Chapter 2
143
“Audrey!” Hugo called.
He caught up with her at the entrance of the bar. He wanted to grab her arm but hesitated just before touching her down jacket. His long leg stepped forward to block her descent down the steps.
“Did you move out of the apartment?”
“Yes,” Audrey replied. Her eyes were downcast as half her face was hidden in the fluffy scarf.
Now that she had decided to let Nathan go, she naturally wouldn’t stay in an apartment filled with
their memories.
“Where have you been staying these past few days?” he asked her.
Hugo didn’t give Audrey a chance to lie.
He continued, “I went to Sheysea University yesterday to look for you. Your roommate said your family came to the dorm and made it impossible for you to stay there. You haven’t been around us. either. Have you been staying with the Lambert family?
Audrey felt a sting in her heart at the mention of the Lambert family’s. She looked up. Her clear eyes met Hugo’s steadily.
“Thank you for your concern and for speaking up for me earlier. But… I know my place. We never belonged together. We only became friends because of Nathan. Now that I’ve decided not to cling to Nathan, I shouldn’t bother his friends either.”
Hugo, usually so genteel, felt a sting from Audrey’s sudden coldness. He grabbed her arm to stop her from moving away. His wool coat fell from his hands in the process.
Ignoring the fallen coat, he gripped Audrey’s arm tightly. “Do you have to speak like that?”
“If I hadn’t woken up, it wouldn’t have come to this,” Audrey said, looking at Hugo’s astonished.
expression.
Her voice was calm yet hollow. She continued, “I’m sorry. It’s my fault for waking up from the coma and disrupting your lives. I’ll leave Sheysea as soon as I can. That’s what you all want, right?”
Nathan’s family took her in when she was ten. She had grown up with Hugo and the others. Once, Audrey had truly believed they were also her friends and childhood companions.
Hugo opened his mouth, but he struggled to speak.
His eyes reddened, and his voice was hoarse as he sputtered, “You mean it like that!”
“Hugo! Audrey…”
you heard that? No! We didn’t
Hearing Amelia’s voice, Audrey pulled her arm free from Hugo. She picked up his coat and handed it
Chanter 2
to him as he turned to greet Amelia,
Amelia wore a mask. Her long, thick, curly hair fell to her waist.
273
She stepped out of a car. Her thin, beige coat draped over her arm. Even with her face obscured, she radiated beauty.
It was the first time Amelia had seen Audrey since the drugging incident.
She approached Audrey calmly and said, “I know that, with your character, you couldn’t have been behind the drugging. Have you considered reporting it to the police?”
Audrey couldn’t help but find it amusing. Nathan and her former friends didn’t believe her, but Amelia did. Regardless of the sincerity of Amella’s words, she was the first to say she believed Audrey.
“Thank you. I’ve reported it already,” Audrey thanked her and added with pursed lips, “Ms. Doyle, I wish you and Nathan everlasting happiness,”
Amelia looked startled. She instinctively tightened her grip on the gift bag.
“Has Nathan remembered everything?”
Audrey shook her head in response, then added, “I’m the one giving up.
“Amelia!” Nathan’s voice, filled with excitement and hurried footsteps, came from above as he quickly descended the stairs towards them.
He swiftly pulled Amelia away from Audrey, his heart pounding. He feared Audrey might have said something she shouldn’t have.
After the drugging incident, Amelia cried and demanded Nathan take responsibility for Audrey.
Nathan, not wanting to lose his beloved, swore nothing had happened between him and Audrey. But the truth was, he couldn’t remember if anything had happened between them.
He avoided encounters between the two women these days, fearing Audrey would tell Amelia about that night.
Seeing Amelia without her coat, he frowned and scolded her softly. He slipped the thin coat onto her shoulders and pulled her into his arms, eager to go inside.
“Let’s go. We should head back in!”
“I’m not going! I have an event in Valerianth City tomorrow, so I’m heading to the airport now. I won’t be back until tomorrow night.”
Amelia pulled away from Nathan, looking up at him with a smile. She added, “I came to give you your birthday present and to wish you a happy birthday! Have fun tonight!”
Nathan didn’t accept the gift Amelia was holding out to him. Instead, he held onto her wrist, his brow furrowed. His usual carefree demeanor was gone, replaced by an almost puppy–like neediness.
Audrey knew who he meant by “no one else“.
Chapter 2
3/
She tugged her scarf over her face and headed down the steps. She buried her hands in the pockets of
her down coat.
Amelia glanced at Audrey’s retreating figure and softly said, “I know what you planned for today. Everyone told me! I’m sorry, Nathan, but I can’t accept it yet.
“I’ve said it before. Only if you still choose me after regaining your memory can I be with you with at clear conscience. I don’t want to marry you, then have you resent me when you remember your past
with Audrey.”
Amelia’s friends had hinted that Nathan planned to propose to her today.
“Did Audrey fill your head with nonsense?” Nathan’s anger surged, a vein throbbing in his forehead.
Without waiting for Amelia’s explanation, he quickly caught up with Audrey. With a look of disgust and hatred, he pushed her forcefully.
“What lies did you tell Amelia this time, Audrey? How can you be so vile and despicable!”
“Audrey!” Hugo exclaimed in shock.
Nathan’s push was merciless. Audrey’s slender and frail frame staggered and fell into the ornamental pond at the entrance of the bar.
The cold winter water engulfed her instantly–a sharp pain shot through her forehead.
“Audrey:” Amelia and Hugo exclaimed as they rushed to help her out of the water.
“Nathan, what are you doing?” Amelia shouted, holding Audrey tightly.
Audrey, still in the cold water, was dizzy and disoriented. Blood dripped from her eyelashes.
lost
“Nathan, have you your mind!” Hugo barked as he tried to lift Audrey out of the water. “I’m taking her to the hospital!”
Hugo lifted the dazed Audrey fro
the pond.
Her expression was blank. She raised her hand to the sticky red liquid on her eyelid, seemingly in shock from the incident. She was completely numb.
While Nathan hadn’t expected his push would result in Audrey being covered in blood, he looked at her with even more disgust.
“Why didn’t you die from the fall? If you had died, I’d be given the death sentence, and I wouldn’t have to see your disgusting face again!”
