Chapter 200 You Deserve to Divorce Me in Two Years
The atmosphere at the dinner table was particularly delicate.
Thalia sat obediently next to William. Worried that Thalia might feel awkward, Amara kept talking about what happened at the hospital today - there was a patient who came all the way from another city to Emerald City for treatment. After going through so much trouble to finally diagnose the problem, the patient ran away overnight because they couldn't afford it. When Amara finished her rounds and came out to find the patient gone, she took a few nurses and chased after them, finally finding the person at the subway station.
Thalia was quite moved by the story.
"What happened next?"
Amara picked up her glass and took a sip of water, thinking to herself - good thing Thalia came today, otherwise who would take the bait?
"I told him I'd find a way to help."
William placed a bowl of soup in front of Thalia, his tone lazy and casual: "Just say how much money you want!"
"Big brother knows me best."
"Not much, not much. The surgery costs about $150,000. Our hospital pooled some money together, so if you could just round it up to $100,000 for me, that'd be great."
Thalia scooped the soup with her spoon and got it: "So that whole touching story you just told was all to set up asking for money?"
Caught by Thalia, Amara's face turned red.
But William just smiled and patted Thalia's head: "Smart."
"I'm broke!" Amara mumbled: "Big brother, I'm doing this to build good karma for you!"
"Thanks, but I don't want to live that long."
By that logic, all the money he'd given Amara over the years would be enough to make him immortal.
Thalia watched Amara get shut down and couldn't help but laugh.
"Thalia, you're beautiful and kind-hearted!"
William tapped the table: "Are you a beggar? Asking everyone you meet for money."
Harper got annoyed too: "Amara, if you're not eating, go back to your room."
Amara: ...She's so pitiful!
........
"Does Amara really need money that badly?" In the bathroom, Thalia turned on the faucet to wash her hands, looking at William standing at the door.
William walked over and pulled out a hand towel for her: "She's kind-hearted, always wanting to save the world. Whenever she meets poor patients, she wants to help them out. She basically spends her entire salary on this, and relies on my dad and Harper to subsidize her living expenses every month."
"Being kind is a good thing!" Thalia said.
"That's why everyone subsidizes her. But everything should have limits. People should do good deeds within their means. Going beyond your means and dragging the whole family into contributing - that's biting off more than you can chew. You can sympathize with her, but don't enable her."
William saw Thalia turn off the faucet and simply walked over to wrap her hands in the towel and dry them. Her fair hands were so thin they were all bones, nowhere near as nice to touch as other parts of her body.
"Are you warning me?"
"Yes, I'm afraid you'll help her do the wrong thing."
"You think I'm that kind of person?"
William glanced at her: "Do you know how people talk about you?"
"How do they talk about me?" She rarely hung out with those people, but felt like while she didn't know them, they seemed to know her pretty well.
William tossed the hand towel in the trash and casually said four words: "Dumb with money."
Thalia: "Are you being polite?"
"You asked."
"No wonder you're divorcing me in two years."
William's foot that had just stepped out slowly came back. He looked at Thalia with displeasure: "Wrong time and place, don't you think?"
"Are you done? Mom and Dad are calling you."
Amara poked her head in from the bathroom doorway, craning her neck to see what was going on inside, looking around: "Did you yell at her?"
Amara snuck a glance at the living room and shouted loudly: "William, you're terrible! You actually yelled at her."
William: ......
"William?" Hearing Amara's words, Harper didn't even have time to dry her hands from washing fruit before appearing at the bathroom door at lightning speed.
"Did you yell at Thalia?"
"No," William let out a heavy sigh.
Amara was clearly doing this on purpose, that little fox had a dark heart...
"I don't believe you, ask Thalia."
"Did he?" Harper turned her questioning gaze to Thalia. Without even thinking, Thalia could tell Amara was helping her out. An opportunity to get back at William had been handed to her on a silver platter - she'd be stupid not to take it.
She said nothing, just blinked her bright eyes at Harper, looking like she had grievances she couldn't express. Harper's anger flared up.
She smacked William on the arm: "This is her first time meeting the family and you yell at her?"
William: ...Three women make a drama, he was seeing it firsthand.
When it came to acting, Thalia was a professional. Back when she wanted to establish herself in the entertainment industry, Hayden had hired so many professional teachers for her! These skills didn't give her much satisfaction when filming, but using them to scheme against William today - now that was really fun!
.......
"Here's a plane ticket, a house abroad, and a check for $4 million. Take it."
"What do you mean?" Aria had just finished nursing and stared at the envelope Walter threw at her, stunned.
"You really want to kick me out?"
"Do you think it's appropriate for you to stay here?"
"You were the one who did those things back then, so why do I have to pay the price now? Besides, if I leave, what about the baby?"
"There are plenty of people who want to take your place. Aria, your existence is an insult to me, so you have to go," Walter grabbed Aria's chin and asked word by word: "Understand?"
"I don't understand, why should I understand? The law doesn't even allow a child to be separated from their mother during nursing, but you want to kick me out now."
"I'm not leaving. If you really want me to go, then give me the child."
"Can you even support the child? You can barely take care of yourself. You believe me? As long as I spread the news that you have a $4 million check to your family, they'll come suck every last drop of blood from you like a bunch of vampires."
Aria's face went pale.
She looked at Walter, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
"You're so cruel. If I had known you would kick me out after I gave birth, I never would have brought this child into the world."
"Admitting it? I thought you were so great! Turns out you just see the child as a cash cow."
Aria was stung by the words "cash cow" and pushed Walter away: "You're talking nonsense."
Walter reflexively slapped Aria across the face.
Aria was knocked to the ground. Walter walked up and started punching and kicking her.
.......
Thalia had just come out of the bathroom humming a tune when Evelyn's call came urgently: "Something's happened, check Facebook now."
"Quick!"