When I Was a Wallflower (Leo and Amelie) novel Chapter 8

Meanwhile, Ashton, who never joined in the conversation between the two as he was playing cards on his mobile phone, glanced over. “Toby, please. Why do you see every woman as Amelie?” Ashton had made the same remark the last time Toby saw the dancer within the sea of dancers. In fact, Ashton would show apparent signs of distaste every time someone mentioned Amelie’s name. Since Leo was already in a bad mood in the first place, Toby and Ashton weren’t much of a help in making him feel better with them constantly talking about his ex-wife. Eventually. he could no longer bear sitting and listening to the two as he rose to his feet and walked out of the private dining room. Finally, the one-hour-long live stream ended. However, Amelie and Bria were still riding the high of their successful stream. After Bria removed the little fox mask, she blinked her bright eyes and looked at Amelie as she said, “Mommy, it’s my first time seeing you smile so happily. You look so pretty when you smile!” When she heard that, she was momentarily stunned. Yeah. After four years of marriage, I almost forgot how to put on a genuine smile. Still, she pinched Briar’s adorable chubby cheeks as she praised, “You’re amazing too. I never knew you could dance so well.” Just as Bria was fascinated by her, Amelie, too, was astonished by Bria’s performance today. Bria looked down at her words and sheepishly said, “Actually, I have always liked dancing, but I also know Grandma and Aunt Jodie dislike it. I am afraid that it will annoy them, and they will, in turn, scold you, so…” Tears instantly welled up in her eyes when she heard Bria’s answer. So that’s the reason! After getting married, I have been living with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Never once did we move out of the house. I’ve always remembered that Bria would move her body to the music within a few months of her birth, and when she reached 1 or 2 years old, she would dance away and even choreograph her own dance moves. But for some reason, she became less fond of dancing as time went on. Initially, Amelie thought that Bria just didn’t like dancing anymore. Hence, never once did it cross her mind that Bria did it out of fear that Jodie and Melissa would scold her. A sense of guilt surged within her. Once again, she hugged Bria tightly and said, “Don’t worry, Bria. You can dance as much as you want in the future. You no longer have to worry about anything else. Also, there’s one more thing that I have to tell you. We will no longer live at Grandma’s house. Your father and I have separated too. A-Are you willing to leave them and stay with me?” Since she didn’t discuss with Bria about the divorce, she was highly uneasy at this moment. “Can I really stop staying at Grandma’s house?” Bria was merely stunned for a moment, and a hint of joy immediately surfaced on her face as she cheered, “Hurray!” “Bria, you don’t want to… stay there either?” Amelie asked, and she was somewhat surprised by her response. “I don’t like staying there.” Bria shook her head without thinking twice. “Grandma and Aunt Jodie isn’t fond of you and me, so I dislike them too!” Alas, her statement only aroused Amelie’s deeper sense of guilt. Due to the fact that Amelie’s father only worked as a shoemaker, the Alstons always felt that her family background wasn’t as prestigious as theirs. So they constantly gave her an attitude, and as a result, they were prejudiced against Bria too. Now, three years had passed since Bria was born, yet her existence was completely kept hidden from the outside world. Perhaps in the eyes of the Alstons, Amelie giving birth to the family’s descendants was a disgrace and a stain on their prestigious lineage. Amelie couldn’t help but think, Will everything turn out differently if I hadn’t made such an impulsive decision back then and secretly given birth to Bria and raised her by myself later after I found out I was pregnant? After they ended the live stream, Julia told her that the studio apartment she would stay in was already vacant and ready for her to move in. Hence, Amelie took Bria to the apartment she bought before marriage. Although she didn’t come from a wealthy family, she made a lot of money through live streams. She bought this studio apartment with the money she earned from live streams. “Hi, Master, my name is Leony, and I’m your most loyal, intelligent steward. Just give me the order if you have anything that you wish me to do for you. I will definitely work extremely hard to serve you.” A respectful and enthusiastic voice sounded from inside as soon as she opened the door. She couldn’t help but chuckle, “Julia, are you an idiot? I left that house just so I could completely forget about him. Why did you program the smart home system to have the same name and even share the same voice as Leo?” “You were wronged so much while living in his house. Since you can’t get them to compensate you in hard cash, the least you can do is to compensate you in terms of mental state. So let me tell you: not only did I program the system to talk in that b*stard’s voice, but I also inserted his mother and sister’s voices in the system too. So you can switch between their voices and order them around as much as you like whenever you feel upset.” No one knew about Amelie’s pain and grievances for the past four years better than Julia. Likewise, she was also the most outraged by the injustice that Amelie had suffered. Still, Amelie accepted her goodwill and gave her an ‘I don’t know what to do with you’ eye roll as she led Bria into the house. Everything in the new house sparked Bria’s curiosity, especially when she saw she even had her own little room that was painted pink and filled with beautiful lace dolls. Bria joyfully ran to her own little heaven to play, whereas Amelie and Julia were at the coffee table. They were browsing through their phones while sipping on the newly bought tea. “Say: you own so many villas, yet why did you choose this apartment? Don’t you think it’s too small?” Nonetheless, Amelie didn’t care about the size of her home. As she swept her gaze at the house, she said, “I think it’s better to live in a less spacious house. Then, at least, it won’t look so empty.” After she had lived in the Alston Residence for four years, it had made her sick and tired of living in a house with an empty and uninviting vibe. “Besides, I bought this place before I got married. I just want to go back to being me.” Initially, tears almost welled up in Julia’s eyes because of her words. But that sadness was bulldozed over by overwhelming joy when she heard Amelie say that she wanted to return to her former self. “That’s the spirit.” As the two talked, they started scrolling their phones out of occupational habit. The popularity of the news about Jamie and Amelie had yet to subside, making Julia beam with happiness from time to time as she browsed through her mobile phone. “Everyone seems to be quite in favor of you two being together. In my opinion, Jamie is much better than that sc*mbag Leo.” “I can’t deny that Jamie is a good guy, but you can’t randomly matchmake us. I just want to live a happy life with Bria. I don’t wish to talk about love right now.” Falling in love with Leo alone was torture enough to last her for a lifetime. So, the current Amelie no longer held hope for love. “Damn!” Two were chatting when Julia suddenly slammed her hand on the coffee table, causing the teacup to move away from its saucer. “Leo is absolutely the trashiest guy I’d ever seen! You two have just divorced, yet he’s already planning to have an engagement with Elyse?! Did he not learn any lesson after getting cheated on by her back then?! He’s planning to let himself constantly get cheated on for the rest of his life?!” Amelie looked over upon hearing Julie’s outraged cries and saw the post on Elyse’s Facebook page. There was a photo attached, and in the image, Elyse’s face was lit up with joy as her fingers intertwined with another person. Even though the other person’s face wasn’t revealed in the photo, Amelie still recognized the red mole on the person’s middle finger. It’s Leo! The words in the caption clearly stood out as they stated. ‘The season of love has arrived. A season that’s suitable for engagement.’ Amelie merely glanced at the picture and smiled faintly as she said, “They are now just passers-by to me. It’s none of my business whether they want to get engaged or get married.” After that, she looked away and didn’t bother taking a second look. “Still, I’m very upset! If you hadn’t stood up for him back then, Leo would have been humiliated long ago, and the Alston Corporation would have suffered from downfall too!” In a fit of anger, Julia kept hitting the table hard, creating a loud noise. “Not only is he ungrateful to you, but he also ignored you! I know you won’t make a fuss about these things, but what’s the meaning of him making such an official announcement about him being together with Elyse? Isn’t that the same as telling you that everything you did was superfluous and you had no one but yourself to blame for all the grievances you suffered?” “That’s precisely the thing that’s running in his mind,” Amelie sighed, already accepting reality as it is. “F*ck! What a b*stard!” Julia grabbed her teaspoon and scratched it against the coffee table, completely imagining it as Leo. “It’s okay if you lose in terms of love, but we can’t just sit here and let him look down at you. Since he sees you as a vile woman he can trample on at will; we should also come up with something to suffocate him! How about we call in our mutuals, Blakey, this time? He definitely can crush Leo with his invincible noble demeanor!” Julia quickly decided and picked up her mobile phone to make a call. “Please stop coming up with crazy ideas.” Amelie feared that Julia would think of some weird plans. “You have already involved me in scandals with two men this month. Those who don’t know me will really think I’m a flirtatious woman. Besides, Blakey is different from Jamie. He’s pure and innocent. I can’t bear to get his innocence tainted if you shove him into my arms.” “You.” An exasperated look was written all over Julia’s face, for this wasn’t the outcome she’d hoped for. Anyhow, Julia eventually had to toss the idea into the bin as she couldn’t change Amelie’s decision. Although she had no plans to take advantage of Blakey, Amelie still took Bria to visit him after she learned that he had returned.