Amelia didn't know what to reply to Lucian. 'How do I get rid of this man!' she thought, praying for divine
intervention. After taking a deep breath, she decided that it was time to face him. Swiftly, she raised her
head to look at him.
The scene she saw scared her stiff and made her heart skip a beat. Right behind Lucian was Shelly,
staring menacingly at her.
"It's late now. Let me send you back." Lucian told her, oblivious that Shelly was with them.
After the initial shock had worn off, Amelia, who just came back to her senses, said in a very low voice,
"Miss Shelly..." Her heart started beating incredibly fast and cold sweats began to appear on her
forehead. It was as if her body was preparing her for the mess that was going to happen.
Shelly stood hidden from the light. Despite that, Amelia could still clearly see the expression on her
face—cold, exasperated, dangerous. Even though Lucian was standing between them, she could still
feel the sharpness of her glare.
Lucian was able to quickly pick up the fear clouding Amelia's eyes. Because of that, he turned his
heads towards the place Amelia was staring at.
"Lucian, you... How could you do this to me!" Shelly emerged from the darkness and into the light. Her
eyes were already moist with tears as she pointed her fingers back and forth between Lucian and
Amelia.
"Miss Shelly, we are not..."
"Shut up, Amelia!" Shelly shouted, her voice filled with anger and hurt. With her shaking hands she
pointed at Lucian and Amelia's interlocked hands, saying, "Did you really think that no one will notice
that?"
To appease the angry Shelly, Amelia quickly let go of Lucian's hand. Unfortunately, that didn't help the
situation—instead, Shelly became more furious, it showed on her face.
In contrast to an obviously panicking Amelia, Lucian looked very calm and collected. "Let me send you
back first," he gently repeated, completely ignoring Shelly and turning his gaze back to Amelia. This
surprised Amelia.
'What is this guy doing?' she thought, completely scandalized by Lucian's course of action. 'Is he trying
to make everything more complicated than it already is?'
"Mr. Lucian," she finally said in a firm tone after a few moments of silence. "Could you please respect
me?" She angrily stepped away from Lucian, glaring at him as if to warn him against going anywhere
near her. After doing that, she looked up at Shelly and bowed deeply. "Miss Shelly, I'm so sorry," she
said. "I didn't expect what happened. Please do not worry, this will never happen again."
Lucian, however, was not having any of it. "Nonsense!" he bellowed, making the two women near him
jump. "Watch your language, Amelia!" With defiance on his face, he started walking towards Amelia.
"Lucian, you heard her!" Shelly shouted, running after Lucian and holding him back. "Don't make a fool
out of yourself!" Looking at the two people in front of her, Amelia couldn't help but feel a pang in her
heart.
She wanted to hide and run away, but instead, she faked a smile and said in a heartfelt manner, "Mr.
Lucian and Mrs. Shelly, I wish you all the happiness in the world."
As she turned around to leave, she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder so tightly that it hurt. She
knew it was Lucian, and so she tried her best to shake it off, but unfortunately, she couldn't.
After seeing what Lucian was doing, Shelly couldn't help but shed some tears. "Lucian, are you really
going to do this to me?" she loudly lamented. Her voice was so full of sorrow and pain that even Amelia
felt so deeply for her.
Even if Amelia still loved Lucian with all her heart, she had repeatedly told herself that she would not do
anything that would destroy his marriage to Shelly. At that moment, however, when she saw Shelly
crying over what Lucian was doing, she felt ashamed. She felt like she was a mistress, and that she
had done something wrong.
"I'll give you a chance to say what you want to say, but right now, I have to send Amelia home." Lucian
did not care about Shelly, or what she was feeling. He wanted to send Amelia home, and he would do it
no matter what happened.
"I am not a child nor a ceramic doll. I don't need you to send me home!" Amelia refused in anger. While
she didn't want to sound too harsh or direct, she decided that she had to be because she saw that
every word Lucian uttered was driving a knife through Shelly's heart.
"I am worried about you!" Lucian shouted. He tried to grab Amelia's hand but Amelia did not let him.
'This is becoming ridiculous!' Amelia thought, as she tried her best to avoid Lucian's gaze.
She was also embarrassed to look at Shelly's face because she knew that no woman would feel good
if a man took care of his ex-wife right in front of her.
As these thoughts swirled inside her head, she felt more and more guilty.
"Lucian," Shelly suddenly said. She had already stopped crying, but her voice was still quiet and shaky.
"I think you're right. Send Amelia home. It's too late and I'm worried about her."
Both Amelia and Lucian were shocked by what they heard. They turned to look at her and they saw
that she was already smiling.
"I remembered what you said to me," she continued, looking at Lucian. "You told me to be reasonable,
here I am. I am allowing you to send Amelia home." Her voice was unnaturally sweet.
Upon hearing what Shelly said, Amelia felt her temperature rise. Every word felt like a slap on her face.
She was ready for Lucian to say something—for or against her—but she was surprised with what he
did: he put his arm around her and said softly, "Let's go."
It was something that she never thought he would do. It was a nice gesture, but again, she was not
here to ruin Lucian's relationship with Shelly. With one swift turn, she turned around, and grabbed
Lucian's hand, dragged him towards Shelly, and put his hands on hers. "I told you, I don't need it! My
home is not far from here!"
She just wanted this whole encounter to be over as her heart couldn't take more. With that, she quickly
turned around to go.
Lucian's face instantly changed. He let go of Shelly's hand like it was something hot and ran after
Amelia immediately. "It's so late now!" he called after her. "How can I let you go back alone?"
"What is wrong with you?!" Amelia shouted.
She didn't understand why on earth Lucian just wouldn't let her go.
Lucian seemed to have no intention of hiding his feelings. Amelia wanted to set boundaries with
between them considering the relationship they had now, but instead of clearing things up, it seemed
like their relationship became more complicated, and her connection with Shelly became more
strained.
"Amelia!" Shelly called out. "I really don't mind if Lucian sends you back. Just let him, please," she
begged with all her heart.
Amelia couldn't help but feel a bit of pity when she heard Shelly. Because of that, she had no choice
but to give in. "Fine," she said as she let out a big sigh. "But the both of you need to come with me,"
she said, glaring at Lucian as if to warn him to even think about saying no. He didn't, and the three of
them went ahead and sent Amelia home.
"Okay, I am at home now!" Amelia firmly said after they arrived at her place. Her tone was cold, and her
face was devoid of any kind of emotion.
"Good night, Amelia," Shelly said sweetly as she held on to Lucian's arm.
Looking at Shelly, Amelia forced a smile and said, "Thank you, Miss Shelly."
She entered and traversed the yard with her head down. Even after she closed the door, she didn't
dare look back. 'I never want to see Lucian again,' she thought, closing her eyes.
After a while, she heard Shelly say, "Stop looking! She's already closed the door!" Seeing that Lucian
was reluctant to leave, Shelly felt as if a knife was piercing her heart. "Do you want to be known as a
disloyal person?" she asked quietly, looking up at Lucian with eyes full of jealousy.
With a sneer, Lucian answered, "Compared to what your father did, this is nothing."
"You can have conflicts with my father in business! Heck, fight him to the death, I don't care! But
please, keep your marriage vows! Treat me as your wife!" Shelly responded, tears streaming down her
face.
Lucian looked down on the woman in front of her, but showed no compassion. "You know very well why
we we're married." A sneer was on his lips again. The woman was shocked, but he did not care about
her reaction—he was already preoccupied by the ancient tree in Amelia's courtyard. Even in the
darkness, he could still feel its existence. It was as if Amelia had always been by his side and that she
never went away.
"Even if we married each other for business, I am still your legal wife!" Shelly shouted, her voice
piercing through the darkness of their surroundings.
Amelia was still leaning on her door, shocked by what she had heard. Every scream and sob that came
out of Shelly sounded like warning alarms, and guilt was once again filling her up.
She stayed rooted on the spot she was in until she stopped hearing noise outside. Both heart and body
were so exhausted that she went straight to bed without even washing up. As soon as her head hit the
pillow, she fell asleep.
The next morning, Amelia woke up with a nasty headache. Slowly, she recalled everything that had
happened last night. "Did those really happen?" she whispered to herself, still awed by the events that
transpired. Soon, she got up and went to the kitchen to have coffee. There, she remembered that she
wasn't able to wash up last night, and so she quickly headed to the bathroom to take a bath.
As soon as she came out of the bathroom, her phone rang.
"Amelia?" the man on the other end of the line asked tentatively.
Amelia removed the phone from her ear and glanced at the screen to know who it was. 'Unregistered
number?' she thought, surprised. She then asked the person nervously, "Who are you?"
"Wow. You can't recognize my voice?" The man on the other end of the phone was obviously
disappointed, but he added, "It's Jasper, Amelia. I want to see you."
"Oh! Sorry," Amelia said, a little bit embarrassed. "Also, I don't have time to meet you, so that's another
thing I am sorry about." Her refusal came in with no hesitation.
She did not want to see him not only because of the slap, but also because she didn't want to bring any
trouble to herself.
Yolanda liked to make things hard for everyone on purpose. She loved to fight. Because of that, Amelia
had vowed never to cross her path or anyone close to her, especially Jasper.
"Amelia, I know that you are still mad at me, but there's a serious thing I need to talk to you about. So I
hope you can come back here to the Mo mansion," Jasper said, pleading.
"I am not some accessory to your plan, Jasper. I know you only called me because you need me,
nothing more, nothing less," she replied, annoyed. In the past, Jasper had easily influenced her,
leading her to do anything he wanted. 'But in the end, I never got anything in return,' she thought.
'Also, I think it's best that we don't have anything to do with each other now. I don't have to pretend to
find an excuse to reject him.'
"But dad is sick! Come back quickly! Please!" Jasper said anxiously.
This took Amelia by surprise. After a short silence, she asked quietly and seriously, "What? Father is
sick? Where is he? Let me talk to him."
Everything that had transpired between her and Jasper ruined her trust in him. She knew that he would
do anything to make her do whatever he wanted.
"Amelia," Vernon's voice suddenly came through the phone. "Just... come here. I have something very
important to tell you." Immediately after saying, he coughed incessantly.
Amelia felt her heart breaking into a million pieces. Now, she had no choice but to go back.
And since it wasn't too late in the day, she decided to go back at that very moment to see what was
going on.
Every time she came back to the Mo mansion, she would be full of disappointed and go back home.
But thinking of Vernon, she went back for safety.
"Tell me your address, I'll pick you up," Jasper said eagerly.
"No, thanks. I'll take a taxi instead." She didn't want Jasper to know where she lived. It didn't matter if
he wouldn't disturb her, he had no business knowing her address.
After an hour, Amelia's taxi arrived at the Mo family's house. Jasper was already waiting for her at the
mansion's gates. He was wearing a colorful shirt, and upon seeing her get off the car, he immediately
rushed to her. "Amelia!" he called out enthusiastically. "You've been sitting for a long time, haven't you?
You must be very tired. I'll get your bags!"
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