Even now, Roger was unwilling to tell the truth.
However, Stella also realized that she was hiding a lot of things from Roger as well.
When did they begin to keep so many secrets? Since neither of them had been home for a while, they
cleaned it up before settling on the couch to watch a movie together. It was the usual family comedy
they liked to watch, and the novel gags never seemed to get outdated despite the movie lacking actual
meaning.
However, Roger’s phone rang halfway through, and he got to his feet. “I’m turning in, Stella. I’m sleepy
and there’s still class tomorrow…” He barely finished when Stella glowered. “Are you going to class, or
to an interview?” Roger froze at her words, and he wheeled on her, asking, “What?” “Are you going to
class, or to work at some networking company?” It took Roger a long while to realize what she was
talking about. “How’d you find out?”
Putting the TV remote on the coffee table, she turned to look at him. “Were you going to hide it from me
forever if I hadn’t exposed you?”
“That’s not it, Stella…”
“Didn’t we agree that you’d study abroad?” “You decided that yourself! I never said yes.” “But you
obviously wanted to!” Stella exclaimed, unable to understand why Roger had changed his mind. “Why
do you have to be so stubborn?” “Like I said, I’m an adult, and I want to make my own choices,” Roger
growled, his temper flaring already. “What is wrong in trying to share your burden?” “I don’t need that,”
Stella replied. “Have you ever thought about how much you’ll regret,” “I won’t.” Roger properly cut her
short. “Never.”
Stella sighed heavily then-nothing good would come out of continuing to argue, so she asked, “How did
your interview go, then?” Roger’s eyes flashed, and he suddenly looked up at Stella. “They gave me an
offer, but I’m going to turn them down-don’t worry, I was there this morning to reject it.”
That naturally left Stella confused. “Why did you do that? Don’t you want to work there?” “I discovered
later on that Weston Ford is one of its shareholders,” Roger replied icily. “I refuse to have anything to
do at any company where he holds influence.”
In fact, that was why Roger would be willing to get an interview at a small company despite his
outstanding abilities. He was clearly above their paygrade, but Weston had his finger in every pie, and
trying to escape his influence was basically impossible, which in turn reduced
Roger’s options considerably.
On the other hand, Stella was left looking troubled and speechless by his explanation, while Roger
walked up and put his hands over her shoulders. “Right now, all I want is a stable job, and then we’ll
leave together-so that we won’t have to see him ever again.”
In the end, Weston was a never-ending nightmare for Stella.
Roger did not have the power to avenge her at the moment, but at the very least, he would not allow
her to be threatened by him-there was no chance.
Stella felt her temples throbbing. Unsure what to say, she looked at her brother’s serious visage, and
eventually leaned her head on his shoulders silently
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