Love at the Next Stop

Chapter 123

Chapter 123 I Have a Boyfriend

“Do you like it?” Miles asked again.

“Yes, I like it very much.”

It didn’t really matter whether the stars in the sky were scarce. All in all, it was more about who they were with. Because Miles had brought her for stargazing, Stella was feeling over the moon. Most of the time, she might not understand Miles as much, but after tonight, she felt that they were slowly getting closer with one another.

Previously, when Miles knew about Matthew and her, his first and immediate reaction was to ask for a breakup, but now, it seemed like his reaction was different from before.

Gently bringing Stella closer toward him, Miles started kissing her softly. Stella felt she was on cloud nine. That night, Miles was gentle toward Stella and took extra care of her emotions, while Stella was being really cooperative. When it came to making love, she was no longer an amateur. In fact, she enjoyed making love with Miles, as though they could be one body and one mind.

Two days later, Stella made a trip back to Hollowcrest City because she had to check on the progress of the factory. Another important matter was to return the jade pendant to Matthew. Regardless of whatever intentions he had when he presented it to her, she felt that she couldn’t keep it anymore.

However, Stella didn’t inform Miles about the second matter, but secretly took the jade pendant out of her luggage. As she didn’t plan to stay in Hollowcrest City for long, she only brought a hand baggage with her and left her suitcase in Miles’ living room.

Once she left, Miles went through the suitcase, and as expected, the pendant was gone. Hence, he was sure that she would meet up with Matthew again.

As soon as Stella arrived at Hollowcrest City, she stopped by at her own factory. The rebar, as well as other steel materials had all been cleared away. The interior of the factory was now refurbished to a place which was suitable for working on design and placing the sewing machines. Seeing the changes in the factory, Stella was thrilled, as this was the ideal factory she had anticipated. In comparison with cold steels, she very much preferred this factory. With a factory like this, she couldn’t help but want to visit more often.

Without a warning, Stella didn’t expect to see Yulia here. The main purpose of her starting this factory was to completely cut ties with Yulia in terms of business relationship. Hence, she didn’t expect to see her here again.

The moment Yulia saw Stella, she faked a smile and acted all friendly toward her. “Stella, I didn’t expect you to get out so quickly!” exclaimed Yulia as she reached out to give Stella a hug, which made Stella cringe.

“Did President Grant help you out?” asked Yulia.

“Yes,” replied Stella in a straightforward manner. As expected, there was an awkward expression on Yulia’s face.

After checking on the factory, Stella went to meet Matthew. When she arrived, he was surprised, as he didn’t expect to see her and asked what brought her here. Placing the jade pendant on the table, Stella said, “President Xenon, I’m here to return this.”

Casting a glance at the pendant, Matthew asked, “Did he tell you?”

Stella nodded. “Anyhow, I don’t think I’m considered a successful entrepreneur. I’m truly honored to have your favor, but I don’t think I deserve it.”

With his eyebrows knitted together, Matthew was annoyed and commanded, “Just take it with you!”

“I can’t have that!” Just now, she had deliberately stressed the point that she wasn’t a successful entrepreneur and disregarded the part about Matthew liking her. She figured she might as well act like she didn’t know the underlying meaning of the pendant.

While both of them were in a state of deadlock, Matthew’s phone rang. As he answered the call, he said, “What?!” Falling back into his chair, Matthew seemed like he had received news that was like a bolt from the blue.

Seeing the expression on Matthew’s face, Stella asked out of concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Zack was playing in school. He accidentally fell from the school window and was badly injured. I… I have to go to the hospital now,” said Matthew hastily, as though he intended to teleport right to the hospital.

As Stella noticed that he seemed too panicked and anxious to drive, she offered to help. “I’ll go with you. And President Xenon, I don’t think you can drive in this state. Let me drive you there!” After all, Stella was really fond of Zachariah, so she was really worried when she heard the news. As much as she wished to make a clean break from Matthew, it wouldn’t be humane to leave him here. Besides, judging from his current state, he could easily get into a car accident if he were to drive now.

Once they got into the car, Stella didn’t drive at a high speed. However, Matthew didn’t urge her to go any quicker, because on the way to the hospital, he was busy praising Zachariah to the skies. Being the considerate boy he was, he would offer to accompany him whenever his mom wasn’t around…

As Matthew continued his rambling, Stella was surprised, as she had never seen this side of Matthew. Like a god, he had always been calm and collected, but at this moment, he seemed like a normal human being to her.

Hollowcrest City was overall a small place. When they stopped at the traffic light, they didn’t notice that Yulia was right beside them, as they were too engrossed in the topic about Zach.

When Yulia caught sight of them, she immediately seized the opportunity to report to Miles about it. Then again, she had to think of a way to make it sound like she wasn’t doing it out of provocation. After some consideration, she sent a Facebook message to Kevin and was certain that he would inform Miles. ‘President Grant, just a note that Jasmine has been transferred to a hospital in Hollowcrest City. After all, Murdough isn’t too convenient, as it is too far away from home. Anyway, Jasmine has been wanting to meet Stella for some time. Just now, I happened to see Matthew and Stella drive past Blossom Road. She’s back in Hollowcrest City, right?’

Not long later, Miles saw the message. Frankly, Miles didn’t trust Kevin at all. However, he didn’t do anything to him but just let him be. Then again, this message from Kevin did hold some value.

‘I knew about that. I was the one who sent her there.’ That was all Miles replied.

When Kevin received the message, he was slightly confused, but still, he screenshotted the message and sent it to Yulia. Puzzled, Yulia wondered why Miles sent Stella here.

The reason why Yulia was able to manipulate Kevin was because she had unintentionally recorded the actual scene of Jasmine’s car accident, which happened a few years back. That day, Yulia had inadvertently recorded the car accident and even managed to capture the face of the culprit. Since then, she had kept the actual footage in her old phone and didn’t delete it. Unfortunately, this criminal case was closed as the police couldn’t manage to find the culprit. One day, when Yulia went to visit Stella’s office, she realized that Kevin was one of the people at the scene, which turned out to be the victim’s family.

Feeling elated with her new discovery, she went home to search through her videos and realized that she was right—it was Kevin Moore. For a video that was left to gather dust for years, she made a few copies of it and backed it up in various places. Once she met up with Kevin, she showed him the first-half of the video, but had deliberately blurred the features of the culprit. As soon as the culprit appeared, Yulia cut off the video, so Kevin still didn’t know who had caused his daughter to be in this state.

The moment Kevin saw this video, his anger spiked as he loved his daughter dearly. He really wanted to know who the culprit was, but unfortunately, there were no witnesses. Initially, he didn’t bother to get the culprit prosecuted, but whenever he saw his daughter who was only in her youthful years, lying motionless on the bed, he started feeling vengeful…

Hence, Yulia promised that as long as Kevin obeyed her every command throughout the following year, she would pass him the actual footage of the whole accident so that the perpetrator could be brought to justice, as it was still within the statute of limitations. Yulia thought this was such a brilliant plan of hers. Throughout this year, Kevin had obeyed her every order and acted like a spy for her.

Obviously, Miles had already known of Kevin’s intention. How could he be the president of a conglomerate if he could be provoked that easily? Thus his terse reply to Kevin.

After sending the screenshot to Yulia, Kevin wasn’t interested in breaking up the relationship between his president and Stella. He was only doing it for the sake of his daughter.

Meanwhile, Zack was temporarily unconscious when he was sent to the hospital. From the anxious look on Matthew’s face, Stella could tell that Zack’s injuries were quite serious.

Since Audrey had returned from overseas, Matthew gave her a call to inform her about Zachariah’s condition. After all, Zachariah was also her child. However, Matthew mentioned that Zachariah’s injuries weren’t that severe because he was afraid that Audrey would blame him for not taking good care of their son. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

As Matthew sat beside the bed, Stella stood by Zachariah and kept checking on his condition. Drenched with sweat, Zachariah seemed to be in a lot of pain. After putting Zachariah under anesthetic, the nurse asked the family to wait outside, as they were getting prepared for the operation.

Sitting on the bench outside the room, Matthew didn’t say anything. He looked very nervous. Leaning against the wall, Stella figured that it was understandable for Zachariah to break down, for even an adult might not be able to withstand such pain.

When Audrey arrived, she didn’t get to see Zachariah, as he was already in the operation room. Hence, Matthew explained everything to her about Zachariah’s condition. With her eyebrows snapped together, Audrey turned toward Stella who was standing there and said, “Stella, you’re here. I’m really sorry for troubling you all the time. Thank you for taking care of Zack.”

“No problem. I really like children, and Zack is simply adorable,” said Stella as she continued to stand by the wall without sitting down. The surgery was expected to take several hours, and to them, the wait was rather torturous.

As soon as a nurse passed by, Audrey asked her about the child’s condition, but she didn’t give much information. Matthew explained that the doctor mentioned Zachariah was temporarily unconscious and one of his legs was broken, so a plaster cast would most likely be required.

Frowning, Audrey hit upon a thought and led Stella to a corner. “Have you considered what I’ve said the other time?”

“What?” Stella was confused.

Glancing at Matthew, Audrey said, “About getting together with him. Zack really needs a good mother. Besides you, I don’t think I can trust anyone else. I’m not a good wife, nor am I a good mother—”

“I have a boyfriend already,” Stella interjected.

Dumbfounded, Audrey smiled. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Miles Grant.” Stella stated his name without reservation.

Startled for a moment, Audrey asked, “Matthew’s good friend? President Grant?”

Stella nodded.