It was a quiet evening at SJ Garden. Shelly was wearing a beautiful, pink dress adorned with intricate lace. For the past half hour, she had been busy arranging a candlelight dinner for her and Lucian.
"Lily, get me the roses I had delivered from France!" she shouted, not looking up from the table.
Lily was standing close by.
There was something going in her mind as she stared coldly at Shelly.
Looking up, Shelly noticed that Lily had not moved an inch. "Hey! Are you deaf? Do I need to tell you twice? Bring me the roses that came in today!" Shelly shouted impatiently, glaringly angrily at Lily.
"Ah.. Y-yes, I'll be right back!" Lilt stammered, finally coming back to her senses. Sighing begrudgingly to herself, she went downstairs to get the roses.
Ever since Shelly moved in at SJ Garden, Lily was shouted at nearly every day. At some point, she already wanted to quit her job. However, Lucian had told her that he was working on getting Amelia back soon. That was enough reason for Lily to endure Shelly for the meantime and keep working at SJ Garden.
Lily was not a complainer. Even though Shelly constantly scolded her, she did not want to tell Lucian about it. After all, Lucian was already busy and preoccupied with work.
Since Shelly arrived, she had been sleeping in the guest room. With all her might, she tried to get closer to him -- calling him honey and generally being a loving wife. But no matter what she did, Lucian never smiled at her, nor did he respond to her with the same amount of endearment.
Although the villa had gotten much livelier, it was really far from pleasant. 'It's as if Shelly's doing a solo performance around here,' Lily thought to herself resentfully.
Even Lucian tended to avoid Shelly as much as he could. Every night, he would intentionally come back from work after dinner so that he wouldn't have to eat with Shelly. Eventually, Shelly started making dinner at a later time. Lucian had no choice then but to eat outside just so that he could spend as little time as possible with Shelly, making her incredibly sad and disappointed.
'When will this woman realize that things will never go her way if she forces it too much?' Lily thought. The more Lucian rejected her, the more Shelly pushed even harder, trying everything she could possibly think of to be closer to him.
Now she even bought a bouquet of French roses to surprise Lucian.
With a cold glare, Lily couldn't help but think that the flowers might appall Lucian more than it would surprise him.
"Miss Shelly, it's almost time for dinner," Lily said, handing the roses to Shelly, "I have to go prepare. Call me if you need anything else."
Turning around, Shelly looked at Lily in indignation. "Excuse me? How many times have I told you? I'm Lucian's wife now! You should address me as Mrs. Shelly!"
"I..." Lily stammered. But in her heart, she was screaming, 'Mrs. Amelia is the real wife of Mr. Lucian!'
"And what exactly were you about to say just now?" Crossing her arms over her chest, Shelly glared unhappily at Lily.
"I... I was just thinking about how pretty the roses are!" Lily answered quickly. At this point, she just didn't want to argue with Shelly any longer.
"Damn.. What kind of servant did Lucian employ? How pathetic and stupid!" Shelly snorted. With that, Lily did not say another word, and went to the kitchen with her head down low.
Later that night, Lucian came home just in time for dinner. 'Ah! Mr. Lucian is early today!'
"Mr. Lucian... You are back." 'Did he come back home early for the candlelight dinner Shelly prepared?' Lily thought.
"Is dinner ready?" Lucian asked, loosening his silk tie.
"Yes! Dinner is ready!" Lily hurriedly said. It had been quite a long time since Lucian came to SJ Garden to have dinner.
Lucian paused and looked around. "Where is Miss Shelly?" he asked coldly.
"She..." Biting her lip, Lily thought whether or not she should tell him the truth. 'If Shelly's plan worked and Lucian was moved by her gesture, Mrs. Amelia might never get the chance to come back!'
"Is there something wrong?" Lucian asked, glancing up the staircase with his deep eyes.
"Miss Shelly is not feeling well today!" Lily lied hurriedly, "She said she didn't want to have dinner with you so that you wouldn't get sick as well. You should go eat now, Mr. Lucian. The food is starting to get cold!"
"She's sick?" Lucian casually asked. There was not much emotion or concern in his voice and expression. It was as if he was just asking for the sake of knowing.
It wasn't easy for Lily to lie. But she had to make up an excuse to avoid Lucian and Shelly from having an intimate moment together.
"It's not that serious. Mr. Lucian. If you're worried about it, you can go upstairs and check on her. What do you think?" Lily suggested tentatively.
"No need. Let's eat." After washing up a bit, Lucian sat at the dinner table and quietly enjoyed his meal.
Meanwhile, Lily stood close by. There was a smile of satisfaction on her face. Whenever she made dinner, Shelly would always find a way to insult or scold her. It came to a point that Lily would cook so many different dishes in the hopes that Shelly might like at least one. Lucian, on the other hand, never commented on her cooking, whether he liked it or not.
"Mr. Lucian, can I ask you something?" Lily asked in a low voice.
Raising his eyebrows, Lucian put down his chopsticks. "What do you want to ask me?" he inquired as he refilled his bowl with soup.
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