14 FAILURE IS JUST A STEP TO SUCCESS

On the way back to the mansion, Sofia was regretting what she did for the whole day. She didn't really think that she'd be so stupid to wear her fake skin to meet him. Now, William didn't even recognize her.

As soon as she entered the mansion, she stomped her feet angrily and threw her sling bad on the couch. "I hate this!" she yelled with so much regret.

"What's wrong with you?" Nico asked her while reading some financial report on his tablet. They just got back home from dealing with the marketing manager and ILY employee who was poaching from their company. Now, they were sitting in the living room, thinking about their businesses when she came inside with so much anger. "What happened?" This question was asked towards Viktor who came with Sofia.

Viktor grinned while taking off his coat and placed it on the couch. "She's couldn't believe she became stupid today." Viktor started. Sofia heard the sarcasm from his tone and she picked up a vase and threw it at him. Viktor evaded it casually and the vase hit the wall behind him, scattering into thousands of pieces.

"So, what did she actually do? I thought she went to look into several businesses."

"Well, she did. It was the business of meeting Officer William Hughes." Nico and Yusef perked their ears for more information while Sofia sulked beside them. "After doing her business in AZ Corps, she left to meet with Officer Hughes. When she reached the division office, officer Hughes wasn't there because he was looking into the kidnapping that happened. So, she left and went to a bar near the police station. She fought with some men and of course, she won. To her surprise, the man she was waiting for came and found her fighting. But guess what was funny?"

"We can't guess it." Yusef answered. "Just spill it."

"Well, our little lady here felt so happy to see him and she finally relaxed, collapsing in his arms. The funny thing was, he didn't recognize her! It was because she was wearing her fake skin. She forgot to remove them since morning."

Yusef and Nico looked towards Sofia. Their faces have turned red from holding their laughter. "Don't you dare laugh at me!" Sofia glared at them but it was impossible to do what she says now.

Few seconds later, the three men burst out laughing at the circumstance she was in. "The mighty Sofia was so dumb, meeting her crush with a fake skin." Yusef commented which made her felt so embarrassed.

"I hate the three of you. How about we fight? Let's just fight." Sofia urged them.

"Don't vent your anger on us, darling." Nico stated while chuckling. "You still have so many days to come. Just try seeing him again another time." He encouraged Sofia but the grin on his face hasn't faded yet.

Sofia picked up her bag and snorted at the three of them before going upstairs, to her own room. Most of the time, the mansion only has her, her three best buddies and several guards to patrol. But every single time Lucas come to visit them, it will be full of people and many more guards.

Last time, Lucas just visited her to remind her several things and to punish her a little. After three days, he left and went back to Italy where their main base was located.

Sofia slumped on her bed with so much regret. "Cheer up, Sofi! It's not the end of the world yet. Failure is just a step to success." Sofia told herself before getting out of bed once again to take a shower.

On the other hand, William was still thinking about her. He noticed that something was off with what happened but he couldn't point out what it was.

For men, to acknowledge the act of bullying a woman even after taking several beatings from her, and even got severely injured, it was kind of shameful. However, the six men and the heir to ILY Corp easily confessed to this. They didn't blame the woman at all and they didn't want to ask her for compensation either.

In exchange of their pride, only one thing can make them do that – that's to exchange their life. You can choose between your life and pride and because of that, William was even more intrigued to that woman. "Can she really take their life alone?" William asked himself while staring at the ceiling of his apartment room. He just got back home after reporting everything that has happened that day. He thought he'd get some sleep but when he arrived home, Sofia's sweet little face and Rebecca's strong countenance was overlapping in his mind.

"This is wrong. This is wrong." He told himself and instantly took his phone to look at the picture of his wallpaper. It was a photo of him and the woman he's currently pursuing. She's a graduating student and he likes her a lot.

The longer he looked at the picture, her image became blur and Sofia's face came out in his brain again. In the end, he resorted to counting sheep to make himself fall asleep.

The next few weeks, Sofia busied herself with both their legal businesses and illegal trades. She didn't think much of William and whenever he appeared in her mind, she would push him at the very end of her cerebellum and focus on her work. She needed to make sure that everything's fine before going to school.

"Ah! I'm so excited to go to school." Sofia mumbled happily while signing documents.

"Since you met him with your real face, this means, you will have to go to school with your real face every day, too." Yusef stated while sorting out documents to help her.

"Of course. He's the only one who's got the privilege to know the real me."

"Well, don't get your heart broken because there's no one here knew how to fix a broken heart." Yusef reminded her. "And by the way, tomorrow, we'll have to fly to Italy. Master said that he wanted you to meet three other people that he trusted himself."

"Okay."