Chapter 1222: Chapter 1225

Stella’s lips twitched. With a forced smile, she told Miguel, “It’s nothing. If you have nothing else you want to say, then you should go home. I need to rest.”

She then turned and headed towards her bedroom, but Miguel blocked her path by standing in front of her, preventing her from leaving.

“Something must’ve happened,” he said. “Why are you so cold to me all of a sudden? It’s Weston, isn’t it?”

Miguel frowned and added, “He must’ve said something bad about me! Or maybe… Maybe you’ve decided to get back together with him!”

Not again. Not this again.

Stella looked at him. Right now, he was acting almost exactly as Roger did in the past, especially his clear hostility towards Weston.

He was also always terrified of the prospects of Stella reconciling with Weston.

Stella was sure that Weston did not lie to her about Miguel. She was convinced that all the documents he gave her were genuine, but she was still reluctant to believe that Miguel would lie to her.

She suddenly thought of the time when they first arrived in Ahn City. Miguel had brought up casually that they had an apartment in Fern City too. Back then, she only thought it was weird, but did not really take it to heart.

Now, looking back, she realized that perhaps it was a clue she missed about Miguel’s true identity.

“The weather’s really nice this evening,” she said suddenly, looking straight into Miguel’s eyes. “Why don’t we go out and watch some fireworks?”

“Fireworks?” Miguel was puzzled by the sudden change of topics. He rubbed his nose and asked her, “Why are you talking about fireworks all of a sudden?”

“No reason,” she replied. “It’s just been a long time since I last saw fireworks.”

Stella’s eyes then glazed over, looking as if she was reminiscing about the past.

“When I was younger,” she continued, “I loved watching the fireworks in the sky. But later, fireworks were banned in the city, so my parents would take me to the countryside on New Year’s Eve, when almost every household would be setting those things off at night. They are brief and short-lived, but they are beautiful and brilliant while they last. It’s been so long since I last saw them, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever have the chance to see them again…”

Miguel fell for it, and without thinking, he replied, ” Weren’t there fireworks in Ahn City three years ago?

Didn’t you see them?”

Stella turned to him and pointedly asked, “How did you know that there were fireworks here at the time?”

Those fireworks were the last bit of warmth she felt before she died. It was also the last memory she had of Roger.

Miguel seemed to be jolted awake when he noticed the doubts in Stella’s eyes. He realized that she must have sensed something wrong.

“Well…” he started, stepping away from Stella, “it did cause a big commotion, after all, so how could I not know about it? Besides, when I was making my own investigation back then, lots of people mentioned the fireworks to me.”

His explanations were starting to sound like somewhat untenable excuses.

Stella did not speak for a while. She just quietly and steadily stared at him.

Moments later, she took a deep breath and said, “I don’t want to waste my time beating around the bush, nor do I want to keep testing you, so just tell me the truth – are you hiding something from me?”

Miguel avoided Stella’s gaze, not willing to look into her eyes. After a long silence, he shook his head and replied, No…”

From that day onwards, Miguel started avoiding Stella.

But Stella would never have expected that Guinevere Cohen’s parents would find her…

For the past two days, Stella spent most of her time practicing the piano. Occasionally she would play with Elias and Emma for a while, but the majority of her time was spent at Musx, playing the piano with Jason.

Slowly, the people of Ahn City became aware of Stella’s return. Although she kept a low profile, most of the elite circle know that not only was Stella Sealey still alive, but she had even returned with two children in tow.