Chapter 214
Chapter 214
Leila was so furious that her face almost contorted in rage.
Stella continued, “Of course, if you think you’ve got what it takes to win Jordan’s heart, I won’t stop you. Ms. Diaz, may the best woman win With that, she left.
Nola hurried after her.
Once Stella was in the car, Nola grinned and said, “Ms. Hayes, you were awesome back there. You’re seriously my idol. If I ever run into something like that, I’m going to clap back just like you did.”
Stella gave her a helpless look and said, “Can’t you just avoid getting into those situations in the first place?”
Nola laughed.
Stella waved at her and said, “See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow,” Nola replied.
When Stella got home, Mary got all anxious as soon as she heard what happened. She said, “Stella, how did this happen? I was only gone for one day, and you’re hurt again?”
Stella replied, “It’s okay. The bruises will fade in a few days, but the pain inside–I have no idea when that’ll go away.”
Mary knew Stella was talking about Eleanor, and with no solution in sight, it was just so frustrating. She comforted Stella, “Don’t worry, dear. Sooner or later, karma catches up with bad people. It might take a while, but it always does.”
Stella said, “I just feel so guilty about Grandma. It’s already been a month since it happened, and there’s been no progress at all–not from me, and not from the police either.”
Mary didn’t know what else to say to comfort her, so she just patted Stella’s shoulder gently.
Talking about Eleanor always made Mary feel even worse than anyone else—she couldn’t help but blame herself for not taking better care of
Eleanor.
Stella noticed and decided to drop the subject.
Just then, Jordan called to let Stella know he had a business dinner to attend that evening, but he was still worried about her leg.
Stella reassured him, “Don’t worry about me, Jordan. You’ve already turned down so many social events because of me. Go ahead–my leg’s not a big deal. Nola helped me apply the ointment several times today, and it works. I feel a lot better now.”
“Alright, I’ll try to come back as early as I can,” Jordan said.
“No rush,” Stella replied. Then she hung up.
Since moving in, Stella hadn’t had a chance to sit down and chat with Mary properly. With Jordan not coming back early, Stella figured tonight was the perfect chance to have a proper chat with Mary.
Mary started sharing stories from when Stella was little. She said, “You know, my heart always ached for you back then. But my sympathy didn’t change anything, since your family never cared about you. In the end, you had to learn to comfort yourself.”
Stella said, “But you cared about me, didn’t you, Mary? You helped me so much back then, and you always got scolded for it. If you hadn’t stayed by Grandma’s side, they would’ve kicked you out ages ago.”
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Mary said, “I’m alright, dear. I’m getting old anyway. But you–I just hope that if there is another chance, you’ll be born into a family that truly loves you.”
Stella smiled and hooked her arm through Mary’s. She said, “Mary, if I get to choose, can you be my mom in my afterlife?”
Mary laughed and asked, “So you want me to be Eleanor’s daughter, huh?”
Stella said, “Why not?”
“Alright. Then your grandma can look after me, and I’ll look after you,” Mary joked.
“No way, I’ll take care of you too,” Stella replied. She leaned her head gently on Mary’s shoulder, feeling safe and warm.
Mary’s face was lit up with a smile.
It was getting late, and Stella decided it was time to head to bed.
Jordan still hadn’t come home.
Suddenly, Stella’s phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. She checked it and saw a few photos of Jordan and Leila.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who sent them.
Underneath the photos, Leila added a snarky message: [See? You said it was a fair game, right? Well, tonight I got your man to go out on a date with me. Wanna guess what we did?]
Stella didn’t even bother replying with words. She just sent back a photo.
The photo showed Jordan, Leila, and a whole bunch of other people.
When Jordan arrived at the venue, he had already texted Stella to let her know what was going on. He had texted: [Don’t worry, I’m not meeting Leila alone. I didn’t even know she’d be here. I’ll keep my distance from her.]
After that, Leila didn’t send another message.
Stella could almost picture the look of frustration on Leila’s face when she saw the photo. She felt it was kind of satisfying.
By the time Stella drifted off, Jordan still wasn’t home, but she trusted him and slept soundly–she’d been taking such good care of herself lately that nothing could disturb her. So when he slipped into bed in the middle of the night, she didn’t stir.
When Stella woke up and saw Jordan the next morning, she blurted out, “Why are you in my bed?” She couldn’t believe she’d slept through
his coming home.
Jordan said, “Seriously, if I carried you off and sold you in the middle of the night, would you even notice? How do you sleep like the dead?”
“I don’t know,” Stella mumbled, a little embarrassed. She had no idea what had happened. She vaguely remembered feeling something last night, but couldn’t recall the details–it was driving her crazy.
“What time did you get back last night?” Stella asked.
“Ten o’clock. I thought I was home early, but you were already out cold,” Jordan replied.”
Stella’s cheeks turned pink. She replied, “Since you weren’t home, I figured I might as well turn in early.”
“You can sleep without me around?” Jordan teased.
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Stella was at a loss for words.
“Fine, whatever. I’m not even in your heart,” Jordan said, making a show of getting up to leave.
Stella quickly hugged him from behind. She said, “How could you say that? Of course you are. I just sleep like a log, that’s all. I didn’t mean to
ignore you.”
Jordan couldn’t keep up the act anymore. He turned around and smiled at her. He said, “Alright, I was just messing with you. Seeing you sleep so soundly means nothing’s bothering you, and that’s all I want.
“I hope you get better soon. Didn’t you say you wanted to have a kid with me?”
Stella’s face turned even redder.
“Let me check on your leg,” Jordan said.
Last night Jordan had been worried about waking Stella–she rarely slept well–so he kept still. Once he saw she was really out, he flicked on his phone’s flashlight and checked her leg.
Although, as Stella had said, it did look better, he applied another layer of ointment just to be safe.
Now, when he checked again, the blisters were almost gone. He said, “Yeah, it’s definitely getting better.”
Stella was surprised. She exclaimed, “How did it heal so fast? It wasn’t like this last night.”
“You applied the ointment a bunch of times during the day, and it kept working while you slept, so it healed faster,” Jordan explained.
There were plenty of things Jordan did for Stella that he never bothered to mention. He figured it was just what he ought to do–nothing worth bringing up.
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