America 1982-Chapter 655 - 2: Sophia Sets Out
Tommy had raced back to the long-missed Eagle’s Nest in Los Angeles from New York. By the time he arrived, the party had been going on for over an hour, and Odelia had already left for Washington.
Outside the brightly lit Eagle’s Nest, Sophia O’Connor sat alone on a bench by the hall door, gazing into the night. When she saw Tommy getting out of the car from afar, she stood up, looking intently at him, her eyes filled with inquiry.
Tommy shook his head gently at her, "I rushed back from Long Island, hoping to spend the last days of my life at home, basking in the sun, spending time with my family. His family told me that if he chose to stay at home, he probably had about five more months of... long days left."
Upon hearing Tommy’s words, Sophia covered her mouth with her hand and then took off her glasses, turning her head slightly away.
Tommy stepped forward and embraced Sophia in his arms, whispering for comfort, "This was Ben’s choice. We’ve been draining this poor old guy for too long. He’s tired, and he wishes to enjoy the comfort of an eternal sleep as soon as possible."
"It’s okay... I just... haven’t adjusted from the emotions of Susy’s departure. Hearing you mention Benjamin, I can’t help but think of Susy. If she hadn’t insisted on skydiving around the world a few years ago, if we... had invited her to something like this party back then, and she hadn’t made it, she might still be living as a good neighbor in the Eagle’s Nest with Jason." Sophia wiped her eyes gently, struggling to control her emotions.
Ms. Susy White and Jason had been Tommy’s neighbors for the last dozen years or so, but after they moved in, they spent most of the year traveling the world, asking Sophia and Tommy to help watch their house.
After retiring, Susy devoted her life to various conquests, from climbing the world’s highest peaks to chasing the largest waves. Living as vibrantly and fabulously as a queen at the age of sixty, she was finally taken by God in a skydiving accident three years ago.
The loss of Susy was a huge blow to Sophia, Jason, and others, none of whom could live as freely as she did. She and Jason had never had children, and after her death three years ago, Jason did not sell their house here but chose instead to bid farewell to old friends like Tommy, Sophia, Susan, Holly, and Mark. He couldn’t bear to stay, as it would only remind him of Susy and the wonderful days they’d shared. So he went back to his hometown of Greenville, Mississippi, to live alone in the peaceful countryside.
The reason for Sophia’s emotional breakdown was that Benjamin was the second old friend about to leave this world; it seemed that subtly, they had reached an age where they needed to be ready to bid farewell to friends at any time.
After wiping her tears with Tommy’s handkerchief, Sophia, leaning on Tommy, walked inside, "Let’s go, I’ll take you to see Hilbert. He should be very happy tonight." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
There were many guests in the house, most likely the son’s classmates and mentors, but Tommy didn’t recognize any of them. He had missed the beginning of the party’s speeches, so no one knew he was Hilbert’s biological father. Of course, whether they knew or not didn’t matter. After all, to the outside world, Odelia had always been seen as a single mother, selflessly dedicating herself to the American justice system while raising three children independently.
Sophia didn’t introduce Tommy to everyone. She led him through the living room to an entertainment room where a dozen or so well-behaved young men and women were drinking juice... looking at a couple of nerds operating a computer and even cheering from time to time.
One of the two nerds operating the computer had a messy head of blonde hair, was dressed in a neat suit, wore round glasses, and had bangs—it was Tommy’s second child, his only son, Hilbert Hawk—who was now intently staring at the various data parameters listed on the computer screen.
The other he hadn’t met before was an Asian boy with black hair, refined in appearance, and as focused on the screen as his son.
Were the two participating in some sort of scientific or physics competition game?
"I’d much rather see my son in there throwing a wild party with a bunch of mixed-race beauties... yes, even messing around with some mixed-race girls would probably be more interesting than *the computer," Tommy said to Sophia, somewhat stunned by the scene in the entertainment room.
Sophia gave Tommy a sideways glare, signaling him to be quiet. It wasn’t until the kids in the entertainment room burst into cheers again some fifteen minutes later, and Hilbert slapped the keyboard in frustration and looked at his Asian opponent, "You won."
"Hilbert?" Sophia spoke gently only after the game ended and waited patiently.
When Hilbert turned around and saw Tommy beside Sophia, he paused, then quickly stood up as if he were a child who’d done something wrong, wanted to speak but didn’t know what to say. Tommy walked over to him and patted his shoulder lightly in a relaxed tone, "Happy coming-of-age, kid. Look, it’s great, you have your own friends now and no longer need me to help you set up toy trains like before."
"Uh... let me introduce my friends to you." Hilbert turned around and introduced the Asian boy beside him, "This is a friend I met while playing games online. We’ve known each other for five years, but we only met offline this year. He’s from China and came to register at the university this year. Yes, he also got an acceptance letter from MIT, just like me. We will be classmates."
