Chapter 258

"There's another matter; I owe you an apology." Melissa paused then uttered with genuine remorse, "When Joseph hit you yesterday, you were injured. I am really sorry. I have been tossing and turning all night thinking about the incident, only falling asleep around two or three in the morning. I was worried that you might do something foolish and also feared disturbing your rest, therefore, I held back from calling until now." While Melissa was talking, suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. Recognizing the knock's rhythm, she knew it was Joseph. She couldn't continue chatting with Peter any longer; otherwise, Joseph would start nagging and commenting on her again. "Hmm, I'm fine, no need to worry." Peter replied perfunctorily with a light tone, he was in no mood to chat with anybody. "Well then, you sound quite tired, I suggest you go home and catch up on sleep. I'll call Amy in a while, after all, she might be shocked from last night's events. Later, I'll find time to call you back." Melissa could tell from Peter's voice that he was still not in good shape, perhaps he just needs a few days to clear his head. "Ah, Melissa......" Peter became instantly anxious when he heard Melissa was about to call Amy. He was pondering excuses to discourage Melissa from calling Amy, but before he could come up with any, the call had already been disconnected. This is bad! Amy this morning left without uttering a word to Peter, she must surely hate him. If Amy discloses last night's incident to Melissa, what would she think? Melissa might possibly cut ties with Peter for good. Whatever will be, will be. There's nothing better than facing it. Amy, who was sitting in a breakfast booth, finally stopped crying. She was blankly staring at the shop owner's shoe-tip, seated motionless on the floor of the booth. "Miss... Gorgeous?" The shop-owner cautiously approached while tiptoeing, asking in a gentle tone. "You've been crying here for half an hour now. I couldn't entertain a single customer during that time. Can we stop crying?" The shop-owner wasn't complaining about Amy affecting his business, but was trying to console the pretty girl to stop crying. Her crying made him feel upset, and he was on the verge of breaking down into tears.* Amy slowly rose to her feet, her gaze was lost as she looked at the shop-owner. Then, she took out several hundred yuan from her purse and placed it on his table. "For now, this is for you. If it's not enough, I'll bring more tomorrow." Amy said decisively, her eyes filled with an icy hatred. She resented Peter for treating her like Melissa, blamed Melissa for inviting her for the meal, and hated herself for being weak and overly optimistic. She was equally responsible for the situation. "Gorgeous, the soy milk and date cake only cost twenty-five dollar, you've given too much." The shopkeeper sputtered nervously when he saw the ice-cold look in Amy's eyes. Amy frowned at the shopkeeper, "Didn't you say I hampered your business?" The shopkeeper immediately donned a sincere smile, "Gorgeous, that's not what I meant. Seeing you cry makes me... uneasy..." Amy didn't wait for the shop owner to finish speaking and left the breakfast shop. As she was contemplating where to go, Melissa's call came in. Looking down at her phone, Amy saw that the battery was at less than five percent. She wasn’t sure why Melissa was calling, perhaps Peter had told Melissa everything. But none of that mattered now, Amy didn't care. There was nothing to care about anymore. She turned off her phone, deciding not to take Melissa's call. On the other end of the line, Melissa was slightly surprised listening to the phone promptly. "Sorry, the number you dialed is turned off. Please try again later.” "Ah, it was working just a moment ago. Did it really run out of battery just as coincidentally?” Melissa murmured to herself as she unlocked her door. Just as she opened the door, Joseph saw Melissa's worried expression, with a hint of confusion in her eyes. He asked her, "What happened so early in the morning?” Melissa frowned slightly, holding up her phone "I wanted to call Amy, but why is her phone off?” In the past, Amy's phone was always on 24 hours a day. This kind of situation was quite rare. Melissa began to worry, wondering if Amy, who had gone home alone last night, had been abducted by a rogue taxi driver? "Turned off? Something must have come up, everyone needs some personal space." Joseph casually rested his arm on the door handle and looked at Melissa with a suggestive expression. Unimpressed with Joseph, Melissa did not appreciate his joke, so she immediately defended her best friend. "Amy is not that sort of person. She probably was too tired when she got home and forgot to charge her phone.” After considering for a moment, Melissa still couldn't help worrying about Amy. She began to mumble to herself, "No, I have to call Peter and ask.” Unexpectedly, when she made the phone call, Peter's phone was also turned off! "Huh? It's so strange. How can I not reach both of them?” Melissa wondered if her phone was malfunctioning. This was indeed very strange. Peter had never missed a call from Melissa. Could it be his phone was out of power too? "See, what did I tell you?" Joseph replied nonchalantly, as if he had predicted all of this. "Get off with that. What are you talking about? Peter was just outside. The situation you are thinking about is impossible." Melissa ignored Joseph and stepped around him. He always loved spouting nonsense. Melissa was worried to death about Amy, yet Joseph was making inappropriate jokes at this time. He really had a knack for annoying Melissa. "Melissa, the party yesterday has ended, today I have something important to discuss with you." Joseph stopped Melissa. As tomorrow was Melissa's first official day at work, he planned to go to a clothing store to customize some professional attire that matches her temperament. Melissa turned around with an aloof expression and said "I just so happen to have important matters of my own today, let's reschedule our meeting." "Eh, Melissa, have you requested leave from your superiors?" Joseph said half-jokingly. This assistant was indeed a bit difficult for him to manage, the only employee he couldn't deal with in a matter-of-fact manner. "Alright, I officially request a day's leave from you now, it's very important. Even if you lock me at home, I would still find a way to escape." Melissa didn't comply with the superior's orders at all, granted herself a leave, and threatened Joseph that it was fixed she's taking the day off today. Joseph stepped back and said "I planned on going out with you to customize your work clothes today anyway, whatever you need to do I can accompany you."