Since She Met Lucian

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.
"You..." Taking a deep breath, Lily tried to muster all the courage she had. "When will you take Mrs. Amelia back?"
Lucian's eyes widened slightly in surprise when he heard Lily's question. After taking a sip of his soup, he looked at Lily with a
soft look in his eyes. "Don't worry. She'll be back here soon enough."
"I'm so happy to hear that! I'll finally be able to see Mrs. Amelia again," Lily said as she burst into a delighted laugh.
"Not too loud, Lily," Lucian reminded.
"Yes, of course. Sorry," replied Lily, making her voice softer. Her cheeks flushed pink as she tried to restrain her smile. "Once
Mrs. Amelia comes back, you will finally be one, big happy family with your baby! I'm so glad!"
Hearing this, Lucian couldn't help but smile himself.
"Lucian... Honey? You're back!" The warm and happy atmosphere was ruined the moment Shelly walked down the stairs.
With a resentful look on Lily's face, she went into the kitchen and got a set of tableware for Shelly.

"Well, what do we have here? This servant seems to be a lot more unqualified than I initially thought. If I didn't come downstairs,
I would have never known that dinner was ready. What did you want to happen? Did you want me to starve to death?" Shelly
angrily questioned Lily.
Lily's face went pale. It was not because she was afraid of Shelly, but rather she felt ashamed that Lucian had caught her lie.
With a quick glance at Lily's direction, Lucian knew that Lily was up to something. "I was the one who told Lily to get dinner
started," he said with a frown, "If you have to get angry at anyone, it's me."
Shelly was stunned. She didn't expect that Lucian would say something like that. "Lucian, we're husband and wife," she
complained with a pout, "Can't you be a little nicer to me?"
With a sigh, Lucian put down his bowl. The appetite he had earlier was completely ruined because of Shelly.
"What's wrong with you? I can't even have a decent meal around you without getting exhausted!" Lucian exasperated.
Hearing these words, Shelly immediately changed her mood. She walked over to Lucian and put her arms around his shoulders.
"I was preparing a surprise for you the entire day," she whispered beside his ear, "Don't be mad at me please. I'm sorry. It's all
my fault, okay?"
With a frown, Lucian looked at her in disgust and unconcealed anger.
He used to see Shelly as his sister, but now, her ability to pester others had already made him deeply repulsed.
Going back to SJ Garden brought upon a lot of happy memories he had with Amelia. But then he would remember that Shelly
was the one who was there now and it annoyed him deeply.
The past few days, he was thankful for the amount of work he had because that would mean less time at home. However, all the
meetings he had to go to made him too exhausted. Lucian just wanted to eat dinner and get some rest. He had prepared himself
to interact with Shelly, but he didn't expect that he would still be this irked by her.
"Good. Now that you know you're wrong, let go of me," Lucian said in a low voice, showing no room for negotiation.
"Okay, okay. I'll let go. Don't be angry..." Hearing these words, Shelly loosened her hands immediately. "Lucian, my father called
me today and asked me if you treat me well," she continued, "I said that you do."

Just when Lucian thought Shelly couldn't get any more irritating, she mentioned Edmund. Lucian didn't really want to talk about
him at any given context. "What are you trying to say? Do you think you can make me treat you better through your father?" he
scoffed, turning around to look coldly at her.
Shelly had thought that Lucian would be nicer to her because of his awe towards Edmund, but it turned out to be the opposite.
She was frightened by Lucian's angry look and stepped back. When she leaned against the table, she looked at him in
desperation. "Lucian, don't get mad. You're starting to scare me..."
Lucian stood up and took his gaze away from Shelly. "Don't ever try to fool me," he warned coldly.
"Okay," Shelly meekly replied. With that, Lucian started to head upstairs.
Suddenly, she remembered of the candlelight dinner she had prepared. Hope was rekindled on Shelly's heart. Pushing Lily
aside, she quickly ran upstairs with Lucian.
When Lucian opened the door to the bedroom, he was shocked to see all the things Shelly had prepared. After a short while, a
wave of anger suddenly rushed through him.
"Lucian, do you like it?" Shelly stepped forward and shook Lucian's arm like a spoiled child. She didn't notice the anger on
Lucian's face at all.
"You have ten minutes to clean all of this up," Lucian said through his teeth.
"What..." Shelly stammered, her face falling. "I spent the whole day on it," she said as she bit her lip, "If you don't like it, it's really
fine by me. But how can you just ask me to throw it all away so easily?"
In the past, she was naughty and self-willed and Lucian would tolerate her. But now, they were a couple and he should have
been closer to her. However, he just looked down on her as if she was his enemy.
"Fine. If you want to keep it that much, move it all to the guest room," Lucian frowned.
The way he had been treating Shelly made her feel like a fool.
"I'm your wife!" she yelled at him, "Don't you feel a little bit of guilt whenever you asked me to go back to the guest
room?"