Honestly, Amber had no desire to see Frank ever again in her life, since he was the source of this whole affair. But he had called her again, and so Amber could only acquiesce to his request to meet for a little after work.
They met in a small coffee shop by the hospital. Frank had specifically requested a corner table. He was much thinner, had uncut hair, an unkempt face, and was even wearing a hat. He gave off such a different impression than usual that Amber didn’t even recognize him at first glance.
But she wasn’t too sympathetic. After all, he was the root cause of all that had led up to today.
She sat down with a serious expression. When a waitress came over to ask what she wanted, Amber coldly said, “Give me a glass of water for now. I’ll order the rest later.”
But she had no intention of having a meal with him at all; when the employee left, Amber directly asked him, “Why did you come looking for me?”
Frank looked at her, deadpan. “Do you know everything?”
“Know what?”
“That I was hurt badly by Sarah, that slut?”
Amber actually understood the mindset of people like Frank, for them, it all came down to the fact that, whatever happened, he wasn’t the one at fault. Amber didn’t want to argue over semantics with him because, by this point, the fallout from his marriage’s drama had left no winners behind.
She disdainfully replied, “Is this why you came here to find me today?”
Frank spread his hands out, and only then did Amber realize that he had concealed an ATM card beneath his hands. He pushed it toward her. “A million. If you make her rot in there, this money’s yours.”
Amber looked at that card, and almost wanted to laugh. She didn’t say anything, merely getting up and preparing to leave.
“Is it too little? With Ian Axton as your backer, Dr. Camille, is a million just peanuts to you?”
Amber stopped. The waitress had just brought the water over, and Amber raised the glass in front of her. When the waitress saw Amber’s posture, she became a little frightened, and quickly ran off with her tray. As she did so, she kept looking backwards, and even Frank looked somewhat nervously at the …. glass in Amber’s hand.
Amber’s hand was trembling slightly. She lifted the cup, and Frank instantly dodged aside. The water that he’d expected to land on his face never arrived. Instead, she had drowned it in one gulp in an imposing manner, and then walked out.
As she passed by the waitress, she casually took out dollar from her bag. “For the water. I don’t need any change.”
At the time, Amber had felt that her actions were really cool. If she could even afford to buy fifty dollar tap water, then what need did she have for his money?
But by the time she arrived at her apartment, her anger had dissipated, and there was only regret remaining. Fifty dollar for a glass of tap water? How expensive!
***
Later in the night, when Ian returned, Amber told him about her encounter. “Someone insulted me with money today.”
Ian was confused. “Hm?”
“A million to buy my professional ethics.”
“That’s too cheap ….” Amber was just about to agree when she heard him continue. “Given your current salary, five million seems more accurate.”
Amber was speechless … ‘Is the profession that I plan on dedicating my life to only worth five million?’
Ian felt that she looked very interesting when she glared at him with her cheeks puffed out. He thought that she was about to get mad, but then in the blink of an eye, she gritted her teeth and praised, “Five million. Mr. Axton, you’ve got quite the eye.”
In that situation, Ian couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He had recently realized that, whenever he was together with Amber, he would invariably feel very happy and be able to relax without any pressure at all. No matter what he did or what he said, it all seemed all right to her.
It really seemed like he was starting to like her. Even though he didn’t know what it felt like to like someone, he wanted to see her daily and wanted to go home right after work. That counted, didn’t it?
***
And so this matter passed without another mention. Frank never came to find her again, and sometimes, when Amber was free, she would review Sarah’s case. The diagnosis that Beryl and the others had given her was “traumatic mental impediment.” From Amber’s point of view, this diagnosis was quite accurate.
As expected, after a targeted treatment, Sarah’s emotions quickly calmed down, and not long afterwards, she was transferred to a regular ward.
Amber would often see her walking around, and sometimes, the two of them would even cross paths. When they did so, Sarah would only glance at her coolly, not saying a single word to her.
***
At the start of May, Elly was finally able to follow behind Amber and walk all the way to the big hospital courtyard and see the large peach tree growing there.
Besides this professional success for Amber, Amber’s and Ian’s families also finally met up. During this period of time, Amber was extremely busy.
In fact, on the day of the meeting, she spent the entire day in thesis defenses, and when her parents and Ian called her, asking where she was, she could only ignore all of their calls and send them a hurried text message back, saying that she would be there slightly late.
The two families had agreed to have dinner by the Mei river, at a private restaurant that had a reputation for very good seafood. It wasn’t very big, and the location was also remote, so when Amber finally arrived, all she could see were the lights by the two shores of the river and the thread-like pedestrians connecting them.
Even after meticulously searching around, she couldn’t seem to find the location, so she could only call Ian and ask him to pick her up.
While she waited for him to arrive, she stood by the side of the road, overcome with boredom as she looked at children playing by the park near the shore.
As if from a dream, she suddenly heard a familiar voice call out to her from behind. “Amber.”
She turned around and saw … Calvin.