When I Was a Wallflower (Leo and Amelie) novel Chapter 10

Truthfully, Amelie was quite surprised to stumble upon Leo here. Still, out of courtesy, she smiled and said, “Mr. Alston, you’re in the wrong place. This is the women’s bathroom. The men’s bathroom is next door.” “I don’t care whether you’re hooking up with another man, but you will not take Bria with you! She’s my daughter! Return her to the Alston Residence at once!” Leo habitually commanded her to do his bidding. After she heard his rude demands, the polite smile she initially had quickly melted away as she sneered, “Your daughter? Mr. Alston, do you know the time I gave birth to Bria? Was Bria born in the morning or the afternoon? And the weather on the day she was born. Was it cloudy or sunny that day? Also, do you even know what we went through after her birth?” In an instant, her pointed questions shut him up. He was utterly stumped and unable to answer any of her questions. After I married Amelie, I spent more time in the company. In fact, I spent two-thirds of my time in the entire year on business trips. The only thing I remembered was that Amelie had already given birth to Bria by the time I returned home from my trip. Amelie looked down, disappointed by Leo’s reaction. I once read the introduction of a novel about a woman who had gone through her pregnancy alone, went for check-ups alone, and even gave birth alone. At that time, I felt that the female lead character in the novel was very pitiful. It wasn’t until I bled profusely during childbirth to the point that I had to sign a notice of critical illness for Bria that I realized the scenario described in the book was only one-tenth of what I had endured. For that reason, ever since he didn’t pick up my distressed calls, I deliberately kept this matter hidden from him. So what if I told him the truth? He would probably just ridicule and mock me anyway, saying everything that happened to me was due to my scheming against him and my karma for ruining his relationship with Elyse. She hid away the grief in her heart as she raised her head and gave him a fierce smile. “Don’t worry, Mr. Alston. Bria is the apple of my eye. So naturally, I won’t make her suffer the same fate as me. I won’t let anyone think she’s of lowly birth. Instead, I will provide her a life that’s filled with utter dignity!” Immediately after she finished saying her piece, she bypassed him and stormed out of the bathroom. The following days were much calmer. After Blake’s return, he began his e-commerce live-streaming activity every day. He earned himself a considerable fanbase thanks to his exceptional temperament and reputation as a figure skating champion. His live stream was so successful that one wouldn’t think the staff members at the Starlight Media were boastful if they told them that the company was profiting greatly every single day. Bria even transformed into Blake’s biggest fan. She would follow him around like a duckling. This made Jamie so jealous that he, too, tried his best to win Bria’s favor. Bria was totally overjoyed to be able to hang around with these two handsome guys daily. On the other hand, Amelie had a lot of free time since she didn’t have to look after Bria all the time. Hence, Julia came knocking early in the morning and took her out on a shopping spree. Since Julia was an influential lady boss in the e-commerce live-streaming industry, everyone in the store instantly recognized her the moment she entered. The staff wasted no time gathering around her, wishing they could persuade her to try on all the clothes in the store. Unlike Julia, Amelie was used to keeping a low profile. She watched as everyone gathered around Julia and simply exited the store quietly. Then, she randomly walked into another store. Soon, she had her eyes on a pink dress. Although the dress had a simple and minimalistic design, it was both chic and beautiful. She immediately took the dress, approached a staff member, and said politely, “Please wrap it up for me.” “Right away, Miss.” The staff wasted no time as she bagged the dress. “Lookie here! Isn’t this the especially tough Amelie?” Suddenly, a piercing and sarcastic voice sounded from outside the boutique. Amelie swiveled her head toward the voice in slight annoyance and saw a woman walking into the store with several people in tow. The instant she laid her eyes on the woman, she could feel the woman’s glares stabbing her like daggers. The woman had her lips curled into a smirk as she sized Amelie up with her eyes filled with contempt and disdain. This person was none other than Amelie’s former sister-in-law, Jodie. Jodie had always looked down on her. Hence, when she saw the dress in the staff’s hand, she snorted derisively, “With that little capability of yours, you still dare to shop for clothes at a store such as this? Do you even know how expensive the clothes here are?” “It’s not that expensive,” Amelie retorted indifferently. Most of the clothes here only cost thousands of dollars. This amount of money is nothing to me. “Ha! How boastful! From what I see: you knew precisely that I would come here to shop and specifically waited for me here. Instead, you want me to pay for you and, simultaneously, complain about how broke you are in the hopes that I will bring you back to the Alston Residence,” Jodie said with absolute certainty. From Jodie’s point of view, this was the sole possibility that Amelie would show up here in this store. That was because she knew that Amelie had left the Alston Residence without taking a single cent and was currently unemployed. “How about you get down on your knees and beg me? Who knows? I might think about it.” With that, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat before Amelie imperiously. Her eyes gleamed with malicious intent as she tilted her head arrogantly at Amelie. In truth, Jodie never thought of allowing Amelie to return to the Alston Residence at all. Unfortunately, she was used to taking her frustrations out on Amelie. Therefore, she would feel as though ants were crawling under her skin if she didn’t get to bully Amelie upon encountering her. At this moment, Jodie’s heart was filled with immense pride, and she was so confident that Amelie would definitely allow herself to be humiliated just for a chance to return to the Alston Residence. Although her marriage with Leo brought Amelie nothing but misfortune, it also gave her a chance to see the true colors of the Alston Family. As they had lived under the same roof for the past four years, she certainly knew what Jodie had in mind, and she couldn’t help but smile faintly. Back then, I would roll over when Jolly started her daily ‘Amelie Hunting’ solely because I didn’t want to distract and trouble Leo with such trivial matters. But now that we have divorced, why should I continue playing meek little lamb? She dismissed Jodie entirely as she went straight to the counter and said calmly, “Check this out for me, please.” How dare Amelie ignore me?! The situation angered Jodie so much that it made her blood boil. She rudely grabbed the dress from the staff and slammed it on the counter. “I’m buying this dress!” “I got my hands on it first,” Amelie reminded her coldly. Regardless, Jodie was very much used to having her needs catered to. “So what? I’m the heiress of the Alstons. Not only am I able to buy this piece of dress, but it also won’t be a problem even if I buy this entire store!” Then, she ordered in an insufferably arrogant manner, “Can a staff member of this store immediately come over here and chase this penurious woman out?!” “Oh, how arrogant. Why don’t you buy this store before issuing such an order?” Julia’s voice cut in before Amelie could say another word. She held her small bag in her arms and sashayed over confidently. Her eyes were filled with distaste toward Jodie. At first, Jodie merely made that statement because she just wanted to boast of her wealth before Amelie. Nonetheless, now that Julia had made a bet with her, her face momentarily crimsoned with embarrassment. “This is a family matter. Miss White, you’d be better off not meddling.” Julia was such a popular figure that Jodie naturally knew who she was. Hence, she couldn’t help reminding Julia. Julia sneered, “Amy is the only member of her family. Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you call yourself her family! Besides, she’s my best friend. So, Miss Alston, her business is my business!” Jodie immediately looked at Julia in disbelief. What’s happening? I wholeheartedly thought that Julia was simply standing up for the weak. But, in the end, she turns out to be Amelie’s best friend… How is this possible? Amelie is merely the daughter of a poverty-stricken shoemaker. How could she know Julia? Julia couldn’t care less about what Jodie was thinking. She made her way toward the counter, threw a black card, and announced generously, “I’m willing to offer twice the price to buy this store.” Everyone instantly became speechless at her words. Twice the price?! That’s like tens of millions! At that point, everyone was so shocked by Julia’s generosity that they didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly for fear of attracting her attention. “I’m afraid I may not be able to sell this store to you, but Miss White, we are able to carry out any orders you have in mind.” The store manager was a shrewd person. She had already picked up on the fact that Julia was trying to get even with Jodie. Julia curled her lips in a satisfied smile at the manager’s words. Then, she cast a glance at Jodie and spoke slowly…