CHAPTER 2 One-sided Love
1944 Words
Luis was the one who opened the door. It appeared he was on his way out.
Stella balled her hands, turned to him, and nodded. "Hey, Mr. Stevens!"
Without waiting for him to respond to her greeting, she walked past him and entered the office with the document.
Martin was seated behind a large luxurious desk. In an expensive suit and matching tie, he looked particularly handsome.
Stella noticed it wasn't the same suit he had on when he left home last night. How did he get changed?
With her eyes lowered, she swallowed that question and said instead, "Mr. Dixon, this is from the Marketing Department. Please sign it."
Martin was expressionless as he signed the document at a glance.
Stella walked out the door as soon as he handed the document back to her. Luis was still standing at the threshold.
It wasn't until she went out of sight that Luis turned to Martin and said in a hushed tone, "Do you think she heard us?"
Martin's appealing eyes were expressionless at the moment. Obviously, he wasn't paying attention to what Luis was saying.
To Martin, stella had always been docile and never felt jealous of anyone.
Her strict obedience was all Martin demanded from her in exchange for treating her well.
In the elevator.
Stella held her breath just to hold back her tears. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
She had thought two years would be enough for Martin to realize how much she loved him and reciprocate her love.
Now, it turned out that was just a pipe dream.
She realized she would always play second fiddle to Lauren, Martin's true love.
Stella wiped her tears when the elevator halted. Save for her pale face, she looked normal when the doors opened.
She dragged herself to the break room, intending to make herself a cup of tea.
Several employees were chatting inside.
"Guys, have you heard? Lauren Murray is back."
"And who is that?"
"Oh, my! You don't know her? Lauren is the heiress of the Murray Group as well as a world-class designer. Most importantly, she's the only girlfriend Mr. Dixon has ever shown off in public. She's his first love!"
"Why is her return such a big deal? Isn't it rumored that there is something between Mr. Dixon and Stella?"
"stella? She's nothing to Mr. Dixon. Mr. Dixon never admitted that he was dating her. And that is no surprise to me. After all, look at her. She's not even that beautiful. Yet, she behaves as if she's already Mrs. Dixon. What a fool!"
Standing at the door, Stella smiled with self-mockery as she listened to them. It turned out everyone else saw the truth except her.
The love was one-sided.
"Ha-ha, have you finally woken up from your wild dream, Stella?"
A voice of mockery suddenly came from behind. Stella turned around to see Tessa Lloyd, Martin's cousin, who had always despised her.
Tessa must have also heard the employees gossiping.
The last thing Stella wanted to do now was argue with Tessa in the company. She turned to leave, but Tessa blocked her way.
With a cup of coffee in her hand, Tessa uttered sarcastically, "Lauren is back now. Do you think Mitchel will still give you any attention?"
Stella said nothing to that.
Seconds later, Tessa continued the ridicule. "Maybe it’s time for you to seek out another man, you pathetic fool."
Stella clenched her fists and said coldly, "Ms. Lloyd, if you are interested in that kind of thing, feel free to pursue it yourself."
"You..."
Stella's retort made Tessa's face change.
The next second, Tessa raised her hand and emptied the cup of coffee on stella.
Stella didn't think for a second that Tessa would do something so crazy. She held up her arms just to block the liquid from her face. In no time, the coffee drenched her clothes.
Stella frowned. "What did you do that for? Are you out of your mind?"
It was lunch break and many employees were free to watch the drama. Tessa was even more complacent when she saw growing onlookers.
She put on a mean-girl look as she said, "What makes you so smug every day, huh? Do you seriously think that others don't know you are just an orphan? The nerve of..."
Tessa was silenced by Stella’s shove.
Her jaw dropped to the floor. She had never expected that stella, who was so quiet and timid, would shove her.
Tessa stuttered, "You... You pushed me? How dare you!"
Stella eyed her and replied, "Yes, I did! It seems you need to be taught simple politeness."
Indeed, she lost her parents when she was a child. But that didn't mean she would allow someone to walk over her for it.
Wrinkles appeared on Tessa's face as she frowned in anger. As Martin's cousin, she was used to being fawned over and respected. This was the first time she had been treated like this.
Tessa charged at stella like a raging bull, poised to retaliate.
This time, Stella was fully prepared for what was coming. She grabbed Tessa's wrist so that the latter couldn't move another inch.
Tessa was shorter than stella. As a result, she struggled like an octopus that had one of its tentacles stuck in a fishing trap.
Tessa cursed angrily, "How dare you put your hands on me? Who do you think you are?"
These harsh words attracted more people to the break room.
"That's enough!"
Out of the blue, a baritone came from behind. Martin had left his office and ran into this hullabaloo.
The entire room fell silent.
"Martin?" Tessa's blood ran cold at the sight of Martin. She had always been scared of him. Her mother also warned her against provoking him.
But when she remembered that Stella humiliated her, she put on a pitiful expression and sobbed. "Martin, she bullied me."
The sunlight from outside fell on Martin's handsome face.
Stella felt so grieved all of a sudden, and lowered her head to look at her clothes which were soaked with coffee.
Their gaze met in the air. With a deep frown, Martin looked at Stella and said, "Stella, have you forgotten the rules of the company?"
His ruthlessness made Stella's breathing cease. She couldn't believe her ears.
No one dared to make a sound at this moment.
Stella just stood straight there with her slender figure.
When she got employed here, Martin had told her that the Dixon Group wasn't a place for her to mess around and that he would not tolerate her making any mistakes.
Stella could understand why he took this stand.
However, at this moment, she was desperate to know whether Mitchel had heard those hard words Tessa scolded her or he was just pretending not to have heard because he agreed to those words.
Was she truly insignificant to him?
Scared to death by Martin's rage, the crowd soon dispersed. A few employees were bold enough to peep from a distance, unwilling to miss the good show.
Martin's cold eyes made Stella shiver from head to toe.
Stella pinched her palm to suppress her emotions as she looked at Tessa.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Lloyd. As an employee of the Dixon Group, it was wrong of me to have offended you."
Eyeing stella, Tessa raised her chin complacently. "Humph! Don't think you'll be let off the hook just by making a simple apology. I don't buy..."
"The offence has nothing to do with the company. Personally, I refuse to apologize to you. Now, if you'd excuse me," Stella chimed in.
She then walked past Martin without sparing him another look.
"You..."
Tessa's face turned blue after hearing what stella said.
Never in her years of being alive had she been so humiliated. She was always the bully, not the victim!
The humiliation was so much that scolding Stella wouldn't appease her anger.
Pointing in Stella's direction, Tessa shouted, "Martin, did you hear what that woman just said? She humiliated me, yet she's still so arrogant. Call her back. I have to teach her some manners!"
Martin, staring at Stella's thin back, had an ambiguous expression at this moment.
"Enough!" he said coldly, raising his hand.
As someone who lived and breathed drama and cruelty, Tessa didn't think Martin was partial to Stella just now. She assumed that Martin didn't care about Stella at all.
Tessa gritted her teeth and said viciously, "Next time, I'll get someone to teach her a lesson."
"Tessa!" Martin's tone and squint made it a reproof.
Tessa trembled at once.
With a somber face, Martin said, "I'll only say it once. Forget about what happened here today. Leave Stella alone."
The aura he exuded made her tongue go dry. All the vicious ideas she had in store against stella disappeared in an instant.
She stammered, "Ok... Okay, got it..."
Martin cast a cold glance at her and spoke to Matteo. "Irrelevant people wouldn't be allowed in here from today onwards."
Without catching the drift, Tessa flattered Martin. "Nice call. This is a top company. Not everyone gains access in here."
Matteo nodded to Martin and then walked over to Tessa. He gestured to the exit. "Ms. Lloyd, this way, please."
It wasn't until this moment that Tessa realized that she was the irrelevant person Mitchel just mentioned. She tried to speak to him, but Matteo blocked her way. The security guards then escorted her out.
They showed her no mercy. Her struggle was useless.
Meanwhile, Stella got changed when she returned to her office.
Her heart was filled with sadness as she thought of how Martin looked at her minutes ago.
Closing hour soon rolled by.
Stella took her bag and headed for the exit. However, Matteo stopped her.
He said, "Mr. Dixon has something urgent to deal with, so he asked me to drive you home."
Stella declined the ride without thinking twice.
She was blind before, but now she could see through the situation.
In Martin's eyes, she was just a nobody.
How could Martin agree to accompany her to visit her grandmother when he didn't even care about her?
Upon arriving at the hospital, stella saw that the nurse was about to feed her grandmother dinner. Stella took the job over and did it by herself.
All her life, her grandmother had been living in the countryside, enjoying a quiet life. Everything changed last month when her routine medical checkup showed that she was in need of medical care. Stella insisted on bringing her to the city for better treatment.
Her grandmother wasn't aware of her marriage to Martin .
Stella had planned to surprise her today. But as it turned out, that was no longer necessary.
Stella waited for her grandmother to fall asleep before she left. She walked out of the hospital and waited for a taxi.
In the distance, a black luxury car pulled into the entrance of the hospital.
Stella's eyes lit up when she saw it. She recognized that car as Martin's.
Did he come to pick her up?
At this moment, she forgot all the pain she had been feeling.
Were her thoughts about him all wrong? Did he care for her, contrary to the gossip?
The door of the driver's side opened and Martin got out.
Stella started walking toward him with her heart brimming with joy.
Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Martin had just walked over to the other side and carried a woman out of the car.
Worry and compassion were written all over his handsome face.
This wiped the smile on Stella's face. Her heart sank.
- Writer
