Revenge

She kept calling Ali’s name last night?
Huh.
Amanda looked at Aaron Gu's face and smiled wryly.
What a wild and absurd dream.
Seeing her mute again, Aaron Gu threw the phone at her and said impatiently: "Take the money, take your things and go."
One second ago, he was concerned about whether it was her boyfriend who she was calling and seemingly felt complacent
about it. And now he was sending her away ruthlessly; maybe it was but a funny game to him.
By the time the phone landed at Amanda's feet, the ring had stopped.
Amanda looked at the shredded fabric on the floor and couldn't believe that, one day, she would be so humiliated in front of
Aaron Gu; she picked up the dirty and broken clothes and putting them on one by one.
Soon she was ‘decently’ dressed with all the fabrics she could find on the floor and turned to look at Aaron Gu, whose attention
appeared to be caught by the TV screen.
Amanda picked up the purse that was supposed to be hers and was about to leave, while suddenly the news on the TV drew her
attention: “It has been three months since the Royal Garden International Hotel’s massive fire took the lives of dozens innocent
guests and the owner of the hotel, CEO of Juans Group, Biden Juan and his only daughter, the prestigious fashion designer,
Amanda Juan; the son-in-law and husband, Bill Fu wasn’t taking this accident well and was suffering from serious depression; he
refused to give any comment or accept the interview from the journalists; today, our journalist for the very first time film of him
going to the Bluesky Cemetery to mourn over his beloved wife and father-in-law; our condolences and prayers were with him,
may he recover from this tragedy soon...”
Amanda stared at the hypocritical face of Bill Fu in the TV; the reporter was giving him a close-up shot, where Bill Fu was facing
her tombstone and a picture of her smiling back at him...It was not a dream, the murder and nightmare were real, everything she
was reluctant to believe was real, her dad was dead, she was dead and the unborn child in her belly was...
With a "snap," the TV screen suddenly went black, and all the images of the mourning vanished. Amanda turned to Aaron Gu,
who was staring blankly at the black screen with the remote in his hand. It was obvious that he had just flipped the switch.

Amanda was curious how Aaron Gu was thinking about right now. As he had hoped, they would never see each other again.
Soon, Aaron Gu realized the presence of Amanda, who was staring at him. He narrowed his eyes and glared at her coldly. That
coldness in his eyes was nothing like that playful look or disgust of the earlier; he roared with his hoarse: "Get out!"
Amanda laughed wryly. Aaron Gu was not happy. He had always been moody, but now the anger was because of her presence
here or the decease of Amanda Juan?
The noble and domineering lady Juan was finally dead...Now, who was she? Did it matter? Whoever she was, it had nothing to
do with Aaron Gu!
Amanda knew she should really leave now before Aaron Gu expelled her once more; Opening the door, she paused a second to
tear the check into pieces and scattered them backwards into the room before striding out of the room and slamming it.
Walking out of the hotel, Amanda felt a bit chilly; it was just dawn; not many people could be seen, but everyone passing by her
was staring at her broken clothes and whispering. Amanda didn't know where she was going, but when she saw a 24-hour
pharmacy, she walked in.
"What would you..."
"Contraceptive pill." Before the middle-aged woman at the counter could finish her question, she blurted it out.
A girl of seventeen dressed so maturely and in such a mess, and felt not slightly ashamed of buying the contraceptive medicine
at all? The sales clerk who had bore sympathy for whatever she had been through exchanged a look before tossing the pill on
the counter, and muttered: "Whores nowadays dressed up like high school students."
"Such a young age, isn’t it better to receive more education in the school?"The other answered.
Amanda remained composed; she fumbled through her purse for the money; after paying for the bill and buying herself a bottle
of water, she swallowed the pill and walked out. Far from the drugstore, the loud voices of the clerks chatting were still following
her.
The sun was rising, and more and more people were gathering in the areas and walking in her direction.
Amanda felt strange; she knew what was going on around here till she turned around and saw the large hydrogen balloons flying
over sky with a sign reading “Happy Children’s day!”

She died on March 7th. Today was Children's Day, 1st of June.
"Mother, who is she?"
A kid asked curiously not far away.
"Oh, she's a superstar, Lily Shen."
Following the sound and pointing of the kid, Amanda saw not far away a large fluorescent screen showing a video of Lily Shen
sitting among a bunch of kids; she was well blended in the children with her smile as innocent and bright as those of the kids;
she patted a boy on the head and said in a affectedly sweet tone: “Kids are the gift from the heaven; you are melting my heart by
your lovely existence; I wish the best for every single kid in the world, hope you enjoy your day and grow up happily and
healthily!”
"How beautiful she is! Mammy, mammy, let's go in!" The child laughed happily.
Amanda's fingernails clenched into the skin of her palm, her eyes fixed on Lily Shen's smiling face -- as the scene played over
and over on the big screen.
Lily Shen and Bill Fu were both alive and kicking, one pretending to shed tears before her tombstone, the other showing her
innocence and love to the world and to the kid?! No one knew what kind of monsters they were behind that masks.
"I wonder if he remembers? Once the love was so deep and heated, in that spring and summer. Yet now. Don't talk, it's raining,
and we prefer to stay naive..."
The ringing of her phone brought her back.
Amanda, trying to cool down the boiling rage in her heart, looked at the name "Rae Yan" flashing on her phone.
This was the second time she had called.
Amanda hesitantly pressed the answer button.