Chapter 23 Vernon Got Sick

"Since you want to protect her and her daughter, I have nothing else to say. Take care of yourself." All of a sudden, Amelia became cold and distant.

Just when she was about to turn to leave, Lucian grabbed onto her hand. Looking up, she met Lucian's deep eyes, making her cheeks flush a slight pink.

"I've called the doctor. He'll be here soon. Go wash up and get some rest. I'll be here." Lucian's voice had a calming effect to it, which put a little ease on Amelia's restless heart.

This man had played an important role just now in such a critical moment.

Amelia was full of gratitude.

After Amelia left, Lucian looked at Vernon, who was lying on the bed. "Why are you doing this?"

Vernon was frightened and guilty. Lucian saw through his intentions so he had no other choice but to speak out the truth. "Amelia was introverted and sensitive. But it didn't use to be like that. She used to be extroverted and lively. Ever since her mother passed away, Amelia changed. She didn't talk to me. She was indifferent to this family. After several years of being sick, her attitude towards me became better..."

"So all you're saying is that you're just trying to get her attention?" Lucian snorted and shook his head.

"Lucian, I'm relieved to see that you're treating my daughter so well," Vernon let out a contented sigh.

"Amelia still does not know about your real purpose just yet, but she will soon because she's no longer a child. You will never win her trust by pretending like this. What's more, it's really inappropriate for you to joke around with your own health," Lucian said flatly. He stood up and looked down on Vernon, "I've called your attending doctor. You can take a rest and I'll go talk to Amelia."

"Lucian, I know it's my fault. But can you promise me one thing? Please take good care of Amelia." There was shame in Vernon's eyes as he pleaded.

Hearing this, Lucian secretly felt surprised. He thought that Vernon was going to take advantage of his relationship with Amelia for business reasons — it turned out that he wanted Lucian to take care of his daughter.

When he heard these words, Lucian's heart trembled, and then the waves of guilt surged through him.

He couldn't help but realize how little he had cared about Amelia, and how coldly he even acted towards her.

"She is my wife. Don't worry." With or without the contract, Amelia was still really his wife. No matter what the circumstance, it was his obligation to take care of her.

Meanwhile, Amelia was cooking a small pot of porridge in the kitchen. Lucian came in, leaning against the door frame as he quietly watched Amelia for a few moments.

"Is that for your father?" Lucian asked. Walking over, he looked at the food Amelia was cooking over her shoulder.

Amelia nodded and then turned to ask, "Do you want some?"

It seemed as if Amelia was in a better mood right now.

Lucian was a little surprised. "That smells really good. You should cook more often in the future," he said with a smile.

With these words, Lucian turned around and left.

What did he mean? Amelia shook her head reluctantly. 'He doesn't really mean that,' she thought in her heart. 'He just wanted to have something to say.'

After the check-up, the doctor said that it was nothing serious, and was only probably caused by stress and emotional imbalances.

Hearing this, Amelia let out a breath of relief.

However, Amelia still couldn't help but feel uneasy. "Lucian," she said to him in a low voice, "I'm worried to leave him all by himself at night."Before she could continue, Yolanda's sharp voice suddenly came in. "Dad, whose luxury car is parked up front?"

Rolling her eyes, Amelia flashed a mocking smile at Lucian.

"I know how you feel, Amelia..." Vernon said in a whispered voice. A cough erupted from his chest. There was a reason why Vernon was worried that something bad might happen when Amelia saw Yolanda.

"I've endured that woman for over ten years. I think I can handle seeing her right now. Please just focus on getting better." Every time Amelia and Yolanda quarreled, Vernon always told Amelia to just leave her be, even if Yolanda was the one who always caused trouble.

There were clear and deep wrinkles on Vernon's forehead as his eyebrows tightly knitted together.

"What? Where's dad?" Yolanda asked from downstairs. "Jasper!" she called out, "Can you go check upstairs if my father is home or not? I don't want to climb the stairs."

The house as made out of wood, making it easy to hear everything that was going on inside. It was built by Vernon's own two hands. At that time, Amelia was only seven years old. While Vernon was responsible for building the house, Amelia's mother, Iris, was the one who decorated and made everything beautiful. But, over the years, the house had been a bit neglected and just looked old.

The house was still where it was, but it had changed, as well as the people who were inside.

Thinking about this, Amelia was filled with sadness and desolation.

That was why she seldom went back to the Mo mansion. She would rather live in the rental house to eat boxed lunches than stay at home to see Vernon.

On the other hand, she was able to see Jasper once in a while. Then again, she could no longer feel any warmth in the Mo family.

However, Sophia always denigrated her in front of Vernon,

blaming her for not keeping her chastity and living with other men at such a young age. Vernon always listened to Sophia and was extremely dissatisfied with what Amelia did.

There was the sound of footsteps going up the stairs. A tight frown appeared on Amelia's face. She knew that it was Jasper.

It was inevitable that this man from her past would keep showing up in her life.

There was still a bitterness in her heart that someone she loved had just walked out from her life like that. Memories of the good times she had with Jasper would occasionally flash in her mind.

Knock--- knock! "Dad, are you home?" he called out from the other side of the door.

Amelia stood up and opened the door without even raising her head. With her hand on the knob, she turned around and said to Lucian, "Since they're back now, we should head out."

Amelia didn't want to spend one second in the same room with Jasper, nor did she want to hear Yolanda's ear-piercing voice.

"Okay." With a smile, Lucian stood up and faced Vernon. "Take care of yourself. Just know that you can call me if you need anything."

Warmth surged through Amelia's heart when she heard Lucian say this to her father.

Amelia was not a vain woman. However, when she saw Jasper's surprised face, she threw her head up proudly and grabbed on to Lucian's arm. A smile beamed brightly on her face.

"Amelia," Jasper exclaimed. He looked around the room. "And Lucian. I just got here with Yolanda. Are you two leaving?" Jasper felt a little embarrassed. He looked at Amelia for a while and hesitantly looked back at Lucian, like a terrified subordinate reporting to his boss.

"Yes," Lucian said matter-of-factly.

Before leaving the room, Amelia turned around to look at her father one last time. "Dad, I made you some porridge. If you're alone at home tomorrow, please call me and I'll come over to make dinner for you."

Although she didn't really want to say this, she couldn't help herself because Vernon was still her father after all. As the saying goes, 'Blood runs thicker than water.'

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," Vernon replied with a faint smile.

Jasper couldn't tell what was going on. He walked over to Vernon's bedside, "Dad, I'll just see Amelia and Lucian out. I'll get back to you shortly."

After walking out of the room, Amelia wanted to let go of Lucian's hand, but found that Yolanda was looking at her unhappily. Seeing this, Amelia held on tighter.

Lucian noticed this and cast a sidelong glance at her. Looking up, he saw that Yolanda was at the foot of the steps. "Let's just leave quickly," he whispered.

With Jasper walking closely behind them, Lucian didn't say anything more.

"Oh, it's you, Mrs. Amelia! Look at the car outside. It's really cool!" As expected, before Amelia went downstairs, Yolanda started her annoying babble.

Amelia had gotten used to it and was ready to go out directly regardless of Yolanda's presence.

Seeing how Amelia completely ignored her, however, Yolanda's face turned into a bitter frown. "Not so fast, Amelia," she called out. "In case you don't know yet, I've taken your bedroom. I'm planning on turning it to a baby room actually. Just thought you should know."

"What did you say?" Amelia looked back, surprised and indignant.

"Although Jasper and I have found a place to stay after our wedding, we would still like to come back here in the future. You're now some rich guy's wife, aren't you? I don't think you'd mind giving up your shabby room." With her arms crossed over her chest, Yolanda looked so as if she was so disgusted at the thought of Amelia's old room.

Amelia held back her anger and said calmly, "You can get anything you want. I don't care. But there's no way you can have my room."

Amelia continued to walk towards the front door.

"Amelia, I'm still talking to you! Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you have Lucian by your side!" Yolanda's face changed. She suddenly became angry in a mocking tone. She stroked her belly with one hand, and pointed at Amelia's face with the other. In a domineering tone, she said, "You've married to Lucian. Anything in the Mo family is at my disposal!"

Looking at her cocky head, Amelia sneered, "Do you really think that you can become a member of this family just because bear its name?"

Ten years ago, Sophia brought Yolanda into the Mo family. At that time, Yolanda was still a member of the Che family. It was obvious that Yolanda couldn't wait to be recognized as a Mo and call Vernon her father. Since Amelia had seen and experienced the sour side to Yolanda's character, she found it difficult to accept Yolanda as a part of her family.

The first few months that Sophia was here, she was really as sweet as an angel. But afterwards, she started to get as lazy as a cat, and did nothing but play mahjong. Most of the time, Sophia was not at home, and so Amelia had to do most of the housework. Even when they hired Susan as their help, there were still so many other things Amelia had to do.

That was why Yolanda, who acted as a host, often laughed at her, saying that Amelia was even inferior to the servants in the Mo family.

It was apparent on the look on Yolanda's face that Amelia's words had hit her hard.

She gritted her teeth, not expecting that Amelia would have the guts to snap back at her like that.