Amelia was stunned by what had just happened. she had never felt so little and embarrassed like that before. This feeling was entirely new to her. She just sat there musing and trying to grasp everything.
She was usually the one to call the shots and give the orders, but this time she was faced with a situation that she had no control over.The flickering flashes of lightning and the lagging roars of thunder drew her attention back to reality. She regained awareness of her surroundings. It had begun to rain, and she barely even noticed it.She finally mustered up strength to her already weakened bones and stood up. She didn't have a ride home, so she stood by the side walk under the heavy downpour, soaking wet, waiting for a cab.After a few minutes of waiting, she finally found one and jumped in and told the driver her destination.She wringed her hair outside through the car window and wound up the glass. Thoughts of what just happened flooded her mind causing a ball of teardrop to rest at the base of her eyes.She hadn't cried in a long time. In fact, she hadn't cried before as a result of another person's actions or words towards her. She was usually the domineering one.This must be the worst night of her life. But alas, the night was still young.Little impulses of courage began to develope inside her chest, as she tried to tell herself that she was not wrong in any way and that Arthur was being an asshole. These thoughts drew the tears in her eyes away and replaced them with rage. Leaving her with a mixture of fear, heartbreak, anger, and confusion."Here we are, Miss." The driver said to her as the car came to a stop.The sky was still drizzling with rain and she had no umbrella, so she paid the cab driver and alighted the vehicle. She was now back into the rain. She could have made a call for a servant to bring her an umbrella, but she was not in the mood for waiting.All she wanted, was to be in her room right now, curled up on her bed with the duvet covered over her body with music blasting loudly.She got to the door of the building and opened it, to find her parents in the living room, moody. They looked so depressed like someone had died. They were both seated together on the couch, next to each other. Too downcast to even notice or care about Amelia's drenched state."Mum, Dad, what's wrong?" Amelia said, walking towards their direction.The silence was unusual. Nobody responded to her questions."Mum?" She reminded."Come honey." Mrs Ann Johnson beckoned, stretching her arm out to receive Amelia's body."There's something we need to tell you."She sat on the couch next to her mum. Mr Clark's hand was supporting his head in a thinking position, with his elbow resting on the couch's arm rest and his face raised towards the ceiling."Your dad's company has been in a court case for the past three weeks." Mrs Ann said turning her head towards Amelia."The company was sued for several real estate fraudulent misconducts and illegal activities. Your dad lost the case. and with that, a lot of money too.""Currently, the company is bankrupt and very soon, all our assets will be liquidated. He might even be at risk of some serious jail time."Amelia's eyes widened in shock. Her jaw dropped, as she covered her mouth with her hands."We're going to lose everything, including the house." Mrs Ann couldn't hold in her emotions and ended up sobbing."Dad, is this true?" Amelia asked in a teary voice.Mr Clark managed to sit up and speak. His eyes were red, and the light from bulbs reflected on his bald head. "Yes darling.""I tried everything I could to set everything right, but I couldn't. The crimes I committed over time came back haunting me.""They're going to confiscate and liquidate all my estates and assets in less than two weeks– Everything I've worked for.""Dad, isn't there anything we can do?" The walls of her tear glands finally broke lose, as she cried profusely."Well, darling there's a solution that might just save us from collapse. Currently, the only company that can acquire our assets is Brookland Corporations. Mr Jacob Miller's company.""But, If you get married to his son Arthur, it'll strike a partnership between both companies, and they will reconsider liquidating our assets– So honey, the future of our survival lies in your hands."There was a dead silence in the living room. Amelia froze in shock as she listened to her father. How will she break it to her father that the only hope they have of saving the business is non-existent.Arthur and Amelia have been dating a long time, and they were always together since they were little. In fact, their parents always thought they would end up together. And now they've broken. Right at the time when their relationship would have saved the family from collapse.Brookland Corporations and Crown Royal Corporations (Mr Clark's company) have always been rivals, though not hateful and antagonist. The two companies were the biggest real estate companies in the country, and Arthur and Amelia's relationship managed to keep the two families connected in a way.But now that they've split up, Mr Jacob Miller would not hesitate to acquire every of their assets, to the last pin."Dad, I and Arthur have broken up." Amelia muttered in broken accents.The look of disappointment that clouded Mr Clark's face was so intense. His last hope had been shattered.He was too busy mourning the end of his company to pay attention to the weeping Amelia.Mrs Ann squeezed Amelia's body in a tight hug, as the crying increased.Disappointed Mr Clark stood up fatigued, and walked away to the steps leading upstairs to his room."That's it. We're finished." he exclaimed in dispiritedness.*********Meanwhile,Arthur had gone home and curled up on his bed. Without a specific emotion in mind, the flashes of the event that just unfolded kept him awake.He didn't know what to feel. Happy, sad, grateful, Sorry... He was in a dilemma, but on the other hand some bubbles joy tickled his stomach at the fact that he's finally free from the toxicity in his life.But that joy unfortunately was mixed with self-doubt at wether he had made the right decision.As he pondered on everything that has happened, he suddenly remembered the slap at the restaurant, and it's loud, resonating sound. He quickly remembered the waiter who was the victim, and wondered if she was okay after she ran out of the restaurant crying.Was she okay? Did she get into trouble? Did she need medical attention? He thought. He couldn't seem to get his mind off the poor innocent girl that had to bear the consequences of his ex-girlfriend's irrational behavior.So he planned that he would go look for her the next day, to check up on her and find out if she was okay.In the morning.Arthur woke up and quickly remembered his plan for today. It was like his brain had been waiting eagerly for the break of day.For some reason, he was keen on meeting up with the waiter from last night to check up on her.However, it may be as a result of the fact that he felt subconsciously guilty for what Amelia had done to her. He felt he could have done something to prevent Amelia from assaulting the innocent human being without reasonable cause.He hurriedly sprang out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and have his bath.He finished quickly and rushed to the closet to pick out an outfit for the day.This was supposed to be an apology mission, so he didn't need to put on something too formal, expensive or rather intimidating. So he thought.He grabbed a black jacket,a white t-shirt with a flowery pattern, and a pair of black jeans.So much for looking casual. Everything he wore were all expensive designer brands. Who exactly are you fooling Arthu
Arthur stepped out of the restaurant and went into his car. He brought out the piece of paper that was just given to him.He took out his phone and dialed the phone number, but it didn’t go through.“The number you dialed is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.” A feminine voice permeating from the phone’s speakers announced.Arthur bit his lips softly and rolled his eyes slowly, thinking of his next course of action.There was no other way he could contact her. He would have to go to the address written on the piece of paper.She definitely would not be coming back to the restaurant anymore, because it was clear that they fired her. So locating her address would be the last resort.There was only one problem. The address on the piece of paper was located in the other part of town.To be specific, the ‘rural’ part of town.To be more specific, the ‘ghetto’ part of town.Arthur had not been around there before. He has always lived in the metropolitan area.He turned on hi
Aria went to the bathroom, ruminating vehemently about the man she left in her living room. She questioned her choices of letting the man stay. On the other hand, he seemed like a responsible person who wouldn’t hurt her.Besides, he just took care of her and promised to help her. Although part of her instincts didn’t trust him and wanted to dismiss him, after all, he was still the reason she didn’t have a job anymore. But she desperately needed the help, so she couldn’t afford to reject his offer to help her by being rude or disrespectful to him.She had her bath and went to the bedroom to change out of the bath towel that had been hanging millimeters above her chest all the while.She wore an oversized, baggy, pink t-shirt and cute, black girl shorts.Her depressed demeanor had changed to a happier one after her bath, and then she returned to the living room.“So tell me something...” she said, taking a seat on the couch next to Arthur, and folding her legs on it.“How come you’re t
At the Johnsons Villa, things were gradually becoming different than as it used to be before.Most of the servents and staff working at the mansion had been laid off. Nearly all of Mr Clark Johnson's vintage luxury cars had been impounded.Just as Mrs Ann Johnson had said, they were slowly losing everything.Meanwhile, Amelia was still miserable and depressed from her breakup— sorry, I mean, being dumped.Coupled with the news of her family's current situation, she felt her whole world was crumbling over on itself.She did not leave her room throughout yesterday.The next morning, she woke up thinking. Her pillows were stained with tears.. She tried so hard to convince herself it was all a dream.So she decided to go and see Arthur. Perhaps it was all in her head. Maybe he didn't mean it.She never expected Arthur to break up with her. She always thought they were the perfect couple.The only time she had doubts about their relationship, was during college when he used excuses of study
Meanwhile, back at Aria’s apartment.Arthur and Aria were cuddled up together on the bed, in each other’s arms. Their faces were only a few inches from each other, with their warm breaths fanning on each other's faces.For some reason, they woke up at exactly the same time.They slowly opened their eyes. Still sleepy and unaware of their surroundings, they remained still for some seconds.Aria became fully conscious first and let out a muffled gasp as her brain took some time to figure out why there was a strange man was on her bed and in her face.Arthur became conscious of his environment a few seconds later, and they both impulsively jerked away from each other to establish the boundaries that were initially present when they went to bed.There was some tension in the air.“Good morning!” Aria said as she sat up and placed her foot on the floor.She yawned with heavy eyes.“Good morning!” Arthur responded.Little sunlight from outside that made its way through the milk coloured cur
In the evening.Arthur and Liam went to a bar to get a drink.music was blasting loudly from the giant subwoofers at the corners of the club.Liam had initiated the idea of them going out because he thought Arthur must have been left depressed by the encounter with Amelia earlier.But he was terribly mistaken. His mood did not change at all. He was just as jovial as he would usually be.Liam was surprised. But actually, it turned out that his sleepover at Aria’s place cancelled out whatever despairing feelings that should have emanated from Amelia’s earlier ruckus.“I don’t believe it.”Liam lets out after a couple of minutes of staring at Arthur in a daze.His expectations had been subverted. Arthur was not moody at all.“What?” Arthur shrugged, taking a sip from his glass of Pina colada.“You’re not moody at all...”A hint of surprise and confusion spread across Liam’s face.Arthur smiled and responded. “Why would I be?”“Um, for starters, your girlfriend of over 5 years whom you ju
Meanwhile.Amelia had already planned to return to Arthur’s office to try and talk to him again.She came in at noon, and thankfully Liam wasn’t there to prevent her from coming in. Nobody else really cared if she was there or not.They didn’t understand the reason Arthur ordered her out the previous day. Although they had their speculations. Some of them did figure out that they might have broken up.She went straight to Arthur’s office, but he wasn’t there.He had gone to the cafeteria for lunch.She searched around the building, around places she believed she could find him, but she didn’t see him anywhere.Then she remembered it was lunchtime, and that he might be at the cafeteria, so she checked there too.After taking the elevator to the floor where the dining hall was, she finally arrived at the door.She stood at the door, trying to scan across the room to see if she could find him.After scanning, she noticed a familiar face. She squinted her eyes to get a better view of the
At the Johnson’s mansion.Feeling depressed, Amelia returned home looking so downcast. She walked into the living room and met her mum watching TV.Mrs Ann notices her daughter’s sad demeanor and put the TV on mute. She signals to her daughter to come closer.The house was basically empty, because they had laid off all the staff due to financial constraints.“What is the matter, dear?” she asked in a tender tone.Amelia, who was already sobbing, walked towards her. She gestured for Amelia to sit beside her. She wrapped her arms around Amelia’s waist and drew her closer for a tight hug.“What is wrong, darling?”“Why are you looking so sad?” Mrs. Ann asked.Amelia remained mute. She was still trying to process what was going on. There was no other viable option for her. She was at a dead end.“Talk to me please.”“What happened?”“It’s Arthur.” She finally managed to form words in a cracked voice.She whimpered as she spoke. Tears dripped down her eyes.“I went to his office to talk to