There was a long silence after Amelia heard it all.
She never expected that there were so many sorrows that hid behind the seemingly carefree smile of Michael.
The complexity of their family made his life feel like a prisoner.
He never meant to take advantage of Lucian, but he wanted to make a good impression in A City and gain the recognition of his family by using his relationship with Lucian.
Michael's mother came from a big family in A City. She met a foreign boyfriend when she studied abroad, but the members of the family were strongly against her marriage. Thus, Michael's mother had to give up her family and elope with her boyfriend abroad.
Even after Michael was born, his mother's family still held a grudge against his mother marrying a foreigner.
Two years ago, Michael's father died of an illness. His mother decided to go back to her family.
Although his mother's family had accepted Michael, they were still not convinced that it was a good idea to hand the family business over to him. Thus, they decided to give him a difficult performance test. If he failed the test, he would be separated from his mother.
In order to obtain more resources, Michael had to take advantage of his friendship with Lucian.
When Sasha found out about it, she offered to become Michael's girlfriend and promised to help him obtain all the resources that he needed from Lucian.
"So Sasha came here to play the role of Michael's lover?" At first, Amelia felt sorry for Sasha. But now that she learned what really happened, she was no longer sure how she felt about her. She believed that Sasha was prepared to do whatever was necessary in order to get what she wanted no matter how despicable it was.
"Is it fate when two people are willing to accept each other?" Lucian had a beautiful vision for them.
It reminded Amelia of the beach where she met Michael for the first time. She suddenly realized that it w
ad no idea what to make of it.
Nicholas' legs had gotten worse and it was very serious. The doctor came back to check on him and discovered that he didn't get better after taking medicine.
The servant brought a basin of hot water that Amelia made useful. Amelia briefly soaked a small towel in the basin and then squeezed the excess water off. She then wiped Nicholas' forehead with the warm towel.
"Is that you Amelia? What brings you here?" Nicholas opened his eyes when he felt the soothing effect of the warm towel on his forehead. He was surprised to see that it was Amelia who took care of him. His twisted face suddenly brightened up with a smile.
"Dad stop talking. It might make you even more uncomfortable." The discomfort in Nicholas' face made Amelia feel heartbroken. She felt pity for him and wanted to do everything she could to ease his pain.
She used to like rainy days, but after seeing how much pain rainy days had brought to Nicholas, she felt that she didn't like rainy days anymore.
"It's okay. I'm glad to see you," Nicholas said with effort. He had difficulty speaking and his voice sounded dryer than before.
Although she badly wanted to confirm the story of the maid. She refrained herself from doing it to avoid getting Nicholas overexcited.
Lucian arrived at dusk.
Amelia never told Lucian about Nicholas' accident that morning and how his legs got worse. Lucian found out about it from Lily.
Fortunately, the pain in Nicholas' legs eased after dinner. Amelia and Lucian returned to the SJ Garden shortly after dinner.
"Achoo!" Amelia sneezed almost as soon as she got into the car.
Lucian turned to her with a worried look and asked, "Do you have a cold?"
Amelia wiped her nose with tissue. Her eyes looked watery and her nose was slightly red. She turned to Lucian with a slight smile and shook her head. "My body is not that weak. Don't be nervous," she replied with a smile.