Archer left instantly.
Darnell turned around. When he was about to leave, he saw Elaine watching him while hiding behind a
pillar not far away. When meeting his gaze, she shrank back to the pillar.
He looked over at her and asked flatly, “What are you doing there?”
A few seconds later, Elaine walked out slowly and said in a low voice, “Uncle...”
Darnell put a hand in his pocket and asked calmly, “What can I do for you?”
Elaine stood in front of him, clenching her hands. She said with a nod, “I need to apologize to you.”
“For what?”
Elaine answered, “I made mistakes before. I was too willful. Please don’t take my words seriously. If... If
you are outraged, please vent your anger on me. Don’t vent it on Great-grandpa and my father.”
After a long while, Darnell chuckled and asked, “Do you think I’m mad because you refused to marry
me?”
Elaine pouted and clenched her fingers. “Not all because of that... I also said a lot of harsh words to
you.”
She believed that she had gone too far.
She sounded as if Darnell had an evil intention on her.
He was unwilling to marry her.
She couldn’t help blaming this engagement that shouldn’t have existed.
Seeing that Elaine bent down her head lower and lower, Darnell said, “Forget it. You are just a kid. Now
that we're no longer engaged, just move on and drop those trifles.”
For some reason, Elaine felt that Darnell was more tender than earlier when he used to talk to her.
She felt that he was coaxing her like coaxing a kid.
She retorted in a low voice, “I’m twenty already. You all take me as a kid. I’m old enough to get married
already.”
Darnell was speechless.
He reminded her, “You should go home.”
Elaine agreed obediently. After she turned around and took a few steps, she turned back. Her pretty
eyes twinkled when she looked at Darnell. “You’ve agreed then. You can’t get angry for the bygones.
Nor can you blame my great-grandpa and father. Liar liar, pants on fire!”
Darnell looked at him in silence expressionlessly.
Probably he had never heard of such a threat before, so he felt ridiculous and amused.
Seeing that he was silent, Elaine became uneasy. She wondered if he was still upset about her.
Holding her breath, she reached out and raised her hand to him. “Let’s make a pinky swear?”
Darnell’s eyebrows twitched a bit. Looking at her puppy eyes, he pursed his thin lips.
A moment later, he reached out and looked away, playing such a boring game with her.
Elaine raised her head immediately. She couldn’t care much and hooked his finger, muttering, “Pinky
swear. Keep your swear. Liar liar, pants on fire.”
After that, Elaine withdrew her fingers in satisfaction. “Done!”
She looked up at Darnell’s expressionless face and stopped smiling. She flinched in a lingering fear.
Darnell put down his hand and looked into her eyes. He said, “Elaine James, anyone aged above ten
wouldn’t have done such a childish thing.”
Elaine was speechless.
She stammered, “I... I don’t care... You’ve made a promise. You can’t go back to your word.”
When she almost finished speaking, Elaine faintly felt that he would regret it the next second. In a
hurry, she trotted away.
While trotting, she kept looking back from time to time.
As expected, she fell into a pile of fallen leaves in the yard as she didn’t watch the road. She was
buried by them immediately.
Darnell watched the scene while standing motionlessly, rubbing between his eyebrows.
Fortunately, there were many leaves. Elaine didn’t hurt. She instantly got up and ran away faster.
...
In the evening, when Stella and Sherry came out of the studio, they saw a man who had waited
outside.
Sherry said, “I’m truly sorry. I was quite busy today. Have you been waiting for a long time?”
Brandon smiled. “Not really. I’ve just arrived.”
As he spoke, he looked at Stella and nodded at her to greet her.
Since Brandon and Sherry had started dating, he would come to pick her up every day in the past few
days. They would have dinner together before he sent her home.
They were indeed like a couple in love.
Stella smiled and said, “I’ll not be holding you guys up. Bye.”
Sherry waved at her. “Be careful on the way home. Message me when you arrive.”
“Sure. Have fun.”
Sherry and Brandon turned away.
Watching their backs, Stella heaved a sigh.
The gap between them was so big that it could let another person stand in between.
She could tell they hadn’t made any progress yet.
Probably, Sherry was right. She was still in love with someone, so she could never open up her heart to
another man.
Stella shook her head, withdrew her gaze, and walked to her apartment.
On the way, she recalled that she would make soup for Clarence. Hence, she went to the supermarket
to buy a lot of ingredients.
After arriving home, she rinsed the ribs and boiled them on the stove.
Then she put the rest ingredients back in the fridge.
Clarence almost saw the box of medicine yesterday. Since she told him it was the seafood inside, she
bought another box of seafood in the supermarket to avoid being exposed. It was put in front of the
medicine box to hide it.
After that, the water on the stove was boiled.
Stella turned off the gas, poured out the water from the stove, and cooked the ribs.
She picked up her phone and called Clarence.
He didn’t answer until the beeping had lasted for a while.
When Stella wanted to speak, she recalled what happened before. She asked him to confirm, “Are you
in a meeting?”
Clarence chuckled on the other end of the line. “I’ve just come out of the meeting room.”
Stella breathed a sigh of relief. That was fine then.
She asked, “I’ve prepared dinner. When will you come back?”
Clarence answered, “I’ll stay in the office a bit longer. Don’t wait for me.”
Stella checked the time. It was already half-past eight.
She said, “Okay. I see.”
After hanging up the phone, she pulled out the draft book while sitting on the sofa.
She wasn’t hungry yet, so she decided to have dinner later.
When she picked up her pen, she heard someone knocking on the door.
But the knocks were not on her door.
However, except for her apartment and Sherry’s, there were only two empty apartments bought by
Clarence.
She wondered who was knocking.
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