Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 123

Chapter 123

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Lucas was right by her side, unable to take his eyes off Stella. His eyes sparkled like tiny stars, and his cheeks were rosy, making him look absolutely adorable.

Lucas thought, ‘So pretty. Stella is so pretty!’

Sebastian couldn’t take his eyes off Stella’s face, swallowing hard. He said, “That looks amazing on you.”

“It looks way too good,” Allan said. He was practically orbiting Stella, his eyes shining. “If you show up at school like this, you’ll get so many love letters your hands will be sore.”

Lucas and Sebastian were both speechless.

Their frosty faces turned to glare at Allan, but the culprit was still totally clueless.

Allan drawled, “Stella, come on, call me?”

Stella looked up, her delicate face deadpan. She said, “Get lost.”

Allan just replied, “You got it.”

Lucas was giggling nonstop, his laughter all babyish and sweet.

Stella slung her black backpack over one shoulder and nudged her shoe with a lazy kick.

She hadn’t even noticed her shoelace had come loose. She was hesitating, thinking she might just leave it like that, when Sebastian, sitting in his wheelchair, suddenly bent down, startling Allan.

Stella was stunned. She instinctively wanted to step back.

“Don’t move,” Sebastian said, his voice low and steady as he held her pale ankle.

Stella stood still.

With quick, practiced movements, Sebastian’s long fingers tied the loose white shoelace into a perfect bow.

Celia came downstairs and caught sight of the scene.

Her grip on her bag tightened.

“All done,” Sebastian said, looking up at Stella, his gaze intense and his voice low.

“Oh,” Stella replied, a little awkwardly.

Her ankle still felt numb. Playing it cool, she looked away but ended up meeting Celia’s eyes. Now in a sharp suit, Celia smiled and said, “Ms. Carter, still a student? Students should focus on their studies. Wearing makeup isn’t ideal.”

Stella kept silent.

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Chapter 123

The air was thick with tension.

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Sebastian shot Celia a frosty glare, making her smile falter. Just as she was about to speak, Stella, her face cold and expressionless, casually tossed her backpack to Allan and walked over to Celia.

Celia fell silent.

Stella gave off a cold vibe, and Celia could feel it even from across the room.

Stone-faced, Stella casually grabbed-a tissue from the table, wiped her face right in front of Celia, then raised it for her to see.

Celia instinctively took a step back.

“Seriously, which eye of yours thinks I’m wearing makeup?” Stella said, turning the tissue around to show it was perfectly clean.

Celia fell silent.

Celia awkwardly bit her lip, looking at Stella’s ridiculously smooth skin and rosy lips. She was totally at a loss

for words.

She turned to Sebastian and said, “Mr. Gray, I’m about to be late.”

Stella, totally unfazed, tossed the tissue into the trash. She said, “Why don’t you head out first, Ms. York?”

Celia fell completely silent.

A few minutes later, two cars stood at the villa entrance, their sleek black bodies gleaming coldly in the sun. Still silent, Celia watched Sebastian enter the Maybach and, without thinking, began to follow.

But before she could even touch the door, Jake stepped in front of her.

“Ms. York, Mr. Gray is a bit of a clean freak. Please take the car behind,” Jake said.

Celia watched as Stella slipped into the car right after Sebastian, then shot Jake a look, her eyes clearly asking him about the clean stuff.

Jake was speechless.

‘Sure, I saw it, too,’ Jake thought, ‘but come on, Ms. Carter is on a whole other level.’

Obviously, he couldn’t just blurt that out in front of Celia, so he kept his eyes glued to the sky, the ground, anywhere but her.

“Ms. York, this way, please,” Jake said, gesturing toward the car,

As the black Maybach with Sebastian inside pulled away, Celia stomped her foot and climbed into the car

behind.

On the road, without Lucas, the car felt strangely empty. Stella propped her chin on one hand, gazing out the

16:35 Sat, Jan 24 …

Chapter 123

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window. Her hair was loosely tied with a white ribbon, looking a little messy; she was effortlessly gorgeous in that laid-back way.

The air conditioning was blasting inside the car.

Sebastian was sharply dressed today in a tailored black suit, flawless and crisp. Itis shirt was buttoned all the way up, his Adam’s apple just visible. With cool eyes and controlled coldness, he seemed untouchable yet undeniably magnetic.

“Are you planning to live on campus?” Sebastian suddenly asked.

Edenbury Academy had dorms.

Stella was lost in thought and didn’t answer. Sebastian turned to look at her, his gaze lingering on her profile, intense and unreadable. His fingers unconsciously started to fiddle with his prayer beads.

The sound of prayer beads echoed clearly in the quiet car.

The clacking snapped Stella out of her thoughts. Without thinking, she slapped her hand over Sebastian’s and said, “Too loud.”

She kept thinking about how Allan had mysteriously pulled her aside before they left, promising there’d be a surprise waiting for her today.

The sound of the prayer beads cut off instantly.

Sebastian’s eyes darkened. He lowered his head as if nonchalant, yet his gaze lingered on her pale hand against the black prayer beads. That touch seemed to stir something deep within him.

Up front, John, the driver, fell silent.

He raised his hand, and the privacy partition slid up automatically.

Almost as soon as the partition went up, Sebastian snatched his hand free, grabbed Stella’s wrist, and pulled her right up to him, still careful not to use too much force.

He moved so fast that Stella’s loose hair whipped through the air in a messy arc.

“Don’t accept any love letters,” Sebastian said, his voice deep and husky. His gaze was heavy and shadowed, pressing down on Stella until the air felt thick and the space seemed to close in around her.

Stella met his eyes with a blank look. She asked, “Love letters? What are you talking about?” She had already forgotten Allan’s teasing earlier.

Sebastian fell silent.

He released her wrist with deliberate care, then let his hand drift to her hair, brushing it softly. He replied, “It’s nothing.”

His cologne, with that mature note, invaded Stella’s senses. “What did you ask me earlier?” she said, reaching up to push his hand away from her hair, only to bump into his black prayer beads. “Not the love letter thing.”

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Chapter 123

Sebastian sounded a bit helpless. He said, “I asked if you were planning to live on campus.”

Stella asked, “Live on campus?”

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Maybe it was the distant, unreadable tone in her voice, but after Sebastian gave a quiet mm, his fingers in her hair grew a bit restless, even though his face didn’t show a thing.

“Do you want me to live on campus?” Stella replied, her gaze relaxed and casual.

Sebastian’s voice suddenly went deep and husky. “No.”

Stella just made a non-committal sound, not committing either way. She replied, “Look, you messed up my hair.”

Sebastian fell silent.

He looked at Stella’s hair, now a mess thanks to him, and gave a muffled sound. But Stella just turned back to the window and said, “Fix it for me.”

She told him what to do, like it was the most normal thing ever, not even pausing to think if it was weird.

Sebastian fell silent.

Staring at Stella’s silky hair, Sebastian was, for the first time in his life, completely stumped.

‘Seriously, how was I supposed to brush a girl’s hair?’ he thought, feeling totally out of depth.

*****

At Edenbury Academy, when Celia stepped out of the car, the principal, Zack Wilde, the board, and all the big shots were lined up at the entrance. She thought that they must be waiting for Conrad, but then someone suddenly called out, “Mr. Gray.”

‘Wait, they’re here for Sebastian?’ Celia thought.

Celia was stunned.

Up front, the Maybach had already stopped, but the doors stayed shut; no one got out.

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