Chapter 9 Stand Up for Her
Ophelia immediately knew what Elva was up to.
Instead of saying anything, she stood aside and watched the drama unfold with interest.
“Move out? What happened?” Graham asked after glancing at Winford, who remained silent.
“Someone here thinks I’m an eyesore.” Elva glanced at Ophelia and bit her lip, suppressing her sadness though her eyes had turned red. “She said I’m the maid’s daughter. I don’t deserve…”
Hearing this, several of Winford’s subordinates cast unfriendly gazes at Ophelia.
They often chatted with Elva and were friends with her.
Since Elva glanced at Ophelia, everyone knew who Elva was referring to.
“Elva is Bertha’s daughter. Only Mr. Pruitt gets to decide whether she can live here or not.”
One of Winford’s subordinates, Alfred Duarte, glanced at Ophelia coldly and then said so.
Ophelia remembered Alfred. He was very loyal to Winford, young, and impulsive, and he had a crush on Elva. He ended up being dead because of her.
Under their hostile gazes, Ophelia remained unfazed. She looked at Winford and asked delicately, “Honey, I’m the hostess of Sunset Vista, right?”
Though she had called him “Honey” a bunch of times, his heart still couldn’t help but flutter whenever she said this word.
Looking into her crystal-clear, charming eyes, he leaned back in his wheelchair at ease, his eyes darkening. Then he said unhurriedly, “Of course.”
“Then … who’s she?” Ophelia pointed at Elva.
Nobody knew what answer Ophelia was expecting, so no one dared to answer. Only the honest maid replied, “Mrs. Pruitt, Elva is Bertha’s daughter.”
Then Ophelia said casually, “I see.
“Does Bertha’s daughter outrank me, the hostess of Sunset Vista?”
Elva’s expression changed slightly.
Just as she was about to retort, Winford opened his mouth.
“Who told you that?”
“Am I wrong?” Ophelia tilted her head. “Otherwise, how come she dares to occupy my room and toss my stuff into the guest bedroom?
“I’m the hostess of Sunset Vista, and I get the guest bedroom. She’s the maid’s daughter, and she gets to live in the second bedroom. Is this how things work at Sunset Vista?”
The room fell silent at once.
Alfred and the others didn’t know anything about this and looked at Elva in shock.
A trace of panic flashed across Elva’s face. “Mr. Pruitt, I didn’t know she was your wife…”
“Gee, do you need a hearing aid?” Ophelia interrupted her coolly. “The two servants next to you addressed me as ‘Mrs. Pruitt’ so loudly, yet you didn’t hear that?”
Elva’s expression froze.
Biting her lip, she looked at Winford, aggrieved. “Mr. Pruitt, you promised me that you’d reward me if I did well in the SAT. I want that room…”
The second bedroom was the closest room to Winford’s at the entire Sunset Vista. She wanted that room!
Ophelia squinted at once.
She thought, “What? A reward? Winford takes his promises seriously. What if he lets her have that room?”
She turned her gaze toward Winford.
Before he could say anything, she said, beating him to it, “Honey, you won’t sit around while watching a maid’s daughter push me around, right?”
She sounded willful but not annoying. Widening her eyes slightly, she waited for his answer.
Elva’s face turned livid.
She hated it the most when being called a maid’s daughter.
Winford met Ophelia’s eyes and saw the nervousness on her face; he didn’t say anything at once.
Sensing his silence, Ophelia was even more uneasy. She widened her eyes even more.
Then he said, “No, I won’t.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, she beamed, her eyes lighting up.
Elva couldn’t help but exclaim, “Mr. Pruitt?!”
Winford continued, his tone flat, “Indeed, I said I’d reward you. But that doesn’t mean I’ll say yes to your unreasonable requests. For example, letting you have the room of the hostess of Sunset Vista and seeing her being forced to live in the guest bedroom.”
No one said anything.
Elva’s expression changed a few times. She was slack-jawed as she had never expected to be turned down by Winford.
Ophelia almost chuckled out loud when she saw Elva’s expression. Suddenly, she sensed Winford’s gaze on her and held it back, blinking at him innocently.
She didn’t notice his eyes that darkened suddenly. Turning around, she asked Elva with a smile, “By the way, you mentioned you were moving out? Where to? Have you found a place to live? Do you want me to help you fix a place?”
Elva didn’t know what to say.
She suppressed her anger, her face almost twisting.
Under everyone’s gaze, she muttered, gritting her teeth, “I’m not moving out…”
She braced herself to say so, no longer caring about the others’ opinions of her or how big a joke she was.
All she knew was that moving out would cost her too much.
Not anyone got to move into Sunset Vista, and she was only allowed to live here because Bertha had begged the Pruitt family for a long time. If she moved out, she wouldn’t have an excuse to move back here.
“Alright. Go and restore my room then. Put all my things back in their original places and take away all your stuff. It’s not hard, is it?” Ophelia commanded matter-of-factly.
Elva’s eyes turned red out of anger.
She realized in Ophelia’s eyes, she was nothing but a maid.
But since Winford was present, she didn’t dare to voice any objection. She could only nod, feeling humiliated. “I see.”
As she was about to go upstairs, Ophelia glanced at her suitcase and then offered enthusiastically, “Hey, the suitcase seems too heavy for you.”
Then she ordered a maid, “Give Elva a hand.”
The maid stepped forward.
Elva tried to stop the maid, but it was too late.
The maid had already lifted the suitcase.
Puzzled, she blurted out, “It’s empty!”
The others were stunned.
Feigning surprise, Ophelia arched an eyebrow. “You were gonna move out, right? Why is your suitcase empty?”
Sensing all those subtle glances cast upon her, Elva was both embarrassed and furious, her hatred toward Ophelia reaching its peak.
“I’ll go get your room ready.”
She snatched her suitcase back and almost fled.
Ophelia turned around and happened to meet Winford’s meaningful gaze.
She instinctively averted her gaze, knowing he had seen through her and her little tricks.
But, on second thought, she did nothing wrong. After all, Elva messed with her first; why couldn’t she fight back?
Thinking this, she threw out her chest and looked back at him, saying confidently, “Honey? What’s up?”
Winford’s eyes, which were always deep and icy, were briefly lit up with a faint smile that was almost imperceptible.
“Nothing,” he said. After a pause, he added, “Who threw out your things?”
Was he going to stand up for her?
Ophelia’s eyes lit up. She immediately turned around and pointed at two figures without hesitation once she locked her eyes on them.
“Them!”
The two servants who had buttered Elva up turned pale at once.
