When I Was a Wallflower (Leo and Amelie)
Chapter 371

Chapter 371 Beauty Lies in the Eyes of the Beholder

Downstairs, outside Amelie's apartment building, Toby leaned against his car door and stared at the woman who had just fished her house keys and hopped out of the car. Then, he tilted his chin and asked, "Aren't you going to invite me upstairs since we haven't met for two years?"

Amelie paused in her tracks at his question and turned to look at him. A second later, a smile spread across her face. "If you would like to catch up, you can ask me out to a cafe nearby, Mr. Walsh."

She's still not giving me a chance, eh? he thought, and a bitter smile flashed past his clean-cut face. Nevertheless, he checked the time on his watch and said, "It's already late. Rest well when you get home. I don't think you can return to Lumaria immediately, so we can catch up tomorrow."

"Sure," she answered, agreeing to his suggestion. "Thank you for the ride today. See you."

Toby stared until her tall and lean figure disappeared into a corner after the lobby before he looked away, but he wasn't in a hurry to get back into the car. Instead, he called a number. "I'm back. Let's meet up, shall we?"

Ashton, Josiah, and Louie were already seated inside the VIP room when Toby arrived at the Prix Bar.

For the past few years, the country had been doing well economically, and both Josiah and Louie had stayed in the country to build their careers. Usually, they were busy with their work, but they decided to meet up when they heard that Toby had returned today.

As usual, Josiah seemed reliable and resilient. Meanwhile, the good-looking Louie was a typical stylish man because he had previously dabbled in the entertainment industry. Since his family was in the car- manufacturing business, he was the CEO as well as the brand ambassador.

Ashton remained the same as usual. He hadn't improved at all-a good-for-nothing that still had the gall to look down on everyone despite his incompetence.

After Toby said hi to everyone, he furrowed his brows because he noticed that Leo wasn't there. "Is Leo not coming?"

"He'll be here soon," Ashton said confidently.

Over the past couple of years, Leo had turned into a man of little words, but he was comparable to Ashton when it came to being flighty in terms of romance. Naturally, this made Ashton feel that he could relate more to Leo. But, of course, that was only what Ashton thought.

After Toby received confirmation that Leo would be coming, he asked the waiter to bring them a few bottles of drinks. The four men chatted casually while they drank, asking each other about their recent developments.

"Who would have thought that the most playful one is so successful in his career now?" Josiah said with a sigh, holding the wine glass in one hand and patting Toby's shoulder with the other.

Louie nodded in agreement. "He's right. You're the one who has the most potential to live an easy life based on your pretty face. It would have been so easy, but you chose to build your own career instead."

Although Toby was working in the past, he merely did some odd jobs here and there. In contrast, he was doing so well abroad that no one else in his family could even come close. They figured that he would eventually inherit his family's fortune sooner or later.

"What made you change? Why are you so motivated all of a sudden?" Louie couldn't help but ask.

"The story I heard was it all started because of a woman. Aren't you going to introduce us to that woman?" Josiah teased, shaking Toby's shoulder a couple of times.

Toby lowered his head as he took a sip of his wine. Yet, when they asked him about the woman, all he did was grace them with a bitter smile.

On the other hand, Ashton snorted and sneered derisively, "You guys mean Amelie Dillon, right? Besides having a face that you can maybe consider pretty, there are honestly no other qualities about her that are worth complimenting. It really makes me wonder what's going on in those people's heads that they'd be so attracted to her that they would revolve around her as though she was the Sun to their Earth."

Although his feelings for Elyse had dissipated over the past two years, he still loathed Amelie.

"There should be something about her if they couldn't bear to leave her." Toby's usual calm expression had turned a few notches colder, and his usual smile had disappeared. He even shot Ashton a provocative glare. "She's not any less capable than Leo."

"Ha! That's not true!" Ashton snapped arrogantly. "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, so everything she does is amazing to you. But she's nothing but a piece of sh*t!"

"If she's a piece of sh*it, what are you, then?"

However, before Toby could argue with him, another solemn, cold, and terse voice beat him to it.

As Ashton had never been questioned this way before, his face turned stiff from shock, and he scowled before turning to the source of the voice.

The others followed suit and saw Leo approaching them with his usually stoic face.

He tightly knitted his brows together, and his dull eyes seemed as though they wanted to pierce through Ashton's soul.

"Leo?" At the sight of Leo, the fury on Ashton's face morphed into surprise. He probably never expected Leo to reprimand him so harshly.

Leo utterly disregarded him as he strode toward the table, took a seat, and picked up a glass of wine between his fingers. Yet, he didn't drink it and merely swirled it gently. "From now on, I don't want you to appear near me. Get lost!"

Ashton was rendered speechless as he gaped at Leo with utter disbelief and pointed at his own nose. "Are you driving me away because of a woman?"

Earlier, he merely compared Amelie to a piece of sh*t; in his opinion, this shouldn't have caused any dispute! Nevertheless, he felt humiliated that Leo had actually used this opportunity to have a quarrel with him. So, his face distorted into a nasty scowl as he impatiently waited for Leo to answer his question.

Ashton became even more infuriated when he noticed Leo's indifference. Unfortunately, it also didn't seem like Leo was about to change his mind about chasing him away, so he growled, "Leo Alston, why are you picking a fight with me? Even if Amelie is a flower, it has nothing to do with you because you've already divorced her for years! She doesn't even care for your concern or protection at all!"

"That's enough!" As Toby didn't want the situation to worsen, he dragged Ashton out to the hallway outside, but Ashton was still burning with fury.

"What makes him think that he can tell me to get lost when he doesn't even own this place? Furthermore, he and Amelie had cut off all ties with each other after that mess. Why is he still so protective of her?"

"It's undeniable that you've said the wrong thing." Toby, who usually wore a smile on his face, also turned austere. "Besides, you shouldn't hurl abuse at her in the first place. Even if you didn't, you still don't have the right to criticize her. She's Foxy and the boss of Starlight Media. If you call her a piece of sh*t despite her achievements, wouldn't that make you less than a piece of sh*t?"

"What?" Ashton gawked at him with astonished eyes and completely ignored Toby's rebuke. "That's impossible!"

He had always known that Amelie was Foxy, but he always thought that she was successful as an influencer because of her looks and that she just got lucky. Regardless, it never occurred to him that she was the boss of Starlight Media, and this news hit him like a sledgehammer, knocking him so hard that he felt dizzy.

Toby released him and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "Not only was she an influencer and boss, she even created a platform called Knowlit that attracted tons of followers. The highly- educated academics around us replace it very reliable and have booked a few courses on her platform."

"Knowlit?"

Even if Ashton was uninterested in Amelie's recent updates, he had heard of this platform before.

Knowlit had become a highly favorite platform in less than three years since its establishment. The ones who had the capability to contribute to the platform were proud to publish their books and lessons on that platform, while the ones who couldn't do so would buy the classes and join the training offline.

Everything aside, Ashton's family members would also often bring up this platform.

"This... It's started by Amelie?"

Not only was she an influencer and started a company, she even made training and reading into such a popular thing.

"She can't be so capable! Did she replace herself a successful man?"

When such an idiotic question stumbled out of Ashton's mouth, Toby laughed and jeered, "Do you think she needs to cling herself to a man? She was already a top influencer and had set up Starlight Media before getting to know Leo. After she divorced him, she created Knowlit. Speaking of which, she was at her worst during those four years when she was married to Leo. Not only was she belittled, she even gave up on her career."

"This is..." Ashton's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from shock; he had met way too many women who were willing to do anything for money and had never heard of someone like Amelie who was willing to give up money because of love.

Toby curled his lips into a mirthless smirk as he squeezed Ashton's shoulders and said, "That's why you should spend more time on learning and less on fooling around, Ashton. Stop coming to the Prix Bar in the future."

Even though he was more tactful and considerate than Leo, the meaning behind his words was the same-Ashton should just get lost and never come by ever again.

He owned Prix Bar, and his words were akin to a lifelong ban for Ashton. Hence, he didn't bother waiting for Ashton's reply after saying his piece and returned to the private room.