Chapter 82 Amelia's Slow Realization
The intimate atmosphere was interrupted by a phone ringing. Michael answered with slight irritation, still catching his breath, "This better be important."
"Mr. Green, your father is awake!"
Michael never expected such incredible news. This day was overwhelming him with happiness.
"I'm coming right now." He hung up hastily and met Sophia's confused gaze, excitedly saying, "My dad's awake."
Sophia was surprised for a moment, then smiled. She stepped back and said, "Then you should hurry over there. Drive carefully."
"Aren't you coming with me?"
"No, he just woke up. You and your father probably have a lot to talk about. Besides, Mr. Wright is there, and he probably doesn't want to see me anyway. I'll visit him another day."
"Alright." Michael stood up and ruffled Sophia's hair. "Then be careful driving back yourself, and call me if anything happens."
"Okay."
To make it easier for Michael to get to the hospital quickly, Sophia switched car keys with him, letting him take the Bugatti while she would slowly walk back to the surface parking garage to get his car.
After getting into the Maybach, Sophia didn't rush home. Instead, she first video-called Amelia.
The call connected quickly, and the first thing she saw was a wine glass. Amelia's cheeks were flushed red on both sides, her eyes slightly unfocused—clearly she'd had quite a bit to drink.
From the background, she was at Seaside Bay Villa No. 6.
"What's wrong with you? Why have you been drinking so much?" Sophia asked with concern, sounding like she was interrogating her.
Amelia pouted, "Sophia, will you come keep me company tonight?"
Sophia sighed, "Alright, but stop drinking for now. Wait until I get there before you drink more."
"Okay." Amelia obediently pushed the wine glass away. "Come quickly, I'm waiting for you."
"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
After hanging up the video call, Sophia sent Mary a message letting her know where she'd be, then drove toward Seaside Bay Villa.
With light traffic at night, it didn't even take fifteen minutes before the Maybach pulled up in front of Villa No. 6.
Sophia entered the password and went straight in, finding Amelia slumped over the dining table with two wine bottles in front of her—one empty, the other half-finished.
She locked the door, walked over, took out another bottle of red wine from the refrigerator, grabbed a clean wine glass, and sat down beside Amelia.
She poured herself half a glass of wine and refilled Amelia's glass halfway—technically, that counted as drinking together.
"Alright, Amelia, tell me what happened tonight."
Amelia straightened up, took a sip of wine, sighed heavily, and shook her head while saying, "Sophia, you were right. Men's thoughts are really hard to understand."
"Did you and Wayne have a fight?" Sophia asked directly.
Amelia suddenly sat up straight, staring at Sophia in amazement. "Wow! You're incredible—how did you guess that?"
Sophia pressed her lips together. How was that difficult to figure out?
Wayne had left early for no apparent reason, and when Amelia mentioned where Wayne had gone, she was evasive and clearly uncomfortable—it couldn't have been more obvious.
"So then, why did you fight?"
Amelia pouted, "I just complained a little about having my marriage arranged by my family since childhood, not being able to go from meeting to knowing to loving someone like you and Michael did, and then he got upset."
Sophia raised an eyebrow, "Just upset?"
Amelia lowered her head, "He said he wants to break off our engagement."
"Break off the engagement?" Even Sophia was taken aback, her brow furrowing. "Does he realize how much that would affect him?"
The Cooper family and the Martinez family were old family friends. This engagement wasn't just a business arrangement—it was meant to strengthen their bond, symbolizing the continuation of their families' friendship.
Wayne had a younger brother, Ryder Cooper, who was three years younger. When the Cooper and Martinez families arranged the engagement, Ryder had just been born.
The head of the Cooper family, Wayne's father, had sworn an oath in front of the Martinez couple, declaring that if Wayne ever failed to honor the engagement or disrespected Amelia after marriage, it would mean he didn't value their families' friendship.
In that case, the Cooper family would act as if Wayne didn't exist, leaving all their assets to his brother, Ryder, and forcing Wayne to leave the Cooper family to fend for himself.
Sophia had met Wayne's father at social events—everything about him radiated righteousness and integrity. She believed that if Wayne really went to the Martinez family to break off the engagement, his father would actually kick him out.
"I told him the same thing. He said that as friends, he doesn't want to put me in a difficult position, so he'll be the one to propose breaking it off." Amelia looked aggrieved. She swore her complaints absolutely didn't mean she wanted to break off the engagement.
Having grown up together, Amelia was also concerned about Wayne's situation. So even though she felt no romantic feelings for him, she had never considered breaking their engagement.
Who could have expected Wayne to suddenly bring this up!
Sophia found a straw from somewhere, stuck it in her wine glass, and stared at Amelia while sipping wine through it, her chin propped on her hand.
"Since he's considered the consequences, why are you moping about it?"
"Obviously, I've known him for so long; of course, I'm worried about him! Besides, if he gets disowned by the Cooper family because of me, I'll feel terrible!" Amelia spoke dramatically, and even her drunkenness seemed to clear up quite a bit.
Sophia made a noncommittal sound, "So the current situation is that he's willing to leave the Cooper family for your happiness, while you're willing to accept this engagement for his wealthy lifestyle. You have nothing to worry about—just go tell him you don't want to break off the engagement."
That hit the nail on the head. Amelia became worried again, gulping down two mouthfuls of wine before slumping dejectedly on the table. "But, don't you think Wayne is acting strange?"
"How so?"
"He and I are good friends. Originally, getting married wouldn't have been a big deal. Even without romantic feelings, we could just maintain our current way of interacting. Why is he suddenly saying he doesn't want to put me in a difficult position?"
Sophia blinked and shook her head, "I don't understand."
Amelia frowned, thinking carefully about how to explain. "It's just... even if he and I got married, we could continue interacting like friends. It's not like it would be awkward or formal between us. Why would he think I'm in a difficult position?"
Sophia tried to understand, and then it clicked.
Amelia felt that from Wayne's perspective, he should see things the same way she did—interact like friends, get legally married eventually, while maintaining the same relationship, which would basically be like never getting married at all.
Besides, arranged marriages were common among wealthy elite families. Compared to marrying someone you'd barely met, being able to marry a childhood friend was actually the best possible option.
They could even sit together discussing which guys were more handsome or which women had better figures.
Rather than considering each other's marital happiness.
Or even sacrificing your current privileges for the other person's marital happiness.
Amelia thought Wayne's reaction was completely illogical.
This made Sophia laugh.