As they were playing the cards, the girl who was Hayden’s comrade and was sitting opposite her
quickly got what she meant. “One two.” Hayden’s eyes gleamed and she was ready to use the only
card left in her hand. A deep voice was suddenly heard. “Big joker.” With a composed look, Joseph
looked towards her. “It’s your turn.”
Hayden pouted and forced back her uncomfortable feeling. She replied with an unnatural tone, “No,
thanks.” He used his big joker to suppress the two, it was obvious he knew what card she wanted to
play and did that on purpose! The situation remained the same several rounds later. Hayden could not
use any of the good cards she had as she was forbidden by Joseph’s cards.
“Yay! We win again! You’re awesome, mister.” The girl who partnered with Joseph seemed to only age
around eighteen years old and she looked like a college student. She was excited in calling him
‘mister’, whereas although the other girl was partnering with Hayden, her eyes seemed to almost stick
on Joseph. Except the first round which they were still serious in the game, the two girls had been
taking turns inquiring about Joseph’s age and job for the next few rounds, acting cute in a euphemistic
way to check his identity.
Hayden was speechless as the game proceeded and pushing the cards away, she said, “Alright, I don’t
want to play anymore.” The girls could not wait to quit the game and they instantly approached Joseph
even closer to inquire. “Mister, you’re already thirty one, have you gotten married?”
Hayden’s heart leapt when she heard that, and dissatisfaction rose inside her. She was sitting there as
a real human being, didn’t the two girls ever think that she could be his girlfriend or wife? Did they
ignore her on purpose? As she was feeling indignant, she could not help but want to hear Joseph’s
answer on the other hand.
Joseph leaned back against the chair with a level look and replied, “My son has turned five this year.”
Having heard that, the two girls were startled. Hayden initially thought they would not badger him any
longer when they knew he had kids, yet as if the girls did not have that kind of mindset at all, their eyes
actually gleamed and they pulled their stools, sitting even closer to Joseph.
“I can’t believe you already have kids! Mister, do you have any photo that you can show me?”
“Mister, you look so handsome, and I guess your son must be very adorable too.”
Hayden clenched her fists, and she took out her phone a few seconds later. “The photo is here, I’ll
show you.” The girls’ expression slightly changed and one of them asked, “Aren’t you his employee?
How come you have his son’s photo?” Hayden raised her eyebrow and said, “Who says as an
employee we can’t have our superior’s son’s photo? Not only do I have his son’s photo, we’ve even
taken a photo together.” As she said that, she showed them a photo of four of them that was shot back
in Maldives.
Both girls were dumbfounded. “Oh so you’re a married couple.” A girl let out a wry smile. “I thought you
work for him as you were calling him Mr. Beckham just now all the time.” Hayden caught a glimpse of
Joseph’s content look as he watched the fun from the corner of her eyes. She looked away and
digressed, “I suppose you’ve still not graduated from college?”
The girls nodded one after another. “You’ll know after you graduate. The working environment is way
more complex than in campus, and it’s not always how you think it is. Sometimes the identity is
different from what you see.”
“Huh?”
“We’re not married couple,” Hayden said with a deliberate meaningful look. The two girls looked at
each other and after a long while, as if they had understood something, they instantly moved away
while carrying their stools.
It was drizzling outside and the surrounding was still noisy. Joseph stared at her with a false smile and
his expression was difficult to comprehend. Hayden bit the bullet and said, “I didn’t mean to make you
lose your chance for romance, it’s just that I think the two girls are still underage and it’s inappropriate
for them to become Noah’s stepmom.” With a deep look, Joseph teased, “So that’s why you make up
the office’s unspoken rule then?”
Even a moron could understand where she was trying to direct the topic of conversation to from the
subtle words she said just now. “I didn’t say anything, I was only telling them vicious things could
happen in the society. I didn’t say it’s me,” she replied with a composed look. “Plus, you’re a decent
and virtuous man, you don’t have to worry getting misunderstood.” Joseph did not utter a word for a
long while.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Hayden felt uncomfortable from his gaze and she slightly
regretted talking nonsense just now. “Hayden Downey.” Joseph suddenly sat straight. He clasped his
hands and put them on the table. He then slightly leaned forward and his chiseled face came close to
her. Hayden was startled and she asked, “What are you doing?”
“Have we met somewhere before, before you join the company?” Having heard that, Hayden felt her
blood gradually curdled and the whims in her mind completely vanished. There was only Joseph’s
question left lingering in her mind, hitting her every nerve. “Why do you ask?” She tried to look
surprised and retorted, “You’ve seen me before?”
Taken aback by her reply, Joseph leaned back against the chair once again. “Not sure, I don’t
remember anymore.” Maybe he had overthought. Even if they had met each other in the past, he
should not have that kind of familiar feeling, after all, he did not have many female acquaintances.
“The wonton’s here.” The worker’s loud and enthusiastic voice stood out among the surrounding
noises. She served the hot and juicy wontons one table at a time at the resting area. “They’re all made
by our boss lady herself. Sorry for the blackout just now.” The girl who worked there was understanding
and quick-witted, although no customer had expressed any dissatisfaction, she still apologized along
the way and served the free wontons to them amiably.
Hayden took a bite of the wonton and looked at Joseph. “With this bowl of wontons, this place should
be considered number one in the ancient town homestay ranking list.”
“Is it that delicious?” With doubt, Joseph scooped and took a bite, his eyebrows slowly wrinkled. “How
is it?” Hayden asked, she did not notice his unusual expression. “It’s the boss lady who does all the
furnishing here. She even asked about you when we had a chat last time, she said she’s heard many
of your news and although she doesn’t know you, she kinda cares about you.”
Having heard that, Joseph straight away held back the worker who was going to leave after serving all
the wonton bowls with a slightly gloomy look. “What’s the name of your boss lady?” The worker was
shocked and she asked, “What’s wrong?” At the same time, a clanking sound was heard from the
kitchen. The sound made when the ceramic bowl fell onto the ground was exceptionally clear and it
had stopped the noise in the resting area.
Hayden turned around and only saw the boss lady hurriedly turning around, heading back to the
kitchen. A bowl of wonton was dropped in front of the kitchen’s entrance. The ceramic bowl was
smashed into pieces whereas the soup and the wontons were scattered onto the ground. Yet the boss
lady had actually left without even saying a word, leaving the mess on the ground.
As Hayden was feeling baffled, a shriek of the chair legs quickly rubbed against the ground was heard.
She watched Joseph leaving abruptly with shock. He went straight upstairs with an icy look. What was
going on? They only had a bowl of wontons, had she said anything wrongly? Having recalled what she
had said just now, and the boss lady’s panic behavior, she seemed to have realized something.
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