Belated Moonlight: He Regretted Only After I Left-Chapter 7: This Time, Stella Sterling Might Really Never Look Back

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: This Time, Stella Sterling Might Really Never Look Back

As Jasper Hawthorne’s voice faded, the office fell into a dead silence.

He looked intently at Stella Sterling, as if certain that after dropping his harsh words, she would definitely lower her head and admit her mistake.

For the past five years, no matter what happened, she would accommodate him unconditionally.

He was sure she wouldn’t really resign.

Anyone else might leave him, but not Stella.

She wouldn’t.

She absolutely wouldn’t.

However, the panicked apology he imagined from Stella didn’t happen; she just stood there quietly, even with a faint curve on her lips.

"I’ve thought it through." Stella placed the resignation letter on the desk, her voice calm and steady, "Attorney Hawthorne, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first."

After speaking, she didn’t even glance at Jasper Hawthorne again, turned, and walked towards the office door.

Her movements were crisp and decisive, without a trace of reluctance.

Jasper Hawthorne was stunned.

He had imagined countless possibilities, but not this one.

Wasn’t she supposed to plead with him not to drive her away?

Wasn’t she supposed to panic and explain that she was just being capricious?

Didn’t she used to immediately soften and coax him whenever he got angry?

"Stella!"

Seeing her hand already on the doorknob, Jasper Hawthorne almost instinctively roared out, with an urgency and a bit of... panic he didn’t even notice himself.

He thought she would stop, at least turn back.

But she didn’t.

Stella didn’t pause at all, smoothly opening the door.

Outside the door, Jude Kensington was leaning against the wall eavesdropping, almost stumbled in awkwardly, "Uh... I was just about to come in to find Old Hawthorne..."

Stella glanced over him, nodded slightly as a greeting, then sidestepped past him, heading straight for her workstation.

Her figure was slender yet straight, carrying an unprecedented resoluteness.

Jasper Hawthorne stood frozen, watching her leave without any reluctance, his heart felt like it was being tightly gripped by something, that familiar suffocating feeling surging again, stronger than ever before.

Jude Kensington scratched his head awkwardly, glancing at Stella’s retreating figure and then at Jasper Hawthorne’s frighteningly grim face, trying to lighten the mood, "Haha, well, Old Hawthorne, I was just about to find you..."

"Shut up!" Jasper Hawthorne abruptly interrupted him, his chest heaving intensely.

He had never been this out of control.

Seeing his expression, Jude Kensington quickly closed the office door, blocking the inquisitive looks from outside, and then took a few quick steps forward, "Old Hawthorne, can’t you just talk it out properly? You know Stella’s temperament, right? If she really leaves, can your law firm still function?"

Jasper Hawthorne glanced coldly at him, with a defensiveness he wasn’t even aware of, "Didn’t you hear just now? She insists on resigning!"

Jude Kensington was dumbfounded, utterly baffled.

Resign?

What an international joke!

How could Stella possibly leave Ethan Sterling?

How could she bear to leave Jasper Hawthorne?

The entire Clearstone Law Firm, anyone could resign, but not Stella!

"Then why did you have to say such harsh words? ’Don’t even think about coming back’? Who are you threatening? Stella is just angry, if you coax her, wouldn’t that be the end of it? Why make it so tense?"

"Shut up!" Jasper Hawthorne irritably loosened his tie, yet found no relief from that stifling feeling.

For the first time, he clearly detected a trace of anxiety from this emotion.

Why?

Hadn’t he always found Stella noisy and troublesome?

Hadn’t he always wanted her not to be so clingy?

Now that she did exactly what he wished, why did he feel... out of breath?

...

At her workstation.

Stella looked at the place that had accompanied her through countless days and nights with an unusually calm heart.

She opened the drawer, inside were many small items.

A slightly faded movie ticket stub from their first date, though Jasper spent the whole time checking his phone for work...

A plain metal bookmark, casually tossed to her by him after a business trip, saying it was a client gift...

A box of chocolates, now melted and misshaped, bought for all the female staff by his assistant on Valentine’s Day last year, and she got one too...

And a piece of fruit candy, its wrapper worn, handed to her long ago when she had a stomach ache and low blood sugar, which he fished out of his pocket and handed to her with a frown...

Every piece was once like a treasure to her, carefully collected and preserved.

Looking at them now, she only found them laughable.

Stella curled her lips and threw all the items into the trash can.

A soft "clatter" resounded conspicuously in the silent office.

Her colleagues watched silently, not daring to speak.

Stella packed the last bit of her personal belongings into a small cardboard box, took the box in her arms, and looked around at the place where she had poured countless efforts.

Certificates of honor hung on the wall from cases she mostly participated in;

Green plants on every workstation, carefully selected and tended by her;

Even the coffee machine in the break room, chosen according to everyone’s preferences by her.

This place bore five years of her youth and affection, but now, it’s time to say goodbye.

Without the slightest hesitation, she turned and left, her figure soon disappearing at the elevator entrance.

The elevator doors closed slowly, cutting off all trailing eyes.

...

In the president’s office.

Jasper Hawthorne stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, his silhouette upright but slightly stiff.

He was supposedly handling an urgent email, but his eyes repeatedly darted to the office door, unable to focus.

The stone on his heart seemed to grow heavier, pressing down on him until he couldn’t breathe.

Jude Kensington sighed, stepping over, "I say, Old Hawthorne, aren’t you a bit overboard this time? I think Stella is serious this time."

Jasper Hawthorne frowned, a mocking smile hiding his anxiety, "She’s just throwing a tantrum! How could she possibly leave me?"

"The past is the past, this time it’s about the wedding, man!" Jude said exasperatedly, "What woman could stand being left behind at the wedding? And the way she packed up just now, it wasn’t a joke, she gave everything away, like she’s completely severed ties."

Jasper Hawthorne pressed his lips tight, recalling Stella’s calm, unwavering eyes, the unease in him growing more distinct.

He tried recalling the last time Stella was truly angry, only to find she always forgave him quickly, no matter what he’d done.

"She won’t really be angry with me..." he seemed to be convincing both Jude and himself, "Anyone else might leave me, but not Stella..."

Jude rolled his eyes, "That was before! Hearts are soft and can only take so much beating before they turn cold! Trust me, go buy a gift, apologize sincerely, maybe there’s still hope."

Jasper Hawthorne remained silent.

Apologize? He’d never done such a thing.

Besides, buy what?

He rubbed his brow in frustration, "I don’t know what to buy, you go buy for me."

Jude: "...Jasper Hawthorne! For things like this, going yourself shows sincerity... you..."

But before he could finish, Jasper Hawthorne’s phone rang unexpectedly.

He immediately signaled Jude to be quiet, answering the call, his tone instantly reverting to the usual calm and professional, "Hello, President Lawson..."

Jude shook his head helplessly watching him.

Glancing out the window, Stella was walking out of the building with the cardboard box in her arms, her slender figure seamlessly merging with the street crowd, soon disappearing from sight.

Jude’s heart skipped a beat.

For some reason, he had a strong premonition—this time, Stella might really not come back.

Inside the office, Jasper Hawthorne continued to talk confidently with a client on the phone, as if the previous panic had never occurred.

But Jude noticed his other hand unconsciously clenching and unclenching repeatedly...