Love At The Next Stop Novel

Chapter 142 Are You Forcing My Hand?

Stella endured her pain and stood up, thinking that she would need to increase her dose of medicine to treat her condition. As soon as she rose to her feet, she collapsed into Matthew’s arms and burst into tears. In response to her reaction, Matthew gently patted her and said, “It’s okay! It’s okay! Everything is going to be fine eventually!” At that moment, Stella briefly contemplated before agreeing to the man’s words. He is right. Time can heal everything, and I won’t feel the pain anymore sooner or later.

In the meantime, Stella was thinking of expanding her business lately but was held back due to a shortage of manpower. Besides, outsourcing the production to a third party didn’t seem feasible to her since it was hard to find labor with reliable technical skills. Furthermore, she had recently just received an order from Murdough with a given deadline, which was why she was in such a desperate need of recruiting more manpower. Thus, she could only borrow some extra hands from some other companies in the same industry. It was then that she immediately thought of the man whom she was living with. Wait a second! Matthew’s company also runs a fashion and clothing business. Perhaps I could borrow some of his employees to rush my production.

Coincidentally, Matthew had just recruited over 200 people before the new year. He had just finished training them, and they were not urgently needed to meet any tight deadlines, so he directly agreed to spare Stella fifty workers without hesitation. Needless to say, Stella happily thanked Matthew for his kindness when both of them sat on the couch and discussed the matter.

“Don’t worry about it. We’re a family anyway!” Matthew casually said.

“That’s right,” Stella bashfully replied.

Meanwhile, Zachariah, who was doing his homework, was happy at the sight of the lovely interaction between Matthew and Stella. However, as a child, he didn’t know how to describe what was lacking, even though he somehow had a feeling that something was missing between the two adults. He would surely be able to tell that both of them were being too polite and reserved to each other if he were a decade older, as he would be mature enough to understand what was missing—love.

When Stella’s mind was put to ease, she finally decided to head upstairs and rest. Nonetheless, she couldn’t help but feel confused when she realized she had several orders with special requests for her own personal design. These custom designs were not cheap, and the clients would usually place orders for several clothings for her to design in one go. This was precisely what baffled her because she had received quite a few such orders lately. Nonetheless, she was forced to put her curiosity behind her, as her professionalism forbade her to pry into her clients’ privacy.

As Stella continued to receive more and more similar orders, she noticed that those customers shared the same few things in common—they were young, rich, and arrogant. Thus, they didn’t treat Stella kindly upon seeing her as they sized her up in a mean and harsh manner. Unwilling to lose her customers, Stella put up with their snobbish attitude while going about her job. When she had to take their body measurements, she crouched on the floor like a professional tailor, yet her dedication unknowingly became a submissive gesture that fed her customers’ ego.

On one occasion, Stella bent over to jot down the measurements she had taken when serving a customer. At that moment, her hair that was hanging on her flank made her look especially gorgeous. “You look pretty, Miss Johansson!” Although the customer looked like she was raised in a wealthy family, she treated Stella with humility and courtesy, unlike the other customers. In fact, the compliment just naturally came out of her mouth when she noticed Stella’s charming reticence at the time she was writing.

smiled in silence, not knowing why her customer would praise her. People hardly approach designers in the factory themselves. I wonder how

department, she overheard one of her workers talking on the phone. “Are you going back there? Because I don’t

piling custom design orders by rich young ladies was revealed not long later, when one of her customers came to collect her dress. After she put it on, she stood

of us do you think is prettier, Miss Johansson?”

faint smile. “Well, all of my customers are beautiful

over President Grant’s heart, then?”

like a jackhammer, her mind

that you dumped President Grant, I’ve come to study your dressing style myself. I heard you design all your clothes and dresses by yourself in this factory, so I’ve specially come to have you design a dress for me. Do you think President Grant will fall for me, Miss Johansson?” The lady laughed haughtily, feeling jealous of Stella’s past relationship with Miles. After all, she didn’t understand why Stella would leave Miles and marry Matthew later on. Deep down, she reckoned that Stella couldn’t bring herself to tie the knot with Miles since their marriage would not be her first one. Thus, she

Stella said, “I’m not sure what kind of girl is up to President Grant’s liking, but I suppose you’ll win him over as long as you’re

asked, “Really?” Her disbelief was obvious, and her sarcastic words were accompanied by a provocative

they all reckoned that Stella, a divorcee, was undeserved for gaining the affection of an outstanding

at least doing something for his own love life, and I believe he’ll meet the right person one day. The thought of that put a smile on Stella’s face. It seems that all the ladies who came to me recently have the same purpose—to learn more about me and my dressing style, as well as to annoy me. Nevertheless, only Stella herself knew the actual reason

saw Matthew smoking upon arrival. Knowing that the man hardly

you got from

recalling the tele-conversation that she overheard earlier that day when she walked

home at a very young age. I may not have returned home for years, but I know how tough it is to make a living there. Thus, I can

aware of Matthew’s backstory, she cluelessly wondered why he would

them back now!” Matthew could barely contain his temper. “I can’t afford to lose them, not after I’ve spent so much time training and familiarizing them with the production. What’re we