There were more youngsters in this climbing gym, and a lot of people were able to recognize Stella.
They saw who was accompanying her, and although they couldn’t discern Clarence’s face, but judging
from the way Stella was hugging him so tightly, they could make their guesses.
Those people were exclaiming discreetly and at the same time they were snapping away with their
phones.
Stella had thought of all the possibilities but she didn’t imagine it would turn out like this.
She buried her head into Clarence’s embrace and whispered, “Go down now!”
Clarence had one arm wrapped around her as he said nonchalantly, “I can do just that, but did you
forget about something?”
Stella gnashed her teeth, “You must be doing this on purpose.”
“How is that so? Isn’t you the one who shove me here?”
“But still…”
Stella wanted to argue, but she also realized that this was not a place to have this conversation. She
stealthily pinched him in the waist and urged, “Faster!”
Clarence managed a soundless response and he immediately said by her ears, “Darling, did I tell you
before that you can’t simply touch a man’s waist?”
From his intonation, it seemed that he was not planning to go down just yet.
Seeing that the atmosphere was slowly becoming ambiguous and people were starting to gather, Stella
found it impossible to speak loudly, “Can we talk once we get home?”
“Since when did you ever call me by that whenever we are home?”
“I promise that this time I would do it.”
Clarence just watched her with an undecipherable expression, and suddenly he said, “If you can
promise me that you will call me ‘darling’ every day, then I will consider your suggestion.”
Stella didn’t know what to say.
This bastard was really pushing his luck.
Before she could refute, Clarence urged her, “How is that? Have you made up your mind?”
Stella said with resignation, “Did you even give me a chance to think through that?”
“It’s not like I don’t want to give you time to think. Those people don’t allow that.”
More and more people were gathering together, and at the same time they had wasted too much time
here. If photos of this scene were leaked, the effect of the spread would be unthinkable.
Stella bobbled her head furiously, “Alright, alright. I promise you.”
After hearing that, the corner of Clarence’s mouth lifted. He raised his hand to tug at the rope and said
to her, “Hold me tight.”
Stella was already hugging him tight, and upon his command, she immediately shut her eyes and
wrapped her hands around his waist.
In the next two seconds, she suddenly felt her whole body dropping through air.
But in no time, her feet reached solid ground once again.
She quickly let go of Clarence and heaved a sigh of relief.
Clarence chuckled while helping her with the climbing gear, “You’re treating me as a one-time only
tool?”
Stella didn’t feel like entertaining him.
At that moment, a worker came by, “Mr. Conrad, shall we deal with that?”
Clarence turned around and looked at that worker, “No need for that. Tell them that I’m paying for
everything tonight. They can keep the photos to themselves for own amusement, but tell them not to
spread them out to the public and waste public resources.”
Stella was speechless.
Was he crazy? Who in their right minds would keep those for amusement?
The worker managed a response before going to disperse the crowd.
Clarence shot a glance at the clock, “Want to see a movie?”
Stella replied, “Thanks for the invitation, but I’m not going now.”
“Why not?”
“You said that you want to bring me here for relaxation, but my mood has become worse.”
Clarence raised his brows, “Is that so? Why do I feel like you are in a great mood?”
Stella couldn’t resist to kick him before turning around to leave.
Clarence caught up to her and grabbed her arm, “Then we’ll go home.”
After the previous twists and turns, Stella’s limbs were losing strength, putting aside the mental fatigue
she was experiencing.
Now she only wanted to take a hot bath at home and lie in bed comfortably.
While on the way, Daniel called her to inform her about the end of the funeral.
About today’s incident, if they weren’t there to help shorten the tedious process, they wouldn’t know
how long they were going to deal with the situation.
Stella held her phone in his hands and mulled over something. In the end, she decided to say it,
“Jeffrey is dead.”
At the other end of the phone, Daniel obviously didn’t expect this news. He was only able to reply after
some moments of silence, “Have you seen his body?”
Stella mumbled a yes and continued, “I have seen it. They say he’s killed himself. We are waiting for
forensics to confirm it.”
Daniel continued after some hesitation, “He really deserves to die, but he still has it too easy with the
way he died.”
Stella didn’t say anything to that. After some banter, she hung up the phone.
Just after she hung up, Clarence’s voice came, “Are you suspecting that this was their doing?”
Stella froze for a moment, “What?”
Clarence added, “I’m talking about Jeffrey’s death.”
Stella pursed her lips and nodded lightly.
She would never believe that someone like Jeffrey would kill himself.
Therefore, there were two possibilities concerning his death. He was either wiped out by someone
lurking in the dark or he was simply killed by William.
She had told Daniel otherwise because in fact she wanted to sound him out.
But from the looks of him, he was in the dark.
Clarence then added, “It’s not unusual that you will think as such. Based on what Jeffrey has done, he
deserved to be killed hundred times over.”
Stella said in a soft voice, “No matter who is the culprit, the fact that Jeffrey has dropped dead out there
will for sure incite some suspicion from various parties. However, if he died in the prison, then there
wouldn’t be so much as a flutter of the leaves around him. If…”
If she were William, in order to prevent the escalation of things, she would also choose to send that
man back to prison before getting into action.
Just when Stella was immersed in her musings, Clarence’s voice came again, “Based on your
understanding of him, do you think that he would do that?”
Stella shook her head, albeit a little unsure.
In fact, she didn’t know much about William.
In the few instances they had met in the past, William gave her the impression of a gentleman, but
obviously that was just what her eyes saw.
He was coming for revenge, so there was no way his real personality was how he made it out to be.
Furthermore, no matter how kind someone was deep down, after that miserable tragedy and with the
passing of twenty years doing nothing, lying in wait, was it possible that that person would not change?
After some time, Stella began again, “I think he’s not the killer.”
Clarence replied, “Oh?”
“Even if he wanted to kill Jeffrey, he wouldn’t do it at this timing. Like you said, there are a lot of
unanswered questions about this man. No matter how much he hated Jeffrey, he wouldn’t be acting so
impulsively, and like Daniel said too, it is an easy way out for Jeffrey with the way he died.”
Clarence lifted the corner of his lips, “You are right on mark.”
Stella frowned, “If that’s the case, then it must be that group who killed Jeffrey.”
Clarence said, “Since they chose this timing to kill Jeffrey, this tells us that there was something about
Jeffrey that the group is guarding against. That’s why they have killed him off so hastily. This also
proves that our guesses up until now are right on mark.”
Stella nodded very lightly. He was speaking the truth.
Seeing that there was still a frown on her face, Clarence drew his finger and struck the middle part in
between her brows, “That’s enough, you should stop talking about those things. Think about what you
have promised me, and remember that it is too late to go back on that promise.”
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