Once the Gardners were gone, Laurel glanced at the couple's intertwined hands. "If there's nothing else, I'll be heading out too."
"Thank you for the trouble today," Joshua said.
"It was nothing. I did what I had to do," Laurel replied. Her gaze shifted to Stella's face. "You two should go rest. Stella looks exhausted."
Stella also thanked Laurel.
It had been a chaotic, grueling day, and Stella was thoroughly drained.
If she closed her eyes right now, she felt like she would pass out instantly.
As for Leonard, Juniper, and the mess with the Gardners, she simply didn't have the mental bandwidth to care anymore.
She just wanted to go home and sleep.
"Let's head back," Joshua suggested softly.
"Alright."
...
Joshua pulled the car to a stop outside Stella's apartment building.
She murmured a quick thanks, opened the door, and stepped out.
As soon as her feet hit the pavement, she realized Joshua was getting out too.
Stella blinked in confusion. "I can go up by myself. You don't need to walk me."
"I'm not just walking you to the door," Joshua corrected.
Stella was baffled. "Do we have more to discuss?"
His dark eyes locked onto hers, deep and unreadable.
"Star, we got married today."
She still didn't get it. "And?"
"Those elders are still suspicious that this is a fake marriage," Joshua explained patiently. "They're staying in Solmaris for a month just to watch us. If we live apart on our very first night, aren't we basically handing them proof that our marriage is a sham and won't last?"
That... actually made perfect sense.

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The readers' comments on the novel: The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance
Really 🥺 is this the end...
2043 has no wording...
The author needs to bring Joshua and Star back together! And the same people always trying to take her down is getting old...
Oh come on! This is ridiculous, why can’t you let Stella finally be happy with Joshua. I’m done with this story....
anxiously waiting for updates...
Hello! This series has been requested a lot on Reddit, but we’re unable to post the link there ourselves. If you have a Reddit account, we would truly appreciate it if you could help us share the link to this novel to increase its readership. As a thank-you, we will increase the number of free chapters available each day. Thank you so much for your support!...
The same rotation blaming Stella trying to get her destroyed. Isn't the writer tired of writing the same foolishness overand over again? This is exhausting....
Can’t wait to see what joshua will do...
Why would the author of this book do that to Stella? Such cruelty!...
So many chapters are incomplete. Missing pages. Hard to get continuity...