Too Much to Bear, My Love
Chapter 109

Amelia did not want to accept the call, but Cassie could be quitepersistent. The woman kept calling non-stop that it eventually got onMolly's nerves. “Mrs. Clinton, if you don't want to take the call, youcould just switch off the phone. Whoever the caller is, they're souncultured. They should stop calling when it's clear that no one wantsto answer the phone.”

Amelia smiled at her. “It's fine, Molly, I'll take the call outside. I'll beback in a minute.”

“Mrs. Clinton, Id advise you to answer it upstairs. You're pregnant now.There's no harm in being more careful.”

Amelia nodded and went upstairs.

She picked up the call once she entered the bedroom. “What now, MsYard? What else do you have to say to me?”

On the other end of the line, Cassie spoke. “Amelia, are you free now?Let's meet outside.”

Amelia refused. “Ms. Yard, I don't have the time. Whatever it is, you cansay it over the phone.”

Cassie was adamant. “Amelia, I'll see you at Starbucks in an hour. If youdon't come, I'll drop by at your place. I reckon Oz will love to see memake an entrance.”

Amelia ground her teeth. “Cassie, how do you still have the face toshow yourself?”

“Oz has promised to marry me as soon as possible, you see. He alsosaid that he’s not willing to have our child born out of wedlock. Sincethe house you're currently staying in will be mine eventually, it's notwrong for me, the soon-to-be lady of the house, to exercise my right inadvance, is it?"

Cassie made some bold statements.

Amelia barked out a laugh. She changed her mind and said, “Fine. I'llsee you at Starbucks in an hour.”

With that, she abruptly ended the phone call.

Amelia went to the closet to pick out what she should wear. She tookthe task seriously because, even though she was with child, and that herbelly would continue to grow, causing her body to swell out of shape—in fact, there was no shape to speak of now—she did not want to loseto Cassie.

To a certain extent, her appearance was bound to give people thewrong impression. They would always regard her as a promiscuouswoman. On the other hand, Cassie, with her angelic looks, had a certainadvantage over her. Therefore, when it came to seeking sympathy,Amelia would most likely lose out. Even so, she did not want to lose toCassie before the competition even started.

The war between these two women actually depended on whomeverthe man would side with.

Amelia arrived at Starbucks five minutes before the appointed time. Sheordered a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain and got a table. Time tickedby and, unexpectedly, Cassie had yet to show up. Soon, she finished herdrink. When she checked her phone, she realized that half an hour hadpassed.

Amelia dialed Cassie's number. When the call was connected, shegrowled at the recipient, “Ms. Yard, are you here yet? Your time may becheap, but mine is precious, so I suggest you show yourself within thenext ten minutes or I'm leaving!”

The moment she finished her rant, however, Cassie's weak voicesounded from the other end of the line, “Amelia, my stomach hurts agreat deal. Am I going to lose my baby? Can you come here, please?”Hearing that, Amelia panicked. She asked hurriedly, “Where are you?Give me your address. I'm coming.”

Cassie provided her the address over the phone.

Amelia was quite surprised to learn that Cassie lived so close to Oscar'sneighborhood, but right then she was facing a matter of life and death.She had no time to get jealous about it.

She quickly paid, rushed out of the shop, and got into her car. Beforesetting off, she thought she should give Oscar a call.

She dialed Oscar's number, but it did not go through the first time.Luckily, it was answered on the second try.

“Mr. Clinton, Ms. Yard just called. She told me her stomach hurts. I don'tknow what's going on but I'm going there now to take a look. If you'renot busy, please come. After all... it's your child. If anything happens,you'll grieve as well.”

“I'm on my way,” Oscar said and promptly hung up the call.

Amelia looked at the beeping phone and, for a while, she let herselreplaceulge in sadness. But she quickly got over it and drove away.

Luckily, it was not rush hour, so Amelia was able to drive at top speedto her destination. Before long, she reached Cassie's neighborhood andtook the elevator upstairs.

Outside Cassie's apartment, Amelia knocked vigorously on the door,but no one came to answer it. She took the elevator downstairs againand informed the guards in the security room. The two guards took thekeys and followed her upstairs

They opened the door to replace Cassie slumped at the stairway. A pool ofblood had formed at her legs.

Amelia could tell that things had gotten from bad to worse. Sheordered the guards to call for an ambulance. Then, she quickly ran overand kneeled down beside Cassie, calling her name over and over again.Cassie slowly awakened. When she realized it was Amelia calling her,she grasped at the latter's hand weakly. She pleaded, “Amelia, pleasesave my baby. I don’t want to lose her.”

Amelia grabbed the woman's hand firmly as she assured her, “Don'tworry. We'll get you to the hospital now. You and your baby will befine.”

“Save my baby. Save my baby. I still want to marry Oscar,” Cassiepleaded.

Amelia's mind was all over the place, but she still managed to remaincalm and said, “Don’t worry, your baby will be fine. We're taking you tothe hospital now.”

She turned toward the two guards. “Sirs, have you called theambulance?”

“Yes,” came the reply. The two guards looked at Cassie, lying there in apool of blood. They said, “This young lady is hurt badly. Should we getsomething to stop the bleeding first?”

Amelia thought for a while and came up with a better idea. “Sirs, whichone of you is stronger? Carry her. We have to take her to the hospitalnow. We can't wait for the ambulance. There's too much at risk. Thelonger a pregnant woman dallies, the greater danger she's in.”

“That works too.” The guard with a larger build stepped forward andtook Cassie in his arms while Amelia was at the front giving commands.“Sir, be careful. She's delicate.”

With a pregnant woman covered in blood in his arms, the guard was nodoubt in a horrified state. It took a lot of effort to get Cassie downstairs.Amelia opened the door to her car, and the two guards carefully gotCassie into the vehicle.

Amelia drove to the Principal General Hospital as quickly and steadilyas she could. Along the way, she called Robert in advance. As such, themoment the car arrived at the entrance, the medical staff that wasalready on standby came over with a stretcher.

The medical team placed Cassie on the stretcher and entered thehospital building. Amelia sighed in relief. She turned to express hergratitude to the two guards, “Kind sirs, thank you so much for today. Ifit weren't for the two of you, I don't know what will happen to her. Ifyou don't mind, let me buy you a meal next time.”

Both guards were middle-aged men, and they were honest people.They seemed dumbstruck when a beautiful woman like Amelia offeredthem her sincere gratitude. “Miss, don't say that. This is our duty. Yourfriend has safely arrived at the hospital, that's all that matters. We oughtto get back to work now.”

“Oh, of course, kind sirs. She's still being treated, so I'll stay with her.After she's recovered, do let me treat you to a meal.”

The two guards nodded and left the hospital.

After that, Mr. Lancester walked over to her. “Amelia, you don't look sogood. Shall I conduct a checkup for you? Olivia's been looking forwardto a grandson for some time now. We wouldn't want anything bad tohappen.”

Amelia shook her head and chuckled. “Mr. Lancester, I'm fine. It's justthat I was racing against time just now and got all tensed up trying toget here. I know I must look haggard. Thanks for worrying about me,though.”

Mr. Lancester had a very good impression of Amelia. Although she didnot come from a good family background, she was kind, considerate,and very polite to her elders. She was also a brilliant, well-spokenconversationalist on top of being charming and elegant in every stepshe took

From a man’s point of view, such a woman would make a wonderfulwife. As long as the man was not superficial, he would not be deceivedby her looks and presume that she would be unfaithful.

"You're pregnant now. So you have to prioritize your wellbeing. If you'rehigh-strung all the time, it's not good for the development of the fetus.You have to be more careful, alright?” Mr. Lancester said in allearnestness as the two entered the hospital together.

Amelia listened obediently to what he had to say. “I will, Mr. Lancester.”"Why don't you take a rest in my office?”

Amelia shook her head. “There's no need, Mr. Lancester. I'm fine. I justneed to rest for a while. You're the dean, so you must have a lot of workto do. I really shouldn't keep you. I already feel quite guilty fortroubling you just now.”

“Don't say that. You're Oscar's wife, after all. There's no trouble here.Even if you call me in the middle of the night, I'll call all the doctors tocome to the hospital at once. If anything happens to you, Olivia willskin me alive!” Mr. Lancester exclaimed in a joking manner.

Amelia grinned.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Lancester! You really should get going. I canwait outside the operating room on my own. Oscar will be here soon,anyway.”

“Alright, then. I'm getting back to work. Call me if you need anything.”With that, Mr. Lancester left.

Amelia waited on the bench outside the operating room for about tenminutes before Oscar arrived.

“Amelia, how's Cassie?” Oscar ran up to her and asked anxiously.Amelia was once again confronted with mixed feelings when shenoticed the panic in his eyes, but she went on to assure him, “Cassie'sstill in the operating room.”

“What happened to her? Why did she call you? How's the baby?” Oscarfired a barrage of questions.

Amelia gave him a complicated look while her heart ached.

“I got her call after breakfast today. She said she wanted to talk to meabout something and asked me to meet her at Starbucks. I got thereand waited for half an hour but she didn't show, so I called her. Shesounded weak on the phone and she wanted me to go get her.Something didn't feel right so I went to her place. I asked two guards toopen the door for me and after that, we found her lying in a pool of herown blood. I got one of the guards to carry her into my car and droveher here. I also called Mr. Lancester along the way. If you don't believeme, you can check all you want, but don't you think for a second that Icaused harm to your lover on purpose. I'm not so noble as to take theblame for someone else.”

Seeing her stubbornness, Oscar felt somewhat relaxed.

He lifted a finger and rubbed her nose. “When have I ever doubtedyou?"

“You were questioning me just now. Weren't you suspecting that I musthave done something horrible to your lover?”

Oscar did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“I was just wondering how the two of you got together, so I asked. It'sas simple as that. Why, were you really mad?”

Amelia pursed her lips. “Mr. Clinton, I didn’t want this to happen to hereither. Now's probably not the best time or place to talk about herbehind her back, but Ms. Yard had asked to meet me in person severaltimes. I'm your wife, legally speaking, and your lover is getting in myhair. It's frustrating!”

Oscar's eyes darkened as he fell into deep thought.

Amelia glanced at him and added, “It's useless telling you all this. Youwon't take my side anyway.”

She paused, then continued, “Now that the unthinkable has happened,I suggest you be mentally prepared. Her unborn baby might notsurvive.”

Strangely, Oscar did not really feel sad when he heard Amelia'sprediction. On the contrary, he seemed to feel a faint sense of relief.