Seeing her bright smile, James felt the dull pain that had been looming in his heart since the night before had suddenly dissipated a lot.
He took her hand and led her to the changing room. After personally helping her change into horse riding clothes, he turned around and ordered someone to fetch his own exclusive clothes.
Amelia, who was waiting outside the door, leaned on the railing and kicked the stones on the ground out of boredom when the door behind her slowly opened.
He emerged facing the sun with a face as cold as snow. He was wearing a pair of black sungla*ses, which made his facial features even more well-defined.
He had perfect body proportions, with white, body-hugging clothes on his torso and a black belt tightly wrapped around his toned waist.
His lower body was dressed in white breeches, and his slender thighs are outlined to make them taller. Below the knees, there were a pair of black high-riding boots.
The man held a helmet in one hand, turning his head slightly against the glow.
Colorful, barely visible rays of light followed the direction of hist tilted head, and reflected on the sunglasses.
With a cold aura around him, he looked like a nobleman straight out of a painting.
He walked up to Amelia, raised his fingers, and put on the helmet in his hand for Amelia.
With every gesture, he was flaunting his inherent nobility and elegance...
Amelia was a little dazed to see him like that, but he didn't care at all. He took her hand and led her to pick a horse.
He chose an extremely docile pony for Amelia, helped her get on it, then led the horse by the reins to circle around the infield.
Amelia looked down at the man who carefully taught her how to ride a horse. A faint smile gradually appeared in her gaze.
"I probably won't be able to get a hang of it quite yet. Why don't you go and accompany your friends?" she suggested.
He was leading a pony that wasn't even as tall as him, and it looked quite funny. The nobles galloping on their horses in the distance laughed at him when they saw it.
Amelia felt that if she let him lead her around in circles again, he might get teased to death by his friends. Thus, she asked him to go hang out with them.
James glanced at the group of men who were pulling their reins. and pointing at him, then turned to Amelia and said, "Wait here for me, then."
He didn't want to go horse riding. He just wanted those ignorant guys to stop laughing.
He carried Amelia off the horse, told a group of bodyguards to guard her, then turned and got on a tall white horse.
He grabbed the reins and quickly rode toward the distant arena where he could gallop freely...
Looking at the tall and straight figure sitting on the horse's back, Amelia grinned slightly.
Sure enough, those aristocrats' horse-riding skills were nothing compared to James'.
She was sitting in the rest area, watching James teach his friends a "serious lesson" when an elegant figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Long time no see, Ms. Garcia."
The woman who was also wearing a white horse riding outfit, had her hands behind her back. She looked down at Amelia in a condescending manner.
Hearing this familiar voice, Amelia raised her head to glance at the woman blocking her view. Upon seeing that it was Jessica, her expression soured slightly.
Jessica ignored the subtle changes on her face and sat down right next to her, staring at James in the distance with an infatuated look in her eyes.
"You know, when I was in college, I immediately fell in love with him when I saw him riding a horse..." she confessed.
Amelia's eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she didn't want to hear Jessica's description of that long-gone past.
Regardless, Jessica kept talking.
"At the time, James agreed to participate in the competition to help the medical faculty," she elaborated.
"As soon as it was his turn, he amazed all the medical students, especially me. Since then, I've loved him so much that I can't let go."
"However, he's so indifferent and aloof. Almost none of the girls dared to approach him, nor would he allow them to..."
At that point, she paused for a moment, then turned her head to look at Amelia with puzzled eyes. She looked her up and down.
"You're beautiful, but I don't think I'm bad, either. Why does he give you such special treatment when he won't even look at me?" she wondered aloud.
Earlier, Jessica had watched James help Amelia put on the helmet. His gentle and nostalgic actions made Jessica envious and jealous at the same time.
She and Amelia were equally pretty, and even her background and academic qualifications were much better than that of Amelia.
Even so, James just didn't like her, and instead fell in love with Amelia who was nothing compared to her. It was unbelievable.
Amelia glanced at the confident and calm Jessica before softly replying, "You'll have to ask him yourself."
Amelia didn't know why James fell in love with her at first sight either, so she couldn't answer Jessica's question.
However, Jessica took that as a provocation, and her pretty face darkened in an instant.
"Where do you get that sense of superiority from, Ms. Garcia?"
Amelia frowned with a puzzled look on her face and asked her: "Well, since you're asking, Dr. Simmons, I'll answer you truthfully. What does this have to do with a sense of superiority?"
Jessica pursed her lips slightly and snorted coldly. "You only have the guts to put on air in front of me because you have James backing you up."
Amelia felt like it was pointless trying to communicate with Jessica, so she pursed her red lips and stopped replying to her.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Jessica thought it was a sign of Amelia's submission. A hint of disdain appeared on her haughty face.
Despite that, she continued to act superior as she questioned Amelia, "Did he propose to you, Ms. Garcia?"
When Amelia heard that, she subconsciously lowered her slightly curled eyelashes. She stared at the black riding boots and remained silent.
Jessica could see through her at a glance. "I knew it. How could he propose to you so easily?"
She seemed to relax all over as she leaned back on the bench, and folded her arms over her chest. She raised her chin and gave Amelia a warning.
"Ms. Garcia, as your former doctor, I would like to give you a quick reminder. Don't think that he'll marry you just because he's treating you like you're special right now," she thundered.
"Noble sons like him usually get married to young ladies from aristocratic families. The Evans family will definitely look down on someone with your status."
She continued, "So, you have to accept reality. He's nice to you now, but he's just playing with you. When he gets tired of you, he'll dump you without any hesitation."
"A woman in her thirties won't be able to entertain a man for long. Don't waste your time and effort with a man who won't marry you."
When Amelia heard those harsh words, she was even more embarrassed, especially since she already felt inferior.
She clenched her hands tightly. With clear and bright eyes, she looked away from the riding track and looked at Jessica beside her.
"Let me give you a reminder as well, Dr. Simmons. You have liked James since you were in college, but he has no interest in you. You've wasted more than ten years of your youth fighting for a man who's never loved you. What's the point?" she fired back.
Jessica's face froze after getting slapped in the face like that. Just as she was about to refute, Amelia spoke again.
"There's one more thing that you're wrong about. There are many people like me in the world, and many wealthy families started out the way I did. How do you know that I won't become rich with my own power in the future?" she added.
When Amelia said the last sentence, the firm determination and confidence in her eyes showed a sense of tranquility that even Jessica didn't possess.
She had lived an insecure life since she was a child. However, with the help of Skender's heart and identity, she was granted another chance at life. How could she submit to fate so easily?
Jessica, who had always boasted about being untouchable, looked at the woman in front of her who seemed to have been completely reborn. She could barely recognize her as the woman who was lying on the hospital bed two months ago.
Jessica marveled at her changes but felt that her confidence was entirely due to James, so she didn't take Amelia seriously.
She picked up her helmet, stood up, and said disdainfully, "I bet he will never marry you. Let's wait and see."
Watching as Jessica gracefully made her way back to the riding track, Amelia clenched her hands into fists and tightened them.
She locked her gaze on Jessica, who got on the horse and quickly caught up with James as if she had said something to him.
James slowed down, and then he followed the direction in which Jessica pointed and saw Amelia sitting in the rest area.
He and Jessica were riding their horses side-by-side. They seemed like a perfect match, while Amelia, who couldn't ride a horse, could only watch from a distance.
The fact that those born at the bottom of the social ladder were at a disadvantage since birth was despair-inducing. It was harder for them to learn things like that after growing up.
Although Amelia had gotten Jessica riled up, she still felt insecure deep down. Thus, she slowly looked away, got up, and walked to the changing room.
Jessica told James, "James, Ms. Garcia is relying on you to back herself up. She's deliberately acting arrogant in front of me. Aren't you bothered?"
After James glanced at Amelia, he looked away before pulling out a slender whip from the saddle. He raised his hand and aggressively whipped Jessica's horse.
The horse raised its front hooves in pain, and after neighing, it went crazy, stomping on its hooves and galloping wildly toward the track.
Jessica, who hadn't managed to balance herself, tried her best to hold on to the reins so that she wouldn't fall off. However, her upper body was hanging upside down on the horse's back, making it difficult to get up.
She tilted her head with her eyes wide open. She looked at the man wearing sunglasses, who was riding a white horse and staring at her coldly. She felt increasingly indignant.
Why was he so gentle to Amelia but so cruel to her? If she wasn't skilled at horse riding, that whip would have killed her.
James retracted his icy gaze. He turned his horse away without saying a word and quickly ran toward the stable.
Seeing James' sudden anger, and the look on Jessica's face, his friends were disgusted.
"Who invited Jessica here? Don't you know that James hated her back in school?"
"Was it Leo? He's close to Jessica. He must be the one who let her know."
Leo Warren, who had been accused, immediately grabbed hold of the reins to retreat. He slipped away quietly as if he didn't know anything.
Just as Amelia left the changing room, she saw James striding over to her.
He took off the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, looking down at Amelia who had already changed. "Are you tired, Amelia?"
Amelia nodded lightly. Before she had time to respond, James said, "Wait for me. I'll go change."
After he finished speaking, he turned around and quickly made his way into the changing room. As soon as he entered, the other noblemen in the distance rushed to the changing room one after another.
James quickly changed his clothes and came out. He bid his friends farewell before leading Amelia toward the exit.
As soon as they reached the door, they encountered a woman wearing a white feather mask.
The mask only covered her eyes, as if she had just attended a masquerade party and forgot to take it off.
What made Amelia's eyes light up was not the mask, but the face under it.
Emily and Jessica were considered the cream of the crop among all the pretty women she had seen before, but the woman in front of her was even more stunning.
Her skin was ns white as snow, so fair and smooth that no pores could be seen. Under the mask, those slightly slanted, fox-like eyes clearly possessed a captivating nature.
However, it was suppressed by the coldness and arrogance in her eyes, so she simply looked beautiful.
She was tall and slim, and had a pure and untouchable aura. It made her seem ethereal.
The elegant and glamorous woman paused her graceful steps at that moment, staring at James.
James glanced at her indifferently, then looked away. He took Amelia's hand and walked out the door.
When the two passed by the woman, she raised her slender fingers and tapped the mask lightly three times.
Only James understood her Morse code-like actions. After walking past her, he suddenly stopped.
He lowered his head and whispered to Amelia, "Amelia, wait for me a little longer..."
Amelia seemed to have understood that he was going to talk to that woman. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it subconsciously.
Her intuition told her that the woman wearing the mask would make her even more insecure than Emily and Jessica had.
However, James let go of her hand. He turned around, quickly followed the woman's pace, and walked toward a corner.
The emptiness she felt after James let go of her hand left a void in her heart as well.
She looked at James, who was standing in the distance, listening to the woman's words. Her expression gradually became gloomy.
"Do you know who she is?"
Jessica came to Amelia's side and looked into the distance with her.
Amelia didn't answer, but Jessica continued muttering to herself.
"She's Emelyn Davies from one of the four major European families. She's the apple of Master Davies' eye."
Jessica turned her head to the side and looked at Amelia, whose expression had changed slightly. Even so, she pretended to be calm.
"Her background is enough to scare me away. You can't even compare to me. Will you be able to steal James away from her?" she provoked Amelia.
Amelia clenched her hands and turned her head to the side, glancing at Jessica coldly.
"Dr. Simmons, if you have to snatch someone away just to get them to love you, I would rather not do it. I advise you to forget about doing that," she retorted.
She turned around and wanted to leave the turf club by herself, but Jessica followed her relentlessly.
"Ms. Garcia, if James really loved you, he wouldn't have let go of your hand just now and left with Ms. Davies without hesitation," she insisted.
"He clearly doesn't care about your feelings and doesn't value you. If you keep going, I'm afraid you're going to get seriously hurt."
Amelia stopped suddenly. She swiveled around and looked at Jessica icily. "You might not know this, but I've already been hurt once. I'm not afraid of getting hurt the second time."
Jessica was completely unaware of James and Amelia's past, so she felt that there was a deeper meaning to Amelia's words.
She reacted quickly and soon realized that the two of them might have talked it over before. That didn't matter, though.
She folded her arms across her chest, raised her chin, and stared at Amelia arrogantly.
"If you've been hurt once, there will be a second time, I'm waiting for you to get hurt twice by the same man."
With that, she turned around and walked in the direction of James and Emelyn.
Amelia looked at the untouchable group of people and suddenly felt that they were living in two completely separate worlds.
She clenched her fists, spun around, and escaped from the suffocating turf club. Her petite back looked lonely, but so out of place.
The moment James looked up, he saw Amelia leaving and immediately looked back at Emelyn to quickly end the conversation.
"Next time something urgent happens, tell your brother to come to find me," he stated.
"My brother got injured. He asked me to-"
Before Emelyn could finish, she saw him hurriedly chasing after Amelia, which made her shake her head uncontrollably.
James seemed so entranced by Amelia. Emelyn wondered if they would get implicated because of James' relationship with Amelia in the future.
When Jessica passed by James, she wanted to settle the score with him. After all, that whip almost made her fall off her horse.
However, James didn't even spare her a glance. He just walked past her and quickly made his way out of the turf club.
Jessica's pretty face instantly turned pale with anger, but in front of Emelyn, she suppressed her emotions.
She smiled and greeted Emelyn. "Ms. Davies."
Emelyn stood on the spot, sizing her up.
"Who are you?"
Seeing that Emelyn was willing to talk to her, Jessica quickly introduced himself with a smile. "I am Jessica Simmons, an internationally renowned dermatologist."
When Emelyn heard that, she nodded her head lightly, her face was cold. "I see. I don't know you."
Jessica was not annoyed. She simply explained with a grin, "You may have forgotten, Ms. Davies. I once went to your house to give Mr. Davies a skin check-up."
Upon hearing Jessica mention her older brother, Emelyn's expression turned cold.
"Dr. Simmons, right? You are not qualified to talk to me. Get lost."
Jessica thought that Emelyn would be a friendly person. Unexpectedly, Emelyn's attitude changed in a split second, leaving Jessica embarrassed.
There was no way Jessica would have taken the initiative to strike up a conversation with Emelyn if not for the fact that the Davies family was one of the top families in Europe.
Jessica stopped smiling. She turned and left with an icy face, but her heart was trembling with anger.
She is internally fumed. "Emelyn, with how badly your brother's back is burnt, he'll definitely ask me to treat him in the future."
When the time came, even if Emelyn knelt down and begged her, she would refuse. She would just have to wait and see.