Chapter 186: No... That’s His Other Girlfriend

"Where is he right now?"

Sophia’s casual question hung in the quiet hallway. Naomi’s eye twitched, and she let out a muffled curse under her breath before clearing her throat and straightening her posture.

"He is currently asleep," Naomi replied with a calm, flat tone. "To be precise, we’ve been knocking and trying to wake him up for almost four hours now."

Sophia’s pink lips rounded into a comical, perfect ’O’ shape. She tilted her chin, eyeing the solid oak door of Room 308 with genuine fascination.

"Wow... I honestly never knew there was a single soul on this earth lazier than me," Sophia murmured. A sudden wave of smug pride washed over her fair face.

She spun around to face her little sister, beaming like an Olympic champion.

"Look at that, Carmen! See? I’m officially not the laziest person alive! I dragged myself out of bed half an hour ago, while that guy is still dead to the world!"

Carmen stood with her small hands resting against her pink sundress, staring up at her older sibling with utter deadpan exhaustion. "That is really not something an adult should be bragging about, sister."

Sophia was entirely unfazed by the dry scolding. With a dramatic, confident flourish, she tossed her vibrant pistachio-green hair over her shoulder.

The fluid motion exposed the pale, pristine curve of her slender neck and subtly accentuated the graceful curves of her figure.

Standing off to the side, Max and Ash felt their breath hitch at the same time. The visual hit them like a freight train, multiplying their lingering attraction by a thousand.

An old piece of wisdom from the civilized world echoed in their minds: girls always looked the most captivating when casually flipping their hair with absolute, effortless grace.

Unfortunately for the two boys, not a single woman in the corridor was paying them the slightest bit of attention. The focus remained entirely locked on the quirky green-haired beauty.

"Oh, I will definitely brag about this, Carmen!" Sophia declared in a refined, theatrical voice. "It is always a profoundly proud moment when the universe provides concrete evidence that there are, in fact, people far worse at life than yourself! Don’t you all agree, ladies?"

She flashed an impossibly radiant, innocent grin toward Vivienne, Naomi, and Rhea.

The three women stood in stunned, speech-deprived silence. They had only known this stranger for roughly two minutes, but that was more than enough time to realize Sophia was an eccentric, unhinged masterpiece of a human being.

"Yes... sure..." Rhea muttered in deep exasperation, rubbing her temples with a heavy sigh.

Sophia blinked at the half-hearted reply, tilting her head like a puzzled bird. "What’s with the long face? You look like someone just stepped on your puppy. Are you depressed? Want me to buy you a drink to lighten the mood?"

Carmen’s azure eyes widened slightly, and she stared blankly at her older sister. "Wait. Sis, didn’t you swear to me this morning that you were never touching alcohol again for the rest of your natural life?"

"Oh, hush up, Carmen!" Sophia waved a pale hand dismissively through the air, completely discarding her earlier hangover misery. "Can’t you clearly see that this poor girl is swimming in melancholy? As the older, far wiser, and vastly more mature individual here, it is my sacred civic duty to cheer her up!"

"I can grudgingly agree with the older part," Carmen replied, her sharp voice dripping with skepticism. "But your claim on maturity is deeply open to debate, sis."

Sophia frowned, raising a single finger into the air. "Do you want another swift karate chop to the top of your skull, little Carmen?"

Carmen sighed, deflating instantly. "Ugh, no thank you."

"Splendid! Then keep those sweet lips sealed," Sophia scoffed playfully.

Turning back to Rhea, her face instantly shifted into a bright, sunny beam. "So, what do you say? A couple of quick shots to jumpstart the day? A refreshing Sex on the Beach, perhaps?"

The words barely left Sophia’s lips before Max and Ash’s eyes popped wide open, their jaws nearly dropping to the blood-stained carpet.

Before their wild imaginations could run even an inch, little Carmen’s sharp sensory perception caught their lingering, thirsty glances. She pivoted sharply on her heels, fixing the two boys with a freezing, unimpressed glare. They were standing off to the side with their arms crossed, looking less like brave Awakened warriors and more like awkward bouncers awkwardly guarding the entrance of a high-end club.

"She was referring to the fruity cocktail," Carmen stated in a cold, monotone voice.

Without waiting for either boy to squeak out an excuse, the eight-year-old spun back around. She simply wanted to squash any stupid male misunderstandings before they had the chance to fester into creepy behavior.

Max let out a quiet, frustrated grunt beneath his breath. He hated being treated like some mindless creep, especially by a little kid. Truth be told, his initial fascination with Sophia wasn’t even purely about lust. Her clumsy, cheerful, run-of-the-mill attitude simply reminded him a lot of Christine—the girl he still secretly pined for back home.

Ash didn’t feel great about the glare either. Even though Sophia possessed an angelic, fairy-like beauty that could stun any guy, his heart wasn’t set on her. If given the choice, Ash would pick his soft-spoken, incredibly kind teacher, Vivienne, every single day of the week.

That was the woman he genuinely cared for.

Yet, looking at Vivienne standing close to Naomi and Rhea, a sinking pit of reality settled in Ash’s stomach. The deeper Vivienne entangled herself with Fredrinn and his inner circle, the further away she seemed to drift from his reach.

Watching the dynamic unfold, Ash bitterly realized that perhaps it was time to let go of chasing the women hovering around an overpowered monster like Fredrinn. It was smarter to pursue someone normal and grounded—just like Aadav had done by wooing that sweet, ordinary girl, Melody, without any crazy drama.

Breaking the awkward pause, Rhea shook her head and replied to Sophia’s bizarre invitation.

"Sigh... no, thank you. I don’t want to drink," Rhea said, her stomach letting out a faint, grumbling rumble. "Though I am genuinely starving. We all agreed earlier that we’d meet up to grab breakfast together, but my sister and Fredrinn are completely ignoring us. Neither of them will open the damn door."

Sophia blinked in mild confusion, her eyebrows arching. "Huh? Your sister? Wait, is your sister that pretty blonde girl from yesterday?"

"No," Rhea replied with a bitter, defeated roll of her eyes. "That’s his other girlfriend, Jenny. My sister is Andrea."