It was getting late, and Marshall had to take his leave.Wenham asked him to stay a while longer out of courtesy and then called for a driver to take him home. Marshall politely declined, saying a colleague was coming to pick him up.Shortly after, they heard a car engine outside the house. His colleague had arrived.After bidding goodbye, Marshall got into the car.The driver was his new apprentice, a graduate who had just finished his studies half a year ago. He appeared very young but somewhat reserved. After greeting Marshall, he remained silent as he did not know what else to say.Marshall undid the button on his collar, stretched his neck, and looked at his phone.There were numerous missed calls and voicemails, mainly from his mother. Two WhatsApp messages were from Irene, a few work-related messages, and some New Year's greetings from various group chats.He opened the message from Irene. One read: [It's the New Year. Why can't you just enjoy it?]The other one said: [Y
At the Saun residence, after Wenham had a cup of ginger lemon tea to sober up, Darcie helped him upstairs to rest.The maids cleaned up the mess they had made.Trevor came out from the washroom and saw Jaylene holding the photo album from Stella's childhood.Her fingers clenched tightly on the album. However, her facial expression was concealed in the shadows, making it difficult to discern.Nevertheless, her protruding knuckles revealed her current unsettled emotions.Trevor did not say anything as he quietly watched her from afar.After staring at the album for a few seconds, Jaylene slammed it onto the table. Then, she turned around and went upstairs.Once she walked away, Trevor walked over and picked up the album.The leather cover still bore the imprints of Jaylene's forceful grip from earlier. Trevor silently smoothed out those marks and then opened the album.He intended to look at Stella's childhood photos. However, as he flipped through the pages, he noticed somethin
Stella hesitated to speak. Finally, she could not resist herself anymore and asked, "Did you think that we—"She clapped her hands lightly as she spoke, "Clapped last night?"Keegan was taken aback."Did we?""Of course not! Do you think I'm crazy?"Stella was speechless as she thought, 'Why does Keegan always think that he is very capable in bed after getting drunk? What is wrong with him?'Keegan paused, looking somewhat in doubt. His gaze fell on Stella's neck, "Y-Your neck..."'Neck?'Stella went to the mirror and touched her neck, "You mean this? I did some scraping after taking a shower last night."Keegan kept quiet.Stella leaned over while blinking her eyes and teased him in a low voice, "Did you think they came from you?"She brought her neck closer to Keegan as she spoke, "Give me a hickey for comparison. Let's see if they look alike."Keegan's lips trembled. Then, he forcefully pulled the shirt she was sitting on and went to the bathroom with a stern face."Tsk
'Does he have some plan he doesn't want me to be involved in?' Stella thought for a moment and decided to trust Keegan.He did not talk about sleeping in another room anymore. After that, they visited Cordelia at her house and stayed there until nighttime.When they returned home, Stella found that the house had changed. The stairs and bedroom floors were all covered with thick wool carpets.Stella was taken aback as she turned to Keegan. He frowned, "Grandma is being overly worried."Stella did not say anything. She thought, 'How did Grandma know that I almost fell this morning?'Stella pursed her lips, "She's being thoughtful."She stepped on the carpet and said, "It's very soft."Keegan smiled faintly, but it instantly disappeared when Stella turned around. Then, he said, "I'm going to the study.""Okay," Stella said before lowering her head and chuckling softly. 'How childish of him,' she thought to herself.The next day, Trevor flew to Mystonia to investigate the cause of
'It seems like the Saun and Hall families don't value their sons at all,' Stella thought.As she thought about that, she called Leighton. It did not take him very long to answer.Leighton's voice sounded as cold as ever, "Stella, is there something I can help you with?"Stella cleared her throat, "We're going to play Mah-Jongg. Do you want to join us?"Leighton was surprised. He pursed his lips and said, "I'm not very good at it.""Well, that's great—no, I mean, that's okay. I'll teach you."After the "relationship" went public, Leighton rejected all the other jobs besides the annual New Year Gala. So, he was very free at that time and agreed to play.Stella immediately sent the address to Leighton.Very soon, they met each other at Unit 902 of Clouditude International.Indeed, as he had said, Leighton was not good at playing at all. He lost a few hundred dollars in just an hour.The three showed him their Venmo QR codes, saying, "Thank you, Leighton," and waiting for him to
Since Leighton publicly announced his "relationship," his company wanted to end his career for the very same reason.That was how the industry worked; One could choose not to make money, but one could not hinder others from doing so.Vermont, who worked in this field, understood the ins and outs of it very well.Leighton's popularity in the industry was unmatched. Many eyes were eagerly preying on him, hoping for him to collapse so they could take over his place.However, before the media could expose any scandals about him, he announced the "relationship" that could ruin his career, which was why the company got so angry.Leighton just had not expected that they would go to this extent.Felicity read the post and realized that it was posted by an account with very few followers.He was a paparazzi who gained sudden fame by exposing a popular male star for cheating on his wife during her pregnancy, which got everyone talking online.He had exposed many things about many celebri
Nicole grinned, "You're just afraid of losing, skinflint."She looked around after saying that. "Who lost the most money?" she asked.The other three people all unanimously turned to look at Leighton.Nicole turned around and gently kicked Leighton, "Stand up noob. Watch how I win everything back for you."Leighton's eyelid twitched, "You're a noob!"Nicole smirked, "What if I can do it?"Leighton remained unbothered, "It means that you have a gambling addiction."Nicole chuckled lightly, "If I win your money back, you have to kiss me when we go downstairs later."Leighton replied nonchalantly, "Dream on."Nicole stopped teasing him. After chasing Leighton away, she took his spot.Stella was still concerned about how the rumors online would affect Leighton, "Ms. Aspen, how about we handle Leighton's matter first before playing?"As Nicole looked at her tiles, she said, "No rush. Let them go on for a while longer."Stella looked at Vermont, and he gave her a reassuring look.
Stella stood at the side like a prop while they kissed.Some sharp-eyed netizens noticed that the person standing next to the couple was the same girl who touched Leighton's face in the car earlier. They wore the same clothes!They could not figure out how Nicole could stand that.However, after some time, Nicole posted on Facebook, sharing a screenshot of a Venmo payment with the caption: [I won some money from your cousin. She won't be angry at me, right? @LeightonHall]She subtly told the netizens about Stella's identity.The netizens were puzzled. 'Cousin?'Then, Leighton replied under the post: [She will. She tends to hold grudges.]The netizens were shocked!'That was Leighton's cousin?' They could not believe it.So, the hashtag #NicoleMeetingHisFamily quickly trended on hot searches.The entire Facebook was chaotic.[I started supporting you since your debut, yet you're acting like Nicole's pet now.][Leighton didn't even hug her. She was the one who kissed him. Lei