Chapter 404 - My Husband, My Secret Lover

Author POV

In the following pages, Stela's diaries were shorter. And in some pages, there was no word but only a heart and a simple smile that she had drawn. Seeing the patterns, Hayden could feel Stela's happiness at that time.

As time passed by, he finished reading almost all the diaries and then turned to the last page. There was only a short line on it--Hayden gave me a new diary. I'm so happy.

After staring at Stela's handwriting silently for a long time, Hayden reached out and gently touched the yellowing paper, thinking sadly, Stela used to love me. She really loved me before...

......

Although Stela and Hayden lived in the same house, the two of them seldom saw each other and they even rarely ate meals together as if there was an unspoken agreement that they would avoid meeting each other in case of embarrassment. And every day, the three children would try every means to make Hayden and Stela reconciled but in vain. Even if Hayden and Stela ate together sitting at the same table, they just talked a few words as if they were strangers.

One night, after telling a story to the three children, Stela caressed Yvonne's head as usual and said, "Yvonne, it's late now. Go tell your Dad it's time to go to bed."

"Mom, Christina told Dad to go to bed yesterday. Aelius did that the day before yesterday, and I did that the day before yesterday," Yvonne said as she counted on her fingers. "It's your turn to do that today, isn't it?"

The next moment, the three children looked at Stela in unison with their eyes full of expectation, hoping that Stela and Hayden could make up soon.

Stela certainly wanted to go to see Hayden. But when she thought of the sadness and disappointment in his eyes every time he looked at her, she couldn't help feeling miserable and lost her nerve. In a soft voice, she explained to Yvonne, "It's not convenient for me to do that now, so I can only ask you to help me do that. Can you help me?"

Hearing her words, Yvonne became depressed. Finally, under the gentle gaze of Stela, she said helplessly, "All right. But Mom, you must go to remind Dad to go to bed in person tomorrow."

"Okay," Stela made a verbal promise. Alas. I may go back on my word tomorrow.

Yvonne then ran to the study next door. Half a minute later, she came back and said, "Mom, Grandpa Luke is discussing something with Dad. I didn't disturb them."

Hearing this, Stela held Yvonne in her arms again and asked in surprise, "It's so late. Is your Dad still working?"

"Yes, Dad works hard every day," Aelius said, "Mom, why don't you go to see Dad? Maybe he's waiting for you. You are both adults and must have a lot of common topics to talk about."

While nodding vigorously, Christina echoed, "Yes, Mom. Go stay with Dad. Yvonne and I have agreed that we'll give you all our chocolates if you go to see Dad."

Seeing that the three children were determined to ask her to see Hayden, Stela couldn't help but smile helplessly and agreed to their request. After lulling them to sleep, she took a deep breath, walked out of the children's room, and went to the study.

Standing outside the study, she raised her hand but hesitated when she was about to knock at the door. While she was hesitating, the door in front of her suddenly opened and she was startled.

It was Hayden who opened the door. When he saw Stela standing outside, a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes. Then he turned his face away and pretended to be indifferent. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I heard from Yvonne that you are still working at this late hour, so I'm a little worried," Stela said, feeling as if saying these words had taken all her energy.

"I'm not working. I was talking about family affairs with Uncle Luke just now," Hayden said with his voice full of bitterness. He didn't want to talk to Stela, but somehow, he couldn't help talking more when he saw her. "Grandpa has been buried but I haven't held a funeral for him. So I'm going to hold one." As he said that, his voice became lower and lower, and an air of sadness settled over them.

Lowering her head, Stela plucked up her courage and said, "I'm sorry." She knew her apology was meaningless at this moment. What Hayden needed now was comfort, but she knew that no matter what she said to him, it would be of little comfort.

If I could figure out a better solution when Victor wanted to kill Hayden and hadn't hurt Hayden half a year ago, perhaps Hayden wouldn't have turned himself in and wouldn't have missed the chance to see Grandpa Gary for the last time.

Just as Stela was about to be overwhelmed by guilt, Hayden said, "Go to bed early. We will be busy in the following days before the funeral." Then he controlled his wheelchair and moved toward his bedroom.

"Good night," Stela said softly, gazing at his back.

Hearing her voice, Hayden didn't look back. Suppressing the sadness in his heart, he said tonelessly, "Good night."

Soon, with a click, the door of his bedroom was closed, and the corridor returned to its quietness.

Grandpa Gary's funeral was scheduled on the weekend and would be held in the King' Residence. Since Hayden couldn't move freely, he could only be responsible for making phone calls and informing Grandpa Gary's friends to attend the funeral. Meanwhile, Luke hired a professional team to prepare for the funeral.

The day before the funeral, the mourning hall was arranged in the villa. Stela was worried that the three children would be scared when they saw the solemn mourning hall. But to her surprise, they were not afraid at all. And Aelius set a good example for her sisters.

"Mom, Grandpa Luke looks very tired. Is there anything I can do to help him?" Standing by the French window in the living room, he watched Luke and the servants move things without having a rest so he wanted to help them.

"Good boy. You are so caring." Stela was gratified when hearing his words and gently patted him on the shoulder. "You can ask Grandpa Luke to give you some work to do."

"Okay," Aelius said and ran toward Luke quickly. When Aelius offered to help Luke, Luke wanted to refuse him because he didn't want such a little kid to do any tiring work. But when he saw Hayden nod slightly at him and motion him to agree to Aelius' request, he nodded and said to Aelius, "Aelius, please help me move these white flowers over there. Many people will come here tomorrow.

Remember to give each of them one flower."

Seeing that Aelius had begun his work, Stela walked to Luke with Yvonne and Christina. "Uncle Luke, we also want to be helpful. You can trust us with confirming the list of mourners who will come tomorrow."

Luke then sighed with emotion and said, "OK. Old Mr. King loved the children dearly when he was alive. If he knew that his great-grandchildren help prepare for his funeral, he would be happy."

Hearing this, Stela nodded with a lump in her throat, feeling sad. Then she sat down at the table with Yvonne and Christina and began to check the mourner list with a heavy heart. As Grandpa Gary was well-connected when he was alive, he had many friends. But not all of them would come to attend the funeral tomorrow because some of his friends had passed away. While confirming the list, Stela couldn't help feeling that life was too short.