Stella nodded at Mrs. Smith without showing any emotions. Mrs. Smith felt awkward, but she said
nothing. She swept a glance over the crowd and quickly dragged Joyce away. The crowd soon
dispersed, leaving only Yvonne and Stella there.
“Are you okay?” Yvonne asked Stella with concern. “I’m okay,” Stella replied with a smile. “I just feel
bad for causing you such huge trouble on the last day…”
“But none of this is your fault!” Yvonne interrupted her, frowning. “But I really can’t believe that Joyce
would sneak behind my back and hook up with Mr. Smith! I thought Mr. Smith was especially close with
that secretary of his!”
If Mr. Smith hadn’t been so fond of hiring pretty women who were only good in bed and not at their job,
Stella wouldn’t have been mistakenly called to Lowe Garden. If that incident hadn’t happened, Yvonne
wouldn’t have made a special arrangement to get Stella to work as Ruby’s private tutor.
It was precisely this special treatment that triggered Joyce’s resentment for Stella. She had always
been bitter over Yvonne favoring Stella, granting her priority when a great opportunity was available.
Everyone wanted to be a private tutor, so why was Stella given a chance to get the job before everyone
else? This resentment soon grew into a grudge. Joyce thought that since she couldn’t compete with
Stella fair and square, she would secretly hook up with Mr. Smith instead. She knew what sort of man
Mr. Smith was-he would never turn away any young woman willing to go to bed with him.
At first, because Joyce was still new and exciting to Mr. Smith, he seemed head over heels with her
and was completely at her beck and call. She really did believe at the time that Mr. Smith would leave
his wife and be with her instead.
But it turned out that it was nothing more than a passing fancy. Joyce quickly realized that Mr. Smith
would never get a divorce. Nonetheless, Mr. Smith’s honeyed words managed to convince her to stay
with him, even though she was terrified that Mrs. Smith would discover the affair.
Hence, she had an idea to save herself.
She would use the name Ella Steele when she was with Mr. Smith. That way, she’d be safe even if
Mrs. Smith learned about the affair.
Meanwhile, as long as Mrs. Smith remained in the dark about the affair, being with Mr. Smith meant
she could easily make a small fortune without doing much work at all.
But she had completely underestimated Ella Steele.
Ella had always seemed so meek and complying in the past that Joyce was stunned by her swift and
shrewd response when she was in trouble. She had even prepared a set of lies to defend
herself should the suspicion fall on her, yet before she could utter a word, Ella had managed to destroy
all her plans.
“Thank God you could think on your feet and respond quickly just now!” Yvonne exclaimed as she
watched the surveillance recording of what just happened. She couldn’t help but feel anxious for her
friend.
“Otherwise, Joyce would’ve deflected all the blame to you, and you’d die in the hands of Mrs. Smith!”
she added.
“You’ve always been so nonchalant about the way people treat you. Even when they’re whispering
behind your back, you do nothing but just laugh it off! But this time, you were not like that at all!” Stella
watched the surveillance video quietly without a trace of emotion on her face. Then she turned to
Yvonne and smiled helplessly at her
“Well, what else should I do?” she asked.
“I’m made of flesh and blood, after all. I can’t just let people walk all over me without doing anything!”
Yvonne realized then that Stella was much tougher than she seemed. “Have you… found another job?”
Yvonne asked.
Everyone else had already said their goodbyes and left the training center. There were only the two of
them left now. They both knew this might be the last time they saw each other. Yvonne had planned to
come back to the training center briefly to lock all the doors, but when she saw Stella, she felt reluctant
to part ways with her, so she stayed back a little longer so they could have a chat.
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