Chapter 111 Stella Was Jealous
“Got it,” Miles replied languidly.
Just when the secretary arrived at the door, she saw Stella coming in. “The president is getting a massage in the lounge,” she reminded Stella in a quiet voice.
It seems that he wasn’t lying about getting massages everyday, she mused. When she entered the lounge, she saw Miles lying on the bed, topless. His tanned skin concealed the force he held within him. Meanwhile, Stella had a hard time gauging if he noticed her entrance, for he kept his head turned from her while maintaining his silence. When Janice was working on him, Stella paid attention to how she was massaging him, unconsciously learning her moves.
“Would you like to learn how to massage, Miss Johansson?” Janice tilted her head when she talked to Stella. “I’m almost done with his session, so why don’t you give it a go?” With that, Janice stood up. Their sessions typically lasted around forty five minutes, which in this case, was finished, leaving her flushed and exhausted. After packing up, she informed Miles, “Mr. Grant, I’ll be taking my leave now.” She left after nodding at Stella.
Miles didn’t stand up, nor did Stella speak. She hung her head low while observing Miles, and she noticed that his trousers were pulled down, revealing his taut waist, where his belt hung loosely. “Come give it a go,” he mumbled, his voice muffled.
Stella said nothing when she sat down beside him to start massaging him. The muscles on his upper body shifted under her palms when she kneaded them. There was still some essential oil left over from the session, so her palms were soon slick with oil. “Have my skills improved?” she asked.
“They’re better than before.”
“You need to exercise more.” Stella was panting from exhaustion. With the essential oil, there was less friction, so she had to put in more strength, which made her flush.
“I would rather spend my time working than going to the gym,” he retorted.
Hearing that, she paused for a moment, saying nothing. Then, a knock on the door prompted her to instinctively bounce up and retreat to the side as if being electrocuted. As if having foreseen her movements, Miles grabbed her arm to hold her in place.
Meanwhile, Stella was still trying to back away, as she didn’t want to be caught in an awkward situation when whoever it was at the door entered. However, Miles kept on holding her hand. When he sat up, he dragged her into his arms, making her sit on his lap. Stella felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.
“Mr. Grant, we’ve finished drafting Miss Johansson’s contract. Would she like to go check on it?” A woman’s voice came through the door.
In the meantime, Miles was rubbing his index finger on her face. The door of his office was made of frosted glass, so even though it could obscure the view of someone on the outside, they could still see the silhouettes of the people inside. It would only add a layer of mystery that would prompt people to wonder about what was going on behind the door. Exasperated, Stella wanted to get off him, but struggling would only make things look worse. Therefore, she opted to hold his neck with her right hand instead.
“I’ll have her check on it later,” Miles replied. Upon hearing that the footsteps were fading away as the woman outside the door left, Stella heaved a sigh of relief.
“What are you so afraid of?” he questioned.
Yeah, what am I afraid of? she wondered. “I’m worried that people might spread weird rumors about us.”
“You have nothing to fear when you don’t have a hidden agenda. Janice was giving me a massage too, but she didn’t panic.” Miles was staring straight into her eyes.
“I…” Stella was rendered speechless by his retort. Well, Janice is already over forty years old, so people won’t gossip about her. Indeed, I suppose I do have a hidden agenda. “Anyone from outside can see the silhouettes of the people inside, so I was worried that they would mistakenly think that we were engaged in unscrupulous activities.” She hung her head low while wearing an awkward expression.
Hearing that, Miles turned around to check his bed before flicking her on the forehead. “Unscrupulous activities? Do you mean they might assume you’re giving me a blowjob?”
“You—” Stella was exasperated by his comment. How dare he say it out loud? She was infuriated as she snapped, “I wasn’t thinking about that!”
“What was it then that you thought about? Us making love?” Miles was on it again.
“I’m going to check out the agreement!” She got out of his arms to leave for the legal department, but not before tidying her hair. All the while, Miles merely stared at her with a half smirk.
When she arrived at the legal department, her feelings of shame and anger had yet to subside, so her face was still red. The woman who went to Miles’ office had been observing her with an inquisitive and expectant gaze ever since she got there, which made Stella uncomfortable. Upon reading through the contract, she noticed how unfair the terms were to Zane; it was so biased that the contract seemed to be almost exclusively beneficial to her. He would be an idiot to sign in, as nobody in their right mind would do that.
After she got the contract, she returned home instead of going back to Miles’ office. When she handed the contract to Zane, he signed it, which was out of her expectations. It was as if he knowingly jumped into a trap that Stella dug for him. However, his decision made sense considering that he needed the company in order to bid on the project. He wouldn’t even get a chance to join, nor would he get to earn any money at all if he didn’t get his hands on Stella’s company.
Besides, she also knew another factor that prompted him to partner up with her. Operating under her company’s name was the only way he could avoid his efforts being impeded by Miles, as the latter would hold back for Stella’s sake. In the end, it served to demonstrate just how conniving Zane was.
Stella’s uncle, Michael Johansson, came to her after Zane left. It had been a while since she last saw him. He seemed slightly troubled when he asked for her to help console Yulia, for she seemed to be feeling down as of late. Hearing that, she asked cautiously, “Did she tell you her reasons?”
Although Stella knew why Yulia was feeling down, she was worried that Michael might catch wind of Yulia’s rape. However, he shook his head in denial. “I think it might be because she lost her job. After all, it used to pay her quite well, and she had managed to attain such a high position. Although I already told her that we aren’t short of money, and that working in a foreign company would be exhausting, she didn’t listen to me.”
Upon hearing that, Stella heaved a sigh of relief, for she didn’t want people to know about Yulia’s rape. However, she knew it wasn’t only out of concern for Yulia, but it was also for Miles’ sake. If anybody knew of it, Miles would definitely be implicated.
When Stella arrived at Yulia’s home, she was lying face-down on her bed, having lost all her previous zest. When she noted Stella’s presence, she merely remained silent.
“You should file a police report if you are feeling so down. After all, we shouldn’t be allowing the man to roam free without facing the consequences!” Stella suggested when she sat down on the chair beside Yulia. In response, Yulia only shook her head, which prompted Stella to ask, “Why?”
“Miles’ involvement in the incident will be exposed if I do so. I don’t want to affect his reputation.” Yulia sounded rather self-righteous.
All of a sudden, Stella felt jealous, for it was due to that particular reason that she decided to conceal the incident, only to find out that Yulia had the exact same sentiment. She felt like she was abruptly being pulled into a love triangle, for both Yulia and her were feeling concerned over Miles; it was as if they were sharing Miles.
The thought set off feelings of jealousy within her. Biting on her lip, she gave Yulia a curt response. “Then take care of yourself and try to adjust your mood.” With that, she left.
When she was waiting for the bus in front of Yulia’s house, she saw Miles driving over in his car. The street was bustling with activity, so she wasn’t entirely sure if it was him. However, the car pulled over in front of Yulia’s house, and the handsome man who got out of the car was none other than Miles.
Ever since Stella had gotten knowledge that Yulia went to Miles and heard of her resolve to protect Miles, she had been in overthinking mode. Due to her sentimentality, she would tolerate no third party in between her and her man. After she got onto the bus, she sent Miles a text. ‘Where are you?’
Miles came to deliver a five hundred thousand check to Yulia. After all, he already struck a deal with her, and Yulia had suffered in the process. As soon as he left the check on Yulia’s table, he received Stella’s text, to which he casually replied, ‘I’m in the office.’ This is so out of the blue, he thought.
Meanwhile, Yulia sat up from her bed to glance at the check on the table. When she saw it, she scoffed at Miles’ behavior before questioning pointedly, “Do I look like someone you could dismiss just by using money, Mr. Grant?”
Arching his brow, Miles smiled in derision. “Is this not enough? I can always give you more if that’s the case. However, money is all that you’ll get from me. I won’t be able to provide you with anything else.”
Yulia merely gazed out of the window in silence. At that moment, Miles’ phone beeped with another incoming text. ‘I want to meet you in the company now.’
Upon checking his watch, he figured he should be able to reach his office in time if he left right away. In order to avoid suspicion, he didn’t pry any further. Instead, he only gave a curt reply. ‘Okay.’
On the other hand, the bus that Stella was on was going in the opposite direction of Miles Conglomerate. Therefore, she had to wait until the bus had arrived at the next stop to get onto another one that was headed in the opposite direction. When she was still waiting for the bus, Miles already arrived at his company in his car.
Basically, he had done all that he could have done to settle scores with Yulia, so he considered them even. On the other hand, Stella bumped into Lisa when she was going upstairs after arriving at Miles’ company. Noticing the disgruntled and anxious look on Stella’s face, she asked, “What’s the matter, Stella? Are you jealous of someone?”
“What? No!” The fact that she was exposed made her panic while thinking, Is it that obvious that I am jealous?
Before Stella could even reply, Lisa was already walking away, seemingly having deemed it true that Stella was indeed jealous.
“Hold on.” Stella turned around to ask, “How did you know that I’m feeling jealous?”
“Are you really jealous? I was only making a guess! You look like someone who had their precious toy being snatched away from them!” With that, Lisa chuckled as she left.
