Chapter 255

"Peter, I thought you were a gentleman, you were restraining yourself and didn't fight back just now, but now you're acting like a weakling begging for love." Joseph could not tolerate anymore. He couldn't bear to see a grown man acting so hesitantly and desperately clinging to a woman who clearly rejected him. Such people are pitiable and hateful, totally unworthy of Melissa. Peter, swaying as he leaned against the wall to steady himself, felt a piercing stab at his ego from Joseph's icy words. The never fought Peter, irresponsibly hit back at Joseph, and the two started grappling in the corridor. Amy heard noises outside and hurriedly came to check. Melissa was between them, trying to stop the fight. Finally, she managed to separate Joseph. "Joseph, just because you are powerful and influential, does it mean you can do whatever you want? Let go of Melissa!" Peter wiped his mouth and the sweet, metallic taste between his teeth with the back of his hand. Unwilling to give up, he initiated to chase Melissa once again. But the next sentence from Joseph shattered all hope in Peter’s eyes. "Melissa is my fiancée, and we will be engaged in two months." The news was like a bolt from the blue, mercilessly piercing Peter's heart. At this moment, he was standing still as if he turned into a zombie, his gaze so stunned that he could not utter a single word. "Waiter, bill, please." Joseph tidied up his crumpled coat, signaled a tall, slim waiter standing aside, gave him a bank card without expressing any emotions and said "The initial password is six zeros." Leaving these words behind, he angrily took Melissa down the spiral staircase. Melissa kept looking back at the injured Peter until his figure disappeared from her sight. After they left, Amy hurriedly ran to Peter. Seeing blood oozing from his mouth, she carefully wiped off the fresh blood from the corners of his mouth with a tissue. "Peter, let me help you back to the room first." Seeing the crowd gathering in the corridor, she helped Peter back to the private room slowly and carefully. After Peter sat on the couch, he stared at the wine glass on the coffee table. In disbelief, he murmured to himself. "Melissa is getting engaged in two months, how is this possible…" He suddenly looked up and asked Amy next to him, "Is Melissa really getting engaged? Did she tell you?" Feeling sorry for Peter, Amy shook her head and softly said, "No, I just found out too." Peter opened his third bottle of Fireball Whiskey for the night. He took a large sip and the strong alcohol stung the wound at the corner of his mouth. Peter slurred to the air. "I just don't get it, what did I do differently from Joseph? Is Melissa just a vain woman who likes to climb up the social ladder? Why can't I win her heart in six years...How ridiculous..." "Peter, it's not that you're not good. It's Melissa who doesn't know how to cherish, maybe it's fate, and we can't explain the reasons." While watching her man crush fall apart because of another woman, Amy's inner world was also crumbling. Melissa effectively ruined Peter. "Fate? I don't believe in it! Man proposes, God disposes. I will win her back!" Peter was completely drunk. This was not at all his usual cautious and calm style. He was completely enamored and crazed about a woman. Drinking the strong liquor gulp by gulp, Amy silently staying by his side, secretly wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. Suddenly, a deafening noise disrupted the tranquility of the room. Peter unexpectedly hurled the liquor bottle at the wall of their private room. The scattering fragments were instantly strewn around scaring Amy. The palm of Peter's hand got cut quite deeply by the glass. The bright red blood streamed over his silver-gray shirt. Amy immediately took a napkin from the table, trying to clean Peter's wound to stop the bleeding. But Peter pulled his hand away, fixing Amy with a gaze filled with pain and despair as his voice came out harsh. "So you also believe this is fate? That I deserve not to have Melissa?" Amy looked at Peter's bleeding hand, her heart trembling, she struggled to shake her head, the injustice drove her to the brink of tears. "I didn't think that way. Don't you believe that all of this is predestined by Heaven? Joseph is the birth father of Alvin and Alvina, how do you plan to win Melissa back?" "What did you just say…" Hearing Amy's words, Peter's expression turned sharp, seeming to process what had been revealed - Joseph was the biological father of Alvin and Alvina! With eyes blurred by tears, Amy looked at Peter in bewilderment, "You… didn't know?" Peter stared in astonishment at Amy, the pure-faced woman in front of him. He didn’t know how she could utter such cruel words to provoke him. "This can't be true. You're truly Melissa's close friend, going to any lengths to help her. Do you really think I will believe your words?" "Why would Melissa decide to marry Joseph without reason? Melissa had received the children's paternity test several months ago." Amy was profoundly disappointed in Peter. He was unjustifiably suspicious of her, doubting that she would deceive him into aiding her best friend. His heart was utterly crushed, he threw back his head against the sofa, and muttered inarticulately. "She never told me anything about it, why…” His laughter was hollow and despairing. Drunk beyond measure, Peter noticed a young woman still looking at him with sorrowful eyes that mirrored his own pain. He reached into his pocket and handed Amy some cash. He remembered Melissa entrusting him to escort Amy home and he tried to calm himself down to say “Please, go ahead. I want to stay here alone for a while." "But how can I leave you in this state?” Amy pushed the money back into Peter's hand. She pressed the napkin against the gash in Peter's hand, and the blood began to clot around it. Peter was irritated by this kind of soft yet clingy girl. He said impatiently to Amy "Miss Aaron, I ask that you leave, thank you." When Amy noticed the helpless and annoyed look in Peter's eyes, her heart ached. Without another word, she turned around and left. Finally, with the silence restored, Peter had an opportunity to drown his sorrow in drink. He dimmed the lights, turned the music volume to its maximum, indulged in his drink till he lost consciousness and fell asleep on the sofa. However, Amy did not truly leave. She stood on the cruise's deck for several hours, braving the cold wind. By the telescope, she entertained herself by looking at the stars, trying to attune her mood to a state of tranquillity.