Chapter 96: Money-minded.
Adelyn heard her and casually turned her head to glance at her.
Staring at Amelia thoughtfully for a moment, she asked, "What do you think?"
Amelia’s head at once snapped at her, dumbfounded.
When she had seen Adelyn parting her lips before, she had thought Adelyn was finally going to reveal something.
But instead, she was asking her to guess.
Like really?
Amelia pursed her lips.
Keeping her eyes on the road, she said, "Just when I start liking you a little, you go and say something that makes me reconsider. Do you do it intentionally ... or do you just crave being hated that much?"
Adelyn couldn’t help but smile at her words.
"Well ..." she said lightly, "you can go with either of your options. I don’t mind."
Amelia pressed her lips together, momentarily speechless.
Could she even argue with someone like this?
After a brief pause, she asked, "Do you really want me to guess?"
When Adelyn didn’t respond, Amelia took that as a yes.
She nodded to herself and took a breath.
"Fine. Then don’t blame me if any guess turns completely outrageous. You asked for it."
Het gaze flicked to Adelyn again.
Seeing no reaction at all, she gave up holding back.
"Okay ... so here’s what I felt," she began. "Even though you stood there looking completely detached, the tension between you three was ... intense. And real. Something quite hard to ignore."
She hesitated slightly.
Then continued,
"Especially the way Dr. Colsen was looking at you."
She paused as if debating whether to say the next part.
But when Adelyn still didn’t react, she pushed through.
"... His gaze at you felt like he was carrying something deep." She glanced her way more to test her reaction than to confirm. "Like ... he was burning with something for you. Don’t get me wrong, but I’m—"
She stopped mid-sentence when something struck her.
Adelyn’s calmness no longer felt casual.
It felt more like an acknowledgement.
Amelia’s brows drew together.
"Wait ... you aren’t denying it. Does that mean you actually accept that it’s true?"
Adelyn turned to her and gave a small shrug.
"What is there to deny?" she said calmly. "Didn’t you say I stood there looking unrelated? That’s all that matters —my stance. As for others ... why would I speak for someone else’s part?"
It sounded logical, and for a second, Amelia almost agreed.
But then she caught something —and quickly pressed on.
"Hey, don’t just shut the topic like that." Her eyes flicked to her briefly. "When I said you didn’t deny, I didn’t mean you should speak for someone else. I meant you didn’t refute my point at all —like you usually do. So tell me honestly ... was there something between you two before?"
As she asked that, she glanced at Adelyn several times —waiting for her to say something.
But Adelyn remained silent.
The silence made Amelia frown.
Slowly, realization dawned on her.
"So ... there was something between you two." She exhaled, confused. "But how is that even possible? Haven’t he and Clara Scott been childhood sweethearts? They’re about to get married after years of relationship, aren’t they?"
If their relationship hadn’t been in such open and clear light, Amelia might have doubted it.
But everyone knew how deeply in love they were.
Their affection had always been visible, constantly captured and shared online.
Netizens adored their perfect love story.
That couldn’t be fake ... could it be?
But what she had seen today —
That wasn’t fake either.
Then —
Amelia glanced at Adelyn, and suddenly something clicked.
Her pupils dilated slightly.
Without warning, she pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"Adelyn ..." she almost muttered that under her breath before snapping to look at Adelyn, shocked. "Adelyn Scott —wasn’t that your name before?"
All this time, hearing everyone call her Ms. Grace —Adelyn Grace —she had almost forgotten.
But she remembered now.
The first time she had met her with Freya at the restaurant —Freya had called her Adelyn Scott.
That couldn’t be some coincidence.
"Were you ... the daughter of the Scott family before? Like sister to CEO Liam Scott and Clara Scott?"
She didn’t know why she was guessing something so absurd when everyone clearly was aware that the Scott family of Ashvale had always had one daughter and three sons.
Adelyn turned and looked at her. And that look said everything.
Amelia’s breath caught.
"No ... you can’t be serious? You are the Scott family’s daughter —"
"I am no longer part of the Scott family," Adelyn cut in, her voice firm, almost absolute. "I severed those ties long ago. So now ... we have nothing to do with each other. If there is anything we share, then it’s the relationship of the passing strangers."
Amelia fell silent.
Even though Adelyn still sounded calm and composed, it wasn’t quite the same as before.
There was something beneath it now —subtle but unmistakable.
When Amelia looked at her again, she caught a faint flicker of emotion in her eyes.
It didn’t change her expression even the slightest.
But it lingered —as if it had touched something far deeper than what she allowed anyone to see.
And just like that, Amelia knew that she shouldn’t press further.
Nodding, she turned to start the car again.
She was still curious —desperately so —but the topic felt too personal now.
So instead, she said lightly, "Actually, you know ... it’s not that bad to live a simple, normal life with some hardships."
Adelyn turned to look at her.
Amelia met her gaze and shrugged.
"I’m just saying from my own perspective. Everything expensive tends to make life a little boring."
Adelyn lightly scratched the corner of her brow.
When Amelia saw that, she raised a brow.
"What? You don’t agree?"
"Why should I?" Adelyn replied. "I don’t find expensive things boring at all. As long as anything has monetary value, I won’t get bored of it."
Amelia was speechless again...
Here she was trying to comfort her —
And this girl somehow made her regret it.
"You love money that much?" Amelia asked through the grit of her teeth.
Adelyn simply nodded, completely unbothered.
"Of course, I do. Who doesn’t? Don’t you?"
"I —" Amelia faltered, momentarily at a loss.
"If you don’t, I wouldn’t mind if you transferred all your money to me," Adelyn added smoothly. "I would love to spend them. The more the better."
With that said, she didn’t show any bit of hesitation at all. Pulling out her phone, she had the QR scanner ready for scanning.
Amelia stared at her, utterly bewildered.
She simply couldn’t make sense of this girl at all.
"You ... you are unbelievably money-minded."