Lena berated her mother Peggy in her head. 'If it weren't for your arrogance and ignorance, we
wouldn't be in this position!' Lena believed that if Peggy didn't make the decision by herself, Andrew
would not marry Ashley in the first place!
To Lena, marriage was just a contract printed on a piece of paper—nothing more, nothing less. Since it
didn't mean much to her, she didn't mind being the third person in their marriage. As long as she tried
hard, Andrew would divorce Ashley. After all, Ashley had, and was, nothing.
It was obvious that Andrew was only interested in her for the time being because of how she looked.
The next day, Andrew drove Ashley to her bakery, as usual.
"I will pick you at five this afternoon," Andrew said.
Ashley was busy unbuckling her seat belt. Because of that, she didn't bother to lift her head to look at
him, and instead, she mindlessly responded, "I think I will go home by myself today. After work, Ellie
and I are going to visit her grandparents."
Actually, Ashley was a little afraid of telling him that. Narrowing his eyes, Andrew took a deep breath
and said, "Okay." Ashely was about to let out a sigh of relief when Andrew suddenly added, "But it
might be hard for you to get a taxi there. I will ask Johnny to pick you up."
With that, Ashley just nodded as she tried to avoid any eye contact with Andrew. After she gathered all
her things, she bid goodbye to Andrew. "Okay then, I'll be leaving now. Bye!"
As she tried to open the car door, she discovered that it was locked. Confused, she turned and looked
at Andrew. He looked at her, lifted one of his brows and smiled at her teasingly. She pursed her lips,
looked outside and looked back at him again. She quickly kissed him on the cheek, unlocked the door
and left.
Then, she ran as fast as she could into the store.
Andrew was not fully satisfied with the kiss, but he was glad that they had started to act like a couple.
Seeing Andrew's car leave, Ashley was about to get into the store when a familiar figure came out of a
beautiful Ferrari.
Ashley saw this out of the corner of her eyes, and was immediately intrigued as to who it might be. She
then hid behind a sign and tried to see who it was. A person stepped out of the driver's side. The guy
slowly walked to the passenger side and opened the door. Then, Ellie walked out. 'What's happening?'
Ashley thought to herself as she looked on.
Ellie continued on her way to the store, so Ashley quickly walked in so that Ellie wouldn't find her.
"Hey, I think I at least earned myself a 'thank you' from you for getting up so early to drive you here!
Hey!" Francis started protesting. He was wearing a red t-shirt, which suited his gorgeous face very well.
As he said that, he was leaning against the car, with his brows slightly raised and a cynical smile on his
face. Truly, he was such a beautiful man that many girls would love to date.
But as it turned out, Ellie was an exception. Upon hearing Francis' sentiments, she stopped in her
tracks, slowly turned around, and calmly said, "You volunteered yourself. I didn't ask you to do any of
this."
Well, she was right. She never asked. Francis became obviously flustered. He stood in silence as if he
didn't know how to respond her.
For the past few days, he had followed her pretty much everywhere. This particular morning, something
weird came over him, and he didn't know what it was, but he somehow got up, came to Ellie's door and
was more than ready to drive her to work.
Ellie obviously refused him at the first. However, Francis insisted so much. Within half an hour, he tried
his best to persuade Ellie to let him take her to work. Since Ellie was about to be late because of him,
so she had no choice but to agree and get into his car.
As he was realizing all of these, Francis became stunned. Then, he started to think about why he was
so shamelessly trying to drive Ellie to work.
As Francis pondered on what his real intentions were, Ellie let out a huge sigh, turned around and
entered the bakery.
The second she walked through the door, Ashley pulled her to the side. With her eyes squinted and a
smart look on her face, she asked, "Hey sis. You'd better catch me up with what's going on. I already
saw everything!"
"What are you talking about? What did you see?" Ellie asked in confusion.
"Oh wow. So you're really going to play dumb, huh? Just tell who he is. Who is that guy who drove you
here? When did you start seeing him? How old is he? Where does he live? How could you not tell
anything to me?"
Since it was a little far, Ashely didn't have a chance to take a good look at the face of Ellie's man.
Despite that, Ashley thought that he looked very familiar, as if he was someone she had already met
before, but she really couldn't remember.
Ellie steadied the giddy Ashley and said calmly, "He is nobody but a stranger."
Clearly, Ashley didn't buy the answer. Pouting her lips as if in deep thought, she questioned Ellie
further, "A stranger? No stranger would pick up a girl at her house and drive her to work! He is clearly
into you and I know you know it!"
Ashley was totally excited about Ellie's love life. Stars were already in her eyes. She looked at her best
friend, and started begging, "Please tell me! Please! I am just so curious! I also want to meet him!"
There was already a resigned look on Ellie's face. Soon enough, her lips curved into a helpless smile.
Rolling her eyes playfully, she responded, "There is nothing going on between us, Ashley. And there is
nothing for you to be curious about."
"No way! It was my first time seeing you to be so close to a man! You have to tell me something!"
insisted Ashley.
But Ellie didn't want to continue the topic any longer so she just walked away from Ashley with the
intent of preparing herself for work. However, Ashley didn't give up. Silently, she followed her and said,
"You know you don't have to hide from me. You are an adult, and I think it's time for you to think about
your future. Seeing a man is a good start! If you two get along well, you can go ahead and get married
with him and have few kids with him. Then it's happy every after! How does that sound?"
Ellie glanced at Ashley, her face devoid of any feelings. In a flat tone, she responded, "We are different,
and we want different things in our lives. I don't believe happily ever after. I also don't want to waste my
time and energy on a stranger."
When Ellie was young, her parents divorced. For someone so young to experience that was horrible.
From what she remembered, her father was a notorious gambler and a raging alcoholic. Every time he
lost in the casino, he would get drunk and physically abuse her and her mother. Even if she was
extremely young then, he would already call her a bitch.
The first few times that that happened, Ellie's mother would try to protect her. She would fight back
against her husband. But her resistance brought out a more dangerous devil from her husband. They
would be beaten up more, so she finally gave up and just put up with it. She stopped fighting and
protecting Ellie.
Ellie's mother hated her life, but she couldn't escape from it. Thus, she took her anger out on Ellie.
Before long, she would also abuse her mentally and physically.
Before her parents' divorce, Ellie's mother found a way to avoid her father. She would dress herself up
and leave the house in the morning. Then, she would come back late at night.
Finally, when she found another man, she left their house. When she left, she didn't even look at Ellie.
Fortunately, Ellie's grandparents knew about everything that was happening. And because of that,
instead of leaving Ellie to her father, they decided to take her in and let her stay with them. If it wasn't
for her grandparents, Ellie didn't know what would happen to her. She didn't know whether she would
still be alive.
Jean sighed, "People are different. You should try to see how other people are. If you don't try, how
would know for sure? Give other people a chance to prove that they're not like your parents.
I think your grandparents would love to see you being with someone you love. They might really enjoy
having a grandchild."
And with that, once again, Ashley's eyes lit up. She found the best way to pressure Ellie getting in a
relationship. She could tell Brown and Laura everything, and if they personally asked Ellie to go out
with the guy she saw, Ellie would not have the heart to refuse.
With just a glance, Ellie already knew what was on Ashley's mind. Her patience was starting to get
tested, and so she threatened Ashley, "Don't you dare to tell this to my grandparents! I will destroy
you!"
Ashley rolled her eyes and replied, "Okay, okay! I understand, geez! I am not going to tell them. I
swear! Anyway, are you going to consider that man though? Because I really think he's into you!"
As a response to that, Ellie shrugged her shoulders and didn't say a word. As Ellie understood, it was
impossible for him to be into her. Just like the other men, he probably just wanted to get into her pants.
Once again, Ellie decided to change the topic by saying, "We are going back to the old house after
work. Did you tell Andrew about our plans for today?"
Ashley was too busy worrying about Ellie's future to hear what Ellie was saying. Snapping back to
reality, she responded, "What?"
Ellie put her face a few inches away from Ashley's and raised her voice, saying, "Please don't tell me
you forgot to tell him!"
Ellie just didn't want to experience Andrew's rage ever again.
The last time Ashley didn't tell Andrew where she would be, he searched her for hours and even broke
into Ellie's door to make sure she was okay.
Ashley finally heard what Ellie was asking. She rolled her eyes and replied, "Don't worry! I already told
him."
Ashley didn't know why she had to report everything to Andrew. 'He's not the boss of me!' she thought
angrily.
Brown felt better after he moved to J City. He wasn't completely cured, but his condition got under the
control. As long as he took the right medicines on time, he would be fine.
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