Me After Meeting You

As she was pondering over the conundrum, the phone rang; it was a call from Silvia.

“I had a big fight with someone! Gosh, I’m so angry. Come and accompany me out, please?”

‘Fighting with someone while celebrating the new year?’ Amber was impressed with her friend’s ability to pick fights. As she continued to flip through the records in her hands, she smiled and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Some scumbag was spreading rumors about how Trysta and Frank are going to get a divorce. Hmph, I just talked to Trysta this morning! She’s pregnant and resting well at home, with Frank by her side. You tell me, isn’t it immoral to curse someone out of nowhere during the new year? Of course I had to yell at him!”

Amber stilled at Silvia’s rant. “Frank’s staying with Trysta?”

“That’s right! The two of them even reaffirmed their love for each other in front of me… Ah, it feels like I’m about to have a bad year. On the first day of the new year, I had a big fight with my mom. Then, today, if you discount the fact that I witnessed a public display of affection in the morning, I got into yet another fight with someone. Amber, comfort me!”

“Alright. But I already have a date in the afternoon, so would you want to tag along?”

“That Axton fellow?”

“Yes.”

Silvia was somewhat embarrassed. “Is that okay?”

Amber confidently replied, “It’s not a big deal.”

‘Even if Ian wanted to try something, the presence of a stranger should dampen his enthusiasm a bit.’

‘And given how lonely that man was, he needed someone loud like Silvia around.’

And so Silvia happily accepted. “Then it’s settled! It’s a good thing that he’s handsome. That way, I’ll be able to sneak a few glances at him and recalibrate myself.” After confirming the date and time, she cheerfully hung up.

Amber then called Trysta, but she didn’t pick up. Rather, her mother did, and she joyfully told Amber, “She went for a walk with Frank. Ah, she’s probably thought it through by now, and I hope that the two of them will be able to have a happy life together.

Everyone makes mistakes now and then, right? It must have been really hard on you during this period of time. I’d like to treat you to a meal whenever you’re free.”

“Alright. Please let me know if anything comes up.”

Amber sighed, not knowing what was on Trysta’s mind. But regardless of what Trysta was doing on the surface, Amber didn’t believe for one bit that she could overlook that incident and forgive Frank.

Trysta had never been a magnanimous person, and she wasn’t someone who would do this even for her baby.

But Amber also didn’t have a better treatment plan for Trysta than to just check up on her regularly. No matter how worried Amber was for Trysta, she couldn’t do anything about it for the moment. She could only hope that Trysta would really think things through-it would be fine as long as she didn’t take any drastic measures.

With most of her tasks completed, Amber went home after tidying up her desk. She then casually ate lunch, took a bath, and napped for a short while. At 3 PM in the afternoon, she got up and did half an hour of yoga before leisurely changing and preparing to go out.

While she put her outfit together, she recalled her mother’s words about her fashion sense and inspected her reflection in the mirror. She usually wore loose clothes for comfort, and naturally, all the clothes she had worn this season were shirts and sweaters.

If it was a bit colder outside, then she might put on some extra layers. If it was warmer, then a windbreaker or a jacket.

Since she was going on a date, she should really treat her attire a bit more seriously. After some careful consideration, she picked out a black dress and a bright red wool jacket to compliment it. As her mother had said, Amber very seldomly wore bright colors.

This jacket was something that Ruby had gifted her during the last new year, and she had hung it up in her wardrobe for an entire year without ever wearing it.

When she tried it on, she felt that it was fine, and that it was pretty compatible with the outside celebratory atmosphere of the new year. Pleased with the look, she had chosen to wear it.

And since she had put special care into her outfit, she might as well style her hair too into a simple bun, which was simple, convenient, and not much of a hassle.

After she finished getting ready, she walked outside and tried to hail a taxi. For the entire first month of the new year, finding a free taxi was a difficult ordeal. Amber waited for quite a while, but the taxi that she was waiting for never showed up. However, Beryl did.

He was getting off work then, and when he saw Amber dressed all in red and standing by the roadside, he hesitated for a moment before pulling up to her.

“Where are you going? I can drop you off.” Even though he said this, he felt somewhat uncomfortable, for no other reason than the fact that the two of them had been fighting against each other for a long time. Thus, acting amicably with her made him feel very conflicted inside.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Amber was also a little shocked by his offer, but she quickly regained her calm and asked, “Where are you headed?”

“Anywhere’s fine. In any case, I’ll drop you off wherever you need to go!” When he saw that she wasn’t planning on responding, he became even more impatient. “Stop dilly dallying and get in the car. I’m not supposed to stop here!”

Without any real choice, Amber could only hurriedly get into the car.

As the two of them had studied under the same professor and were even colleagues now, the relationship between them should have been pretty good. However, they had never been able to mesh well.

And besides their incompatibility, Beryl often obstructed her at work and spoke to her with barbed words, like right now. When Amber gave him the location she was going to, he briefly glanced at her before sourly commenting, “You’re meeting up with your rich boyfriend again, aren’t you?”

And then, “I thought that the kind of men you liked would be compatible with you in heart and soul. I never thought that you’d be one of those women who prized wealth and material possessions.”

Amber wanted to ignore him, but when she realized that he could keep talking the whole way even without a word from her, she finally replied exasperatedly. “Senior, you’re also a rich man. Why’re you discriminating against the wealthy? If you’re saying all this because you’re thankful for my help, then let me tell you that there’s really no need.

I really didn’t do much. And if it’s not because you’re thankful, then it’s even more unnecessary because we don’t even know each other that well.”

Amber’s words made Beryl’s face turn green, but he did shut up, and the world was quiet once again.

Amber wasn’t at all afraid of offending him because she was quite confident that, despite his caustic mouth and somewhat limited abilities, he wasn’t a bad person at heart.

But she didn’t expect that he would be so indefatigable today. After Amber got out of his car, he seemed to have suddenly thought of an irrepressible question. He followed her out, pulled her back from behind, and calmly asked, “Amber, do you look down on me?!”