Chapter 273 Tormenting Each Other
No one knew if it was because of the high levels of stress, immense guilt from setting Oscar up, or her reluctance to divorce him, but Amelia developed a fever the night she moved in with Tiffany. Her temperature got so high that she lost consciousness, so Tiffany and Kurt had to rush her to the hospital immediately.
It took the doctors and nurses a whole night just to stabilize her condition, and even then, she still remained unconscious.
“I love you so much, Oscar… I don’t want to divorce you…” Amelia mumbled while she was unconscious.
Moments later, she became more agitated as she said, “No, I want to divorce you… I don’t want people mocking you for having a blind wife! I don’t want to be a burden to you! I know you’re strong and don’t care about what others say, but I do! I love you, so I can’t stand anyone insulting you!”
The next thing they knew, Amelia began convulsing violently and sobbing uncontrollably.
It pained Tiffany to see her so upset even when she was dreaming. She held Amelia’s flailing hands and comforted her by saying, “It’s all right, Babe. We’re here with you. You’re not going to divorce Oscar; trust me.”
To her surprise, Amelia’s convulsions grew even more violent as she mumbled, “No, I want to divorce him! I don’t want to be a burden to him! Help me, Tiff!”
Tiffany’s eyes reddened.
“Why must you do this, Amelia? Don’t divorce him if you love him! Why torture yourself like this? Your eyes will get better once you find a suitable donor!”
“No! Help me, Tiff!”
Tiffany took a deep breath. “All right, I’ll help you…”
Amelia finally calmed down after hearing that, only to start mumbling again several minutes later, “I’m sorry for divorcing you, Oscar…”
She kept repeating that phrase as if it was the only way to reassure herself that they weren’t meant to be together, that getting divorced was the ideal solution for them both.
Tiffany couldn’t understand why Amelia insisted on tormenting both herself and Oscar like this. Maybe this is what happens when you love someone really deeply. You just can’t stand being imperfect in their eyes…
She then walked up to Amelia, who was still mumbling, and whispered in her ear, “Get a good night’s sleep, Amelia. You need to recover before you can discuss your divorce with Oscar.”
Amelia finally fell silent after that.
Tiffany checked the time on her phone and saw that it was already two in the morning.
“Kurt, you should head back and check on Tony. I’m worried about having Martha look after him alone,” she said while massaging her forehead.
“I’ve already tasked two of my friends with protecting Tony in secret, so he’ll be fine,” Kurt replied.
Tiffany simply shot him a glance before shifting her gaze back to Amelia, who was lying on the bed. “Kurt, could you go buy us some beers? I’m stressed as hell right now and could really use a drink…” she said in a somewhat depressed tone.
Kurt nodded and left the ward, returning about half an hour later with two bags in his hands.
He handed Tiffany one of the bags and said, “I figured you’re probably hungry after having such an eventful night, so I bought you some soup too. You should never drink on an empty stomach.”
Tiffany felt a warm sensation in her heart as she took the bag over and forced a smile. “You seem cold on the outside, but you sure are surprisingly thoughtful and caring on the inside.”
Kurt simply kept quiet.
As Tiffany was indeed hungry at the time, she wasted no time wolfing down the soup.
Amelia was truly blessed to have a great friend like her who would go out of her way and do everything in her power to help out.
After finishing the soup, Tiffany cracked open a cold one and clinked bottles with Kurt as she said, “Drink up!”
“Don’t drink so much. It’s unladylike to drink like a fish,” Kurt advised when he saw her gulping it down aggressively.
Tiffany simply shrugged and continued chugging it down. “I can’t help it. I had no one to rely on when I started working a few years ago, so I had to train myself to be a strong and independent woman. Time went by, and… Well, I just ended up like this. Honestly, I used to be a lot worse back then. Now, I only drink occasionally, either when attending social events or meeting with publishers. Amelia and I used to drink a lot when we first stepped into society and attended all sorts of events. Things were really rough at that time, but it slowly got better.”
She then took another sip of her beer and continued after a brief pause, “A lot of people wonder why I’m so nice to Amelia. It’s because she was there for me during my toughest times. They say a friend in need is a friend indeed, and Amelia certainly is a true friend.”
Kurt took a sip of his beer. “She’s a good woman.”
“It’s a shame that fate doesn’t like her having a good life.” Tiffany downed the remaining beer in the bottle before continuing angrily, “I was the one who stayed by Amelia’s side all these years. Everyone else only sees the glamour of her marrying into the Clinton family. They don’t know the suffering she goes through living in that household. Because of her ordinary family background, Amelia is destined to be viewed as inferior by those in the Clinton family. She didn’t know anything about proper etiquette at first. In order not to make a fool out of herself, she secretly hired a teacher to educate her on it. She finally developed the elegance and grace required after a while, but I’ve rarely seen her smile happily ever since. If it were possible, I wish she could stay carefree and happy-go-lucky forever. Unfortunately, her marrying into the Clinton family has taken her innocence away forever.”
Kurt went into deep thought after hearing that.
Feeling bitter, Tiffany opened another bottle as she asked, “Kurt, am I being too talkative?”
Kurt shook his head.
“You’re a really quiet guy, but that actually makes you a good listener. At least you don’t interrupt people when they’re rambling on and on,” Tiffany said after taking another sip of her beer.
Kurt gulped down his beer with a frown on his face.
“You can continue talking. I like to listen.”
Tiffany shot him a meaningful glance and asked all of a sudden, “Kurt, do you like Amelia?”
Kurt paused for a brief second before replying indifferently, “What makes you say that?”
“You seem exceptionally concerned about her. Being a freelance author, I pay a lot of attention to detail when it comes to romance. You have feelings for Amelia, don’t you?”
“It hurts seeing her like this.” Kurt had indirectly admitted to it.
Tiffany broke into a smile and took a sip of her beer as she said, “Amelia is a very charming woman, so it’s perfectly normal for you to fall for her. Maybe fate decided she had way too much of an advantage and decided to make things fair by taking away what matters most to her.”
“She’ll get better.”
“Of that, I have no doubt”—Tiffany downed the rest of the beer in her bottle—” but Amelia doesn’t see it that way. She thinks she’ll be a burden to Oscar once she goes blind. I think she’s really stupid, tormenting herself like this for Oscar’s sake. Well, I haven’t experienced a powerful romance like this myself, so I probably wouldn’t understand it anyway. Maybe this is just how people who are deeply in love think.”
“Boss won’t mind if she’s blind.”
Tiffany was about to open the third bottle, but Kurt stopped her from doing so.
“He may not mind at first, but how do you know for sure if he’ll stay that way as time goes on? He may be able to promise her the world when she’s fine and healthy, but is he truly able to look after a disabled woman without complaint for the rest of their lives? I know he’s a loyal man, but he’s so excellent that I can’t predict his behavior at all. He used to love Cassie a lot, but look at how quickly he replaced her with Amelia. How can you guarantee that he won’t love someone else in the future?”
“I don’t think anyone can guarantee anything about the future,” Kurt replied as he took another sip from his bottle.
Tiffany smiled in response and gazed at the stars outside the window. “Perhaps. Since this is Amelia’s choice to make, we have no choice but to stand on her side.”
Kurt simply looked out the window in silence as well.
“It’s really late. You should try to get some sleep,” Tiffany said.
Kurt shook his head. “You can go ahead and sleep if you want. I’ll keep watch.”
Tiffany didn’t bother arguing and lay down on the recliner. As she closed her eyes, she heard Kurt saying, “Don’t overthink it. With a friend like you, I’m sure Amelia will make it through all this.”
With a smile on her face, Tiffany pulled the thin blanket over herself and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Tiffany got a call from Oscar the next morning. She didn’t want to answer the phone at first, but she recalled how Amelia was mumbling about him in her sleep last night and knew she missed him greatly. Not wanting them to get divorced, Tiffany decided to help Oscar out and answered the phone.
“Oscar, Amelia is in Provincial Hospital right now. You’d better hurry up if you want to see her,” she said straightforwardly and hung up the phone after that.
As expected, Oscar showed up at the ward in less than half an hour. He was sweating all over and panting heavily as he rushed to Amelia’s side.
“Amelia? Amelia!” he called out to her while holding her hand tightly.
Amelia opened her eyes all of a sudden and stared drowsily at Oscar. “Let’s get a divorce, Oscar.”
She then closed her eyes again and repeatedly muttered the same sentence in her sleep.
Oscar tightened his grip on her hand slightly as a glint of pain flashed in his eyes. “Amelia, do you really want to divorce me that badly?” Even when you’re asleep, you keep saying that same thing over and over again… Do you have any idea how much it hurts me to hear it?
Tiffany grew anxious as she watched from the side. Damn it, Amelia! You kept talking in your sleep about how much you missed him when he wasn’t here, and now you’re asking him to divorce you when he’s actually here?
Amelia opened her eyes again and said, “Let’s get a divorce, Oscar.”
Oscar’s eyes reddened as he tried his best to suppress his raging emotions.
“Amelia, you’re not thinking straight right now because of your fever. Be a good girl and rest well. I’ll bring you home once you’re all better. Don’t worry, we’re not going to get divorced,” he said with a forced smile.
