Love at the Next Stop

Chapter 43 She Likes It, so He Likes It as Well

Stella clenched her fists tightly, but she quickly accepted it; she knew she could never control a man like that. Hence, she might as well just let it go and not care about him so much.

“So she’s your woman, President Grant? You should’ve told me earlier that she’s your woman! You transferred me from Hollowcrest City to Murdough because of this, didn’t you? I wouldn’t have fought over her with you if you had told me this earlier.”

With that, he turned around in a huff and left. Before leaving, he even cast a frustrated look at Stella. Letting out a sigh of relief that the incident had passed, she plopped herself onto the bed, still feeling rather flustered.

When Miles saw the entrance tickets on the desk, he casually commented, “Looks like you’ve been enjoying yourself for the past couple of days!”

“Yeah, I’ve never traveled far since I was born, and this trip opened my eyes, so I was in a good mood,” she admitted with downcast eyes.

As she rubbed her fair and delicate hands together, she felt a pang of unpleasantness in her heart over what he said earlier. By announcing their relationship in such a brazen manner, he was definitely not trying to protect her, but she couldn’t figure out the exact reason why he would do that either.

“Have you been to the undersea tunnel under the tower?” he asked.

“Not yet.”

Chuckling heartily as though he already expected her reply, he suggested, “Should I take you there?”

After what happened with William, Stella felt that it would be safer to travel with a man rather than going everywhere alone, especially since this man’s words could greatly affect William’s actions. Thus, she nodded in agreement.

The undersea tunnel could be explored by traveling in electric carts. Miles bought tickets for two and they sat while waiting for the small electric cart to arrive at the revolving platform. It was the first time for a small town girl like Stella to ride something like this, so it was a novel experience for her. Then, they got into the train and it started moving into the tunnel.

Maybe Miles had been on this ride many times before, so he wasn’t curious about it as he sat down while she looked outside the window. After the train entered the tunnel, the bright, colorful neon lights in the tunnel lit up, and there was even music.

Despite the fact that she was already an adult, she still acted like a child when she saw the view. When the music reached its climax and all the neon lights lit up, Stella, who was standing in the front of the cart, turned around to Miles behind her and said, “It’s so pretty.”

Although it was just a quick glance, she saw that his eyes were half-closed. Uh, he was the one who suggested coming here, so why is he dozing off when the view is so pretty?

When he heard that, Miles took a look at her and saw that her eyes were twinkling with delight. He had never seen her smile so brilliantly before.

Previously, she would half-conceal her smile because she was trying to hide her true thoughts, acting as though she would expose herself if she laughed. Maybe she was timid and lacked a sense of security, which explained why she didn’t want to expose her emotions easily in front of others. Also, it could be because she felt a little inferior since she was married, and her marriage was not a happy one.

Through the trip to Murdough this time, Miles had got to know a different Stella.

While he was staring at her, she checked herself to see if there was anything improper about her, and she asked in puzzlement, “What’s wrong?”

Unbeknownst to her, it was also his first visit to the undersea tunnel. Whenever he was on a business trip to Murdough, he would either be in a conference or a business negotiation, so he was always in a rush. Moreover, he wasn’t interested in boisterous places, so he never thought of coming here, thinking that these were attractions only for the young. However, now that he had come on this day, he thought that the undersea tunnel was very interesting indeed. She liked it, so he liked it as well.

His eyes fell on her for a few more seconds before he took a look around and said, “Yeah, it is kinda pretty.”

When she heard that, she smiled again, finally feeling that she had received his approval on her opinion.

When they exited the tunnel, he told her, “I’m returning to Hollowcrest later.”

Meanwhile, in her mind, she was thinking about the status of their relationship. During the course of her marriage, she didn’t want to let Zane hold too much dirt about herself as this wouldn’t be helpful to the divorce in the future. Furthermore, the relationship between Miles and Yvonne was still a thorn in her heart.

Seeing that she was not responsive and was in deep thought, he asked, “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“What?” she asked with her hands behind herself.

Luckily he didn’t try to hold her hand, which showed that he had no intentions of establishing any sort of relationship with her.

“I’m leaving soon! There’s an important meeting in Hollowcrest which I have to attend,” he said as he slowed down his pace.

It was a cloudy and gloomy day in Murdough; the kind of weather that made one feel lazy.

“Okay,” she replied curtly.

Stopping in his tracks, he turned to her. “You can bear to see me go just like that?”

The look on her face shifted ever so slightly. “Reunions and partings are common occurrences in life,” she answered, easily avoiding his question.

Smirking, he remarked, “You seem really calm.”

What else can I do about it? she thought. Should I hold you and cry in your arms, saying that I, as a married woman, can’t bear to see you go, so that someone could go and tell your girlfriend about it? All along, she had been a woman with traditional values, so she couldn’t bring herself to do something like that.

“Aren’t you going to the airport to send your man off?” he asked.

At the mention of the term ‘your man’, Stella’s heart skipped a beat. Did he just give himself that title? Nevertheless, it didn’t seem inaccurate to call himself her man because they had already come to physical union twice.

Before she could give him a reply, he had already stopped a cab and pulled her in, but she hadn’t even decided if she wanted to send him off or not.

“What time is your flight?” she asked.

“In another forty minutes,” he answered, checking his watch.

Time was tight, but he was still in the mood to take a leisurely walk with her here.

The watch he had now was a different one from the luminous watch which he was wearing the last time. Of course, it was not surprising that a rich man had many watches to wear, but her eyes were so fixated on his wrist that it was as though something was attracting her attention.

“What are you looking at?” Since her eyes were glued to his watch, he had paused his hand in mid-air and didn’t let it down.

“N-Nothing,” she muttered, thinking how amazing it would be if she didn’t know the secret behind this watch. Then, she wouldn’t have to go through a mental torture everyday.

However, even if she didn’t know that he was the first man in her life, he would still have known that the woman back then was her. And just like that, they arrived at the airport in silence.

Standing there with a small backpack on her back, Stella saw that Miles was about to enter the security check. “Take care!” she said.

Until now, she couldn’t get used to calling him by his name, and she didn’t know how she should address him.

“Aren’t you going to give me a kiss?”

Taking a yard when I only offered him an inch, it seems, she thought uncomfortably.

Seeing that she was hesitating, he reminded her of the things she had said before. “Who was the one who said that she would be my slave to repay me?”

Without a doubt, it was Stella who was in the wrong. This sounds like something I said when I begged him before, but it seemed appropriate at that time.

It was true that she had said it, and she couldn’t deny it now that he had brought it up. “I was the one who said it!”

“So what are you waiting for?” This was one of the rare occasions when the aloof Miles was in the mood to tease someone.

Needless to say, Stella was concerned because she still remembered that she was married, but the way he stared at her told her that she wouldn’t be allowed to leave if she didn’t act as a slave for him.

Now that she was out of ideas, she could only get close to him and stood on tiptoes, but she was unable to hold her balance and had to reach out to hug his broad shoulders before giving him a peck on the cheek.

This was her first time taking the initiative, and it was enough to set her heart on tenterhooks. She wanted to have a clean reputation before the divorce, and more importantly, she didn’t want to become his plaything.

“Are we done?” she asked meekly. It was a very light peck, and she merely felt a cool breeze on her lips, which was actually Miles’ breath.

Suddenly, he spun around, pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply, knocking the lights out of her and making her breathless.

Besides Miles, she had never kissed any other man since she was younger, and this seemed like the third time that he kissed her.

This time, he didn’t carry that much anger with him, and it was a very sweet kiss. Except the fact that her tightly clenched teeth were pried open by him, everything else was amazing.

Finally, when he was done, he smirked and said, “Looks like I can’t count on you on some things.”

Clearly, he meant for her to take the initiative. Lowering her head, she twisted her fingers and uttered, “I’m leaving now.” Then, she really left.

Back at the hotel, it was already dark after she woke up again from a nap, and she received the news that another designer would arrive on this day. Since her room was a standard room, there was another bed in it, but she didn’t know where the other designer would stay and if it would be a man or woman.

The second she got up, she heard a knock on the door, and she hurried to open it, thinking that it must be the other designer. However, to her surprise, the person at the door when she opened it was none other than Zane.

With a look of horror and utter shock, she wondered what had brought him here.

In Hollowcrest, Zane was a rather famous person, and Stella had already sent him a text telling him that she was off to Murdough for training, so it would be a piece of cake for him to find out where her hotel was.

“W-What are you doing here?” she asked with a pale face.

Zane’s face was grim as he said, “Where’s Miles Grant? It’s not yet the day for training, but he sent you to a hotel ahead of it. What else would he be up to if he isn’t planning to do nasty things with you?”

“You’re shameless!” she cried out furiously. Thankfully things didn’t develop any further between herself and Miles earlier. Otherwise, she would die of guilt by calling Zane out like that.