Me After Meeting You

“If I’m unwilling to separate with Calvin, then what will you do, Mrs. Kenric?”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“I’ll do my best to make you two break up.” Calvin mother’s expression was severe. “Amber, do you know how I managed to escape with him that year? He had to threaten to kill himself. He was only twelve, but he put a knife by his neck and told me, ‘Mom, if I die, will there be peace again?’ Do you know how I’ve lived all these years? I’m 38, but I married an old man whose hair is turning white.

So many people have looked down upon me, and even my stepchildren guard against me as if I were a thief. They look down on Calvin in the same way. I was weak for half of my life, so I caused him to suffer so much.

Now, I don’t want him to have to suffer anymore. I don’t want him to be looked down upon for the rest of his life. Though you might feel that wealth won’t necessarily bring you respect, it’ll definitely at least shut their mouths! It’s just like how, if I bring their old man out to discipline those sons and daughters of his, what can they do?”

As she said this last sentence, her face reflected a bit of pride, as if she had won a spiritual victory.

“Did you see that girl just now? If you know her, then you should know that she and Calvin are colleagues, but only colleagues. She’s a board member of Lee Commerce. Oh, perhaps you don’t know about Lee Commerce. It’s the domestic proxy for a number of large global brands, which you’d probably recognize if I mentioned them.”

She rattled off a few companies, and even though Amber herself didn’t care about these things, she knew that most people in the country would go mad over those companies products.

Calvin’s mother didn’t think that this sort of relationship was immoral, and she didn’t even acknowledge the fact that if Calvin had such a girlfriend, people would think that they were only together because he was eyeing her position and connections. “It’s just that we’re trying to find a higher starting point. Marriage is nothing more than a job, doing it well will bring happiness.”

It was rare for Amber to be unable to counter an argument, but she was actually struck speechless after hearing Calvin mother’s ‘confident’ speech. She didn’t argue back, as she knew that Calvin’s mother wouldn’t listen to her; if she talked with reason, Calvin’s mother would appeal to emotion; if she appealed to emotion, then Calvin’s mother would switch to reason.

If they weren’t on the same page, then what was the point of talking any further?

***

Amber politely sent Calvin’s mother out. They didn’t see Melody at the entrance, and Calvin’s mother directly left after making a phone call.

Amber stood by the elevator. As she watched the doors close, the smile on her face finally collapsed. She rubbed her exhausted face, lightly breathing out.

As she turned around, she unexpectedly saw Melody, who had told Calvin’s mother that she had already gone down. She was standing by the elevator on the other end of the corridor; it wasn’t clear if she had just come up or if she had always been standing there.

At this hour, there weren’t many people left in this area of the hospital. Only the two of them stood in the corridor.

Amber stopped moving, merely looking at Melody.

Melody slowly walked in front of Amber as a brilliant smile lit up her face. “Mrs. Kenric likes me very much, and wants me to be her daughter-in-law. Dr. Camille, I really want to reject her because you’re a good person, and because I like you very much.”

At this point, Amber wanted to laugh. Today, she had been told that she was a good person by two different people; they both said they liked her very much, but hidden behind their liking was a ‘but’.

Melody’s ‘but’ was that “Calvin’s genuinely a very gentle person, and he looks so beautiful when he smiles. At first, I didn’t want to steal him away, but Dr. Camille, why did you have to make him unhappy?”

After being lectured in psychology by Ian, Amber was now being taught how to be a better girlfriend by Melody. This girl who had just broken free of her depression said, “Dr. Camille, you’re not doing a very good job at being a girlfriend. Even if we ignore the fact that you don’t have any time to spend with him, you still have an unclear relationship with another man. You always make him unhappy, forcing him to drink, making him wan and sallow. For you, he even hurt me.”

As she said this, she rolled up her sleeves and stretched out her hand with an innocent expression on her face. “Look at how forceful he was. He even left such a big bruise. It hurts so much.”

Amber didn’t know what she was feeling at that moment, but it was probably something akin to the feeling of accidentally swallowing a shard of bone while eating chicken feet. It wasn’t a big piece, but it had gotten stuck in a particularly aggravating spot; she couldn’t swallow or cough it out, which made it all the more disgusting.

She looked at Melody, who seemed to have been completely cured of her depression. Her mien was entirely devoid of her earlier gloom and reservation, her eyes bright and vivacious.

When Amber had told Melody her own story of redemption and rebirth, she had not imagined that it would help the girl in front of her find such a “novel” path forward.

Suppressing her disgust, she asked Melody, “Are you certain that you like him?”

“Yes.” Melody answered without hesitation.

Amber smiled. She sympathized with Melody, but she refrained from saying anything more.