Chapter Eighteen

Where there are women, there are gossips. It's like smoke and fire. They go well together. Leah believed in this truism as well, so she bonded with her co-workers quickly. All women. All willing to whisper the juiciest tidbit of gossip into the ears of their friends.

The moment Ariel and Fan came in, they saw Leah talking and laughing happily with the other women. 'Stephen, why the other woman working here?' Ariel was very angry and burst into the CEO's office, taking Stephen aback. Other secretaries flooded out of their offices to see what the ruckus was.

"Ariel, why are you here?" Stephen was more curious about why he had come, rather than his intrusion. "Stephen, why is that gossipy woman working here?" Ariel said. 'Darn it! I thought that he'd changed the way he changed on the surface to fool everyone, and then took beautiful women to his company on the sly.'

"Who?" Stephen looked at his angry son with confusion. Oh! Stephen had forgotten about Leah, who was an incredible beauty.

"Don't play dumb. That woman out there. The exotic one that looks like a Persian with curly hair!" Ariel said angrily with hands on his hips.

"Oh! You're talking about Leah!" Stephen finally understood who Ariel was referring to. "You don't know her?"Stephen asked. He was confused that Jack didn't know Ariel, and now he was even more confused to find Ariel didn't know about Leah.

"Why should I know such a kittenish woman?" Ariel rolled his eyes. 'Unlike you, I don't know every woman."

"Are you sure that you don't know who she is?" Stephen was unsure about that. 'Since he knew about me, then he should know Jack and Leah.'

"Og course. I'm positive." 'What's wrong with Stephen today?' Ariel thought. How could I know that woman?'

"Since you don't know her, she's not important. So...why are you here?" Stephen smiled at him. This little guy was really the invincible opponent he lived like a monk these days. Ariel prevented any woman from getting close to him!

"Daddy, didn't mommy say that she was coming back today? I came here to wait for her." Because of Leah, Ariel almost forgot why he was there. Stephen paused for a few seconds. 'Is she coming back so soon? Why didn't she mention this when they talked on the phone last night?' Stephen thought to himself.

"Did she say that she would come back today?" Stephen asked. He was tense, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. "Of course! Didn't I tell you?"Ariel raised his handsome face, looking at Stephen inquisitive.

'Did she say she was coming here?" Stephen asked, confused. "I don't know. But since she doesn't know where we live now, she'd probably come here to see ecstatic he could see him, mom, again.

'Are you going back with her?" Stephen asked. Brielle only let him take care of Ariel for three months rather than entrusting their son to him forever. It stung a little. "Of course! I will stay with mom wherever she goes." Ariel would never leave his mom.

"And what about Daddy? Will you leave me?" Stephen asked. He looked at his son nervously. "Well, you're got a lot of friends, but mommy only has me. So I must stay with mommy. You can always visit us if you want!" Ariel had a good relationship that could not compare with his love for his mom. because could rely on, he would never leave her alone.

Brielle Yang leaned against the back seat of a dark green Humvee on the expressway between cities, looking at the scenery. "Oliver, what's our ETA?" she asked while still looking at the scenery outside.

"Around 3 p.m., Colonel, since we set off late," Oliver replied, looking at his watch. "It doesn't matter, we are supposed to arrive on time." Brielle. said she turned her head and stopped looking outside.

"Colonel, are you in a hurry? We could go faster." Oliver looked at her for permission. "No, safety first. We're going fast enough." 'It doesn't matter if we're late. I won't play around without lives.'

"Yes ma'am," Oliver said. Oliver drove the ar silently and glanced at her through the rearview mirror in the car occasionally. He had got used to her silence, a silence which often made people ignore her.

despite her silence, Brielle was snot calm at all. She was thinking about how to explain the situation with Ariel to Stephen since she had promised that she would when she came back.

She touched her face nervously, pouting her plus, looking at the phone, and planning to call Ariel and take him away secretly. But she glanced at her military uniform. That uniform meant duty. She had a duty to meet her commitment.

Oliver looked at her, surprised at his own feelings. She could be shy like any woman, which belied her cold demeanor while on duty. But he had to say she was much lovelier than before. 'These feelings are going to get me into trouble.' he thought to himself.

Leah stared at the little guy who suddenly appeared in front of her. She pointed at him with a frightened look. This little guy resembled Stephen so much. She was too shocked to say a thing. Since Leah had only recently returned from abroad, she had no clue Stephen had a son.

"Auntie, you must be poor!" Ariel said to her with a sly smile on his face. He ignored her shocked expression.

"Listen! Just who the hell are you to say a thing like that, brat?" How could Leah know that the little guy in front of him had been the lead story in newspapers and magazines for almost two months?

They couldn't figure out who Ariel's mother was. The mystery became the exclusive scoop that all newspapers and magazines wanted to get. They couldn't even track anyone down who had been involved with Stephen. it seemed that Stephen had changed from a playboy to a family man all in one night. They all believed that the woman who changed Stephen was out there somewhere, but they had zero leads on how to find her.

"You must be poor, though! The temperature is so low here, but your skirt is so short. Don't you feel cold? Auntie, don't you have any money to buy clothes? Do you want me to lend you some money? I don't have much, but I think it's enough for you to buy a decent dress. And I'm not called a brat. I remember that. I'm Ariel Chu." Of course, it was cold now. He specifically asked the man in the temperature-control room to turn the dial down to around then degrees. he even put an extra coat on so he wouldn't be cold.

Ava smiled slightly. Ariel was such an evil little boy. How could he make fun of others and look so innocent? Ava shivered suddenly. No wonder she felt cold. Looking at the little guy's coal, she finally knew the answer.

Leah's face became darker and darker. Angry viciousness flashed in her eyes. She swore that no matter who the little guy was, he would pay for today's humiliation. She was not a kind angel. She was really good at bullying others. Brielle was a good example. She had been treated like a princess at first, but when she met Leah, her life became so miserable that she lived no better than a servant.

"Little guy, the dress I wear is well designed. It is fashionable. Clear?" Leah said with a humorless smile on her face. In her mind, she had cursed the little guy thousands of times. Leah stuck her nose in the air, defiant to the end.

'Oh! Auntie, I'm sorry. It's not that your poor, it's just that you have bad taste." 'Oh my God! This little guy is so evil.' Ava thought. She was caught between a rock and a hard place. One is the daughter of the CEO of Yang Foreign Trade, the other one is the son of their own CEO. She could help neither of them. However, she couldn't just let it go.

Leah was completely enraged. She bit her lip tightly. Her clenching hands trembled. Her voice trembled too. Was it due to the low temperature or Ariel's words?

"Didn't your parents teach you any manners? How could you talk to your leaders this way?" Leah was so angry. She wanted to kill the little guy so he wouldn't challenge her anymore. "Are you questioning my son's manner, Miss Yang?" Stephen leaned lazily against the door to his office. His expression is casual, but the way he looked at Leah made her shiver more.

"What? Stephen, is he really your son?" Although Leah saw the unmistakable resemblance, she was so shocked to hear Stephen confirm it in person. Now she had to evaluate the chances that she could win Stephen back. At first, she thought that the only thing she needed to do was to defeat Brielle, but now she knew that he had a son, she needed to take the little guy into consideration too. 'The little brat's mother must be someone hard to defeat since Stephen allowed her to give birth to his baby.' Leah thought. Of course, she would not think that Brielle was his mother. 'Stephen hasn't gone back to the Maple Night villa since their wedding night and Brielle left too. It seems that they haven't seen each other since then. There's no way Brielle is the little guy's mother. Who was his mother then? It doesn't matter who she is. Stephen can only be mine. And only an excellent woman like me can match him.'

Humph! It was good for Leah to be confident, but being smug was no virtue. " If he's not my son, then whose son is he?"Stephen asked. It was late and it was time for Ariel to have lunch. But when he left his office, he heard Leah's words which made him very unhappy. Brielle taught him well. That was why sometimes he just let him play pranks. He knew that Ariel just wanted to revenge on him for being absent for so many years.

"I didn't mean that, Stephen. I was just surprised." Leah wore a forced smile in embarrassment. "I think Miss Yang just surprised me instead." What did Stephen mean? Her own nephew was standing in front of her, but she did not know him. 'I'm guessing that would be surprising to Stephen.' she thought.

"What, Stephen? I don't know what you mean." Leah would not meet Stephen's gaze. She thought Stephen was surprised because she scolded the little guy. Instead, she was upset that she hadn't stayed calm just now. She would have a lot of chances to bully the little guy in the future, she thought.

"You don't need to know, Miss Yang." Stephen was immediately dismissive. Besides, he was more concerned by the fact that Brielle was coming for a visit. "Ariel, let's go. Daddy's taking you to lunch." He took his son's little hand and walked away without looking at Leah at all.