Chapter 21 Got Slapped

"Got it." "Get the files ready and if you have any questions, direct them to Eric."

With that, Lucian left the office.

'Don't be so cocky!' Amelia frowned in disgust.

"Mrs. Amelia... Er, Amelia. Here are the documents for the meeting later. Please arrange these and prepare the conference room while you're at it. This is a major meeting of the shareholders. This is going to happen quite a lot so it's better if you're there today," Eric explained patiently.

Amelia had already prepared everything. She was just about to sit back and relax when she saw Fannie and Nicholas coming towards her.

'Right. Eric said that the meeting's for the shareholders. Of course, they're going to be here,' Amelia thought inwardly.

Fannie had already heard that Amelia was working in the Zhan Group. Amelia just didn't expect to see Fannie on her first day!

Amelia stood in the middle of the corridor. She just stood there, anticipating the disaster that she knew was about to come.

The floor was so shiny that it reflected her own shadow. When she saw another shadow nearing towards her, she balled her hands into fists out of nervousness, bracing herself for what Fannie was going to say to her.

"What are you doing here?" Fannie said spitefully. She was wearing a rose-colored wool coat and expensive-looking jewelry. She looked absolutely divine. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about her personality.

"Don't talk to her like that, aunt. I'm not surprised she's here. She's Lucian's wife, remember?" Shelly chimed in as she looped her arm around Fannie's. She shot Amelia a glare, her tone obviously mocking her.

"What? Has Lucian given her shares of the Zhan Group?" Fannie stared at Amelia in shock and disdain.

"Well, don't be so rude, Fannie. This is the Zhan Group. This isn't the place for this. What a shame, huh?" Nicholas said. Amelia really didn't care that they were mad at her.

"Nicholas, you shouldn't have indulged your son. Now look what you did! This is a mess!" Fannie wasn't going to let Amelia go. She strode towards her, lifted her hand, and slapped her across the face. Then she said in a threatening tone, "If you don't stay away from the Zhan Group, I'll make sure you regret it!"

Before Amelia could even realize what was happening, she heard a buzzing sound ring in her ears. Then her head went blank. The next thing she knew, her face was already burning and slightly swelling.

"Fannie, why did you hit her?" Nicholas looked so angry that he shook his cane to show his frustration. He couldn't stop Fannie since he was in a wheel chair and she was too fast for him.

"I'm going to do whatever the hell I want. What are you going to do about it?" When she finished speaking, she raised her hand in an attempt to slap Amelia again.

However, this time, she failed.

"Ma'am, I know you love your son very much so I'm going to let go of the fact that you slapped me but I'm not going to let you do it again for the second time around," Amelia said calmly as she gripped Fannie's wrist.

Fannie shook off her hand and said angrily, "Shelly, get Lucian here!"

"No need," Lucian piped in, his voice cold.

"Lucian!" Shelly shouted in surprise as she excitedly ran towards him.

"Lucian, you came just in time. This woman was so disrespectful. She hurt my hand! How could she call herself a Zhan when she hurts her own family?" Fannie immediately complained.

"I don't know if she does call herself a Zhan but one thing's for sure, she's my wife!" Lucian said as he walked over to Amelia's side and slipped an arm around her. He then said to her in a low voice, "Why aren't you standing up for yourself?"

Did he really want her to fight back against his own mother?

Fannie grew speechless after Lucian defended Amelia. She glared at Amelia and her face was white as a sheet. Shelly too was glaring at Amelia rather resentfully.

"Mr. Lucian, the shareholders have arrived," Eric reminded him in a low voice.

The only way one could get to the conference room was the hallway where they were all standing. Fannie was standing behind Nicholas now.

"Take Mrs. Amelia to the infirmary and have her examined," Lucian ordered as he glanced at Amelia's swollen face.

"No, thanks. I'm fine. I can handle it," Amelia said as she rushed to the bathroom. She just wanted to be alone right now.

A sad look seemed to appear on Lucian's face as he watched Amelia rush off.

"How rude! Her husband's parents are here and she's just taking off like that?" Shelly commented harshly as soon as Amelia had left.

"Shelly, this is the general shareholder's meeting which means you're not allowed to enter," Lucian said as soon as they reached the door of the conference room. He turned to block Shelly from enteri

ng who was following behind him.

Shelly frowned and said, "Lucian, just let me stay! I can be your personal assistant. I promise I won't make any trouble."

"I don't like it when people are unreasonable," Lucian said coldly. He wasn't going to let her in no matter what.

Shelly pouted. Although she wanted to stay in the meeting room, she knew that Lucian wouldn't change his mind so she had no choice but to agree, "Okay, fine. I'm going out."

In the bathroom.

Amelia stared at herself in the mirror for a long time, covering her face with one hand. She didn't move until she heard a sarcastic voice from behind. She didn't look bothered though. Instead, she looked calm.

"Boo-hoo! How sad!"

Shelly sneered. She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled triumphantly.

She was still mad from how Lucian had treated her so she was taking her anger out on Amelia.

Amelia turned the faucet on to drown out Shelly's voice.

"Don't act like you're some pure and innocent girl, Amelia. I know exactly what you're capable of and I'm perfectly capable of doing the same. Don't underestimate me," Shelly said as she reached over to turn off the faucet. She was wearing sky-high heels and a tight dress that showed off her sexy figure. Her eyes were full of contempt as she glared at Amelia.

However, dressing as such in the winter wasn't exactly logical which was why she looked more like a prostitute than someone who came from a rich family.

"Go ahead. Give it your best show." With that, Amelia turned to leave.

She and Lucian were just acting. She didn't care about Shelly and she really didn't want to waste any more time talking to her.

However, Shelly didn't seem to want to let her go. She didn't really want to believe that Amelia was just going to leave her like that so she blocked Amelia's path and said, "You know, if you're worried about money, I can pay you double as long as you leave Lucian." Her tone was spiteful as she spoke.

Amelia extremely despised people like Shelly—they think that just because they were rich and powerful, they could do whatever they wanted. So she said, "It's not like I'm running after Lucian, you know. He's the one who won't let me go."

She was only saying the truth but Shelly seemed to be provoked.

"Wow. Are you telling me that Lucian's just that crazy over you?" Shelly said maliciously, her eyes filled with envy.

"Miss Shelly, I suggest you talk to Lucian about this, not me. You're just wasting your time arguing with me." Amelia had seen her nonsense before. It would only get more and more chaotic if she continued the talk. In addition to that, her face was already swollen so she really wasn't in the mood to talk.

"What do you mean?" Shelly thought that Amelia was bragging about her relationship with Lucian to her. She said, her tone sharp as knives, "Amelia, I don't think you can stand being Lucian's wife for so long. It's going to get harder and harder, you know."

Amelia smiled. "I hope so."

Amelia wanted to get out of her deal with Lucian as soon as possible so Shelly's words didn't really bother her or hurt her at all.

Seeing Amelia remained unfazed no matter what she said, Shelly groaned and turned to leave.

Amelia stood there in a daze for a long time. She didn't come to her senses until she heard a cold voice from behind.

"What are you thinking about?" After lingering for a while, Lucian concluded that Amelia was in a trance since she wasn't moving. He walked toward her and saw that half of her face was swollen. He frowned and asked, "Why didn't you go to the infirmary?"

She covered her face with her hands as if to try and stop him from looking.

The slap hurt but it was nothing compared to how harsh Fannie had spoken to her.

"Lucian, I don't know what I did in my previous life but I probably owed you big time there." As she gazed back at Lucian who was frowning, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Her words hit Lucian like a truck.

He couldn't shake off the feeling that he'd heard this line before. It was her. She'd said the same thing to him before, crying as the words left her mouth. However, unlike her, Amelia didn't say anything else. Like she didn't blame him. Still, he felt guilty.

The sudden change in Lucian's demeanor wasn't lost on Amelia. She figured she may have gone too far so she changed the topic and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be in the shareholder's meeting? What are you doing here?" Needless to say, they were both at the ladies' room.

'Yeah, what am I doing here? Why couldn't I focus on the meeting? Was it because I was worrying about Amelia?'

These questions filled Lucian's mind.

He thought he was going crazy because he couldn't stop thinking about Amelia during the meeting.