After Jewel left the washroom, she didn’t return to the president’s office. Instead, she headed straight for Seven Degrees Cafe as Stefanie had instructed. When she arrived, a waiter led her to a private room. Initially, she was a little formal when she met Stefanie and greeted her politely, “Hello, Mrs. Road.”
Stefanie didn’t move an inch from where she was sitting and merely lifted her eyes at Jewel without a word to gesture for her to take a seat. Her unfriendly attitude struck Jewel by surprise as Jewel didn’t understand the reason behind it.
She reassured herself in the next second, though. She’s an elder, after all, and she’s Alex’s mother at that. So for his sake, I shouldn’t pick on her without reason.
It wasn’t easy for his mother to bring Alex up by herself, so Jewel wore a smile and took a seat with kind thoughts in her mind. “Why did you ask me out, Mrs. Road?”
Although she tried her best to sound normal, she still sounded unpleasant to the ears. At least, when Stefanie heard her, her dislike for Jewel’s voice was greater than others.
Stefanie regarded her coldly before she replied, “I don’t know why you ended up in this situation that you are in today and I don’t want to know either. Since this is the situation, you should have some self-awareness, though. Do you think that the Road Family will allow someone who can’t even speak like a normal person to be married into the family?
How many times do you want me to say the same things to you? Alex arranged a position for you in the company because he feels sorry for you, not because he’s interested in you. Don’t you feel that you can’t be of help in any way at all? So today, I’m here to tell you this-get away from my son, the further, the better!”
Her tone was aggressive and didn’t hide her apparent disdain for Jewel. In the meantime, Jewel’s brows furrowed tightly. Maybe it was because she had felt the warmth from Ellen before that she reflexively carried the same hopes for Stefanie as well. This was especially so after she learned that Stefanie had raised Alex alone and admired the older woman even more.
However, this was where all the good impressions stopped. She wondered how much disgust Stefanie had for her to say such terrible things to her as an elder who had been through so many challenges herself. Also, she had no idea what made Stefanie have such resentment for her.
Whatever it was, the rose-tinted glasses she had for Stefanie were gone at this moment. She thinks that I want to rise to the top with this opportunity, doesn’t she? Jewel thought indignantly.
Anger shrouded her dark eyes as she responded, “I’ve never wanted anything from your son from the beginning until now!” Besides, your son is the one saying all those weird things! she thought angrily.
Stefanie waved her hand in frustration. “That’s enough. You can stop talking. It’s not like I understand what you’re saying, anyway. I don’t care what’s on your mind, but I just want you to get away from my son. You’ll never have my blessing to date him.” Jewel pursed her lips stubbornly as she fumed, She’s looking down on me because I can’t speak, isn’t she?
Meanwhile, Stefanie glared at her with hateful eyes. “What are you looking at? Resign after you get back. If you sincerely care about Alex and don’t want to sow discord between a mother and her son, you should devise an excuse and leave. This has been my attitude all along. Whether it was the past or now, whether you’re Alex’s bodyguard or secretary, I don’t want you to be by his side. Do you understand me?”
Jewel met her gaze head-on and the look in her eyes turned from surprise to ice-cold. “I’ll leave, but there’s something I want to say. Alex said you brought him up by yourself, and I only have the utmost respect for you. Today, you really changed my opinion about you, though. It’s unfortunate that he has a mother like you!”
After she spoke, she started to cough like her throat had caught fire all of a sudden. This was the first time that she had said so much.
Despite that, Stefanie took no notice of her discomfort or perhaps didn’t care the slightest bit about others as she practically squawked in offense, ‘What did you say?”
