Love at the Next Stop

Chapter 144 Can’t Love Her Anymore

Since Stella had told Miles that she was pregnant, she knew it would arouse his suspicion if her tummy continued to remain flat. Therefore, she paid a visit to the hospital that day, only to be told by the doctor that she needed to increase her dosage. No wonder my tummy hurts! It always feels like it’s freezing, and I hate this feeling!

Curious about her situation, the doctor asked, “What happened? I thought you managed it pretty well previously.”

“I think it’s because of my second miscarriage,” Stella replied.

Dr. Thane stared at her with a pair of furrowed brows and said, “I’m going to level with you, but this is not a good sign, as it could lead to infertility, not to mention your uterine condition.” After telling Stella the worst case scenario, Dr. Thane shook his head.

Infertility? In fact, Stella had long known about that, or else she wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble to leave Miles. Then, she proceeded to tell the doctor that her condition had only just happened recently, and that she would like to be given some medicine to treat her pain because it was getting more and more unbearable.

A few moments later, Dr. Thane instructed her to lie down on the bed before examining her tummy. “Did your miscarriage happen only recently?” Dr. Thane frowned and asked Stella.

Worried that the doctor might see through her lie, Stella only responded with an affirmative hum because it had actually been two months since her miscarriage.

Upon noticing her response, Dr. Thane didn’t say anything, as he gave her some medicine that could alleviate her anxiety and treat her hormonal imbalance. While the dosage had been increased this time, the doctor reminded Stella to take her medication regularly in order to effectively treat her uterine condition.

While this condition was a curse that had caused infertility among many women, Stella was one of the least fortunate victims of this illness, which had taken a toll on her health. After receiving her medicine, she ran into Janice, who approached her and asked about her condition.

In response to Janice’s question, Stella told her that she just had another miscarriage not long ago, to which Janice expressed her sympathy by patting Stella’s shoulder. Although patients had the right to protect their privacy, Janice was asking about Stella’s condition as a close friend. Besides, considering Miles’ relationship with Stella in the past, Janice’s nosy nature also got the better of her, which was why she couldn’t contain her curiosity.

Later that day, Miles came to Janice’s reflexology and learned about Stella’s miscarriage and the suffering her uterine condition had put her through. In that instant, Miles felt a stab of pain deep down, as if someone was plunging a blade through his heart. Feeling the urge to tend to Stella, Miles was quickly disappointed to realize that he was no longer in the position to express his care for her. For the whole session, he only responded with silence, closing his eyes while burying his head in the massage bed.

Meanwhile, Stella was taking her time to admire Hollowcrest City’s beautiful view, yet she never knew whether this was the reason that Miles had never thought of migrating. It’s only now that I realized there were many things that I didn’t ask him when we were together. Why didn’t it occur to me to ask him?

Amidst the gentle breeze, the street was filled with murmurs of gossip about Miles’ new girlfriend, Jerelyn Houston, a socialite who had probably come all the way from Murdough to Hollowcrest City for Miles. The moment she heard that Miles had bought the woman a new car and an apartment, Stella, who was busy sewing some fabric, instantly paused. She felt like her heart was bleeding, devastated and dispirited. Nonetheless, she was immediately relieved in the next second because this news was something she had been waiting for. After all, she sincerely felt happy for him and Jerelyn, even though she reckoned he had never spoiled her like that. In fact, Miles had once bought her a car, only to be turned down by her, yet that was the only gift he ever gave to her.

After the gossip revolving around the trio went viral for days, Jerelyn paid a visit to Stella’s factory to order a new dress. Since Miles was already Hollowcrest City’s favorite son, his status as a company’s president and massive wealth naturally made him the center of all media’s attention. Besides, his love triangle with the two ladies, Stella and Jerelyn, also made the trio a focus across the city.

Because of that, Stella’s factory became a favorite place to visit for Murdough’s socialites, for they reckoned dresses designed by Stella could help them draw the attention of all the magnates and tycoons.

When Stella noticed Jerelyn’s arrival, she was intimidated by the latter, considering her high social status. “What brings you here, Miss Houston?” Stella asked with a smile.

“I only just arrived in Hollowcrest City a few days ago, but I’ve heard a lot of stories about you and Miles. Also, I was told that many socialites came to your factory for your exquisite work in designing dresses. Well, I’m of course aware of the reason, so I came to find out for myself.” Jerelyn responded straightforwardly in a polite tone, showing that she came with good faith.

Stella said with a smile, “Who knows if your taste is exactly to President Grant’s liking? I say you look fine; you don’t have to jump on the bandwagon and cramp your style.”

Jerelyn smiled and answered, “Well, I’d like to see which of our styles is his favorite.”

In that instant, Stella instantly caught on to Jerelyn’s intention, as she quickly understood that she wanted to find out whose dressing style Miles would like more, hers or Jerelyn’s. Thus, Stella gave in to the socialite’s status since she was only a designer who was in no position to turn someone like Jerelyn down. Therefore, she accepted the offer and agreed to design a dress that would look nice on her. In fact, Stella’s clothing brand became well known due to her exquisite and unique design. However, she chose to react to Jerelyn’s belligerence by taking a humble and conservative approach in designing the latter’s dress.

Ten days later, Jerelyn returned to collect her dress. While it fitted her perfectly, the design was drastically different to Stella’s usual style. Nevertheless, Jerelyn was able to see through Stella’s intention. Therefore, when she tried on the dress, she said, “I guess I’m starting to believe those rumors that you were the one who dumped Miles. In order not to show him that this is your work, you’d even go so far to keep your light under a bushel.”

Stella was slightly stunned upon hearing that. Gosh! It’s as if Jerelyn could read my mind. Fortunately, Jerelyn decided to cut Stella some slack and walked away because she had a dinner date with Miles later that night.

Nevertheless, Jerelyn immediately noticed Miles’ darkened expression as soon as she arrived at the restaurant since she always felt insecure due to the man’s capricious attitude in front of her. It wasn’t until she walked closer to Miles that he gazed at her and said, “Change out of this dress.”

“But Miles—” Jerelyn was about to explain herself while feeling gleeful deep down, because this would likely indicate that she was the winner against Stella in the battle to win Miles’ favor.

“Get. Changed!” Miles sternly repeated his words.

“Alright, I’ll get changed after the meal. Okay?”

Miles responded with silence at that, then both of them continued with their meal without any interaction at all.

“Miles, since you don’t like this dress, perhaps you could come with me to the shopping mall to get a new one. What do you say?” Jerelyn asked.

“Sure.” Miles agreed, much to the lady’s surprise.

The next day was a Saturday, but Matthew was occupied by some business he had to attend to. Therefore, Stella decided to make use of her leisure time to bond with Zachariah by taking him to the shopping mall since they had nothing better to do at home anyway. Deep down, she felt guilty for neglecting the little boy ever since she moved into the house. Thus, she had decided to buy Zachariah some new clothes and storybooks, as well as some stationery.

They looked forward to the moment very much, so both of them excitedly set off early in the morning. As Stella held Zachariah’s hand, they happily engaged in a pleasant conversation. At the same time, she looked around her in the shopping mall in awe, wondering how long she hadn’t gone shopping. “This is our plan for today—first, we’re going to get you a study desk on the first floor. Once we’ve paid, it should be delivered to us in a few days. Then, we’ll head to the fifth floor and take a look at some clothes and books. How does that sound?” Stella asked Zachariah in an elated manner.

“Miles!” Zachariah didn’t answer Stella’s question, apparently gazing at someone who was ahead of him.

Soon, Stella saw Miles and Jerelyn, as the couple was apparently shopping in the same mall as well. While the sight of that stunned Stella, Zachariah ran toward Miles and hugged him.

“Hey, little guy. What are you doing here?” Miles gazed at Zachariah, as if he didn’t notice Stella’s presence.

“Mommy is going to buy me some clothes, a study desk, and some textbooks!” Zachariah seemed to be aware of the past relationship between Miles and Stella, knowing that times were different now when he saw Jerelyn standing beside Miles.

Miles paused for a few seconds before he smiled and said, “I see. Well, I’m going to continue shopping with Miss Houston here. Bye!”

After Miles let go of Zachariah, the little boy happily returned to Stella and walked away. When they arrived on the first floor, they were greeted by the cosmetic department with pillars that had mirrors on them. Thus, Miles, who happened to be there as well, accidentally caught a glimpse of her from the reflection in the mirror.

While Stella used to feel indifferent when Zachariah called her ‘Mommy’, she somehow found herself in an ironic situation. I guess this little ‘prophet’ here really got it right after all. Then, Stella only brushed Zachariah off with a perfunctory reply as she looked a little spaced out. He seems to treat Jerelyn pretty well. He never went shopping with me before. At that moment, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret about her decision to marry Matthew, thinking that she was just flattering herself all along. Men are all fickle in love, so perhaps I’m not as important as I thought I was.

In fact, Stella had been planning to buy Matthew a little something since he had done her a huge favor by helping her in this matter. Thus, she would like to repay his kindness, as well as to ease her guilt for making him marry her. After a long contemplation, she decided to buy Matthew an Omega watch as a compensation and a token of appreciation, even though she didn’t think Matthew ever wore a watch as far as she remembered.

In the end, Stella managed to burn a big hole in her pocket, having spent a few thousand for Zachariah and 20,000 for Matthew. When she got home later that night, Matthew still hadn’t returned, and the maid was on leave during the weekend. Thus, she proceeded to put Zachariah to sleep, but as she was just about to head upstairs, she heard a few rapid knocks on the door, which stunned her. Matthew has the keys to open the door, so could it be someone else? Soon, the person on the outside answered, “It’s me.” It’s Matthew’s voice, but he sounds drunk.