Chapter 102



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As they played cards, the girl who was Hayden’s comrade and was sitting across from her, quickly understood what he meant. ‘One two’. Hayden’s eyes sparkled and he prepared to use the only card left in his hand.

Suddenly a deep voice was heard. “Big joker.” With a serene look, Joseph looked her way, “It’s your turn.”

Hayden pouted and forced herself to contain her sense of discomfort. She replied in an unnatural tone, “No, thank you.”

He used his big joker to suppress them both, It was obvious he knew which card she wanted to play and he did it on purpose! The situation remained the same several rounds later. Hayden couldn’t use any of the good cards she had as she was banned by Joseph’s cards.

“Yes! We won again! You’re awesome, sir!” The girl who partnered with Joseph appeared to be only about eighteen years old and looked like a college student. She was excited to call him ‘sir’, while, although the other girl partnered with Hayden, her eyes seemed to almost stick to Joseph.

Except for the first round, where they were still playing seriously, the two girls had been taking turns asking Joseph’s age and job in the following rounds, euphemistically acting funny to check his identity.

Hayden was speechless as the game progressed and pushing the cards away, said, “All right, I don’t want to play anymore.”

The girls couldn’t wait to quit the game and instantly approached Joseph to ask, “Sir, you’re already thirty-one, are you married?”

Hayden’s heart leapt at that, and dissatisfaction rose within him. She was sitting there like a real human being, didn’t the two girls think she could be his girlfriend or his wife? Were they purposely ignoring her? While she felt indignant, she couldn’t help but want to hear Joseph’s answer.

Joseph leaned back in his chair with a level look on his face and replied, “My son turned five this year.”

Hearing that, the two girls were startled.

Hayden thought at first that they wouldn’t harass him anymore when they found out he had children, but as if the girls didn’t have that kind of mentality at all, their eyes actually sparkled and they pulled their stools, sitting even closer to Joseph.

“I can’t believe I already have kids! Sir, do you have any pictures you can show me?”.

“Sir, you are very handsome, I guess your son must be very adorable too.”

Hayden clenched his fists, and pulled out his phone a few seconds later. “The picture is here, I’ll show them to you.”

The girls’ expressions changed slightly, and one of them asked, “Aren’t you his employee, how come you have his son’s picture?”

Hayden raised her eyebrow and said, “Who says that as an employee we can’t have our superior’s son’s picture? Not only do I have his son’s picture, but we even had our picture taken together.”

As she said that, she showed them a photo that the four of them had taken in the Maldives.

The two girls gasped. “Oh, so you’re a married couple.”

One girl let out a wry smile. “I thought you worked for him, since you kept calling him Mr. Beckham.”

Hayden caught a glimpse of Joseph’s satisfied look as he watched with amusement out of the corner of his eye. He looked away and rambled, “I guess they haven’t graduated from college yet.”

The girls nodded one after the other. “They’ll know after they graduate. The work environment is much more complex than on campus, and it’s not always as you think. Sometimes identity is different from what you see.”

“Huh?”

“We’re not a married couple.” Hayden said with a deliberate meaningful look. The two girls looked at each other and after a long moment, as if they understood something, they instantly turned away while carrying their stools.

Outside it was drizzling and the atmosphere was still noisy. Joseph was looking at her with a fake smile and his expression was hard to understand. Hayden took the bait and said, “I didn’t mean to make you miss your chance at romance, it’s just that I think both girls are still underage and it’s inappropriate for either to become Noah’s stepmother.”

With a deep look, Joseph scoffed, “So that’s why you made up the unspoken office rule, then?”

Even a moron could understand where he was trying to steer the topic of conversation by the subtle words he had just spoken.

“I didn’t say anything, I was just telling them that vicious things can happen in society. I didn’t say it was me.” He replied with a serene look, “Besides, you are a decent and virtuous man, you don’t have to worry about being misunderstood.”

Joseph did not utter a word for a long while.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Hayden felt uncomfortable at his stare and regretted a little that she had spoken nonsense a moment ago.

“Hayden Downey.” Joseph suddenly sat up straight. He clasped his hands together and placed them on the table. Then he leaned forward slightly and his chiseled face came toward her.

Hayden startled and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Have we met somewhere before, before you joined the company?”. Hearing that, Hayden felt his blood slowly curdle and the vagaries of his mind fade away completely.

There was only Joseph’s question lingering in his mind, hitting his every nerve.

“Why do you ask?” She tried to look surprised and replied, “Have you seen me before?”.

Surprised by her answer, Joseph leaned back in his chair. “I’m not sure, I don’t remember anymore.”

Perhaps he had thought too much. Even if they had seen each other in the past, he shouldn’t have that sense of familiarity, after all, he didn’t have many acquaintances.

“The dumplings are here.” The employee’s loud, enthusiastic voice stood out among the surrounding noises.

She served the hot, juicy dumplings one table at a time in the break area.

“They’re all made by our boss. Forgive us for the power outage just now.” The girl working there was sympathetic and joking, though no customer had expressed displeasure, still, she apologized along the way and served them the dumplings nicely.

Hayden took a bite of the dumplings and looked at Joseph. “With this plate of dumplings, this place should be considered number one on the list of inns in this city.”

“Is it that delicious?” With hesitation, Joseph picked up and took a bite, his brows slowly furrowed.

“How is it?” Hayden asked, not noticing his unusual expression, “She’s the boss who makes all the furniture here. She even asked about you when we talked last time, she said she’s heard a lot of news and even though she doesn’t know you, she worries about you.”

Hearing that, Joseph immediately held back the worker who was about to leave after serving all the bowls of dumplings with a slightly somber look. “What’s your boss’s name?”.

The worker was startled and asked, “What’s wrong?”.

At the same time, a clanking sound was heard coming from the kitchen. The sound produced as the ceramic bowl fell to the floor was exceptionally clear and had stopped the noise in the break area.

Hayden turned around and only saw the boss turn around hurriedly, heading back to the kitchen. A bowl of dumplings was dropped in front of the kitchen entrance. The ceramic bowl was in pieces, while soup and dumplings were scattered on the floor. However, the boss had left without a word, leaving the mess on the floor.

As Hayden felt bewildered, there was a squeak from the chair legs rubbing rapidly against the floor. He watched in stupefaction as Joseph abruptly left and went straight upstairs with an icy stare.

What was going on? They only had a bowl of dumplings, had he said something wrong? Remembering what he had just said and the boss’s panicked behavior, he seemed to realize something.

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