the nurse who was also a member of KSA.

Eunji didn't hire any babysitter for Sophie. It was Angelina who would help her during the early days until she could manage on her own.

When she was away on a mission, Angelina would go and babysit Sophie. Or Sophie would be sleeping over on Angelina's apartment.

Angelina's building was safe too since majority of the occupants in the entire building were KSA agents. And she had bought and remodeled the entire compound for her people.

Of course, Master Liu would also look after for them.

Now, Layla and Sophie were on the playroom. The nurse was standing near the door. Master Liu was out to do something. He wanted to give Layla and Sophie the time to bond.

"Grandma, look!" Sophie said as she handed a piece of paper which had a drawing on it.

"Oh! Did you make this?" Layla asked her.

Since Layla knew that Sophie could understand Hangul (Korean language), she was speaking in that language as she was comfortable with it.

In fact, even back at the base, they used Hangul at home when talking among each other.

On the other hand, Sophie would talk and listen to Master Liu in Mandarin.

The first three languages that little Sophie knew was Mandarin, Nihongo and Hangul. She learnt English and a little bit of French now.

Eunji talked to her in those languages that's why she's very familiar with them and could speak and understand them.

For Eunji, language was very important in communicating to people all around the world.

And this skill would really be useful for her in the future.

Sophie could read and understood them but the only downside was that she's still so lazy to write them.

Which was very understandable given her age.

Learning how to write took time and patience and this little girl had none of it.

Eunji was not pressuring her daughter to be excellent.

She only want her to be herself.

Good thing was that Sophie had always been curious with things and was eager to learn them even at such a young age.

She only let her to do what she was comfortable of doing. So everything was based on Sophie's own pace.

Now, going back, as soon as Sophie heard her grandmother's question, little Sophie grinned and proudly nodded her head.

"Really?" Layla was beyond proud with her granddaughter.

How old was she? She's not even two years old yet but she's acting like that of a eight to nine years old.

Her drawing was really good. Way better than a beginner.

Though she had mothered two very excellent daughters, the feeling of seeing little Eunji and discovering the things she could do was very refreshing for her.

What could she not expect, being a genius ran in their family blood line.

"You're amazing little Sophie!"

The drawing was a family picture.

A man was holding a woman and three small kids, with hands locked, were standing next to her and another woman was holding the last child.

"This is Mom, this is me and this is you grandma!" Sophie pointed out their position in the photo.

"Oh! Then how about them?" Layla pointed out the three unnamed figures in the drawing.

"This guy, and these two? I don't know, I saw them in my dream. I don't want to forget them so I put them here." Sophie's explanation shocked Layla.

And it took her time to recover.

"Sophie, did you let your mom to see this?" Layla asked her granddaughter.

And the child's expression turned sad.

"No."

"Why?" Layla could not help but ask.

But Sophie was silent.

'Gosh! Are you really just a twenty-three month old toddler?' Layla wanted to ask her but kept the question to herself.

Funny was that seems like a big adult was being trapped inside that small body.

"Sophie, please don't grow up so fast, your mom and your grandma will be sad. Please stay forever as our baby."

Of course that was only a wishful thinking for her since a no one could remain as a child forever.

Sophie nodded and Layla smiled brightly.

"Keep that away first before mommy sees that." Layla instructed and Sophie obeyed.

"Seems like you both were having a good time without me." Eunji's voice echoed by the door.

"Eomma! (Mommy!)" Sophie turned around and then rushed towards her mom with arms wide open for a hug.

"Sweetie!" Eunji welcomed her daughter in her arms and lifted her up in the air and carried her in her arms making the little girl to giggle.

Eunji then showered Sophie soft kisses all over her face.

"Ew! Mommy, brush your teeth first!" Sophie teased her mom with a giggle as she tried to shove her mother's face away from her.

"You little brat! You're teasing mommy now huh? Don't you want mommy's kisses and hugs anymore?" Eunji sounded hurt and upset.

She made a cute pout that made Sophie giggled even more.

"Seems like you have already met your grandma." Eunji said as she walked towards her mom and gave her a side hug.

"Hello mom. How are you? Do you feel any discomfort?" Eunji asked her mom.

"Just a little jet lag dear but I'll be fine." Layla told her daughter.

"I can't help it mom. Master told me your body's still weak when he checked you last time." Eunji then looked down on her daughter who was studying the contours of her face with her hands.

"Did you tire grandma?" She asked and the child shook her head.

"No. I didn't mom. You can ask pretty sister." Sophie said as she looked at the innocent nurse who suddenly got involved in their conversation.

"Oh? That's good then. I know you'll behave. You're always be mommy's best girl." Eunji then pinched her cheeks.

"Mom, do you like it here? I can arrange you to a more peaceful and comfortable accommodation." Eunji asked her mother.

She knew that the motif of her apartment was not really her mother's style.

She's more into those pastel colors.

"No, don't mind me. Your place is fine." Layla told Eunji.

What worried Eunji was that the place looked like a cage. The floor to celling glass wall was actually a LED screen just like that on her office.

The entire apartment was enclosed like a cage. That way, no one could secretly snuck and disturb her privacy.

"Are you sure? Mom-"

"Don't worry, we have lived in this kind of set-up for a long time. In our base, we could not really see the outside. So I'm used to it." Layla interrupted and reassured Eunji.

"Still, I have a few safe houses in the country. You could stay there if you changed your mind. And besides, I plan to let Sophie have a normal childhood wherein she could enjoy the outdoors more often."

Master Liu had a villa in Busan and sometimes she would take Sophie there for two days and they would come back in the city.

Layla knew what Eunji meant.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind dear. Anyways, are you hungry? I'll preheat the food that Master Liu cooked for us. There were leftovers." Layla asked her as she knew she had not eaten since this morning.

And it was already almost dinner. Time for her to cook dinner for Layla and everyone.

"Don't worry about me Eomma, I can manage."

She could make a fruit shake for her and she'd be good to go.

"Stay with grandma, okay? I'll cook dinner for us. Mom, J and Angelina would be coming over for tonight." She informed.

"Aunty's coming? Unnie (sister)?" Sophie looked at her mom with expecting eyes.

"Yes, she'll be coming." Eunji told her.

"Yehey!" Sophie exclaimed in joy.

Sophie was always fond of Angelina's daughter, Karina.

Since Karina was adopted by Eunji, she was legally her big sister.

But since Angelina showed up and had more legal rights to Karina over her, she had to give her up and gave her back to Angelina.

Karina had improved a lot over the years. She's eight years old now going nine.

Through the process of detoxification, those harmful drugs were completely removed from her body.

And with Dr. Charles' and Master Liu's help later on, almost a year after Angelina came back, Karina started to open up again. Angelina had to reintroduce herself as her mother.

Even so, she still had those painful nightmares brought from her traumatic past.

Master Liu had been helping her to overcome those nightmares through hypnotism.

He locked those painful memories at the back of her mind and made sure that they won't come back again.

Because of these steps, Karina had become like a normal child again.

She laugh, cry, smile and interact with children similar to her age.

Also, Eunji asked Angelina if she could train Karina.

She could see the child's great potential thus she's willing to train her to guide her children in the future.

Angelina didn't see anything wrong with it so she agreed.

Karina was Eunji's first disciple/apprentice.

Eunji was washing the vegetables and other meat ingredients when the elevator sounded.

The entire building was controlled by the AI named Alora. All of her company building to be exact.

She had reprogrammed her to allow certain people who could only enter their company building. Especially her office floor and her penthouse.

Even though you were allowed to enter but you had ill-intentions, Alora would refuse to let you in.

She had already registered Layla and the nurse's information last night.

Of course their biometrics and Iris scans were taken. She had given them the access card which served as the exclusive access pass on her floor and the penthouse.

Their bio and access card should come together, for without one of them, they could not enter.

Then, she heard Sophie's happy giggle from the living room and Angelina's voice.

Then, she heard steady footsteps coming towards her.

"Need help?" Angelina's voice echoed.

Angelina and Eunji had gotten closer this past years to point that Kelly would surely be jealous of their relationship.

Eunji was there when Angelina was struggling to cope up with her daughter's situation while the latter was there to help her in taking good care of Angelina.

During the rough times, they had each other's back.

"Yeah, could you please wash the chicken and cook it, I can't do it obviously." Eunji smiled at her.

"Okay great!" Angelina said as she tied an apron around her waist.

"Does J come with you?" Eunji asked.

"No, he told me that he'll go ahead first. Seems like you hurt the guy this time Devie."

"I didn't ask him to develop that idea that there would be a chance between us. Which was clearly impossible. I only sees him as a brother." Eunji explained.

There's only one person in her heart and that's none other than Nathan.