When Noah heard Stella calling for him, his eyes immediately lit up. He left Joseph all by himself and
darted in her directions while smiling fervently.
Stella was really talkative as she started to describe what had transpired in the past two days, including
what had happened on the plane, at the beach and the thunderstorm they encountered when they were
at the sea. It felt like there would be no end to her incessant blabbers.
Joseph pulled out the chair next to Hayden nonchalantly while asking purposely, “Do you mind me
sitting here?”
Hayden forced herself to curl up her lips and tell him that she didn’t mind, but deep down all she could
wish for was for him to disappear out of her sight.
Joseph didn’t read between the lines as he nodded in her direction to signify friendliness but his
demeanour only prompted Hayden to boil over deep in her heart.
As he watched the two of them giving off hints with their eyes as if showing their love, Freddie could
only feel his heart freeze.
He secretly thought about how Hayden had always seen him as her little brother during all those years
and despite him covering up his intentions to marry her by making a joke out of it, she really took it at
face value and just thought of this as their inside joke. Although he was always close to her, but an
outsider could defeat him that easily, such as Joseph who seemed to be harbouring all sorts of
intentions. His appearance worsened Freddie’s chances even further.
The thought of this cunning fox enticing him into signing a contract with an agency which Joseph had
his stakes made him grit his teeth with vehement hatred.
Freddie couldn’t help throwing a sarcastic remark, “You are the high and mighty president of the ST
Group, and I bet you are not here because you want to expand your business?”
Joseph swept his gaze over him, “Your suggestion is not half-bad. If I have the time, I would come here
for business reasons too, but actually I’m here this time to bring my son on a mini-vacation.”
“You could have brought your son to anywhere but why do you have to follow us all the way here? Isn’t
this too big of a coincidence?”
“It’s no coincidence.”
Joseph’s expression was very composed as he said without reservation, “Noah and I thought that this
would be a great place for our getaway.”
Freddie immediately clenched his fists and retaliated with another question, “What’s so great about this
place?”
“There are many people, and the whole place is bustling with activity.”
“You…”
“Let’s eat.” Hayden suddenly interjected with an unnatural expression, “The dishes are getting cold.”
Joseph’s brows slightly raised as he took a sip from his tea.
Only Freddie had a hideous expression on his face as he persisted with his argument, “Aren’t you
going to get married soon? Why are you not here with your fiancée?”
His attack this time successfully captured Hayden’s attention, and with the muscles on her face tensing
up, she focused her hearing on what he was about to say.
Joseph put down his cup and with a casual look, he began, “I don’t recall ever announcing my marriage
to the outside word. Where did you hear that rumour about my fiancée?”
Upon hearing that, Hayden’s expression froze. She subconsciously looked upwards in Joseph’s
direction and verified that he was being serious without any hint of him joking. This fact caused her
heart to race.
Did he just say that he didn’t have any intention to marry Viola?
“It is apparent that everyone in the industry has believed in this fact. Are you going to deny it now?”
Freddie pursued with another question, which was what Hayden wanted to know too.
“Then, are you saying that you are going to admit the rumour between you and that little-known star?”
Joseph replied slowly while cutting his steak, “You don’t need the agency to clear up your name for you
anymore, do you?”
“You…”
Freddie was rendered speechless by Joseph’s retort, and his face was flushed while he was fuming,
“Stop using the agency to pressure me. If it were not for you employing some dirty tricks to lure me into
signing that contract, I won’t engage your agency on my own.
At this point, Hayden felt like she could no longer remain silent.
“Freddie, Ray-Trace Media is a huge company, and I have gone through your contract. As long as you
don’t go against the terms, there won’t be any problem for you. Mr. Beckham is doing that for your own
good, so why do you have to say that?”
“Hayden, it is obvious he wants to threaten and control me! And yet, you are standing on his side.”
“Threaten you?” Hayden was confused by this, “What is he going to threaten you for?”
“Of course he’s going to threaten me for…” Freddie suddenly stopped his sentence half-way, but he
gnashed his teeth and continued without actually answering her, “Anyway, it’s not something decent.
When I earn enough money to break my contract, I will let you know nobody is going to just work
quietly for your stupid company.”
As he said that, he shot Joseph a glare. He was showing no signs of respect to his employer at all.
Joseph wasn’t the least bit disturbed by Freddie’s unreasonable opinion at all. He maintained his cool
demeanour as he placed a set of finely-sliced steak onto Noah’s plate while pouring some water for
Hayden.
Due to the weather forecast foretelling a huge downpour in the afternoon in Maldives, although the sky
was clear without a speck at the moment, the programme department didn’t dare to venture too far
away from the hotel. They rescheduled their original plan onto a beach near the hotel and they gave
out missions for Noah and Stella to overcome. They let Freddie to dive into the sea to find some
starfish.
After lunch, Stella and Noah had changed into their swimwear, and they were dangling spades and
pails as they flew towards the beach. Stella was radiating confidence as she scribbled on the sand with
a stick with her another hand on her waist. She was giving out instructions to build a sand castle fit for
a princess on the beach.
Noah nodded seriously and they both got into work very soon.
Behind them, Hayden was lying down on a long chair while wearing a yellow casual long dress. Joseph
was lying down on next to her, with a table supporting some fruit juices separating them. A huge
canopy was blocking out the sizzling sun from scorching them.
“So, the rumours going around in the company about your marriage with Viola is just a rumour?”
Hayden finally put her doubts into words after restraining herself for some time.
“It’s not just a rumour.”
Joseph’s hoarse voice sounded from next to her, “However, I regretted my decision.”
Hayden was startled to obtain this answer. Her mood was in tatters as she asked, “Why did you
regret?”
“I wanted to marry for Noah’s sake, but it seems that Noah is not fond of her.”
Joseph’s answer was straight to the point without any unnecessary excuses.
Hayden suddenly felt like she had fallen from the clouds as a sense of disappointment enveloped her.
For someone like Joseph, marriage was nothing important. He only treasured his son, therefore he
could marry someone just for Noah’s sake, and he could go back on the marriage for the same reason.
Did this mean that what he had done for her, how he had treated her previously was just for Noah’s
sake?
Not far away, it seemed that Stella and Noah was involved in a minor scuffle because of their
sandcastle building. Stella was blabbering about her own ideas while Noah was just remaining silent
while making gestures that even adults would have a difficult time to understand.
Hayden furrowed her brows to shun all of her messy thoughts away. She was trying to bring her train of
thought back on normal track.
A ringing tone from a phone broke her concentration.
“Hello, is this Ms. Downey? I am the shop owner of Jewellery Inheritance Inc., Nanking East Road
Store, do you still remember me?”
From the other end of the phone, a sweet and sultry voice came through. After getting her introduction,
Hayden felt herself brighten up as she moved away with the phone glued to her ears, “I remember you.
Do you have any clues to my inquiry last time?”
“That’s right, I have something for you.” The female shop owner sounded very confident about
something.
All of a sudden, Hayden felt the blood in her body shoot to the top of her head. Her breathing became
irregular as she asked anxiously, “Have you found out who was the one who customized that
necklace? Who was it?”
“We have looked through all custom-made orders in the past ten years, and we could say with certainty
that this necklace was made in April eight years ago. Mr. Beckham was the one who had ordered for
this necklace to be made.”
“Mr. Beckham?” Hayden could feel every fibre of her muscle tense, “Which Beckham?”
“I’m talking about the president of the ST Group, Joseph Beckham.”
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