In the elevator, Joe, who was standing next to Grace, stole a glance at Stella.Stella stood upright as she stared at the changing floor numbers on the display screen.She looked even fairer than when she appeared on TV, as if she was glowing with whiteness. Her face without makeup looked more natural with a hint of vulnerability, making her even more striking.Joe secretly took out his phone, snapped a side profile of Stella, and sent it to someone with the nickname "Stella's Ex-Husband." The text said: [Hey, I got a new girlfriend.]In the General Manager's office at Vinci Rivera, Keegan rested his chin on his hand as he scanned through the data on the computer screen. However, his mind was elsewhere.He wondered if things went smoothly on Stella's side. From what he knew about her, she could probably handle the situation well. With that young man's help on her side and the fact that she was always able to put up a front, he figured that she would be fine.Humans are truly stra
After a brief moment of silence, Joe spammed and replied to Keegan: [Please forgive me.]Keegan asked: [Do you want it?]Joe replied: [Yes, please!]As they were texting each other, they arrived at Stella's office.Keegan called Joe, causing Grace to turn to her son when she heard his phone ringing. Joe coughed and said, "Mom, I need to take this call."Then, he quickly walked away while holding his phone."Brother, my dear brother. If you give me Stella's number, I'll treat you like my real brother from now on. I'll do whatever you tell me to—"Keegan cut him off. "What's going on over there now?""My mom is going to cancel her membership," Joe said.Then, he briefly explained what happened to Keegan, emphasizing the heroic scene of him rescuing Stella. He boasted, "Bro, youthful and energetic young men like me are the hottest in the market right now. You're too old to compete with me."Keegan flatly said, "Take a guess. Would Stella still talk to you after your mother cance
Stella secretly took note of what Grace said and promptly updated her customer file.Grace insisted on paying for 'Dream Weaver.' Stella could not care less about what others might say about her, but Grace would never let anyone think she had changed her mind about canceling her membership because of a perfume bottle.As they walked out of the office, Joe looked back multiple times.Sensing his gaze, Stella followed it to a diffuser bottle on the desk behind her.She remembered the things Joe said that helped her, even though he might not have meant to.So, she grabbed that diffuser bottle, walked up to Joe, and said, "This diffuser helps one focus. Mr. Esper, if you don't mind, you can put this in your study, and it'll enhance your reading productivity."Grace chimed in, "My son doesn't like diff—"Before she could finish speaking, Joe took the bottle from Stella and said with flushed ears, "Thank you, Ms. Hall."Grace was taken aback.Joe gripped his phone, wanting to ask fo
Keegan replied: [Do you think actors would use their ID to register a phone number for work?]'Well... he's not wrong,' Joe thought to himself.With that phone number, he found "Stella's" Twitter account, where there were indeed photos of Stella that he had not seen online before, and he immediately believed it.After all, he was still an innocent kid.'You want to be with Stella, huh? Dream on!' Keegan mocked him inwardly.Suddenly, Keegan received a message from Stella. It was a screenshot of Grace's profile on her computer along with the text: [Look at who I stole from Darcie! Impressive, right?"He chuckled and replied: [Utterly impressive! How did you do it?]Stella smiled: [Let's buy some ingredients tonight and go to Clouditude International to celebrate with Felicity and Vermont. I'll tell you the details later."Keegan texted back: [Looking forward to it.]Stella paused before she typed: [You sound too submissive. Be more arrogant.]Keegan replied: [Hmph, is this rea
Jaylene felt guilty for a moment but regained confidence shortly after thinking that Stella must have felt the same. "Those are two different things! Of course, I'll find out who leaked 'Cloud Nine.'"What I'm asking now is why you let Mrs. Esper try it when you already knew it couldn't be sold. Don't you think you're responsible for what happened earlier?"Stella chuckled. "What else could I do? Directly tell Mrs. Esper that she can't try 'Cloud Nine' and upset her? Should I just let Caline lose this client because of me? Are you mad because the story didn't unfold as you expected?"Jaylene got exposed, and her expression turned extremely unpleasant. "What are you trying to say? What does the leak have to do with me? You'd better not accuse me without any evidence!"Stella glanced at her. "Did I say that you have anything to do with the leak?"Jaylene was taken aback as her expression turned even uglier. "You're so sharp-tongued and unreasonable! I have no idea why Keegan would e
Larry walked in, closed the door behind him, and called out softly, "Hello, Ms. Hall."Stella was taken aback. Then, she asked, "Larry? Is there something you need?"Larry nodded. "Yes. Ms. Hall, today is my son's birthday, and I'd like to give him something. Could you please approve my leave? I only need two hours."Stella smiled. "Of course, but our company has a dedicated person who handles leave requests for drivers. You can look for Mr. Payton on the second floor, but I'll approve it for you this time. Next time, just go directly to him."She paused, then looked at his empty hands and asked, "Where is your leave request form?"Larry looked somewhat embarrassed as he said softly, "I was afraid that you wouldn't approve it, so I haven't filled it out yet.""You're not taking leave without reason, and there's not much for you to do now anyway. A kid only has one childhood, so spend as much time as you can with him."As she spoke, Stella printed out a leave request form from he
Stella wore stockings, and some of the hot water splashed onto them, causing a sudden burning sensation followed by a pickling pain.She then quickly pulled the stockings away from her skin.Larry was shocked. He immediately bent down to pick up the broken pieces and apologized to Stella.Stella waved her hand. "It's fine. Be careful not to cut your hand."Upon hearing the noise from the next room, Xavier rushed over, saw what happened, and checked on Stella. "Ms. Hall, are you okay?" he asked.Stella nodded. "I'm fine. Please ask the janitor to clean this up."After making sure that Stella was okay, he went out to call for the janitor.Larry held the thermos cup lid in his hand, looking a bit pale as if he had been startled.Stella rubbed the area where the hot water had splashed onto her and said to Larry, after seeing him still standing there, "Go to the back office tomorrow and get a new thermos cup. These glass ones shatter easily and are not safe to use."Then, she remem
Stella shook her head.She had asked Trevor about this before.Jaylene's full name used to be Jaylene Arnold. When Darcie first married Wenham, she did not have Saun as her last name. Later, during a parent-teacher meeting, Darcie fell ill and could not attend. So, Wenham went on her behalf.Wenham had never attended Jaylene's parent-teacher meetings before. Her teachers did not know him, so they had to find out their relationship first. That was when the teachers found out that the father and daughter had different last names.They only realized that Darcie had remarried then. Being in elementary school, the most talkative and insensitive age, Jaylene's identity as a stepdaughter quickly spread across the school.She got upset and refused to go to school. She cried and asked Wenham why Trevor had the same last name as him while hers was different. Everyone was saying that she was not Wenham's daughter.Wenham had always been a soft-hearted person. If Darcie had said it, he might