SWNOVELS Chapter 105
105 The Interview
Amelie came down to the living room and saw Vanessa sharing a cup of coffee with a woman she had never met before.”
“This must be Miss Stone,‘ she thought as she examined the woman’s appearance.
Compared to Vanessa, Miss Stone looked rather young even though she was wearing a simple white skirt
paired with a pastel pink shirt and a white blazer to compliment the ensemble.
Her skin was almost bronze and her hair was dyed an intense shade of chestnut brown, its heavy curly locks pinned into a loose bun on top of her head. Her dark brown eyes glistened as she giggled at something said by Vanessa while her plump red lips were stretched into a joyous smile.
Amelie took several steps forward, finally prompting Vanessa to notice her, and offered the women a polite smile.
“Good afternoon, I was told there was someone who wanted to meet me here.”
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Both the journalist and Vanessa rose from their seats and the latter spoke first, “Oh, Amelie. This is Miss Tanya Stone from the Fame Magazine. She stopped by to visit me since she learned that I had come back. We
are good friends.”
Tanya took one step closer to Amelie and stretched her hand out, inviting her to shake her hand. “Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope you don’t mind my requesting a brief interview. The moment I heard that you were home, I couldn’t help myself. Being a journalist is in my blood, you see.”
Amelie shook the woman’s hand and offered the ladies to get back to their seats. “The pleasure is all mine. I don’t mind having a little chat but I’d like to reserve the right to reject the questions if I don’t find them relevant. After all, this interview is not an official one.”
Tanya offered Vanessa a quick and somewhat uncomfortable look to which the woman responded with a slight shrug, then stood up again, and said, “I will leave the two of you alone then, Tanya I–”
“No,” Amelie interrupted her “You can stay here, Vanessa.”
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- 61.
Vanessa raised her eyebrows, clearly surprised by Amelie’s words. Amelie only smiled and gestured for her to sit back down on the couch.
‘I don’t like being paranoid but I’ve learned a lesson or two while dealing with press. Since this Miss Stone is Vanesa’s friend, either she has actually arranged this little interview behind everyone’s back and come up with a set of provocative questions, or she will go over my answers after we’re done and choose to edit some things out to make it sound scandalous.
With her staying during the interview, if my answers are tampered with, I will have someone to blame for it.
Reluctant, Vanessa still agreed to Amelie’s request and nodded at her friend, indicating that it was okay to start the interview. The journalist pressed the recording button on her phone and placed it on the coffee table, clearing her throat in preparation.
“Mrs. Bennett, I’m sure a lot of people are dying to know more details about your new marriage, especially since it happened on the very same day of your divorce with Mr. Richard.” She paused and took a moment to assess Amelie’s reaction but when her face didn’t change, she averted her gaze and continued, “So
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let us start from the beginning then… Why did you marry Mr. Liam Bennett?”
Amelie shifted her gaze to Vanessa who was busy staring at the bottom of her empty coffee cup. Her mind was torn.
‘I am sure Miss Stone is dying to hear something special, some sort of a secret hidden behind this decision but all the internal gossip has been already discussed in private gossip channels which I have no doubt she has access to as well.
I have to choose an answer that would be positively accepted by the public. Something that isn’t entirely true but just believable enough for it to make a lot of
sense.‘
Moving her gaze back to Tanya, Amelie smiled and finally answered,
“Liam and I connected the moment we first met during the benefit I was in charge of. I was going through a difficult time and both his friendship and support helped me overcome my hardships. Once he learned that I was getting divorced, he offered to marry me immediately because he saw value in our
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relationship.”
Vanessa’s hands trembled slightly while Tanya widened
her eyes.
“So he was aware of Mr. Clark’s plans to divorce you beforehand?”
Amelie nodded. “Yes, he… saw it coming.”
***
“Mary, I hear Mrs. Amelie Bennett asked you to be her personal maid today,” Estelle Greene walked to one of the young maids who had just finished sorting out the laundry.
She was a young girl in her really twenties with short black hair gathered in a tight low bun and vibrant, pinkish complexity. The maid nodded and accepted the housekeeper’s request to come to the kitchen to
have a little chat. @
Mrs. Greeene offered Mary a cup of tea and took a seat next to her, taking her time to start the
conversation.
‘Mary is new, it has only been a few months since she joined the rest of the maids. I guess that was the
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reason why that woman picked her.‘
At last, Estelle set her cup aside and began, “How was it with the new mistress? What did she ask you to do?”
Mary smiled awkwardly; she had a quiet and rather shy personality so she couldn’t help but feel like it was an interrogation.
“She didn’t ask me to do anything difficult, Mrs. Greene,” she started explaining, “She said that she had a personal maid back in her previous house so she asked me to be in charge of everything related to her until she hires her own people.”
“And? What did you do today?”
“I ran a couple of errands for her, just shopping for a few things. Then I cleaned the room and later on, I was the one who served her dinner in the gardens. That was it. I didn’t mind it, Mrs. Bennett was very nice to
me.”
“I see,” the housekeeper sounded somewhat disappointed but decided that she heard enough. “Thank you, Mary, you may go now.”
Once the maid left the kitchen, Estelle wrapped her
hands around her cup and frowned.
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The new woman was a lot smarter than she had
expected.