Too Much to Bear, My Love
Chapter 46

in order to defeat one’s opponents and reach the coveted spot.

After chatting for a while, Carter stood up. “Come on, I'll introduce youto your colleagues. Get to know them now so it'll be easier to ask themfor help in the future. I'll get your training in Saspiuburg planned assoon as possible. I'll also rent an apartment there so you can getenough rest, especially now that you're pregnant.”

Amelia was thoroughly moved. “Thank you, Mr. Scott. I'm truly gratefulfor all your help. I'll definitely return this favor once my baby is born.”“Oh, come on now. We're friends, aren't we? There's no need to returnfavors. But if you really want to show your appreciation, perhaps youcould let me be your child's godfather?”

“It's not enough to rely on our parents in this day and age; we'd alsoneed godparents. My child is so fortunate to have you already asking tobe his godfather. With your generosity and support, I'm sure he'd bemore than set for life,” Amelia teased.

Carter gazed longingly at Amelia, mesmerized by her smile. “Amelia, ifyou do get that divorce, will you give me a chance to stay by yourside?”

Amelia was stunned silent.

Carter held her hand. “I've been in love with you for a long time now.You have no idea how happy I was when you came to me in yourmoment of need, even though I knew you were married. But when yousaid you wanted to attend the training in Saspiuburg despite beingpregnant, I guessed things between you and your husband weren't asrosy as I thought they would be. I really hope to be given a chance ifyou do get that divorce,” he said sincerely.

Amelia pulled her hand back in shock. “Mr. Scott, may I remind you thatwe're at work. I don’t think it's appropriate to talk about this here. Ifthere's nothing else, Id like to go back to work now.”

Without any hesitation, Carter grabbed her arm again. “Please, Amelia,don't be scared. I really love you. I've felt like that since the first time Ilaid eyes on you. Even after you got married, I still couldn't get you outof my mind. And please, as long as you agree to be with me, I promiseto care for your child as my own.”

“You're my friend, Mr. Scott, and I appreciate your kindness.” Ameliaturned and stared coldly at him. “However, I'm still married. I hope ourrelationship can maintain its status quo. But if you don't think we canremain as friends, I'll have to resign and cut all ties with you.”

Seeing the indignant look plastered on Amelia's face, Carter sigheddeeply. “I'm very sorry, Amelia. I was too impulsive. Please don't be madat me.”

“You've helped me a lot, and I'm really grateful to have you as a friend.You're handsome, rich, and capable; surely there are scores of womenlining up to date you. I'll take what you said earlier as another one ofyour jokes. No matter what the outcome of my marriage may be, aslong as I'm still legally married, I will not think of other men. Just so youknow, I do cherish this marriage very much. I'll do whatever it takes toget my husband back.”

Carter saw the fire in her eyes as she said that, and it hurt him deeply.“Even if you knew he had another woman outside, you'd still turn ablind eye to that?”

Amelia shot daggers at him. “You investigated me?”

“No, it wasn't that. I just wanted to replace out how you were doing,”Carter pleaded. “I never thought you'd marry the heir to the ClintonCorporations. It's not easy for any woman to marry into a family aspowerful as the Clintons. I was concerned about you, so I investigatedOscar Clinton. It was only then I realized he was having an affair withthe daughter of the Yard family. But you already knew that, didn't you?”“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Scott. But you don’t have to worryabout my family matters.”

“Have I pissed you off?”

“If you were to replace out that someone had investigated you and dugout everything about your family, wouldn't you be mad too?”

“I'm sorry! I meant no harm. I just wanted to make sure you werehappy,” Carter apologized profusely.

Amelia sighed, calming herself down. “I may also have been too harshtoward you. I'm sorry, Mr. Scott.”

"Does that mean we're even?”

Amelia nodded and smiled.

Carter led Amelia out and introduced her to his other employees. Eventhough his company was relatively new, they'd experienced impressivegrowth. They had almost fifty employees to date, all of whom weretalented in their own rights. Some had graduated from Ivy Leagueschools, others had studied abroad, and some even had design awardsunder their belt.

Just this month alone, besides Amelia, they'd also hired four otheremployees who hailed from Ivy League universities. Two of them werehandsome and charismatic men, while the other two bespectacledwomen were young and pretty.

Having noticed Carter with Amelia, everyone stood up and focusedtheir attention on her. It was a mixed bag of reactions. Some werecurious, some were checking her out, some envied her, and as always,some were jealous of her.

Amelia tried to ignore their looks while she stood quietly beside Carter.“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your new colleague in the designdepartment. She and I go way back, so I don’t want anyone bullyingher. She used to be a top design student, and I had to put in a greatdeal of effort to get her to join us. Now, let's put our hands together togive Amelia a warm welcome!”

A huge round of applause followed.

Amelia flashed a smile and took a bow. “Hello everyone, I'm AmeliaWinters. I'm probably older than most of you here. What Mr. Scott saidearlier about me being a top design student was an exaggeration. I dohave a few years of design experience, but due to some reasons, I'venot done any design work for almost four years now. I'm not sure if I'dbe able to catch up with you, so I'm going to need all your help fromhere on out.”

Once she finished her speech, she was greeted by another round ofapplause.

The male employees were smitten by Amelia's beauty and humility.One of them boldly asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Why? Is that supposed to be work-related?” Amelia teased.

Everyone laughed in response.

The same male colleague continued, “We should be counting our luckystars that someone as beautiful as you has joined our department. Ithink we can all agree that you're the ultimate goddess. We know we'reout of your league, but watching you work your design magic would bea great motivation for us.”

All the other ladies in the design department shot him a death stare.“Are you asking for a beating, Dave?”

Dave merely shrugged. “All of you ought to learn from Amelia. She'sbeautiful and refined, a true work of art.”

"Oh, you... you'll get it from us after work!” the ladies exclaimed.Carter clapped his hands to call for silence. “All right, all right. Settledown. I'll leave Amelia in your good hands. Just remember that she’s anold friend of mine. If I hear about anyone bullying her, I will not be niceabout it.”

Dave jumped in again. “Don't worry, Mr. Scott. No one will bully thegoddess. We're curious though. When are the two of you gettingmarried? And when you do, please invite all of us!”

Carter glanced at him and stated matter-of-factly, “I remember you stillhave a design to submit to me. When can I expect your submission?”“Sorry, Mr. Scott. I shouldn't have crossed the line,” Dave repliedsheepishly.

Carter looked really terrifying when he got angry. “I'm giving you tillthis afternoon. If the design you submit is still not to my liking, I'm sureyou know what to do.”

Dave was now all flustered. He quickly looked to Amelia for help. “Myfair maiden, please have pity on me. Help me put in a good word withMr. Scott, would you?"

Even though they were a little rowdy, Amelia did like the camaraderie inthe design department.

She looked to Carter and said, “I'll take it from here, Mr. Scott. Thankyou.”

With a nod, Carter once again reminded everyone to treat Amelia welland walked out.

Once he was out of earshot, the ladies in the department immediatelycrowded around Amelia. “Please tell us! What's the relationshipbetween you and Mr. Scott? Are you two dating?”

Amelia waved her hand in the air to show the sparkly diamond ring onher finger. “See, I'm already married. Mr. Scott and I are merely oldfriends. I only got this job because of my connections with him. So I'mnot particularly proud of it. I hope you won't mind either.”

No one had ever been this honest about using their personalconnections to get into any company, so this revelation took everyoneby surprise. “Don’t think like that, Amelia. Mr. Scott wouldn't haveassigned you to the design department if you didn't have the talent forit”

Another colleague piped up, “I remember Mr. Scott said he wasplanning on getting himself an assistant. Amelia, how did you end upjoining the design department?”

“That was the initial plan he had because the design department wasfull then. But later he said he had already hired an assistant, so hedecided to put me here instead,” Amelia replied politely.

“Lucky for us then! Having you here immediately increases theattractiveness of our department.”

“Excuse me, Dave? Are you insinuating that the rest of us ladies areunattractive?”

“Oh, those are your words, not mine. But you arent wrong, so kudos toyou lot for knowing that about yourselves.” Dave smirked.

"Dave, you're such an ass! Give up already, Amelia's married!”

Dave clutched his chest and pretended to be in pain. “Amelia, my fairmaiden, how I wish we had met earlier. Perhaps then I wouldn't be thesingle, lonely bachelor that I am today.”

The only response that Dave got from that was a loud boo from hiscolleagues.

Her new colleagues were such a fun bunch to be around that Ameliawas starting to feel better after that phone call with Cassie.

Time seemed to fly by when one was hard at work. Very soon, it hadcome to the end of the workday.

Amelia had just made her way down when a car drove up to her. Shewas still wondering if someone had made a mistake when the windowrolled down and Carter stuck his head out.

“Get in, Amelia. I'll drive you home.”

She was about to turn him down when Carter continued, “I know youdidn't drive here today. Don't worry. My only intention is to get youhome safe.”

It wouldn't have been nice if she continued to reject his goodintentions, so Amelia accepted the offer and got into the car. “Thankyou for the ride home, Mr. Scott.”

“Please, Amelia, we aren’t at work now. Don't be a stranger,” Carterremarked as he started the car.

Amelia finally broke out into a merry laugh. “All right, Carter. By theway, I didn't see you leave the office earlier. When did you get here?”“I left the office at four to meet a client. I drove back after the meetingand just so happened to bump into you at the entrance.”

“That's quite the coincidence.”

Having come to a stop at a red light, Carter asked, “Assigning you tothe design department was a last-minute decision. How are you doingso far?”