Chapter 276

As night fell, Tuff came over to the Kingsley family’s place to spend the night, just like always.

Surprisingly, Kayla wasn’t around.

Amelia made him a cup of coffee and asked, “How come you have time to come over?”

“I come over every day.” Tuff found the question odd and started to feel uneasy. “Amy, are you sick of me and trying to kick me out?”

“It’s not that.” Amelia shook her head. “Your mom’s home. Shouldn’t you be spending more time with her?”

“My mom doesn’t need me around.” Tuff shrugged. “After I started boarding in high school, I hardly went home. She’s used to it.”

“And Miss Lambert? Doesn’t she need your company?” Amelia asked.

Tuff flinched, and he finally understood Kayla and Amelia were trying to make things difficult for him because of Joyce.

“Joyce is my mom’s goddaughter. She has nothing to do with me,” Tuff quickly clarified.

“Oh, really?” Amelia chuckled. “So if she has nothing to do with you, why did you personally make her fresh juice?”

Tuff suddenly put two and two together and broke into a cold sweat.

‘Seriously? All I did was make Joyce a glass of orange juice at home because my mom made me. Is that a crime now?’ he thought, feeling a bit exasperated.

“It’s just a glass of orange juice, no big deal,” Amelia said nonchalantly.

Tuff wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Yeah, I just made it in passing. It didn’t mean anything.”

“But Joyce made it sound like something else on her Instagram,” Amelia said.

Tuff frowned in confusion.

Amelia forwarded him the picture Wesley had sent her.

When Tuff saw that picture and the caption, he broke out in a cold sweat again.

He called Joyce and put her on speaker right in front of Amelia. “What’s going on with your Instagram post?”

“Hmm?” Joyce replied lazily.

Tuff demanded. “One glass of juice, and you had to show off? And what’s with your caption? Love?”

“Oh really? Let me take a look,” Joyce replied, completely unfazed.

Facing Tuff’s anger, Joyce replied calmly, “Oh, I left out a few words. I meant to say, ‘I love orange juice.’”

“Ugh! Forgot a few words? You’re a doctor. How can you be so careless?” Tuff shot back, clearly unimpressed.

“Tuff, I really just left out a couple of words,” Joyce said, sounding casual.

Tuff said, “Then delete it and post it again. Also, crop me out of the background.”

“No problem,” Joyce agreed immediately, her tone totally calm, showing no annoyance at all.

Tuff let out a breath of relief and tried to appease Amelia. “You heard it, right? It’s just a misunderstanding.”

“I heard,” Amelia said, raising an eyebrow.

She thought, ‘This isn’t a misunderstanding at all. Joyce did it on purpose. When she decided to post it, she had already prepared a way to explain it. What a crafty rival.’

Amelia figured that with Kayla’s fiery personality, she might not be able to deal with Joyce.

Good thing Amelia had the advantage of living two lives, and she knew exactly how to handle it.

“I’ll tell Kayla,” Amelia said. “But Tuff, seriously, don’t let Joyce come over to your place anymore. That’s your love nest with Kayla.”

“Got it,” Tuff agreed.

Taking her advice, he called Joyce again. “Joyce, don’t come to my place anymore. My wife isn’t happy about it.”

Joyce teased. “Tuff, you’re that afraid of your wife? What, is she a fearsome shrew or something?”

Tuff felt a surge of anger. “Joyce!” he snapped. “Don’t talk about my wife like that!”

“Okay, okay, I won’t.” Joyce laughed. “Tuff, I’m leaving now. I promise I won’t come again, alright?”

“Mm,” Tuff grunted, still annoyed. His thick brows were still furrowed.

He felt like his anger had started off strong but fizzled out in the end, and it didn’t feel great.

But since Joyce had owned up and fixed things right away, he didn’t have any excuse to keep making a fuss.

Hence, Tuff just sat there, sulking and brooding to himself.

“Tuff, you don’t get how women think, so just stay away from Joyce as much as you can,” Amelia said, understanding why he was frustrated. “And Kayla has decided to get cosmetic surgery.”

“What?” Tuff was stunned.

Amelia said, “No, don’t! I don’t mind at all. She doesn’t have to put herself through that,” he said, his voice full of concern.

“It’s already scheduled. She’ll go once everything with Mom is settled.”

Tuff felt a deep ache in his chest and let out a heavy sigh.

In a daze, that night flashed before his eyes again–the sky blazing with fire, smoke thick in the air.

A stray bullet had cut through the darkness, and right at that moment, that slender girl came running out. The bullet had grazed her face…

Kayla, I’m sorry… Tuff muttered to himself.

Sitting across from him, Amelia caught that and was shocked. “What did you do to my sister?”

“N–no, nothing,” Tuff quickly shook his head, snapping out of it. “Kayla’s still at the hospital, right? I’ll go pick her up.”

After Tuff left, Amelia furrowed her brows, sensing there was more behind his words.

‘Could he have done something to betray Kayla?’ Amelia wondered.