Chapter 73

Isaac looked at Ethan and spoke again, "Boss, Mr. Lawson from ST is still waiting in the lounge." "Okay," Ethan responded, his expression returning to its usual cold demeanor as he turned and walked away. When Stella returned to their booth in the bar, she noticed Kate sneakily staring at Jason sitting in the adjacent booth. "Kate, what are you looking at?" she asked in confusion. Kate furrowed her brow as she replied, "I think I've seen him before." "What?" Stella was somewhat surprised. It wasn't surprising that Kate had seen Jason before, but she didn't understand why it was a matter of concern. Kate sighed, "Do you remember when we went to see 'South City Joy' in high school?" Stella nodded. "He was sitting right behind us that time, laughing the loudest in the whole theater. There was a touching scene where he hugged the boy next to him who was wearing a hat. The boy seemed reluctant to acknowledge him, and every time I glanced over, he was trying to avoid me," Kate explained. Stella frowned, "The boy wearing a hat?" "Yeah, tall and thin, clearly a handsome boy. You know I have a thing for handsome boys, so I remembered him too. After the movie, didn't he come over to say hi to you? But that handsome boy was nowhere to be found," Kate recalled. Stella seemed to understand something. But now, what caught her attention more was— "Where is Layla?" "She got dragged into another private room by another handsome guy," Kate exclaimed, gesturing vividly, "You weren't gone for long when this guy suddenly walked over, stood there, and said to her, 'Layla, moved on to someone else's place? Had enough hiding?' Then he pulled her into that private room and she hasn't come out since." After finishing, Kate sighed, "I'm just saying, being alone in there for so long, She really has some romantic luck." Stella started to wonder if she shouldn't treat Kate like a kid anymore. Just as she thought this, Kate glanced at her watch and suddenly raised her voice, "Oh my God, it's almost 10 o'clock! I need to hurry home or my mom will never stop nagging." Stella knew about the access control that Claire had imposed on Kate. She was just about to send a message to Layla when Jason casually approached. "Miss Malone seems to be drinking. What a coincidence, I haven't started yet. Stella, since you're far away, you should head back first. I happen to be going that way and can give her a ride," Jason offered. Having told Ethan that he would separate them, he couldn't let them be alone together anymore, ruining Aaron's chance to clear himself. Stella turned her head to look at Kate, who, hurrying to get home, nodded indifferently at Jason, thanked him, quickly packed up her things, and bid her farewell. Only then did Stella message Layla. Stella: Are you okay? After a long wait, she finally received a voice message. Layla: You go ahead first. I might need to handle something for a while. Don't wait for me. Her voice carried a hint of sweetness and softness. Well, it seemed like Stella didn't need to worry about her anymore. Stella's car keys were in Layla's bag. Glancing at the table next door with only a fruit platter, she thought Luke probably hadn't been drinking and could take Layla home. So she messaged the driver and, once they arrived, she headed back to the villa alone. The empty villa was quiet. After showering and coming out of the bathroom, Stella remembered what Kate had just mentioned about the movie she watched in high school. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she silently contemplated for a while, then sent a SnapChat message to Ethan. "Did you ever go to see 'South City Joy' at the movie theater during high school?" A few minutes later, she received a concise but somewhat cryptic reply from the man: The rightmost drawer in the study. Stella furrowed her brow and, with her hair still damp, headed to the study. Following his instructions, she opened the rightmost drawer of the desk and found only an iron box inside. She opened the box and found two yellowed movie tickets placed in a plastic bag. Row 5, Seat 7. Row 6, Seat 7. Stella smiled, her thoughts drifting back to that afternoon. The boy had somehow gotten a garbage bag from somewhere, and after tidying up the clutter on the table, he glanced at her casually and said, "Stella, you've got quite a bit of trash here. Should I toss it?" Stella lifted her head from her schoolwork, glanced at the yogurt box and cookie wrappers on the table, and nodded. "Sure. Thanks." Back in school, she always felt pressed for time. Occasionally, when she didn't want to waste time going to the cafeteria, she would eat prepared cookies and yogurt. She had just finished eating and was about to resume her homework when those wrappers hadn't yet been thrown away. She reached out to tidy up, but Ethan suddenly said, "Um, you keep working. I'll handle it." She gave him a skeptical look. Although puzzled by his unfounded "kindness," her mind was still on the previous question, so she withdrew her hand. Later, when she couldn't find the movie ticket stubs in her pencil case, she searched through her entire school bag but found nothing. "Ethan, have you seen my movie ticket stubs?" she asked. "No, maybe you lost them," he replied. "Really? But I remember clearly putting them in my pencil case." "What else could it be? Do you think someone would steal your used movie ticket stubs? Are they that valuable?" the boy chuckled. Faced with his confident gaze and reasonable words, she sighed softly, "Okay." Inside the iron box, despite the yellowing, the creases on the two movie tickets had been carefully smoothed out by someone. Stella quietly closed the iron box and placed it back in the drawer, feeling as if she had just watched a movie together with him.