Since She Met Lucian

Amelia bit her lower lip and quietly retreated her steps, not wanting to disturb the seemingly loving couple.
When she left, she couldn't ignore the overwhelming sadness that she was feeling. It didn't help that tears were falling down her
face too.
It was a nice day outside. As she walked, she felt the cold wind blowing in her face. Trembling in her thin coat, she didn't expect
for today to be a chilly one. She thought that by now she would be sweating buckets.
She stood at the corner of the street and looked at the busy city. Suddenly, she wondered where she should go.
She pulled up Courtney's number on her phone, hesitating for a while. They had just seen each other the other night after all.
That night, Courtney expressed her worries about how Amelia was acting. Who knows what Courtney would do if she saw
Amelia like this? She might even confront Lucian!
With that, she decided that she wasn't going to tell Courtney about her deal with Lucian. She just thought it was better that less
people knew about it and she also just didn't want Courtney to worry about her.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed startling her that she almost dropped her phone. It was Lucian calling.
A bitter smile emerged on her lips. 'Why is he thinking of me while he's with his girlfriend?'
For some reason, she felt sad. Even though she knew that her marriage with Lucian was just fake, she still cared about their
relationship.
When her phone stopped ringing, she sent Lucian a text message that wrote, "I'm going shopping. Enjoy your day with Sasha."
After that, she took a deep breath. When she was about to cross the street, her phone vibrated again.
It was Lucian calling again. She rejected the call without hesitation.
If Lucian called again, she was going to turn off her phone so he couldn't call again.
She didn't even know why she wasn't answering his calls.
As much as she wanted Lucian to be happy with Sasha, there was still a part of her that felt sad.
When she recalled what she had told Iris, she felt distressed. It didn't help that Lucian had overheard her too.

Who wouldn't be embarrassed? She practically confessed her love to a man but was rejected ruthlessly.
She walked on the streets aimlessly. When her cell phone rang again, she frowned impatiently. Just as she was about to reject
the call, she saw that it was Courtney calling this time.
'Should I answer it?' She sniffed and tried to calm herself down.
"Hello, Courtney." She picked up the phone and answered it in a calm voice.
"Amelia, are you free now? If you're free, do you want to come over and help me in the shop? The place is packed and I have so
many things to do!" Courtney said anxiously on the phone.
"Okay," Amelia agreed so she could forget about the hurt she was feeling and at the same time, she could even help her good
friend.
It was the weekend so the place was filled with customers. This wasn't the first time that Amelia was helping out, she used to do
this before and she'd be in charge of greeting the guests and taking their orders.
For a while, Amelia temporarily forgot about Sasha and Lucian since she was so busy with helping Courtney in her shop.
Sitting in a daze at the bar counter, Courtney pushed over a glass of lemonade to Amelia and asked curiously, "Amelia, what are
you thinking? Looks like your mind's elsewhere."
"What? Really?" Amelia didn't even know what she was feeling. All she knew was that she couldn't be cheered up.
"Your eyes are red. It looks like you just cried," Courtney pointed out as she came closer to Amelia.
"I guess I didn't sleep well last night," she explained hurriedly, averting her gaze.
It was true that she had just cried; she just didn't expect that it would be obvious.
"Amelia, why do I always feel like you have something on your mind?" Courtney eyed Amelia, scrutinizing her.
Amelia wasn't really good at lying which was why she was so flustered when Courtney started questioning her. Stirring her drink
uneasily, she felt as if her heart was going to jump out of her chest in nervousness.
"Oh, Courtney, do you get paranoid again?" Amelia rolled her eyes and changed the topic. "Did you send me a message
yesterday telling me that Kent proposed to you? Tell me all about it! How did he do it?"

"Well, he bought me a ring, got down on his knee, asked me to marry him, and promised to love me forever," Courtney squealed,
blushing in excitement.
"So sweet!" Amelia rolled her eyes but only to tease Courtney. She really was genuinely happy for her. "You know, Kent really
does adore you. You're practically his queen. He cares for you so much. You can't let him down!"
Throughout Kent and Courtney's relationship, Amelia had always been there. She was so happy to finally see them end up
together.
"Hey, are you really my best friend? Why aren't you worried about me? What if marrying Kent isn't a good idea after all?"
Courtney pretended to be aggrieved.
Amelia played along. She responded in a sarcastic tone, "Well, everyone knows Kent has a good temper. You're the only one for
him."
"You're right. He's very even-tempered. That's why I like him!" Courtney agreed enthusiastically, her eyes shining.
Amelia took a sip of lemonade and asked, frowning, "Why is it so sour?"
"It's not the drink. Maybe that's how you feel." It seemed that Courtney forgot to add sugar in her drink. She grabbed the glass
from Amelia forcefully. "Look at you! You're so thin! You need more sugar in your body to get a little fat in you or else Lucian isn't
even going to want to look at you!"
"Courtney!" Amelia rolled her eyes at her.
Thanks to Courtney, Lucian was back in Amelia's mind. Now she couldn't stop thinking about him again along with Sasha and
how intimate they were with each other earlier.
Amelia furrowed her eyebrows together as she pondered on this thought. This immediately put her in a sour mood just like the
lemonade she was drinking.
"That's okay, you know. You're married and you live with him. Why do you have to pretend in front of me?" With a disapproving
look on her face, Courtney approached Amelia and asked curiously, "Amelia, what about Lucian? Is he in good shape? He has to
be good in bed, right?"
She didn't expect that Courtney could ask such a straightforward question.

Amelia was about to lose it. She glared at Courtney and said angrily, "Courtney, when did you become so flirtatious?"
Courtney shrugged her shoulders, and with a helpless look, she said bitterly, "I'm going to be a wife soon, right? So I have to get
a few tips from you."
'But nothing happened between me and Lucian. We just kissed by accident. That's the most intimate thing we've done.'
As Amelia thought of this, her cheeks flushed and her heart started racing.
"Wow, you blushed. Looks like you're happily married," Courtney teased.
Growing irritated by Courtney, Amelia grew serious as she stared at Courtney and said, "Fine! Say whatever you want!" As soon
as the words left her mouth, she pounced on Courtney, failing to notice the man that had just walked in.
"Ah, Amelia, you look so thin but you're heavy!" Courtney complained.
Lucian, wearing his crisp suit, had just walked inside the shop and was watching Amelia and Courtney who were tussling with
each other on the floor.
"It's called potential. You said something I didn't like so now I'm going to teach you a lesson!" Amelia clenched her fists and acted
as if she was going to throw a punch at Courtney.
Courtney was facing the entrance of the shop so when she tried to wriggle herself free, she glimpsed a handsome man standing
by the door. Wait, why does he look familiar?
Courtney didn't have to look twice. Once she recognized the man, she said hurriedly, "Amelia, your husband is here!"
Husband? It took for a while for Amelia to understand what was happening. At first, she thought Courtney was just trying to
distract her so she gritted her teeth. "Don't try to distract me! He's somewhere else right now! "
Lucian was spending time with Sasha. Why would he come here? That was impossible.
She loosened her grip on Courtney. Gone was her energy and it was replaced with loneliness and sadness. Absentmindedly, she
commented, "How come women can be so faithful while men run around with so many different women?"
As Lucian was making some gesture that Courtney couldn't quite understand, she turned her attention to Amelia and asked,
"Why? Is Lucian in love with someone else?"

As soon as the question came out, Courtney's face turned pale with fear.
She had to ask since Amelia wouldn't just mention something like that out of nowhere if it had no basis.
Courtney's words hit Amelia like a truck. But it wasn't as if Lucian had fallen in love with another woman, it was that Lucian never
had feelings for Amelia in the first place. He was merely getting back together with the woman he truly loved and that was
Sasha.
This left Amelia unable to answer Courtney's question.
"Get up." Amelia then let go of Courtney and reached out a hand to help her up.