As Stella finished, there was no longer any sound in the entire kitchen.
Everything went silent.
Channing kept his head drooped and Stella couldn’t see what emotion he was in.
Stella pursed her lips, "Chan, I ..."
Channing paused for a moment before continuing to chop vegetables, then said in an indifferent tone,
"You don't have to comfort me. I'm used to it."
Stella said, "I'm not trying to comfort you. I've had a paternity test and William is your ..."
"As far as I'm concerned, it's all over when Jeffrey died. It doesn't matter who my real father is."
At those words, Stella froze. She still wanted to say something, but Channing had already turned on
the stove to fry.
It muffled all the other sounds.
Stella knew that he didn't want to discuss the subject any further.
Throughout all those torturing and painful moments, from childhood to Jeffrey's death, Channing spent
every day and night wishing he wasn't Jeffrey's son.
That thought seemed to be his hope to live, but luck did not come to him, nor did it favor him.
Especially when it became clear that everything that had happened to Stella was because of Jeffrey,
and his hatred towards Jeffrey was displaced by self-hatred.
If only someone had told him back then that Jeffrey was not his real father, it would have been relief
and redemption for him.
But what's the use of it now?
Stella knew in her heart that even though she had no memories of her childhood, she could feel the
affection of William being her father.
But Chan was different. He had never had a real sense of fatherly love since he was born.
William was also a complete stranger to him.
It was even because of Jeffrey that William almost hurt him back then...
This disconnection and hatred, although unspoken, Chan actually knew.
He had just been pretending that nothing had happened so as not to make things difficult for her.
Stella closed her eye and suddenly didn’t know what she should say.
During the meal, neither of them spoke again on the subject.
Channing said, "Isn't Clarence coming back for dinner?"
Stella said as she sipped her soup, "He's busy and won't be back until late night."
"How are things in Riverside City? How is the kid?"
Stella nodded, "Fine. It shouldn't be long before you see him."
It was almost two months since they had returned from Riverside City.
The three months they had agreed on were almost up.
Stella added, "What about at your school? Are there any more fans pestering you?"
Channing said, "The school talked to me and told me not to worry about it. They'll arrange for someone
to take care of it."
"That's good. You might as well study hard. It's your sophomore year and you don't have much time left
in school."
Speaking of this, Stella was quite nostalgic.
Back then when in school, although she had to work several part-time jobs every day, all that was
bothering her was how to get rid of Jeffrey as soon as possible.
Unlike now, she seemed to have many, many more problems to deal with on a daily basis.
After dinner, Channing went straight back to school.
Stella tidied up the house and then sat down on the sofa.
When Clarence came back at eleven, he saw her staring at her phone, then walked over to her,
"What's wrong?"
Stella hastily looked up and put her phone aside, "Nothing... Have you eaten yet? If you haven't eaten,
I'll go get some food for you..."
"I've eaten." Clarence loosened his tie with one hand and sat next to her, "Didn't you ask Channing to
come over? He's gone?"
Stella nodded gently, "Yes."
"What did you say to him?"
Stella hung her head, seemingly a little demoralized.
She had thought she would be happy to get the paternity test results, but now it didn't seem that way.
Clarence lifted her chin, "You're not happy?"
She looked frustrated, "No."
"You were happy this afternoon. Did Channing piss you off? I'll go teach him a lesson."
Clarence said, and prepared to get up.
Stella reached out and pulled him back, "No, what are you thinking? He didn't piss me off and I'm not..."
She didn't know what to say for a moment.
Clarence rubbed her head, "If it's not him, then tell me and I'll fix it for you."
Stella was silent for a moment before she said, "Do you remember... what I told you earlier about how I
thought Chan looked just like the young William?"
Clarence raised an eyebrow slightly, "So?"
"Actually, Sherry's not just going to London this time for the photography exhibition. She... was there to
get William's DNA and then redo the paternity test with Chan. The results showed a ninety-nine percent
match."
"You told Channing?"
"Well..." Stella whispered, "But you know, all that's happened in the past and Chan is having a hard
time accepting the results right now. I don't know what to do anymore and I'm afraid to tell William."
Clarence said, "You're afraid to tell William because Channing refuses to talk about this and you're
afraid William will blame himself and feel bad because of his past actions and thoughts?"
Stella continued to nod and added, "If only I had gone for the paternity test earlier, they wouldn't have
..."
"It's not your responsibility." Clarence said, "William went for a paternity test and got a result that was
contrary to it. It was a mistake on their part. If you hadn't insisted on having it done again, they would
have just keep on living with the mistake."
Stella froze, "Yeah, William did take a paternity test. Why ..."
If someone around Clarence had been messing around and confusing things, what about William? Not
many people knew who William was at that time and he was definitely going to get the person he
trusted most to do the job.
So was it Daniel, or was it Emmett who did the paternity test?
Or maybe it was someone she didn't know?
Stella hurriedly picked up her phone and was about to call William when she suddenly recalled what
Sherry had said.
Since the paternity test William took turned out to be erroneous, it meant that someone close to him did
not want him to know Chan was his son.
In the end, Stella didn't call.
She sent a message to Sherry before putting the phone down and taking a deep breath.
When Stella looked up again, she saw Clarence leaning back on the couch and looking at her.
Stella was confused.
Clarence said, "Did you work it out?"
"Not really. Just ..." Stella stared at him and was suddenly a little puzzled, "Why were you not surprised
when I said Chan was William's son?"
Clarence looked calm and said slowly, "Didn't you say that Channing looked a lot like William when he
was younger? Besides, I never felt that Jeffrey could have had a son like this."
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