Not even a minute had passed.
Stella Sterling was mercilessly shooed away by her mother.
Butler Tate also tactfully turned and stepped away.
Stella looked at her sister, who was kneeling ramrod straight on the floor.
She kept looking back over her shoulder as she walked upstairs.
At the corner of the landing,
Stella and Mr. Sterling ran into each other unexpectedly.
The father and daughter stared at each other, the atmosphere thick with awkwardness.
"Dad, you..."
"Go back to your room."
"Oh."
Stella trudged back to her room without another word.
Before closing the door, she quickly peeked her head out.
Just as she expected, she saw Mr. Sterling standing at the corner, his hands clasped behind his back, eavesdropping on the commotion below.
Stella thought, 'If Mom and Dad are dead set on getting physical, I'll just... lie and say my sister's pregnant.'
'We just need to get through this first.'
However, what Stella had worried about didn't happen.
