Since She Met Lucian

Feeling embarrassed, Amelia let her eyes wander around, not daring to look back at Lucian.
The soft music continued to play in the background. The two of them did not share another word with each other. Amelia was
busy tending to her own business. Meanwhile, Lucian was just quietly sitting on his chair, finishing up the cake that was on his
plate.
A moment later, Lucian's phone rang. After giving a quick glance at the screen, he stood up and smiled at Amelia. "Take care of
yourself. I'll come back tomorrow," he said.
"Mr. Lucian, please cherish the people you have in your life," Amelia said without hesitation.
With an even wider smile, Lucian walked up to Amelia and cupped her cheek in his hand. "Of course I will."
"What? No... I'm sorry. I was talking about Miss Shelly. She really loves you," she hurriedly corrected, taking a step back from
Lucian.
Hearing this, Lucian's face darkened, his eyes completely fixated on Amelia. "I can't think about anyone else but you," he said in
a clear voice, "I love you, and I know that you feel the same way. You can't lead me to believe otherwise."
When Amelia had spoken up, she was expecting that her relationship with Lucian would be less complicated. But it seemed as if
they were just back to where they were before.
Meanwhile, in the Zhan Group... Vernon had been waiting in the reception room for quite some time now. When he saw Lucian
arrive, he stood up immediately and looked at his former son-in-law.
"What can I do for you?" Lucian asked flatly, gesturing Vernon to sit down.
There was an uneasy look in Vernon's face as he tried to guess what was going on in Lucian's mind. Slowly, he finally sat down.
"Thank you, Mr. Lucian," he said in a slightly hoarse voice, "I'm surprised that you remembered my birthday. You must have
spent quite a lot."
Lucian sat down across from Vernon, leaning back on his seat with his hands clasped in front of him. "I did it for Amelia's sake,"
he replied coldly.
He was blunt with his words and tone even though he acted quite calmly.

Relief washed over Vernon when he heard this. "If you still love Amelia, why don't you just try and win her back?" Vernon
pressed.
"You said that there was an emergency. Can you just tell me what it is?" Lucian asked impatiently, ignoring the question thrown
at him.
"Here is the thing. My company invested on several projects recently, and we are short of funds. I came here to talk about the
turnover. What do you think--"
"Is Jasper managing your company now?" Lucian interrupted before Vernon could finish.
With a surprised face, Vernon nodded gingerly.
"Sorry, I can't help," Lucian stated with certainty.
At first, Vernon could not figure out why Lucian had acted like this all of a sudden. Then, it hit him. Furrowing his brows, Vernon
shook his head, "Can you please forget about Jasper's past with Amelia?"
He thought that Lucian was mad that Amelia and Jasper had been in a relationship before.
"Do you really think that's why I can't help you?" Lucian couldn't help but laugh bitterly. Then, he squinted his eyes coldly at
Vernon. "Who slapped Amelia? Was that Jasper or Yolanda?"
The expression on Vernon's face changed dramatically. Apart from uneasiness, he was also a little afraid. "I-I'm sorry, Lucian,"
he stuttered, his lips trembling nervously, "I was the one who did it. It had nothing to do with Jasper and Yolanda."
"You... hit her?" Lucian asked through his teeth, his eyes darkening with anger, "And what exactly did she do to make you hurt
her like that?"
'Damn this man!' Lucian thought, remembering the red hand print on Amelia's face, 'I don't think I can ever forgive this bastard!'
Vernon looked flustered. After a moment of silence, he slowly raised his head and looked at Lucian with his muddled eyes and
explained, "Because she is not an honest woman. You know what I mean... She can't even keep your marriage together."
When Vernon said this, he was expecting that Lucian would side with him. But Lucian's face got even more enraged. "Are you
really trying to make your daughter look bad just so that you can get what you want?" he said with a sarcastic smile.
It looked Vernon's explanation made Lucian even more furious.

There was no way Lucian would allow anyone to talk badly about his beloved, even if it was her own father.
Vernon gulped nervously -- he did not expect that Lucian would still continue to defend Amelia even after everything that had
happened.
Quickly regaining his composure, Vernon tried a different approach. "There's an old saying," Vernon said somberly, "'A day
together as husband and wife means endless devotion.' If you don't hate Amelia, there's no reason why you shouldn't get back
together with her!"
"Is that why your wishful thinking comes true?" Lucian answered with a cold face.
Flustered and completely nerve wracked, Vernon anxiously shifted in his seat. Guilt washed over his face as he realized that his
main agenda was apparently too obvious.
"Lucian, I know I'm a jerk, but I've always been looking out for Amelia. She's just stubborn, and holds grudges against her
mother's death. It's difficult to get close to her..." explained Vernon. There was impatience in his voice as he tried to defend his
stand.
"I can get you some money for your project turnover," Lucian sneered, "Only if you'll let me hit you the saw way you hit Amelia."
Surprisingly, Vernon's face lit up a bit. Raising his eyebrows, he gave a prompt nod. "Very well," he said, "I'll even do it myself."
Vernon stood up and raised his hand, preparing to slap himself hard on the face.
"Stop," Lucian snapped before Vernon could strike himself, "Even if you hit yourself until you bleed, I will never give you a single
cent."
Disappointment fell on Vernon's eyes. With his mouth turned down in annoyance, he thought of what else he could possibly say
to Lucian.
After a moment of contemplation, he looked back at Lucian. "It was Jasper," Vernon finally said, "He was the one who did it! I'll
make him apologize right away!"
Lucian's face darkened. "Bring him to me! Now!" he shouted, his knuckles turning white as he tightly clenched his fists.
The power and anger in Lucian's voice scared the hell out of Vernon. Nodding in panic, he fumbled for his phone in his pocket
and tried to call Jasper.

In order to get Jasper there as soon as possible, Vernon did not clearly say why he should come over to the company -- Vernon
only stated that he should go there as soon as he can so that they could get the money they needed for their project.
Under half an hour, Jasper arrived at the reception room, his eyes filled with excitement.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Lucian," he greeted, going up straight to Lucian. With a beaming smile, he reached out his hand to shake
Lucian's hand.
Lucian was sitting leisurely on the leather sofa, his face cold and distant. There was a hint of disgust in his eyes when Jasper
greeted him. Leaning forward, Lucian picked up his cup of tea on the table, completely ignoring Jasper's extended hand.
Slowly, Jasper let his arm fall to his side, his smile fading. But he slightly shook his head and perked his smile back up, trying to
look as enthusiastic as possible. "I just want to say thank you for helping us in our project, Mr. Lucian," Jasper continued.
"Who said that I'll be helping you?" Lucian said with a snort.
At this point, the smile on Jasper's face completely disappeared. "Dad, what's going on?" he asked, looking at Vernon with
confusion all over his face.
Vernon had told him over the phone that the investment fund for the project was hopeful, so he rushed over as quickly as he
could. However, Lucian's words annihilated all the excitement he had just a few seconds ago.
"Jasper, if you apologize to Mr. Lucian, things will get much easier for us," Vernon said sheepishly, his eyes glued on the floor.
With his lips pressed into a fine line, Jasper looked back at Lucian, "I do not know what I did wrong to make you so angry, Mr.
Lucian."
Judging the way Lucian glared at him, Jasper could tell how infuriated he was. Although Jasper's tone was calm and polite, he
was starting to feel a slight panic.
Lucian continued to ignore Jasper. Taking a deep breath, he then picked up the telephone on the table. "Bring Eric in," he
ordered coldly.
A few seconds later, Eric, Lucian's assistant, came in with two other men in sleek, black suits. Both of them looked very tough
and muscular. The sight of them made Jasper's heart jump in panic.

"Mr. Lucian, you... What are you doing?" Vernon had kept his head low the moment the men entered the room. He was much too
frightened to utter a single word.
"Were you the one who slapped Amelia?" Lucian asked, glaring intensely at Jasper.
"W-wait! Mr. Lucian, I..." Jasper stammered, hurrying to explain himself, "It was an accident, I swear! It was just a husband's and
a father's instinctive reaction. Please don't be angry. I know I was wrong."
In truth, what Jasper did was definitely not an accident. He intended to slap Amelia, and actually didn't regret doing so. It just so
happened that he was now driven to a corner. At this moment, Jasper tried to sound as sincere as possible, even though he
wasn't speaking the truth.
"A man should never hit a woman," Lucian said, gritting his teeth. Then, the corners of his lips curled up. "Eric, this man hit
Amelia. I want you to give it back to him twice as much!"
Jasper looked at Lucian in disbelief. Quickly, he turned to look at Vernon, as if to ask for some help or for him to intervene.
But it seemed that Vernon looked just as helpless as he did. Vernon looked straight at Jasper's eyes, as if he was pleading
Jasper to just go through with it so that they could finally get what they wanted.
Two men in black suit stepped towards Jasper, one on each side. In one quick movement, they raised their hands and hit
Jasper's face without a moment's notice. Their hands fell hard on Jasper's face. For a while, he was stunned into quiet. And then
the pain quickly seared through his entire head.
Groaning in pain, Jasper carefully touched his face, grimacing in pain. Both sides were completely swollen and the corner of his
mouth was trickling with blood. Aside from the pain, Jasper felt immense anger towards Lucian. But since they still needed
something from him, there was nothing he could do but swallow his emotions.
"Mr. Lucian, Jasper has already paid the price. How about that deal we were talking about?" Regardless of the injury on Jasper's
face, Vernon was eager to know if Lucian would finally help them out.