Now that Easton was back, Ellis hurried to finish her meal so that she could make her escape.

Seeing that her stepdaughter had started eating, Emma tried to ignore the implications in Easton’s words and said, “Ellis, don’t just focus on eating. Say something.”

Ellis held back the embarrassment that Easton’s gaze stirred inside her and said, “Oh, dig in.”

Emma frowned. “Would you serve Easton some soup?”

In the past, Ellis would have eagerly pulled Easton to sit beside her and served him food. Now, simply not rolling her eyes at him already took a lot of restraint. She suppressed her anger. “He has his own hands and feet; he doesn’t need me to serve him.”

“How can you talk like that?” Emma said, displeased.

“Then I won’t talk anymore.” Ellis immediately clamped her lips shut, as if zipping them closed.

Her lack of cooperation left Emma at a loss. The atmosphere seemed to freeze at that moment. Emma glared at Ellis in frustration; she then smiled and said, “Easton, sit down and eat! Ellis cooked these for you specifically!”

Hearing this, Ellis helplessly glanced at her stepmother. The next second, a light scoff escaped Easton. As expected, he saw through Emma’s lie.

Ellis felt embarrassed for Emma; trying to disguise the food as something she made was pointless because Easton knew well enough about her cooking skills.

“I’m not hungry, I won’t eat,” Easton said slowly.

“It wouldn’t hurt to at least taste it!” Emma insisted that Easton eat to prevent the scene from turning awkward.

“Ellis’s cooking is horrible, fatal even, I don’t want to be poisoned by her.”

An awkward silence followed. Even though she was not exposed for not cooking the meal herself, Ellis still faced humiliation from Easton. She abruptly stood up and said, “Auntie, take your time eating. I’ll be leaving now.”

With one person uncooperative and the other showing no interest in eating, Emma felt a headache coming on and rubbed her temples. “Fine, you two can head back first.”

Finally free to leave, Ellis briskly walked; she almost flew past Easton. Emma’s suggestion to “head back first” was actually meant to imply that Ellis should return home with Easton. However, to her surprise, Ellis ignored Easton and left on her own.

It was inappropriate for Ellis to act that way in front of Easton, but Emma couldn’t scold her at that moment. She decided to send a message or call later to express her anger, hoping Ellis would understand the good intentions behind her efforts.

In an instant, the girl vanished without a trace, but Easton’s expression remained unchanged. He couldn’t tell that Ellis was actually just putting on a facade of arrogance. Unfortunately, she had inadvertently revealed her true feelings through his aunt. He had initially thought that if she left home yesterday, she might not come looking for him for more than three days, but clearly, he had overestimated her.

Emma glanced briefly in the direction Ellis had gone before saying to Easton, “Ellis can be a bit willful at times. I can’t control her. But you’re her husband, so you should try to be more accommodating and not get into arguments with her.”

Easton had no interest in playing vague games, so he turned and left. As Easton stepped out of the dining room, Ellis was sitting on the living room couch, fiddling with her phone. She’s clearly in a bad mood, facing away from me as if to say she didn’t want to even look at me. Ethan thought…

In reality, Ellis wasn’t even aware of Easton’s presence; she was just frustrated about how difficult and expensive it was to get a cab from the house.

After walking a few steps toward the door, Easton noticed that Ellis didn’t follow along. He figured that, given her thick skin, she would surely ask the butler to let her into his house by the time he reached home. But things didn’t go the way he predicted. Even by late night, there was still no word from the butler.

Lying half asleep in bed, Easton glanced at the empty side next to him. Ellis, who are you trying to fool? Pretending to be proud, do you really think you can hide your true self from me?

After work, Maya had to deal with an urgent case and ended up pulling an all-nighter in her study.

Once the case was wrapped up, she was exhausted and headed to her bedroom to sleep – only to notice that the guest room door was open, with light spilling out. While peeking in, she saw Ellis wide awake. She was staring at the ceiling with a troubled expression.

“Ellis, it’s morning already. Haven’t you slept at all, or did you wake up early? You’re not thinking about doing something drastic, like hanging yourself in my house, right?” Maya joked but remained concerned. She had a good reason to be worried because there was sadness in Ellis’s eyes; she carried a desperate air around her.

“…No,” Ellis replied with a sigh, turning to look at her. “You’re overthinking.”

“Then explain why you’re like this.”

“A mosquito bit me. I’m tracking it so I can kill it.”

“Huh?” Maya blinked, glancing around but not seeing any mosquitoes. “Why not just get a bug spray?”

With that, she went to find one in the storage room. Ellis stayed in place; her troubled expression lingered. Sleeping in a small room and being tormented by mosquitoes all night… How unbearable. She wasn’t used to a life like this anymore. After living in luxury, it wasn’t easy to adjust back to a regular life. Her top goal at this stage? To save up enough to buy a big house.

Maya returned with an electric mosquito repellent, plugging it in as she said, “It’s summer, so of course there are lots of mosquitoes. This place is low-rise, so they’re unavoidable. But don’t worry, this thing will keep them away. Just keep it on 24/7, and you won’t have to worry about bites anymore.”

“Thank you, Maya,” Ellis said while spread out on the bed; she was thinking hard about whether to start by renting a place with a better environment.

“Why the long face?” Maya pinched her cheek lightly. “Cheer up.”

“I can’t.” Ellis was being honest. She felt worse than when Easton humiliated her the other day; her stepmother’s attitude toward her was simply too shocking. Ever since she returned from the family home, Emma had been constantly sending her text messages and even calling to lecture her. In every conversation, Emma kept repeating the same thing. She kept telling her to ignore the women Easton was involved with and to focus on having a child to secure the Hudson family inheritance.

Ellis was not only baffled but deeply disturbed. Wanting to have children with the person you love is perfectly normal, but Emma was pushing her to see the child as nothing more than a tool to tie down Easton and secure a large fortune. It made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

“Just keep yourself busy. When your brain is occupied, it won’t have time to dwell on things that hurt. No matter how tough things seem, time will make it easier,” Maya said while patting Ellis on the shoulder; she then adjusted the air conditioner for her.

Ellis was staring at a job search app while she prayed, “Please, let me get an interview and an offer soon.”

“Before that happens, you can always come to my law firm and get some experience,” Maya suggested, thinking it might be good to spend more time with Ellis, as her current state was worrying.

A mosquito flew brazenly in front of her face, and Ellis brushed her hair back in frustration. “No thanks! I don’t know anything about law. I’d probably just cause you trouble.”

“Alright then,” Maya didn’t push. “Get some sleep.”

After Maya closed the door, Ellis shifted on the bed. Living with a good friend when you’re heartbroken can certainly help ease the pain, but she still thought she should rent her own place. She hadn’t slept much the night before, so she tried her best to fall asleep. She didn’t know how much time had passed before she finally drifted off, only to be jolted awake by the shrill sound of her phone ringing. She squinted her eyes open and frowned irritably.

Who’s calling me? Why is my phone so noisy? Did I not set it to silent? She picked up her phone and saw it was her former colleague, Janet.

Ellis shifted and leaned back against the pillow. “Hello, what’s going on?”

“Mrs. Hudson, I’m sorry to disturb you!” Janet started with an apology, then moved on to asking her about work.