Chapter 879 Sharing Same Sentiments
Linda was shocked to see the woman, who was walking in the middle. Subconsciously, she turned her attention to Oscar before hurrying over to the woman.
“Mrs. Clinton, you’re the person in charge of Royce Technologies, aren’t you? But how did you end up as a representative of a foreign company branch instead?” Linda asked in a surprised tone. Amelia merely smiled at Linda and said, “Long time no see, Linda.”
Linda was even more excited upon hearing Amelia’s response. She looked at Amelia before turning to glance toward Oscar. Her eyes flickered with a strong hint of curiosity and nosiness.
Meanwhile, Isabella coughed petulantly, prompting Linda to glance at her before turning her head again to smile at Amelia awkwardly.
“Mr. Clinton, I’ll bring the people from Royce Technologies to the conference room. They will wait for you inside,” Linda said as she bowed slightly.
Oscar nodded.
Initially, Isabella had something to say as Linda led the others past them, but Oscar interrupted her, “You should go, Isabella. I’ll walk you out. Just wait at Professor Zabinski’s place. I’ll go pick you up when I’m done with the meeting,” he said gently.
Isabella had no choice but to hold her tongue upon hearing his words.
“Why don’t I wait for you in your office, Oscar? I’ll give Professor Zabinski a call instead. If you’re not going to accompany me, I’m not going either,” Isabella said loudly in a sickeningly sweet voice as she linked arms with Oscar.
Naturally, Amelia heard her words as well. She then stopped in her tracks briefly.
“Let’s go inside the conference room, Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Clinton will be with us in a while,” Linda deliberately said to Amelia.
Amelia flashed Linda a smile and followed behind her immediately.
Meanwhile, Isabella huffed furiously as she watched Amelia’s retreating figure.
“You seem to have quite a huge problem with her, Isabella,” Oscar said with a smile as he gently lifted her chin.
“Oscar, she’s a powerful and competent rival in love. I’m afraid that you’ll rekindle your past relationship with her. After all, both of you are still connected through Tony, so I am not all that fond of her.” Isabella did not hide her dislike for Amelia either. Instead of pretending to be cutesy and obedient in front of Oscar, she felt it was better to express her dislike bluntly. Perhaps her straightforward and honest attitude could attract Oscar to see her in a different light.
Oscar chuckled at her words. “Looks like you’re quite jealous and petty.”
Scrunching up her petite nose, Isabella said in a confident yet coquettish voice, “Isn’t this how you prefer me to be, Oscar?”
As expected, Oscar’s lips curled into a smile, and his gaze gradually softened.
Isabella’s prideful and extremely confident attitude overlapped with the woman in his memories. Instinctively, he wanted to dote on someone like her.
“All right. Just wait in my office, then. If you’re feeling bored, you can always shop for things online or watch some dramas and movies. I’ll be back very quickly,” Oscar replied.
Isabella nodded upon hearing his words.
Once Oscar had left, Isabella’s expression turned extremely grim.
She had deliberately mimicked Amelia’s demeanor and attitude. Unexpectedly, Oscar’s expression suddenly became exceptionally gentle and full of affection. Not only that, but he also allowed her to enter his office freely. Even after a year of being his fiancée, Isabella still needed Oscar’s permission to enter the office. It was as if she was an outsider to him.
A sense of annoyance surged within her. Amelia Winters. It’s Amelia again! That woman is my worst nightmare because she is always in my way! No matter how hard I tried to make Oscar forget about Amelia, I was still no match for her.
Furious, she entered his office and sat down on the couch. Suddenly, she caught sight of the computer on the desk out of the corner of her eye. As a glint flashed across her eyes, Isabella hesitated whether she should stand up and satisfy her curiosity.
Eventually, she went over to the table to take a peek and discovered the computer was turned off. As she powered on the computer, Isabella saw that it was password-protected. Thus, she tried to key in her birth date to unlock the computer, but it did not match the actual password. She then keyed in Oscar’s birth date but to no avail. It was only when Isabella entered Amelia’s birth date that the computer was finally unlocked.
Isabella stared at the computer’s desktop wallpaper, which was a photograph of Amelia smiling brightly. Under the sun, Amelia’s smile radiated beautifully, and her bright, white teeth were especially eye-catching, but Isabella found the photograph to be extremely glaring and unpleasant.
When Oscar was working at his desk, Isabella could not even approach him at all, let alone use his work computer to do online shopping, play games, or watch movies and dramas. Hence, she never knew that his desktop wallpaper was Amelia’s portrait. Her heart ached terribly as if it had been gripped tightly by someone.
She had sacrificed a lot for him, and yet the woman he loved was still Amelia. Oscar still valued and cared for Amelia subconsciously, even though he had been hypnotized.
How could you do this to me, Oscar? Do you even know how much I love you?
Glaring at Amelia’s photograph, Isabella felt pangs of emotions overwhelming her. Suppressing her feelings, she clenched her fists and bit her lips so tightly that they bled unknowingly.
The taste of blood instantly caused her to regain her senses. Isabella quickly opened the computer’s hard disk and discovered a proposal for a joint project with the government next year, as well as a budget plan for the land acquisition bidding. After that, she opened her bag immediately and fished out a flash drive to copy those valuable files.
Once all the files had been copied into the flash drive, Isabella switched off the computer swiftly and returned to the couch, as though nothing had happened.
Fiddling with the flash drive in her hands, she muttered to herself, “Don’t blame me for doing this, Oscar. I’m just scared that you’ll turn your back on me. As long as you’re faithful to me, I won’t betray you. After we get married, I will bear and raise our children, and I will become a perfect wife to you.”
Naturally, Oscar had no idea about her plans.
At that point, he was in the conference room with Amelia and the others, discussing their collaboration plans for next year.
Both sides were fiercely debating with each other, and no one wanted to compromise. In the end, it became a discussion between Oscar and Amelia. After exchanging opinions, both parties finally came to an agreement.
Once they had signed on the dotted lines, Oscar glanced at Amelia with a look of admiration.
Having not seen her for a year, Amelia had become much more outstanding and charismatic than he had ever imagined.
Naturally, his glances did not go unnoticed by Amelia. Nevertheless, that was precisely what she wanted to achieve.
After the meeting, a director from Royce Technologies smiled and said, “It’s a pleasure to work with you, Mr. Clinton. We’ve made a reservation at the best hotel in the city, and we’d like to invite you to our small celebration party. After all, our companies will have plenty of opportunities to work together in the future. It’s a must for us to build a good rapport with an exceptional young man like you.”
“But if you’re planning to spend time with your fiancée, we shall arrange for another meal together next time, Mr. Clinton,” Amelia said nonchalantly.
As Oscar glanced at her, an unfathomable glint flashed across his eyes. Without knowing what he had in mind, Oscar had agreed to the invitation.
“I hope you don’t mind me bringing a family member along with me. My fiancée happens to be in the office. I’ll be attending the event with her,” Oscar said with a smile.
“Of course not. It’s a great pleasure for us to have you attend our celebration party,” the person in charge chirped.
Upon hearing Oscar’s response, Amelia’s expression froze slightly. However, she quickly regained her composure, as if his deliberate display of affection did not affect her at all.
Amelia and Oscar left the conference room together, but the latter nodded at the people from Royce Technologies before heading to his office quickly.
“Mrs. Clinton,” Linda called out to her hesitantly as she slowed down her pace.
“I’ve already separated from Oscar, so don’t address me as Mrs. Clinton anymore. Just call me Amelia,” she replied.
Linda nodded and gazed at Amelia with a look of sympathy on her face.
“Mrs. Clinton, both you and Mr. Clinton looked so intimate together. I didn’t expect that you’d…” Linda became hesitant with her words.
“I didn’t expect it either. However, things do not always turn out as we planned. Perhaps I’m not destined to be with Oscar for the time being. Has he been taking his meals on time? And he hasn’t had any gastritis for the past year, has he?” Amelia changed the subject, expressing concern for Oscar’s health.
“You still care for Mr. Clinton a lot, Mrs. Clinton, and I can’t accept the fact that both of you are divorced. I just think you’re made for each other,” Linda said. She then added, “Nonetheless, Mr. Clinton has been taking his meals regularly despite being very busy with work. You don’t have to worry about that, Mrs. Clinton.”
Amelia nodded at her words.
As the group of people walked toward Oscar’s office, Isabella was seen leaning on Oscar in a gentle and coquettish manner.
A glint shone in Amelia’s eyes as she suppressed her emotions and smoothed her features.
“We should leave, Mr. Clinton,” she said.
Oscar nodded.
The coordinator on Amelia’s right eyed Isabella and blabbed, “Mr. Clinton, your fiancée looks similar to the actress in the video that has gone viral on the internet. But of course, your fiancée is beautiful and virtuous. She would never be like that actress. What am I saying? Don’t take what I said to heart, Mr. Clinton. I don’t mean anything by it. I only thought they share physical similarities.”
Oscar only pursed his lips and said nothing.
A shutter fell over Isabella’s expression as she shot daggers at the man who had put her in this awkward position.
“Let’s go, Oscar,” she snapped.
He nodded, and both of them walked ahead.
Amelia looked at their backs with a complicated expression, an acerbic emotion mounting inside her. She didn’t know how to make Oscar remember the memories they shared.
Although she knew all that was inevitable, seeing the man she loved being lovey-dovey with another woman made her uncomfortable.
“After you, Ms. Winters,” the man beside her alerted.
She nodded.
As they reached the elevator doors, Oscar turned to glance at her and said, “Take another elevator, Ms. Winters. My fiancée dislikes taking the elevator with strangers.”
When Amelia and the others heard that, their expressions changed.
“Since Mr. Clinton has made a request, we’ll take the next elevator and meet at the pre-arranged restaurant,” she answered, her carefully composed features revealing none of her emotions.
Oscar nodded coldly and ushered Isabella into the elevator with his arm around her.
Deep down, Amelia let out a low sigh.
“It appears that the rumors are right—Mr. Clinton is tough to please,” the man beside her remarked.
“Mr. Johnson, I think Mr. Clinton went pretty easy on you considering your blunt opinion on his fiancée,” another person grumbled.
His flagrant comment about Isabella’s viral video had embarrassed Oscar, and they were lucky that he did not call off their collaboration, judging by his personality.
“I was simply telling the truth. That video is trending on the internet, and that b*tch is popular now. I was already being courteous by not mentioning her measurements and body figure. I’d break up with her if I were Mr. Clinton. Never can I put up with getting cuckolded by hundreds of people. There’s no way I can stomach that,” Aaron Johnson said vehemently.
Amelia gave him a look of annoyance. Although she didn’t like Isabella, she found it repugnant to hear others brazenly criticize a woman that way.
As a man, he didn’t respect women, and she couldn’t figure out how he attained such a high-level position with such a tasteless and crass personality. He was an embarrassment to Royce Technologies, and it was no surprise he failed to be the next Oscar Clinton.
Despite her thoughts, Amelia was a new hire and found it inappropriate to condemn the seniors who had worked for many years in the company. As such, she kept silent and entered the elevator while the rest followed suit, evidently not wanting to spend more time with Aaron.
Aaron snorted peevishly, and foreboding filled him.
They were lost in thought and rode the elevator down in silence.
When they got into the car, Oscar called to say that he wouldn’t be joining them at the restaurant but that they should enjoy themselves, and he would foot the bill.
Unease gathered in a tight knot in Amelia’s heart, but she was only his ex-wife who had no say in his decisions.
“Mr. Clinton overstepped the line,” Aaron mumbled unhappily.
“We would have had a smooth collaboration with Clinton Corporations if you hadn’t talked about his fiancée in that manner. I’m afraid our collaboration has soured. You had better pray that Mr. Clinton doesn’t back out of the deal, or you will have to explain yourself to the company,” someone retorted heatedly.
Aaron’s face darkened at once, but he was powerless in Oscar’s decision. After all, Clinton Corporations was at the forefront and had the most potential in the industry. If he had offended Oscar, the latter could still pay the penalty if he pulled out of the deal, and Royce Technologies would have no say in the situation.
“Ms. Winters, I heard you had a history with Mr. Clinton. Could you have a few words with him? I can tell he respects you,” someone suggested.
Amelia glanced at the person and was silent for a moment before nodding.
“I’ll try my best, but I believe he’s an honorable businessman. He would never renege on a deal after signing it. He still has a sense of professionalism,” she stated with certainty.
“We believe in his business integrity, but we have also heard that he loves his fiancée. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have stayed with her after the video went viral.”
Pain lanced through her heart.
That person had hit her right in her sore spot, piercing her heart with his words.
“Are you unwell, Ms. Winters? You look pale,” the person asked in concern.
“I’m fine. Drop me off at the next intersection. I need to get something for my son. All of you should go ahead and enjoy your meal,” she replied with a shake of her head.
The person gave her another look to make sure she was all right before nodding.
Amelia got out of the car and let out a sigh before she glanced around in a daze at the skyscrapers. The city looked foreign without Oscar by her side.
Am I overestimating my self-control? Seeing Oscar and Isabella’s display of affection almost tore at my defenses.
“Oscar, I don’t think I can hold on much longer if you still can’t remember me,” she muttered in a quiet voice.
Besides the sound of the car pulling away, no one responded to the solace in her heart.
Right then, another car slid to a stop in front of her, and a head popped out as the window rolled down. It was Carter.
“It’s really you, Amelia. When did you return to the country? Why didn’t you give me a call? We could go out for a meal,” Carter said.
Amelia only gave a wan smile and got into the car upon his request.
“How about having a meal first? We can catch up while we’re at it,” Carter proposed.
She merely nodded in response.
Soon, they found a Koandrian restaurant and chose a seat by the window on the second floor.
Amelia took a good look at Carter after placing their orders and noticed he had lost considerable weight. His eyes were sunken and hollow, lending to his jaded maturity. Gone was the polished gentleman.
“You didn’t take care of yourself, Carter? Why are you so thin now? How are things between you and Jennifer? Where is she?” Amelia posed a series of questions.
His expression froze instantly, and melancholy gathered between his brows.
At once, she caught the shift and knew something bad had happened.
And she was right.
Carter smiled bitterly, wryness reflected in his gaze.
“Jennifer left the country,” he bit out.
