Clarence whispered, "Yeah, I’ve seen him."
Stella did not say anything. She could tell it was nothing pleasant just by thinking.
She gently raised her hand, patted his back and comforted him silently.
At length, she whispered, "Let’s go home. I'll cook for you. What do you want to eat?"
Clarence's voice was slightly raised and there was some obvious directivity. "Anything?"
“…”
She should not have pitied him!
Stella loosened her grip and retracted her hand. "Alright, let's go."
Sitting in the car, Clarence looked at her. "Let’s not go home."
Stella asked while driving, "Then where do you want to go?"
Clarence said, "Where do you want to go?"
Stella said seriously, "I want to go home and sleep."
"That’s okay though."
Stella regretted mentioning that and she simply shut her mouth up.
After a few seconds, Clarence entered an address into the navigation panel and said blandly, "Let’s go
here."
Stella took a glimpse. "Sure."
That address belonged to somewhere in an old city.
City N was really huge, so huge that Stella felt that she had never been there.
The car drove for an hour before reaching their destination.
After stopping the car, Stella opened the door. What she saw were all dilapidated houses, surrounded
by broken walls and were uninhabited. It seemed that no one had lived there for a long time.
The place was so old and desolate as if it had been forgotten, and it was incompatible with the
prosperous city.
As Stella was wondering why Clarence would bring her there, he stopped next to her, leaned against
the car, looked at the far end and said, "I’ve lived here before the Conrad’s take me back."
Stella was startled and she looked back at him. "You mean here?"
"Yes."
"Then how..."
How did the place become like that?
Clarence said, "A few years ago, a developer bought here and everyone moved away."
Stella asked, "You bought it?"
Clarence looked at her and smiled. "No."
"Huh?"
"The developer bought here because he heard that the government wanted to focus on the
development of this place, but he didn't expect that the mayor was replaced and the previous project
was rectified again. No one cares about this place anymore and that’s why the place has become like
this."
After falling into silence for a while, Stella whispered, "I don't understand the world of the rich. He’s
spent so much money to buy it, but he left it here in the end."
Clarence put his hand on her shoulder casually and said slowly, "Invest blindly is not a good idea. If you
can't get any profit, it's better to stop the loss in time."
Stella pondered and thought it to be true.
It was an old city in the first place, and the place is situated at the far end corner of the city. If the
government had not planned to focus on developing that place, it really had not much future for
investments. No matter what they did to the place, it was a losing business.
At a distance, the sun was setting slowly.
Stella leaned on Clarence's shoulder and gazed at the rows of houses in front.
It was indeed very similar to Anqiao Street. The houses were next to each other, and there were many
interconnected alleys.
She had to say, it was quite quiet there.
No one would probably regard this as a corner of City N.
After a while, Stella suddenly felt a little strange and she raised her head from Clarence's shoulder.
"Have you and Ms. Anderson always lived here?"
"Yeah."
"Without other relatives?"
"Yeah."
Stella had felt that Dolores was different when she first saw her.
Although the clothes she wore were simple and clean, the self-restraint and graceful temperament
reflected from inside her were far stronger than Joanna.
Stella thought for a while and asked, "Do you know other family members of Ms. Anderson?"
Clarence said blandly, "I didn't ask. I've been here since I was born."
Stella always felt that Dolores was not the kind of person who would become someone’s mistress, and
that must not be her real home too.
There must be some other unrevealed secrets about what happened back then.
Not knowing how long had passed, the sun was nowhere to be seen.
Clarence spoke, "Let's go."
"Okay."
Clarence was the one driving the car when they headed back.
The journey was a little long and there was some traffic congestion. Stella leaned back against the seat
and had slowly fallen asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she found that that was not the way back home.
She moved her stiff neck, looked around and asked bleary eyed, "Where are we going?"
Clarence's voice was rarely soft. "Home."
"Home? Is this the way? "
Clarence smiled and said slowly, "This is the way home."
As the car went to the right, Stella realized that was the way to the Starry Lake Mansion.
She suddenly remembered that Clarence had mentioned before going to London that they would move
here when he came back.
She had completely forgotten about that.
A few minutes later, the car stopped in front of the Starry Lake Mansion.
Stella got off the car and stood at the entrance. She noticed the whole garden was full of star lights,
there were swings, vines and the yard was brimmed with flowers.
In addition to the design according to her idea, other elements were also integrated inside.
It felt like home at first glance.
It was no longer the cold and desolate mansion before.
Stella turned around and met Clarence’s eyes.
Clarence raised his eyebrow at her. "Go in and have a look."
Clarence took her hand and both of them walked inside.
Although Stella had basically imagined how it would look like in her mind, she was still stunned for a
moment when the door was opened.
The place was just exactly like how she had imagined, even more comfortable, warmer and brighter
than she thought.
Many green plants were placed around, and the house was full of the breath of life.
Clarence held her hand and they continued to walk upstairs.
He opened the bedroom door and turned on the light.
A smile slowly broke upon Stella’s lips. That place was completely changed too.
It did look like a home now.
However, when she saw the children's room, she was instantly awake as if her mind was dealt a blow.
Seeing her strange look, Clarence asked softly, "What's the matter?"
Stella only looked at him at length. "Do you still remember that I have something to tell you?"
"Yeah?"
Stella pursed her lips, her eyelashes trembled violently, and her throat was a little dry. She opened her
mouth, but did not make a sound.
Clarence stood in front of her, raised his hand and rubbed her head. "Babe, what's wrong?"
Stella lowered her head and said with a hoarse voice, "When I went to the hospital for a checkup last
time, the doctor said it might be difficult for me to get pregnant in the future. I probably can't have a
baby."
"That's it?"
Stella nodded. She had initially gotten over it, but when she saw the children's room, she suddenly
realized that Sherry was right. Clarence actually wanted children.
Clarence took her into his arms. "I have something to tell you too."
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