013: Backing up

When she woke up again, it was already the next day.

Amelia Clarke opened her eyes, staring blankly at the pale ceiling for a few seconds before the events of the previous day slowly floated back into her mind.

She suddenly remembered that she hadn't gone to tutor her student yesterday, nor had she made a call to apologize!

In a rush, she sat up, wanting to rummage through her bag for her phone to make an apology call.

Her head spun for a moment.

She closed her eyes for a short while to recover and continued searching for her phone, only to find that it was out of battery when she finally took it out.

At that moment,

The door to the ward opened, and Dorothy Brown walked in with a thermal container, seeing Amelia Clarke looking around with her phone in hand, Dorothy kindly asked, "Miss Carter, are you looking for something?"

"My phone's out of battery..."

"Out of battery? Wait a moment, I have a charger here, I'll fetch it for you."

Amelia Clarke's phone charged exceptionally fast, and after washing up, it had already charged to ten percent.

She quickly powered it on.

Although the commute for the tutoring job was inconvenient, the pay was substantial, and her employer was generous, she didn't want to lose this job so easily.

No sooner had her phone powered on than it rang with a 'ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling' for a full minute with the sound of missed call alerts.

There were a total of 68 missed calls, 7 from Viola Harris, 1 from her mother; the remaining 60 were all from Mia Taylor, with the most recent one just five minutes ago, showing that Mia Taylor had been calling her continuously.

Amelia Clarke's eyes darkened slightly, and she dialed the student's mother's number.

It rang for a while before being answered.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hamilton, something unexpected happened to me yesterday, and I couldn't come over to tutor Liam, nor could I give you a call, I really apologize..." Amelia Clarke genuinely apologized.

Her student was named Liam Hamilton.

There was a moment of silence on the other end before Mrs. Hamilton's usual cool voice came through, "I see, it's okay. I took Liam to his grandmother's house yesterday and actually forgot about his tutoring session. You don't need to come over tonight; we'll resume next weekend."

After she finished speaking, the call ended abruptly.

Amelia Clarke was startled for a moment, then smiled wryly.

This was even better, as she wouldn't need to ask for time off.

She returned calls to Viola Harris and her mother before setting her phone down.

From the tone of her mother's voice, Amelia Clarke could tell that her mother was unaware of her injury.

Luckily she didn't know, otherwise, she would be worried again.

"Miss Carter, come and eat something."

As she was thinking, Dorothy Brown called her to eat.

Amelia Clarke got out of bed, walked to the table, and sat down.

On the table was a breakfast from Capital Reserve, steamed vegetable dumplings and eight-treasure porridge, along with a dish of refreshing small appetizers, all very light fare.

Dorothy Brown had obviously put thought into it, and Amelia Clarke smiled and thanked her, "Thank you, Dorothy."

Dorothy smiled back, "You don't need to thank me. Mr. Moreland said that you like the breakfast from Capital Reserve, and he specially instructed me to buy it. He also told me to choose something light. Mr. Moreland is really good to you; I've never seen him take such an interest in anybody before."

Amelia Clarke just smiled and didn't continue the topic.

Halfway through her meal, her phone rang.

Amelia Clarke picked up the phone and saw that it was from Mia Taylor.

She could guess what Mia Taylor wanted to say when she called; the police had arrested Ciara Taylor, and they would surely come to question her today. Mia Taylor naturally wanted her to speak in favor of Ciara.

Her gaze darkened as she answered the call.

The moment she picked up, Mia Taylor's voice, frantic yet somewhat restrained, came through the phone, "Amelia, why did it take you so long to answer the phone? Your injury shouldn't be too serious, right? Which hospital are you at? I'll come to see you right away."

"No need, Aunt Mia, I'm fine. Don't worry," Amelia Clarke said indifferently.

"Who's worried about you!" Mia Taylor raised her voice, "Which hospital are you at?"

Amelia Clarke laughed softly, "Aunt Mia, don't be so angry, it's bad for your health."

"Amelia Clarke, are you trying to anger me to death? You and your mother are like vampires. For the past ten years, we've paid for your food, drinks, necessities, medical bills and schooling. Our families are not even related by blood, and doing this much is already extremely generous. And after all that, what do we get? Raising an ingrate, is that it? Ciara was just impulsive when she smashed you. You actually called the police to arrest her and had her detained overnight. How can you be so cruel?"

Amelia Clarke turned to look out the window, just as two jackdaws shot past in the distance.

Through the phone, one could hear Mia Taylor taking a couple of deep breaths, and then her tone softened a bit as she said, "Amelia, for the sake of the care our family has given yours over these ten years, can you please let Ciara go? I'm begging you. Ciara has never suffered like this before, she can't handle it. Can you help her?"

Amelia Clarke slowly lowered her eyelashes, her right hand idly twirling the chopsticks, silent.

Mia Taylor, not receiving a response, became irritable again, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Aunt Mia, my head is really uncomfortable; I want to rest now," replied Amelia Clarke, her tone indifferent, almost dismissive.

Mia Taylor could obviously tell, and shouted in a burst of anger, "Amelia Clarke!" then softened her tone once more, "Amelia, when the police come to ask you about the situation later, you must say it wasn't Ciara who smashed you. Ask them to release Ciara quickly, will you?"

The way Mia Taylor's attitude kept changing was baffling to Amelia Clarke.

Despite appearing gentle and virtuous on the surface, Mia Taylor was actually very resentful about Isaac Taylor's financial support to their family. Therefore, she never had a good demeanor toward Amelia Clarke, frequently losing her temper.

Yet today, despite being furious and wanting to explode, she was still trying to keep her temper in check, which was quite unusual.

"Don't worry, Aunt Mia, I will tell the police the truth," she assured.

"Amelia Clarke, are you deliberately opposing me?" came a 'snap' from the phone as something suffered her wrath, "Don't think just because you have someone backing you up, you can do whatever you want! Heaven is watching what we do, and with your ungrateful attitude, be careful of retribution!"

Someone backing her up?

Amelia Clarke was startled.

"What do you mean, who's backing me up?"

Mia Taylor sneered, "Stop pretending. It's because you climbed into Owen Moreland's bed. Otherwise, why would the CEO of Bowe Group bother with such trifles? I never thought you had it in you, Amelia Clarke!"

Amelia Clarke was a clever person. Mia Taylor had made it quite clear, and she understood everything now.

No wonder Isaac Taylor had not bailed Ciara Taylor out of the station. It turned out to be because Owen Moreland had intervened.

For some reason, Amelia Clarke's heart skipped a beat all of a sudden.

Why?

To be so kind to her...

On the phone, Mia Taylor was still talking, "Even if you have hooked up with Owen Moreland, what good will it do? Someone like you can only be a shameful lover at best. Once he's tired of you, let's see if he'll still protect you!"

The words were harsh, and Amelia Clarke furrowed her brows.

Was Mia Taylor suppressing her anger at first because of Owen Moreland, and now, she spoke so freely because she lost her rationality in anger?

"Aunt Mia, you can say whatever you want about me, it doesn't matter. After all, I have no power or status to do anything to you. But speaking of Owen Moreland like that, aren't you afraid he'll find out and take revenge on you?"

"You...," Mia Taylor choked.

"Aunt Mia, about Sister Ciara's incident, I haven't wronged her. She attacked me over a man, and with such an impulsive temper, she's bound to suffer in the future. Wouldn't it be better for her to reflect for a few days in the station and temper her character? Smashing me might not be a big deal, but what if, in a fit of rage, she stabs someone? Who could help her then?"

"You...," Mia Taylor was so angry she couldn't speak.

"I'm doing this for Sister Ciara's own good. Don't be mad, Aunt Mia. That's all for now, goodbye," concluded Amelia Clarke.