Chapter 9

In just a brief moment of stunned silence, Stella regained her composure. She walked over to the sofa and sat down, without looking at Aaron, calmly stating, "I suppose Daniel has already told you, right?" At the end of the wedding, she saw Daniel, and later received a call from him saying that Claire wanted to meet her. Daniel was Aaron's special assistant, meticulous in his work, and Aaron must have already known what had happened. "I want to hear it from your own mouth." Aaron walked up to her and stood in front of her, looking down at her as if questioning. Stella raised her eyes and silently met his gaze for a few seconds before suddenly smiling, "What are you talking about? You called off the wedding, and I found a new groom. Doesn't that sound fair?" Aaron's eyebrows furrowed slightly at her overly casual attitude, his tone slightly grave, "I said the wedding was postponed." "Postponed? Aaron, you're the one who backed out of the wedding. You're the one who made headlines with Avery on the wedding day! Who do you think you are to talk about postponing? Are you even qualified?" People around Stella always thought of her as gentle, and she was used to managing her emotions, not liking pointless arguments. But she wasn't completely without temper. In just two short days, she had to deal with guests and worry about her grandfather, feeling completely exhausted. The anger she felt towards Aaron for calling off the wedding could only be suppressed, but facing Aaron's interrogation at this moment, she couldn't hold it back anymore. Why should he, who had called off the wedding first, have more confidence than herself? Aaron had never seen her so angry before, but as her furrowed eyebrows eased, he felt that her anger was better than her detachment. Learning that she had held a wedding with Ethan, he indeed couldn't accept it for a moment. After all, no one could remain calm when their beloved "married" someone else, even if it was just for show. But during the time he spent waiting, he had thought a lot and understood that her actions were out of desperation in that situation. Ultimately, it was his unexpected absence that led to that situation. Their wedding meant nothing, it was probably just a transaction of mutual gain. He would handle the demands she made. Though the situation was a bit tricky, he would clean up the mess and give her a better wedding. With that in mind, Aaron softened his tone and reached out to her shoulder. "I'm sorry for the delayed flight. It was unexpected. There were reasons behind it, and Avery—" "Enough!" Stella abruptly pushed his hand away, her voice cold. "I'm not interested in hearing about you and her anymore. We've broken up, and it's over." When Aaron mentioned Avery, Stella reflexively felt like she was being dragged back into the suffocating atmosphere of their past arguments. She had finally escaped and had no intention of facing it again. She breathed a sigh of relief and stopped looking at him. "You can leave now. I'll change the password, but I'd prefer if you didn't come over again." As she said this, she realized she would be moving in a few days, so whether Aaron came over or not was not something she needed to worry about. Given the eviction notice, Aaron's face turned sour. But with his manners, he couldn't do anything extreme. He just frowned stiffly and said, "Let's talk again when we both calm down." Then, he turned and left straight away. The sound of the door closing came quickly, but Stella lingered on his last words. Oh, the same sentence again. Both of their personalities were mild, and every argument ended in silence. So much so that over time, Aaron always felt like this was enough to solve the problem. But how could it be? In the spacious private room of the club, the music played slowly. A dozen or so young men and women gathered together, chatting and joking with each other. Some were well-known wealthy second-generation figures from Seattle, while others were artists from Luminary Entertainment. Aaron sat silently by himself, emitting an aura of unfriendliness. He rarely participated in such gatherings. Today, he had been forcibly dragged here by Aiden, who claimed it was specifically organized for him. Over there, Aiden had just had a drink with someone. After hesitating for a moment, he walked over to console his dejected friend. "No need to dwell on it. Anyway, Stella really likes you. How could she possibly marry someone else?" It wasn't that Aiden was speaking well of Stella, but she genuinely treated Aaron well. Even Claire, who was so strict, couldn't find fault with Stella. Upon hearing from Daniel that Stella and Ethan had held a wedding, Aiden took a full two days to digest the news before reluctantly accepting the reality. He hadn't expected Stella to actually dare to change grooms. While this move preserved her dignity, it also brought shame upon the Malone family. If Stella still wanted to marry Aaron, she would undoubtedly face even greater resistance. To alleviate the dissatisfaction of the Malone family members towards Stella, Aaron had been busy calming their emotions these days. Could it be that Stella was angry at Aaron for fleeing the wedding and, knowing Aaron liked her, deliberately caused trouble for him? But what made Aiden even more incredulous was that someone like Ethan was willing to be a fake groom just to support Stella. With this in mind, Aiden looked at the silent Aaron and asked, "Who is Ethan? Cameron Reeves found a great beauty to apologize to him, but he rejected. Grace comes from a good family and is pretty enough. The Connelly family has been hinting at him for years, but he ignores them completely." Ethan had been heavily indebted during those few years of hardship and had been stepped on by many. Later, he became like a profit-driven lunatic. Getting involved with such a person might not be a good idea, especially considering his already strained relationship with Stella. Not wanting Aaron to go to war with Stella and Ethan, Aiden added, "Dean also said Ethan became the groom for the North City project. You should appease Stella. She loves you so much, even if she's angry, she'll soften up." Aiden talked for a long time, but Aaron only responded with a simple "yeah." It was actually Juan Barrett, who had just walked over, who suddenly shook his head and said, "Aaron, you've gone too far this time. It might not end well." Wasn't it going too far for the groom to flee on the wedding day? If he dared to do that, Natalie with her temper might even dare to throw sulfuric acid in his face. Aiden couldn't help but interject, "I don't agree. Avery was attacked because of Aaron. He can't just ignore it." Although Avery's injuries weren't serious, it was a fact that she was affected because of Aaron. The assailant couldn't find Aaron, so after learning about the rumors between Avery and Aaron, he targeted her. "Was it also because of him that it trended on social media?" Juan lightly chuckled with ambiguous meaning. Aiden paused. "Avery is on the rise now. Clarifying the rumors isn't good for her. Plus, she said she's just friends with Aaron. The media is just trying to get clicks, and she can't control that." Juan, two years older than them, used to be respected by Aiden. But since Juan married Natalie, he always felt like Juan was biased towards Stella. Clearly, Avery, who grew up with them, was the one he should support. After hearing this, Juan turned to Aaron. "Alright, she can't control it. Aaron, what about you?" Aaron rubbed his temples, lowered his eyes, and said, "I've explained it to Stella a few times, and she hasn't brought it up again. It's just meaningless gossip." He really didn't believe that a few baseless rumors would cause problems in his relationship with Stella. "Aaron, do you still love Avery?" Juan finally chose to hit the nail on the head. Aaron instinctively frowned, and the words slipped out of his mouth, "How could I? Avery is like a sister to me." Juan smiled at him. "But you two dated. Everyone knows you were deeply in love with her, including me." "That's because—" Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted. "Juan? Haven't seen much of you lately. Did your wife finally give you a pass for the night?" Avery greeted with a smile as she arrived, looking a bit disheveled, still wearing the evening gown she wore on the red carpet. Then she turned to Aaron and asked, "Have you patched things up with my cousin?" Aaron didn't say anything. He drank his wine expressionlessly and then shook his head in silence. Avery glanced at him lightly, understandingly saying, "If it doesn't work out, shall I help you explain to her?" Her words were spoken with familiarity, indicating that this wasn't the first time she'd offered. Aaron sighed and shook his head in the end. "She's still angry. We'll talk later." "Okay." Avery smiled in agreement, then took a seat next to Aaron and went to talk to Aiden. Although their corner was quiet, there were still many artists from Luminary Entertainment present in the private room. The glances they cast over were filled with curiosity. After a moment, some couldn't resist pulling out their phones to share with their friends in the industry once again: Guess what I just saw? Avery is cozying up to the young master of the Malone family, drinking wine. Avery leaned back on the sofa, observing the expressions of the others from afar, then set down her glass and instinctively glanced at the phone in her hand. ... Stella had just finished showering at home. She quickly dried her hair and finally, with the exhaustion of the day, lay down on the bed. The bedroom, which had been relatively spacious, was now filled with packed boxes, making it feel a bit cramped. During the day, she had attempted to drag all the boxes into the living room, but there were simply too many things, so she ended up only moving about half of them. Well, since Ethan had arranged for her to move tomorrow, he wouldn't stoop so low as to make her move the luggage herself, right? Then again, it was entirely possible. With that thought, she picked up her phone from the bedside table and decided to book a moving company just in case. She remembered Layla telling her about renting a house after graduation and mentioning that the moving company she found was pretty good. As the phone screen lit up, Stella tried to search for their chat history, only to find a message lying quietly at the top of her contacts. It was from Avery.