Chapter 3

Stella didn’t stay over that night. She had another apartment in the next building and went back there.

Early the next morning, she came over with breakfast.

The table was laden with seven or eight dishes. Lucas saw this and smirked proudly.

“Did my sister-in-law bring so much because she knew I was here today?”

“Wow, I love the soup dumplings from this place. They never do delivery. Did you go and pick them up early this morning?”

Stella glanced at him and said, “No, I forgot you were here. I actually bought less than usual. Ryan doesn’t have much of an appetite in the morning, so I buy a variety for him to choose from.”

Lucas let out a long “Oh,” but his hands kept fidgeting, a sign that he was deep in thought. I figured if he was only slightly interested in Stella before, now he was definitely determined to win her over.

I squeezed Stella’s hand unconsciously, perhaps a bit too hard. Stella looked at me, puzzled by the pain. I quickly apologized and left the table.

That evening when I got home from work, they were again sitting on opposite ends of the sofa. Stella got up to greet me as I entered.

She whispered to me, “Does your cousin not have a job? Why is he here every day? And doesn’t he have his own place? Why is he always at ours?”

I looked up at her and said, “If you add him on SnapChat, he might leave you alone.”

Her expression froze for a moment before she said, “I just added him. He said if I did, he’d go home tomorrow.”

I simply said “Oh” and went into the bedroom. Stella followed me in, asking if I was angry.

“I just didn’t want to see him every day. I’ve already blocked him, see? I’ve even muted his messages.” She said, pulling out her phone to show me, trying to prove her innocence.

I didn’t say anything, but my disappointment must have been obvious because Stella spent half the evening trying to cheer me up.

At dinner, she kept trying to engage me in conversation and piled food onto my plate.

Lucas observed this and smiled, “Our Stella is very attentive, isn’t she?”