Chapter 13: Chapter 12.5 - Old Hurts
Amelia stood in shock after hearing how Flynn called her. Even after the limo he was brought in had left, she stood there, just processing how he had referred to her.
"Miss… He called me Miss…" she muttered to herself.
The same Flynn who was always smiling whenever he saw her when they were kids, the same Flynn who was elated at the idea of her being his fiancé when the news was made known to him, and the same Flynn, who was too much of a coward to look her in the eyes just a few months ago.
"My Lady, are you alright?" one of the maidservants asked after noticing that Amelia was standing still on the lawn for a while.
"I… I am. Don't worry about it. It's nothing" Amelia responded, her shock gradually washing off as she turned around and began to move into her mansion.
On entering the mansion, Bryan who was giving their lawyer that was about to leave his goodbyes, turned around to see his younger sister entering through the doors with a complicated look on her face.
He sighed at this and then spoke up.
"See, I told you should have talked to him about it"
"Shut up Bryan" Amelia retorted as she walked up the staircase leading to the second floor.
"Okay. Okay. I'll keep my mouth shut" Bryan replied, his hands raised up to imply that he wasn't going to push it.
Amelia who had now reached her room, and just before closing her door, told one of the maids to inform everyone not to disturb her for the next one hour, everyone except her father or unless it was urgent.
She then moved to her bed and plopped on it, her thoughts going back to how calm Flynn had been today even though she had kept bugging him. His eyes especially, they seemed to have not a single ounce of anger, hate, pain or even affection towards her even as he talked to her.
As her thoughts continued to flow in, she began to think back to when she had started distancing herself away from him. Why she had stopped answering his calls or even responding to his invitations for visit. It all began when her mother, the Duchess of the White Family got sick.
Arya White was a lovely woman, beautiful, graceful, strong-willed and most of all, she loved her kids, especially Amelia. Even though Amelia was friends with so many children her age, especially Flynn who she seemed to have a strong affection for, nothing could beat the beautiful connection she had with her mum.
However, Arya had always been someone with a frail health. A genetic disease it was called and unfortunately, it was one of those rare health conditions that even mana potions or even the scientific advancements this world had gone through could still not fix.
So when her Mum eventually died, a part of her broke.
Her dad, Duke Noah during all the time his wife got sick and her eventual death had ensured to make the news kept as silent as possible. He was a man who loved his wife dearly and he just really wanted to grieve in peace with the rest of his family.
Despite his many efforts, the bigger families still found out and even the Belmont family was of no exception.
Their funeral ground on the day of her burial had so many nobles mourning over her death and giving out words of consolation to both her and her family but to Amelia, it all felt so empty. It felt void.
Flynn and his family members had also come over to do the same. Amelia had thought, that maybe his consolation would've felt different, made her feel something… but just like the others, his also felt void.
'You don't know what it's like so shut up. All of you shut up! It gets better? My mum died for a reason?! You all haven't lost your mothers so how would you know?! How would you know?!!!'
Those were the words Amelia wanted to scream out towards everyone that kept trying to console her and even Flynn who she had come to have a strong affection for was no different. In fact, it was him she wanted to scream at like that the most.
He was supposed to make her feel better. To make her feel like it really would've been alright. That everything would be fine.
But just like the others, his was no different.
There and then, slowly but surely, the affection Amelia began to have for Flynn gradually began to die down and slowly morph into something more akin to deep revulsion and resentment.
As the funeral rites finally came to an end that day and other nobles finally began to head home, Lucas Elfire approached her.
Instead of consoling her like the others did, he just looked straight into Amelia's eyes and said.
"I understand. I know how it feels to lose someone too…"
Amelia who looked back at the blond, blue-eyed boy in front of her felt how true his words were. From his eyes she could see. This boy had also lost his mother at a young age just like her.
That was how her and Lucas Elfire started talking and getting to know each other.
A few more years passed after that and during that entire time, Amelia completely shut out Flynn from her life. She had stopped answering his calls, his invites and even avoided him altogether.
Her and Lucas were now very close however, finding solace in each other's grief asides from their respective family members, which was an odd but very comforting feeling.
Lucas eventually asked her out after a few more months and she who found Lucas's company quite nice also decided to go out with him.
This decision of theirs also happened just a few weeks after they awakened their respective cores and their awakened magic.
Following this, her and Lucas were hailed as rare talents that would go on to become very powerful in the near future.
Flynn and Aiden's core rank had also been found out almost immediately it was done around the same time as hers and Lucas and just like a fa?ade, everyone who had originally been all smiles towards Flynn, began to treat him like he was even unworthy of having his family's name, much less a noble.
She had watched all this play out and for some reason she couldn't particularly pinpoint, she was happy that Flynn was being put through the wringer. It made her so elated and as if trying to add to his pain, she also began to send annulment letters for her engagement to him.
Considering that she was planning to date Lucas, she deemed it wrong to have an engagement to someone else. What she didn't expect however was how stubbornly Flynn would refuse the annulment.
The more annulment letters she sent, the more vehemently Flynn would refuse it.
Amelia began to find it annoying how he would not be able to face her or even speak to her if they met outside or at social events but would spare no effort to ensure that the engagement was not annulled.
'He eventually stopped coming to a lot of social events…' Amelia thought to herself after going through a lot of her old memories.
'I haven't seen him for the past few months but the one time I see him, he's almost like a completely different person. Like all the things that happened to him these past three years never even happened'
"How can his eyes reflect such clarity?" Amelia asked herself.
This was really confusing to her because she really could not understand how he had changed so much in just a few months.
She and Lucas had recently seen both he and his brother in the city streets just the day before and even then, his reaction to both her and Lucas going out on a date was something they had never expected but they had just brushed it off without reading too much into it.
'Why am I even thinking about this? It's not like I even care. I should be happy that the engagement has been annulled right?' she inwardly said and asked herself.
"But why do I feel so annoyed…"
-Knock knock
"I thought I told Mary to inform anyone not to disturb me?!" Amelia said with an annoyed tone.
"I don't know what it is you're doing but whatever it is, haul your ass over to Father's office. He just arrived and he wants to discuss about your engagement to Lucas now that the Belmont's have signed off Flynn's annulment" Bryan replied from the other side of the door.
"Fine! Tell him I'll be there in about ten minutes. I need to take a shower" Amelia replied back.
"Sure" Bryan responded.
After lying down on the bed for over forty minutes just thinking about the events this morning and even pondering over why her emotions seemed to be in a mess, Amelia finally got off her bed and headed into her bathroom to take a bath.