Chapter 160 No Acting Chops to Speak of
Lauren's words made Stella stunned.
The corridor was extremely silent.
Just then, the sampling room's door swung open.
Bennett Starling emerged, straightening his shirt as he stepped out.
The first thing he saw was Stella, her face streaked with tears. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
This Collins girl had no acting chops to speak of.
It was always the same routine—tears, a cry, a shout.
She had just returned to that scumbag Chris's side, and since he was still into her, her tears were effective. Once he grew tired of her, those same tears would only irritate him more.
He tutted quietly to himself.
She was a grown-up, yet still clueless to the fact that tears won't help in every situation. Sooner or later, it would backfire.
With that thought, Bennett joined his little sister, Lauren, who was seated on a bench.
Plopping down beside her, he took her hand. "What's got Stella crying again?"
Before Jasper could answer, Lauren spoke up. "She's upset because our dad keeps seeing mom, and she took it out on us."
She quickly added, "Dad just said he won't need her to watch over us anymore; we get to choose someone else. I picked our mom, Adeline. What do you think?"
As Lauren finished, Bennett understood why the two adults looked so sour.
"I don't think much of it," he said, piercingly.
Lauren's eyes widened. "Don't you want to live with mom?"
"Of course, I do," Bennett replied, looking down and fiddling with his sleeve. "Though it's hard to admit, Ms. Adeline is our biological mother."
"It isn't right to have the woman who's our father's mistress care for us while our real mom is having doubts."
Bennett played a word game, purposefully calling Adeline the "biological mother" instead of Stella.
Stella's face turned even paler.
She understood the message.
Bennett's words were a thinly veiled jab. On the surface, he spoke of their biological mother, but used Adeline's name instead.
The mistress he referred to was Stella.
Even though she understood, Stella couldn't confront it head-on. She could only suppress her anger and respond with a forced smile, "You're right... It wouldn't be proper for Adeline to take care of you."
Bennett yawned and glanced casually at Jasper. "Mr. Jasper, I think it's inappropriate for someone else to take care of us at this juncture.
"We're the product of your love for Miss Adeline, after all. When she's down and doubts you, seeing us gives her a sense of solace."
After saying that, his gaze shifted to Stella. "Right?"
Stella's face turned from pale to ashen. She looked at Bennett coolly, nodding reluctantly. "Yes."
"If that's what you both think." Jasper paused, then added, "From now on, Alice and Stella will continue to look after the two of you."
Once he finished speaking, he glanced down at his watch. "Ryan, take them back. I need a word with Stella."
Ryan nodded. "Bennett, Lauren, let's go."
Lauren, visibly annoyed, shot Bennett a glare. She slipped her hand out of his, hopped off the bench, and made a beeline for the exit.
Bennett, playful, made a face at Stella. "Stella, make sure to get along with Mr. Jasper!"
With those words, the little guy sprinted off to catch up with Lauren.
"Take it easy..."
As the two youngsters took off running, Ryan had no choice but to follow. "Hey, slow down, you rascals!"
Stella stood in the corridor, her gaze fixed quietly on Bennett's retreating figure, a hint of resolution flashing in her eyes.
The little rascal wasn't stupid.
He knew that once she wasn't needed to watch over them, whatever she might do to them would be unhindered, so he craftily convinced Jasper to reverse his decision.
She couldn't even argue with his reasons.
The thought of having to placate those two little troublemakers filled Stella with an intense irritation.
"Stella." While Stella was lost in thought while staring at Bennett's back, Jasper raised an eyebrow and called out softly.
Stella snapped back to the present.
"Let's go."
Jasper led Stella to a cafe near a hospital. It was the one place he had taken her to since their marriage.
Before their wedding, he hadn't known her well. She was just as an infatuated young girl who loved him to madness.
The pressure to marry from his family and the company had weighed on him, leaving him sullen and depressed for a while.
She was like a little sun that appeared, illuminating his life. She drew pictures for him, gave him gifts, sang songs to him in tunes he hardly knew.
Eventually, he began to see her as a friend and confided his troubles in her.
As he shared his views on marriage, she pondered deeply before grasping his arm, gazing into his eyes with her big, dewy puppy-dog eyes. "You may see marriage as a burden, but to me, it's happiness. It will be a blessing for me to marry you."
Her naivety made him chuckle. "What if I told you that I would never fall for you, would you still want to marry me?"
"Yes, I would." The way she fluttered her eyelashes was an image Jasper could still see clearly to this day.
Settling into a cafe booth, he observed the woman sitting across from him.
Her face was just as beautiful and captivating as it had always been. Her voice, just as soft as he remembered, but her eyes were different from the girl she used to be.
"Jasper." The woman's tender voice drew him back to the present.
Jasper took a deep breath and looked up at Stella. "I heard you just stopped by the office."
Stella's grip on her coffee cup paused ever so slightly. She lifted her head, her eyes red from recent tears. "I went looking for Adeline because..."
"You think she's the other woman who's ruining our relationship." Jasper took a sip of his coffee, his touch light. "Back at the hospital, you mentioned that when Adeline was living at Violet's place, you'd watch me from a distance whenever I was downstairs.
"If you really saw me, then you should know that I never went looking for Adeline on those nights. I was just smoking outside her building.
"But at the office, you deliberately muddled the truth, accusing me of spending those nights with Adeline, discussing design blueprints."
After speaking, he lifted his gaze to hers, his eyes cold and detached. "I understand your keenness as a woman, and I admit I've been at fault on many accounts. But we could have communicated."
Stella's nails dug deep into her palm. She raised her head, continuing with her feeble act. "I... I didn't dare. I was afraid that if I spoke up, you would be unhappy..."
"And you think this makes me happy now?" Jasper scoffed with a hint of irony. "There is indeed a problem between us, but none of it concerns Adeline. She doesn't even know I stayed underneath her apartment. Yet, you spread these lies, slandering and concocting rumors."
He held her gaze. "I don't know if this is who you've always been or if you've changed over these six years."
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
