Chapter 285: Uninvited New Year’s Gifts

Due to her hesitation, the ringtone gradually faded, and the screen showed a missed call notification. Unexpectedly, the phone rang again soon after. It was Morty calling again. Doesn’t this guy ever give up? On New Year’s Day, is he really set on annoying me?

Suppressing her irritation, Ellis impatiently slid the answer button. “Are you bored or something? Why are you calling so much?”

“I’m downstairs at your place. Can you come down?” Morty sounded slightly embarrassed.

Ellis was speechless. So now just anyone could find out where she lived.

“On the first day of the New Year, you come without any heads-up. Do you know how annoying that is? If it weren’t New Year’s Day, she would have cursed him out for sure.”

After dealing with Easton’s clinginess, she realized she hated people who wouldn’t take a hint.

“Sorry, I was afraid if I warned you, you wouldn’t let me come,” Morty’s voice carried a hint of apology.

“So you call me to come down. What do you want?” Ellis held back from snapping, her tone harsh.

“I have something for you,” Morty paused. “If you don’t want to come down, I can leave it at your door. I’ll go; you don’t have to open the door.”

“I’m not coming down. Leave it if you want.”

“Okay.”

As she was about to hang up, Ellis still heard Morty’s voice. He sounded cheerfully as he said, “Happy New Year, I wish you have prosperity!”

She ignored his wishes and stayed in bed until she finally felt like getting up. After freshening up, curiosity got the better of her, and Ellis went to open the front door.

As soon as she opened it, she saw several large bags by the door. She casually picked them up and brought them inside. It was hard to suppress curiosity, so she briskly rummaged through the bags. The items were typical New Year gifts, nothing special. If anything was remarkable, it was the luxurious packaging and the upscale brands.

“Why send these? I don’t need any New Year gifts.” She muttered, though she couldn’t deny that Morty seemed to have gone out of his way to pay her a New Year visit. Being thought of wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, Morty was someone she disliked, and any happy feeling she had vanished within seconds.

Upon reflection, during such a grand festival, only Maya worried she might go hungry, and Morty bothered to bring her holiday goods. Morty was… what exactly? She wasn’t sure how to describe Morty’s actions.

After arranging the gifts, Ellis sat on the sofa, ordered some takeout with her phone, and occasionally glanced at the New Year goods, feeling conflicted. In Morty’s case, it was easy to feel like she was looking in a mirror. But then, who doesn’t like being cared for and having someone make an effort to be nice to them? Though Morty’s attentions could be annoying, he still knew how to keep a respectful distance. Unlike Easton, who acted arrogantly, doing things she found extremely objectionable, showing a fundamental lack of respect.

However, when it came to saying bizarre and unpleasant things, Morty had previously matched Easton. Just as she considered slightly altering her view of Morty, she remembered all he had said and done before she divorced Easton, and she couldn’t change her feelings. People do change, but Morty had shifted too quickly for her to trust that he wouldn’t revert to his old ways. It was still better to keep him at arm’s length.

After the takeout arrived, Ellis ate and then went back to bed. She inadvertently spent the rest of her holiday lying in bed.

The day before she went back to work, Maya returned from her family home. Not finding Ellis in the living room or elsewhere, she went straight to her bedroom and indeed found her lounging lazily like a sloth.

“What are those big bags in the living room?”

Maya pulled back some of the blankets, signaling Ellis to get up, teasing her for being lazy all day. Ellis didn’t move but yawned slightly. “Those are New Year gifts from Morty.”

“Wait, you rejected Morty but still took his gifts?” Maya was puzzled.

“I didn’t say I’d take them; he left them at the door on his own.”

“This suitor of yours really is something.”

“People like that, when they face setbacks, tend to come back stronger.” Ellis glanced toward the living room. “Morty probably hasn’t given up yet.”

She understood Morty’s actions because she used to chase Easton in the same way. Despite being rejected by Easton over and over, she had persistently followed him, determinedly hanging on like a bull stubbornly stuck in a small corner. The difference was, she didn’t know what drew Morty to her, but she knew what had attracted her to Easton.

Why would Morty fixate on me, ignoring the millions of other girls out there, especially since he wasn’t born a bachelor? After all, she was a divorcee and his childhood friend’s ex-wife. From a conventional perspective, they were mismatched. Of course, if he just wanted a fling, he wouldn’t care about societal views.