CHAPTER 9 The Familiar Voice 

　　About half an hour later, Gerald and Sophia arrived at a textile store. As always, the driver got down from the front seat to open the door for her at the owner's corner where she sat, and adjusted her sunglasses as she looked at the building in front of her. Gerald also got down by the other side. The two approached the front door of the high-end private custom home textile store.

　　As soon as they walked in, the store manager—a petite man who seemed like he was in his mid-thirties—who was discussing with the receptionist, rushed over to Gerald and Sophia to receive them in person.

　　After offering them a seat and being done with his welcome speech, he proceeded to tell them about the available materials in the store.

　　"Sir," he turned to Gerald since he was the one who came before to book down the place. "These are the company's latest products. They are handcrafted and meet your requirements." He pointed to the products and respectfully introduced the mattress and bedding in front of him.

　　Gerald got up from his seat to check and choose a comfortable big bed for Sophia, while she sat and watched him. The car accident a year ago left her with very serious sequelae.

　　She was prone to be more easily tired than ordinary people, her physical strength will be lost faster than theirs, and her recovery will be slower. This made her very strict about the quality of sleep she got every day, which explains why she needs good bedding that must be tried and trusted. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

　　Whenever she happens to not get enough rest for one reason or the other, her head hurts, and when her head hurts, she gets in a very bad mood. And anyone who has worked with her knows quite well that whenever she's in a bad mood, someone will get unlucky because she would pass the aggression to people around her.

　　Gerald knew this very well, so he paid extra attention to this matter, which was why he had come to inform them beforehand at the textile store that he'd require their best beds in a couple of days.

　　"Which one do you like?" Gerald turned to face asked Sophia, who was still seated behind him and staring at the several large beds on the tiled floor.

　　Sophia finally stood up from her seat and tested the models recommended by the manager one by one. After a couple of minutes, she finally chose a barely satisfactory set. "This one's better," Sophia slenderly replied, as her finger pointed to the one on the far side of the room. She was already tired from the stress of the journey and the meeting and all she needed was to get some rest.

　　"Pack up the whole set," Gerald ordered the manager.

　　"Yes sir!" The manager bowed his head a little and immediately went to arrange it.

　　"Take a rest here first, I'll help you look after it." Gerald turned to face a tired Sophia. He was well aware that Sophia had a cleanliness habit and didn't like others tampering with any stuff she wanted to make use of. The only exception was Gerald, which was why he wanted to be with the manager when he was packing the set they ordered.

　　Sophia nodded her head in relief. "Alright," she squeezed out a word from the tip of her nose, which was barely audible. Her head had started to hurt and all she could think of at the moment was to get some rest.

　　After Gerald left, Sophia casually sat on the sofa she was seating on initially. Her slender fingers kept pinching her eyebrows and itching her eyes gently, in an attempt to suppress the throbbing headache. The only thing she was glad about was that the whole place was silent.

　　However, that didn't last for long, because almost the next moment, a dissatisfied voice suddenly spoke.

　　"What is wrong with you? I've ordered that set of bedding before, how can you give it to others?" She heard a feminine voice raise her voice.

　　"I'm sorry, that guest is in a hurry, so we'll be tight with that guest first," the receptionist explained to the young lady in front of her. "However, the ones on our side have already been dispatched urgently, and they will be delivered in three days at the latest." The receptionist added with a gentle tone.

　　"Oh?" The lady, who appeared to be Clarissa, asked and scoffed as she folded her arms together. "Are you busy with other customers? Others are in a hurry, so I should wait, yeah? Isn't that what you're implying?" The lady asked with a very pissed look on her face.

　　"This. . . No, miss. I apologize if I sounded that way, but that was not what I meant to say to you." The waiter apologized with an obvious look of embarrassment on her face. They were important people, and she wouldn't want to do anything to be on their bad side.

　　It wasn't her decision either that the bed she wanted had been sold out. It was decided by the leaders above and there was nothing she could do about it.

　　Besides, the person the set was sold to was more important. But there was no way in the world she could say that to the young lady if she didn't want to lose her job as the receptionist.

　　"Then provide the set of beds I ordered then!" Clarissa banged her hand on the receptionist's table as her eyes glowed with anger. She hated this sort of issue; buying something and the stuff getting sold to someone else. She scoffed as she stared at the poor receptionist. "Or do you not know who I am?"

　　"Babe, what's wrong?" A deep male voice sounded, making Sophia hiss where she sat. She was already getting frustrated with the rise of noise in the room.