Chapter 17

Isabella listened to those words, thinking about Vanessa and Sebastian's wedding and feeling upset. She planned to go out after they left, but at that moment, her phone suddenly rang...

The sudden ringing of her phone startled Isabella, as well as Laura and Vanessa outside. They had purposely gone to the restroom to have a private conversation and hadn't expected someone else to be inside.

Her temper flaring, Laura immediately pounded on the door and asked, "Who's in there?"

Isabella walked out of the small cubicle.

"Isabella?" Laura exclaimed excitedly when she saw her. "Why were you hiding in the restroom eavesdropping on our conversation?"

"You misunderstood, I just happened to be here using the toilet," Isabella replied as she walked toward the sink.

Laura reached out and grabbed her. "Isabella, I don't care about your relationship with Mr. Landon, but I'd advise you to be honest with me. I have plenty of ways to deal with you and kick you out of the Landon Group!"

"Laura." Vanessa held onto Laura. "Let it go. I believe Isabella didn't eavesdrop on us intentionally."

With Vanessa's help, Isabella managed to get away.

As Isabella left, Laura stomped her foot in anger. "Why do you always take Isabella's side, Vanessa?"

"I just don't want you to offend anyone." Vanessa smiled faintly and glanced at Isabella's back. In her heart, she thought, "After all, Isabella has helped me a lot. Shouldn't I help her instead of helping you?"

After work, Isabella planned to go back, but when she arrived at the company's entrance, Sebastian's car pulled up.

The car window rolled down. Both Sebastian and Vanessa were inside.

"Get in the car and come with us, Isabella." Vanessa invited her to join them.

However, Isabella shook her head. "No, thank you."

"Oh. Are you going to take a taxi by yourself?" Vanessa asked. "The restaurant is far away from here. It would cost more than twenty dollars to take a taxi."

Isabella was usually frugal, and she hesitated to spend more than twenty dollars on a meal, let alone a taxi.

In fact, she hadn't planned on attending this farewell party. After all, she was always overlooked at the company, so even if she didn't go, nobody would notice. That was why she had purposely waited until everyone had left before slowly going downstairs, but she hadn't expected to run into Sebastian and Vanessa as soon as she came down.

She glanced at her phone and said, "I've called a cab already, you guys go ahead."

"Alright," Vanessa nodded. "We'll go first, see you later."

"Alright, see you later."

As Isabella watched Sebastian's car drive away, she knew that she really had to go, so she picked up her phone and called a cab.

This was the peak travel period, and if she took a cab by herself, it would cost her twenty dollars, but if she shared a ride with someone else, she would only have to pay half the cost. Isabella thought for a moment and decided to share a ride.

She waited for about ten minutes before the taxi arrived.

Isabella opened the back seat door but was startled.

There were already two people sitting in the back seat, a man and a woman. They were passionately embracing each other, their mouths almost sticking together. Isabella could even hear the sound of saliva.

The man's hand was inside the woman's clothes, moving provocatively in front of her chest.

This scene was too much for Isabella. She had never seen anything like it before, and she froze on the spot.

The man turned his head to look at her, his dissatisfied eyes scanning Isabella's face. "Have you seen enough?"

Isabella snapped back to reality, apologizing repeatedly and hastily closing the car door.

The driver stuck his head out from the front. "Hey, are you getting in?"

Isabella thought about what she had just seen, trying to decide whether to call another cab, when Vanessa called her.

Vanessa asked when she would arrive and said she was waiting for her to come and cut the cake.

Isabella had no choice but to get in the cab and sit in the passenger seat.

The noises from the back continued, but the driver seemed oblivious and was focused on driving. Isabella really wanted to give him a thumbs up. She unintentionally glanced up and met the deep gaze of the man in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Isabella awkwardly looked away quickly and stared out the window.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at their destination.

Isabella paid the fare and quickly got out of the car, running into the restaurant without looking back.

She didn't notice that a man's gaze was following her from behind...

When Isabella arrived, Vanessa was surrounded by a group of people in the middle, cutting the cake.

The cake was quickly distributed. When Vanessa finally saw Isabella, she handed her own portion to her. "Isabella, you can have mine."

Vanessa's words drew all the attention in the private room toward Isabella.

Isabella shook her head and took an orange from the table. "I'll just have some fruit."

However, Vanessa insisted on giving her the cake and then went to sing with Laura.

Isabella held the cake in her hands, looked around, and found a corner to sit down.

As soon as she sat down, the door to the private room opened and a man walked in.

Isabella glanced at the man and almost choked on her cake. It was the man she had been in the car with earlier! Why was he here? Had he mistakenly come to the wrong room?

"Darling, you're here." Laura, who was wearing a red dress, walked past everyone and went straight to the man, stopping next to him and reaching out to hold his arm.

The man looked at her with a teasing smile. "You called me, so of course I had to come."

Laura's colleagues saw how close they were and started asking questions.

With him by her side, Laura proudly said, "Let me introduce you all. This is my boyfriend, Leo Anderson."

As soon as she finished introducing him, the room erupted in excitement.

"Oh my god! Laura, your boyfriend is so handsome!"

"What's going on with you and Vanessa? She suddenly quit to get married, and now you've suddenly brought your boyfriend here. Are you trying to tease us?"

"Congratulations!"

"It looks like we'll be attending another wedding this year."

Laura listened to their congratulations with satisfaction, feeling very happy.

But Isabella, sitting in the corner, was still in shock. She remembered everything she had seen in the car, and she couldn't find anything funny about it. Did Laura know that her boyfriend had been kissing another woman just a second ago?

Isabella had a strong aversion to infidelity in relationships, which was why she had completely cut off all ties with Samantha and Matthew after finding out they betrayed her. She couldn't accept a betrayal like that, let alone tolerate a relationship that had started with cheating.

She didn't want to meddle in someone else's affairs, but seeing Laura holding Leo's arm made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

As Isabella was about to shift her gaze away, Leo looked at her.

Their eyes met in the air, and Leo actually smiled at her.

Following that, Laura gave her a sharp look.

Isabella felt very embarrassed.

Right then, Sebastian and Jack came in from outside.

The people in the room stood up one after another, "Mr. Landon."

Maybe to avoid suspicion, Vanessa came up first, and Sebastian deliberately appeared last.