Chapter 17 Friendship
"Mrs. Amelia, have a good time!" A proud smile appeared on Lucian''s face. He turned the steering
wheel and drove off.
After Lucian left, Amelia heaved a sigh of relief. When she was waiting for the car, she heard people
talking.
"That woman''s such a weirdo. I don''t know what she''s doing just screaming out here in the streets!" a
passerbymented snidely.
"That man is trash! He had an affair while his wife was pregnant. Can you imagine..." another passerby
said, shaking his head as he spoke.
"The woman''s probably pregnant and the man doesn''t want to marry her," another chimed in.
"You''re right. Men nowadays just want to have fun. But the minute the responsibilitiese rolling in,
they''re gone!" The other nodded in agreement.
"..."
While they were talking about shotgun marriages, Amelia couldn''t help but be reminded of Jasper and
Ynda. But how could Jasper have done that to Ynda?
It was like they were dealing with one problem after another. Jasper only betrayed Amelia because he
knew how much she trusted him. Meanwhile, Ynda wasn''t really the type of person to take anyone''s
shit. She''d fight tooth and nail for what she wanted. Naturally, she''d be resentful toward any other
women Jasper used to be involved with.
"What''s even more unbelievable is that the man used to date that woman''s younger sister first then for
some reason, they broke up and the man ended up with that crazy woman..."
Amelia was only able to catch thest few things the woman had said as she was too absent-minded.
She looked over in astonishment and wondered to herself, ''This is such a weird coincidence! Are they
talking about Jasper and Ynda?''
"Yeah, that woman''s crazy. Did you see how scared the man was of her?"
All signs were pointing to Ynda. It seemed as if they were really talking about her.
Amelia didn''t mean to overhear any of this. After all, it''s not like she still had anything to do with them.
She just thought how unfortunate her luck was for her to have to know someone like Ynda.
Her heart sank as she thought of how Jasper had cheated on her again.
She was 25 years old when she thought she''d finally had things figured out. Things were falling into
ce and she was happy for the first time in her life until Jasper destroyed everything.
When she arrived at the ce where Courtney worked, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for
all the taunting.
"Courtney, I''d like to order one mango milk tea please," Amelia called as soon as she came into the
store.
Upon hearing the voice of Amelia, Courtney turned around with delight. She however pursed her lips
and said yfully, "Amelia, what''s up? Looks like my little store is going to be popr very soon! I''m
going to be rich!"
Amelia smiled to herself and said, "Oh I have no doubt! Do you think you can handle it though?"
"Hmf!" Courtney murmured, rolling her eyes at Amelia.
Amelia found a ce to sit down and then said aggrievedly, "I don''t have to get the mango milk tea but
I''d like a ss of water please."
Courtney red at her and proceeded to make her an order of mango milk tea.
"You didn''t tell me you wereing. If you''d brought your rich husband, I would have been so
embarrassed!" Courtney looked outside to check if a fancy car was parked outside. She was relieved to
find it empty. Still, she had to tease Amelia.
"We''re two different people you know. I''m still the same person you know. I''m not changing. If you don''t
want to be my friend then fine!" Amelia said seriously before she began to drink her mango milk tea.
"Amelia, when did you be so shameless?" Courtney said rudely. She stood up and grabbed a
newspaper. She pointed at a photo on the paper and said angrily, "Look! Look how many rumored
girlfriends Lucian has!"
Amelia turned her attention to the newspaper that Courtney was holding. It was a photo of Lucian
surrounded by beautiful and famous women. She''d never seen this photo before but she remained
calm. She said simply, "Well, like you said, they''re just rumors."
After all, her marriage with Lucian was just a deal. She didn''t need to be jealous.
"Amelia, you''re being blinded by love again!" Amelia was acting so nonchnt and so unaffected.
Courtney wasn''t letting it go. She pointed a finger at Lucian''s face on the paper and said rather
passionately, "He dates a new woman every week! If that''s fine for you then go ahead but Amelia,
Lucian isn''t Jasper. There are much bigger consequences to being cheated on by someone like
Lucian."
Courtney was just worried that if Lucian dumped Amelia, Amelia would never find another man to look
at her.
"Don''t worry about me, Courtney. I know what I''m doing it." While she was grateful that Courtney was
concerned about her, it''s not like she could do something about it. She''d already agreed to be in a fake
marriage with Lucian and until Lucian decided it was over, she was helpless. Besides being a little
bossy, Lucian was good to her. He didn''t hurt her or anything like that. As she thought of this, she
couldn''t help but smile and blurt out, "You know I only came to see you because he asked me to. He
just didn''t want me to get bored at home."
Amelia knew that there was a chance that what she said wouldn''t sit well with Courtney. However, she
knew that she had to say something to defend Lucian to at least get Courtney off her back.
"Oh, Mrs. Amelia, are you truly happy?" Courtney said disdainfully, pursing her lips.
Amelia smiled and pouted as if she was a spoiled child. "All right, all right. I know you''re just worried
about me since you''re my best friend but you don''t really have to, I''m fine," she said.
"Well, if I wasn''tte that night then maybe..." Courtney said in a guilty tone, eyebrows knitted together.
"It''s not your fault! This has nothing to do with you. Besides, Lucian is good to me. He didn''t hurt me..."
Amelia said, her voice trailing off.
"You mean... He didn''t take advantage of you?" Courtney said in disbelief.
"Courtney, what were you thinking?" Amelia finally understood why Courtney was so hostile to Lucian.
No wonder she was so concerned about Amelia.
Courtney still seemed to be in disbelief. She asked, "Why did you agree to marry him if he didn''t do
anything to you? Don''t tell it was love at first sight! Or did you marry him for his wealth and power?"
Content bel0ngs to N?vel(D)r/a/ma.Org.
Courtney''s words hit her hard. They''d known each other since middle school. That was more than ten
years of friendship. If anyone knew her, it was Courtney.
"I..." Amelia stuttered. She didn''t know how to answer.
"Are you using Lucian to get over Jasper?" Courtney guessed hesitantly, gazing back at Amelia who
was already flushing in embarrassment.
Besides the photos that Lucian had of her, it was true that she agreed to the deal because she wanted
to move on from Jasper and forget the hurt that he had caused her.
Amelia had no choice but to nod her head in response to Courtney''s question.
"Oh please!" Courtney was visibly irritated. She raised her voice, "Jasper''s a bastard! I can''t imagine
how he stands Ynda!"
"Enough, Courtney. Ynda''s already married to Jasper with a child on the way. We should just let
them be. We know their marriage is going to be a loveless one. You should congratte me for
escaping that," Amelia said simply, shing an easy smile.
Courtney stared at Amelia for a while before asking carefully, "What about Lucian? Is Lucian your true
love?"
That was a sharp question.
Amelia opened her mouth wide and answered, "Well, we''ll see."
She thought this answer would finally shut Courtney up but to her surprise, Courtney gritted her teeth
and said angrily, "When are you ever going to be more careful? After getting mistreated by your
stepmother and being cheated on by Jasper, you should be smarter than this! Haven''t you learned
anything? Don''t youe crying to me about Lucian!"
It was reasonable for Courtney to worry about her. She had witnessed how Amelia was treated by the
Mo family over the years and sometimes, she''d even defend her.
But Amelia was tired of crying because she didn''t want to get hurt by anyone anymore. So when she
found out about Ynda and Jasper, she was definitely hurt but she was quickly able to get over it.
Even to her, that was a surprise.
"By the way, how are things going between you and Kent?" Kent was a ssmate of theirs back in
junior high. When they graduated, Kent began pursuing Courtney and they did get along quite well.
Kent was a good match to Courtney''s tendency to go wayward.
"What about it?" Courtney mumbled mindlessly. She really didn''t like talking about Kent.
Looking at her face, Amelia asked in concern, "Don''t tell me you broke up with him."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Courtney said defensively then she continued to exin, "We''re
fine but we''ve been fighting a lottely. The night you asked me out to drink, I was in a bad mood. I was
going to wait for you in the bar after hanging up the phone but I didn''t expect that Kent would show
up..."
"Did you two have a fight?" It wasn''t like them to fight like that. Courtney would start a fight and by the
end of the day, Kent would apologize to Courtney. It had been almost a week since that night at the bar.
Amelia trembled at the thought of this. She and Lucian had gotten married within a week of meeting
each other.
"If we could fight, that would be way better!" Courtney sighed as she continued, "It''s all my father''s
fault. He doesn''t approve of my rtionship with Kent. He says Kent doesn''te from a rich family
and if I end up with him, I''m just going to have a hard life. He also said that if I married Kent, he would
ban me from evering home..."
Tears began to well up in her eyes.
Amelia sighed to herself upon hearing this.