The awkward atmosphere lasted until Theo came in with Amber in his arms.
“Theo, you guys are finally back. Amber is finally back. Shouldn’t we have a drink?”
Theo’s friend, Johnny, held up the glass in his hand and looked at him teasingly.
Theo took the glass and was about to drink it, but Amber looked at me with the glass.
“Zea, I heard that today is your birthday. I toast you and wish you a happy birthday.”
Zea glanced at the amber wine in Amber’s glass and frowned slightly.
She had stomach problems since she was a child and couldn’t drink alcohol.
Seeing that Zea was slow to take Amber’s glass, Amber even pushed the glass forward.
Zea gently pushed Amber’s glass away.
“I can’t…”
Before she finished speaking, the glass in Amber’s hand slid down Zea’s hand and fell to the ground.
The glass shattered all over the floor.
“Ah!”
Theo walked over with a faint anger on his face.
“It’s fine if you don’t drink Amber’s toast, but why do you smash the cup in public? Zea, is this what you call upbringing?”
Zea was stunned when she looked at Theo. He knew that his parents had died long ago, but he still mentioned the word upbringing.
“Theo, don’t blame Zea. Maybe I didn’t hold it firmly, so I smashed the cup. It’s all my fault.”
Amber pretended to be considerate and stepped forward to hold Theo’s hand, which was pointing at Zea angrily.
Zea looked at Amber’s look and found it ridiculous.
She deliberately scratched her hand to attract attention when they first met and now she broke the wine glass, making Zea look like a sarcastic person.
Theo looked at Zea, then raised a glass of wine with a sullen face and handed it to Zea.
“Zea, toast Amber a glass of wine and apologize to her and today’s matter will be over.”
Zea looked at the glass of wine in front of her and her eyes turned cold.
In the past, Theo dared not let Zea touch a drop of wine and even when cooking, he did not allow anyone to put wine in it.
And now, for his childhood sweetheart, he actually wanted to let her drink a full glass of strong liquor.
“What if I don’t drink it?” Zea said coldly.
Hearing Zea’s refusal, Theo’s face became even more embarrassed.
“If you don’t drink this glass of wine today and don’t apologize to Amber, then your cooperation with the Guzman Family will end here.”
Theo’s voice was not very heavy, but it hit Zea’s heart directly.
For Amber, he actually wanted to break the contract he had just signed with Guzman Group.
Although she was the adopted daughter of the Guzman Family, Zea never thought of relying on the Guzman Family.
Since graduation, she has entered a jewelry company as a designer.
This time, in order to win the joint jewelry customization for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Guzman Group, their company specially asked Zea to connect with the Guzman Family.
Zea understood how important this cooperation was to her company.
Zea looked at the wine in Theo’s hand, took it and said softly, “I’ll drink it.”
Zea picked up the wine in the glass and drank it all in one gulp. The hot wine slid down her throat, burning her stomach, making her want to vomit.
Zea tried to go to the bathroom despite the discomfort in her stomach, but Theo grabbed her hand.
“You haven’t apologized yet.”
Zea clenched her fists tightly, fearing that tears would fall in the next second.
“I did nothing wrong. I didn’t smash the glass. I won’t apologize. I’ve already drunk the wine. If Mr. Guzman still wants to cancel the cooperation with our company, I can’t do anything about it.”
Looking at Zea’s cold eyes, Theo was stunned for a moment and unconsciously let go of her hand.
Zea immediately rushed out of the door. If she was a second later, she was afraid that she would vomit on the spot.
Zea rushed to the bathroom and felt like she was going to vomit.
She supported herself on the sink with her arms, trying not to fall down. Looking at the scarlet blood in the sink, Zea looked at her haggard face in the mirror and smiled bitterly.
After a simple cleanup, Zea was about to go out when she felt a surging pain in her stomach, which almost made her unable to stand.
Zea slid down slowly against the door. A waiter walked in. When he saw this scene, he was so scared that he called 911 on the spot.
The ambulance came very quickly. When Zea was pulled into the car, Theo and others just came out.
Zea was lying on a stretcher, covered with a quilt, with her head exposed, just passing by Theo and others.
Theo was afraid that the stretcher would hit Amber, so he immediately protected her in his arms.
“Can’t you watch carefully? What if it hits someone?”
Theo scolded angrily.
Amber pulled him.
“Theo, why are you so angry today? Didn’t you see that your sister was lying on the stretcher? The ambulance has come. She must have some disease. We should give them some leniency.”
“What disease? I think it’s just drinking. She doesn’t love herself. Does she still expect others to sympathize with her?”
Zea recognized Theo’s voice and a tear fell from the corner of her eyes.
The pain now made her unable to think about anything else and she could only let the emergency personnel carry her into the car.
She was sent to the hospital and after another round of examinations, it was already midnight when she was hung up with water.
Zea glanced at the wall clock.
Her 24th birthday was spent so miserably.
When she woke up again, it was already six in the morning. After hanging the drip, Zea checked out of the hospital.
When she got home, she found Theo sitting on the sofa with a serious face.
Seeing Zea come in, Theo snorted coldly.
“I just said a few words to you, but you dared to be angry and stay out all night. Zea, you are getting bolder and bolder.”
The back of her hand was bruised after the injection. Zea pressed it with her other hand and ignored Theo’s words and walked straight to the stairs.
She had just walked a few steps when she was grabbed by Theo.
“Zea, I’m talking to you. You are becoming more and more unreasonable. You treated Amber like that yesterday and she still spoke good for you. Now you have the nerve to get angry with me. Am I too good to you, so that you forget who you truly are?”
Theo’s voice was so heavy that Zea’s breathing stagnated.
Zea raised her head and met Theo’s eyes.
“I have never forgotten who I am. I am still a Simmons.”
Theo was stunned when he looked at Zea’s cold eyes.
This was the first time Zea looked at him with such eyes.
Zea shook off Theo’s hand.
“I want to rest. If you want to blame me, you have to wait until I rest.”
After saying that, he went upstairs by himself.
Theo looked at Zea’s back as she left and felt as if something was quietly slipping away.
Zea was too tired and fell asleep as soon as she touched the pillow. When she woke up, it was already night.
Zea got up and went downstairs, only to see that it was pitch black downstairs.
These days, Theo's father and mother went out to travel and their helper was also on vacation, so only Zea and Theo were left at home.
Just as Zea was about to go downstairs, she heard a burst of light panting coming from the dim kitchen.
She walked downstairs slowly and as soon as she reached the door, she saw two figures overlapping in the open kitchen.
Zea felt that her mind was frozen in an instant and her breathing was about to stop.
Although she knew that Theo liked Amber and knew that there was no possibility for her and him, when she saw this scene with her own eyes, her heart still hurt.
The tears fell silently and she wanted to escape in a hurry like a loser.
But as soon as she turned around, she bumped into the vase shelf in the corner.
The vase fell to the ground and the jumping fragments scratched her ankles. She could no longer feel the pain.
The light was turned on.
Looking at the mess on the ground, Theo frowned and walked out with Amber.
“You are so impatient. Do you know how much the vase you broke is worth? This is my mother’s favorite blue and white porcelain.”
Theo did not notice the blood dripping from Zea’s feet at all and only blamed her.
“Theo, it’s okay, Zea didn’t mean it. It’s all your fault for not turning on the light just now and you insisted on dragging me in the kitchen…”
Amber didn’t finish her words and she reached out and touched her lips with a shy face. The meaning was already very clear.
Zea tightly grasped the corner of her clothes and tried to force herself not to look at the two of them.
“I’m sorry, I will compensate Aunt Judy with an identical one.”
After so many years, Zea still didn’t get used to calling Judy mom and Judy also respected her wishes and let her call her Aunt Judy all the time.
Theo snorted coldly at Zea’s appearance.
“Your salary may not be enough to compensate even if you work for a few more years. My mother treats you so well, but you still refuse to call her mother. You are such an ungrateful person.”
Zea didn’t know why she returned to the room. The scenes just now kept replaying in her mind.
It turned out that in Theo’s heart, she was just an ungrateful person who ate the Guzman Family’s free food.
Zea promised on the spot that she would definitely compensate for the vase.
After sorting out her mood, Zea sat on the bed, silent.
After sitting for a while, she checked the broken vase and took a breath.
1.396.473 dollars.
She smiled to herself. No wonder Theo said she might not be able to afford it.
1.396.473 dollars may be just the price of a necklace for Zea in the past, but for Zea now, it is a sky-high price.
Zea looked at the balance of her bank card. There was only more than 139.733 dollars in it and there was still more than 1.116.648 dollars short of 1.396.473 dollars.
It seemed that she could only find a way to make more money and return the 1.396.473 dollars to the Guzman Family.
After making up her mind, Zea packed her things again.
She didn’t have much stuff. She knew that she was living under someone else’s roof, so she never dared to make excessive demands. Unless Judy insisted on giving it to her, she would not take a penny from the Guzman Family.
She was busy until the middle of the night and then Zea fell asleep in a daze.
