After three hours, the plane landed in Christchurch of New Zealand.
When the phone signal returned, Stella received many messages.
Sherry sent her a screenshot of the piece of news about their trip to Ireland.
Besides that, Sherry also bombarded her with some messages, asking Stella whether her trip was fun.
Stella replied that they were only switching planes in Ireland. They were no longer there.
After replying to Sherry, Stella saw other messages which were mostly greetings mixed with some
messages trying to find out about Clarence’s situation.
Those messages weren’t urgent.
After sending out some short replies, she logged out of the application and just as she was about to
turned off her phone, she found that Emmett Carter had tried to call her roughly ten hours or so ago.
That should be the time when she was still on the plane to Ireland. When she was in Ireland¸ she didn’t
turn on her phone.
It had been some time since Emmett and her had talked, and she couldn’t figure out the reason he
would be trying to call her.
Just as she was wondering whether she should call back, Clarence said, “We are staying here tonight.
We will go to Tekapo tomorrow.”
Stella responded briefly and turned off her phone in the end.
Clarence saw the name on her screen and licked his teeth silently. He then asked nonchalantly, “Are
there many people looking for you?”
“There are some, but it’s fine now. I have dealt with it.”
Clarence continued, “Those who are looking for you at this timing all have their own schemes. You can
just block them.”
Stella replied, “Not all of them are like that. They are simply concerned with you.”
“Concerned with me?”
“Yeah.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t they call me?”
Stella didn’t know how to answer him.
By then she only realized that Clarence was talking about Emmett, not those other friends looking for
her on chats.
Stella held back her laugh and said seriously, “You should find out the reason yourself.”
Clarence snorted and stopped talking to her anymore.
Stella’s lips curled into a bigger smile as she retrieved her gaze and directed it outside the car window.
Christchurch is the third largest city in New Zealand, second only to Auckland and Wellington, and is
the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It is called "the Garden City".
Christchurch is a distinctly English city, and it is said to be the most English city outside the UK.
On the streets, there were buildings which were built in nineteenth-century with elegant design.
After reaching their hotel, the man who welcomed them at the Ireland airport was there too. He took
over their luggage and disappeared as fast as he appeared.
Stella stood on the balcony and gazed out at the streets. She shut her eyes and enjoyed the soothing
breeze in the air.
It was indeed so relaxing to go on a vacation.
Clarence wrapped his arms around her from behind and held onto the railing on the balcony. He cooed
into her ears, “Do you love this place?”
Stella said while opening her eyes, “You should just suggest this place long ago. Why did you even ask
me to choose a place?”
Clarence raised his brows slightly, “You can choose anywhere you want to go. I simply want to bring
you here. They don’t interfere with each other.”
“I…”
“Haven’t I said before? Women always love to hold grudges. If we were to travel and we somehow
went to a place you don’t really like, you will bite on it forever.”
Stella was speechless.
Wasn’t he a little out of line now?
Clarence added, “Don’t you want to take a bath after a whole day of being on planes?”
“How can I go take a bath if you don’t let go of me?”
“We will do it together.”
…
After their bath, the sun was just setting. The sun reflected on the surface of the lake not far away, and
the whole city was shrouded in huge shadows everywhere.
Clarence asked her, “Are you tired? If you are not, let’s go take a stroll.”
Stella was not tired at all because she felt a little upset after getting tortured by this bastard back in the
bathroom.
However, since they were already here, it would be a waste to not go out and have a walk.
She replied, “Wait a minute. Let me get changed.”
It was almost night time, and in contrast to the warmth during day time, the night breeze was a little
chilly.
While walking on the streets in a foreign country, the moon seemed to be very different too.
Compared to the vibrant night life in City N, there were barely any people on the streets here. The
whole city seemed to be in tranquility.
They could even enjoy themselves and relax just by taking a stroll on the streets.
Under the glow of street lamps, they would bump into a street artist playing violin occasionally.
The music was lento and tender, and it slowly traversed across the empty, seemingly endless street.
Stella was holding Clarence’s hand. She whispered, “Have you been here before?”
“Yes.”
“When was that?”
“Three years ago.”
It had been four years since their marriage, and at that time when Clarence last visited this place, it
must be when they had been married for just a year.
Clarence continued, “When I was on a business trip in Auckland at that time, I heard about a special
place which drew me here.”
Stella asked with her head tilted, “What’s so special about it?”
“You will see tomorrow.”
“Is that the place you wanted to bring me all along?”
Clarence curled his lips, “Yes.”
The way he was describing it successfully perked up Stella’s curiosity.
What kind of special place it could be that made such a cold-blooded Clarence three years ago even
bother to pay a visit.
After returning to the hotel, Stella suddenly had a spur of inspiration. She took out her draft book and
sat on the carpet and began drawing.
Clarence didn’t understand what she was doing.
He sat beside her and said, “We are in vacation now. Shouldn’t you do something that’s related to
vacation?”
Stella didn’t raise her head as she replied, “You should catch up on sleep during vacation. Go sleep
now.”
Clarence said nothing.
After saying that, Stella stopped talking and giving him anymore attention. She focused totally on her
design and was oblivious to her surroundings.
After some time, Clarence received a call, “Mr. Conrad, that person has arrived.”
Clarence mumbled a yes and stole a glance at Stella who was focused on drawing. He said, “Wait for
me at the meeting room.”
He walked to the door and wrote something on a slip of paper. He stuck it on a cup next to Stella before
heading out of the room.
Stella was done with her first draft and she decided to stretch herself and walk around. Just as she was
about to drink water from the cup, she saw the note on it.
Clarence wrote, "I am heading out for a while. I will come back later. If you’re hungry, ring the service."
Stella was indeed hungry. She put down the note and ordered some food, and then she lied down on
the sofa and turned on her phone.
After two days of the news spreading on the internet, there were still many people talking about
Clarence’s resignation from the Conrad Group. Some were speculating about the future development
of the group, and they thought that without Clarence at the helm, the group had a high possibility to go
downhill.
Upon this analysis, there were people who objected it too, saying that the current Conrad Group could
be where they were today because of the cumulative efforts of the predecessors. Clarence was simply
standing on a giant’s shoulder and reaping the rewards. In other words, the impact of his absence on
the group wasn’t that big.
Among those voices of objection, most of them cited that Clarence was still an illegitimate son in the
end. In a way, he was going to drag the name of the group into the mud and they were of the opinion
that after his departure, the Group could only get better.
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