The implication of Joseph's words was that affiance was a matter decided by the elders when he was
still a child. The elders did not ask for his agreement at all.
Hayden pursed her lips and deliberately annoyed him, “Come on. With that temper of yours, don’t say
that you’re just ten years old at that time, no one will be able to force you if you don’t agree. No matter
how you put it, you actually liked that childhood friend of yours.”
“Do you want to hear the truth?”
Joseph intensely looked at Hayden that it startled her.
He really liked her?
“It’s not what you think.” Joseph knocked on her head helplessly. She snorted and covered her face in
dissatisfaction, “Just say what you want to. Why did you hit me?”
Joseph’s indifferent face seemed somewhat warm. He remained silent for a few seconds, as if he was
thinking of how to put his thoughts into words.
“My father had always wanted a daughter when he was still alive, but he couldn’t get one. Hence, he
regarded as Addison his own daughter for quite some time.”
Hayden was slightly startled. This wasn’t the first time that Joseph had taken the initiative to tell her
about his parents, but he seemed particularly calmer this time.
“My mother was a painter that only had her dreams in her heart. She often brought with her drawing
board and left home for a few months. My existence didn’t have any impact on her living habits. Other
than taking a look at me when she came home after finishing her painting, we rarely had the chance to
see each other. This has lasted for many years.”
Joseph’s voice slowly echoed in the dark room. He sounded extremely calm, as if he was telling her a
matter that had nothing to do with him.
Based on what he said, Hayden only figured out Addison’s relationship with the Beckham family.
Joseph’s parents had always been in a state that spent less time together than apart. His mother was
always abroad and his father was constantly busy with work, hence Joseph was taken care by his
grandfather and the housekeeper of the Beckham family since young. Mr. Beckham was bad-tempered
and had always been strict in educating children. Even though Joseph was still a child, he didn’t allow
Joseph to lighten any principle. Over time, Joseph became reclusive and had a strange temper among
his peers.
When Joseph got slightly older, his father thought that it wasn’t appropriate this way, so he took Joseph
back to his side. His father would take him to attend gatherings among his peers, hoping that he could
integrate into this social circle and made friends.
There were many children in the Sanchez family. Both sons of the family were about the same age with
Joseph. Besides, the Sanchez family also had a daughter who had just starting walking. Joseph was
sent there by his father for an entire summer vacation. When his father went to pick him up after that,
he didn’t manage to get familiar with the sons of the Sanchez family, but he did meet two friends there.
One of them was the bastard who caused him to be admitted in the hospital for a week, Kevin. The
other kid was the little girl from the Sanchez family who couldn’t even speak clearly, Addison.
He became friends with Kevin through a fight. As for Addison, it was because the summer vacation
there was really boring. The two sons of the Sanchez family were extremely introverted, so they didn’t
want to play with him. He was also very happy about it and stayed at the corner all by himself. Only this
girl who had just learned how to walk kept stumbling her way to him. She held the corner of his shirt
and stuffed a storybook to him, forcing him to tell her story. She cried when Joseph ignored her.
“I read her stories for the entire summer vacation, and her mother told my father about it later. Later,
every summer vacation, my father would bring Addison to my house and let her stay here for some
time. My father treated her like his own daughter. I guessed he was trying to hint my mother to have
another child with him.”
So from the view of every outsider, this relationship formed in childhood of them wasn’t what it seemed
to be. It carried the weight of his father’s selfish motive. The original intention wasn’t to find a wife for
Joseph. He just wanted a daughter. His father used such a tactful and soft method to hint his mother.
Hayden was stunned, “Your father is really beating around the bush. If he wanted a daughter, why
didn’t he tell your mother directly? Perhaps...”
Before she could finish her words, she closed her mouth and swallowed the second half of the
sentence back into her throat. They were her elders after all. It wasn’t appropriate to talk nonsense like
this.
Joseph’s voice resonated in her ear and his tone sounded complicated,
“As far as I could remember, my parents had always slept in separate rooms.”
Upon hearing this, Hayden’s heart throbbed inexplicably, “I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Joseph raised the quilt and covered her shoulder. Then, he pulled the
topic back to the track.
“I’ve said everything that I should say. Addison is just a sister to me, there is no other possibility than
that.”
“I know. You don’t have to keep emphasizing it.”
Hayden’s face suddenly felt a little hot.
From the beginning since he started talking about the past, Joseph had been emphasizing that he only
treated Addison as a sister, as though he was afraid that she might be unreasonable if he said too
much.
“Do you have anything else to question me?”
A teasing voice sounded in her ear.
Hayden said angrily, “What? Since when did I question you? You were the one who said all these.”
Joseph raised his eyebrows and suddenly approached her ear.
“To be honest, you look much cuter when you’re jealous.”
Hayden felt a flame blazing from her ear to all over her body.
Another passionate night passed.
When Hayden was leaving back to Nanking the next day, Joseph deliberately postponed the meeting to
send her to the airport.
“Addison had been spoiled since young. It wouldn’t surprise me if she did anything out of the line.”
“I know. She’s your sister, so I’ll be more tolerant of her.”
“You don’t have to.” Joseph raised his hand to brush the hair by her ear, “I mean if she really does
anything out of the line, you don’t have to bear with her and let yourself suffer.”
Upon hearing this, Hayden was stunned and looked surprised.
“Didn’t you say she was your sister?”
“She already have two brothers by blood, it makes no difference whether I’m her brother or not.”
Joseph’s hand slid down her ear and held her in his arms. He murmured, “So, don’t worry about it.”
The last thing in mind that bothered her was also extinguished at this moment with the engine sound of
plane in the airport.
Hayden put her arms around her waist while behaving like a spoiled child and said, “How can my
boyfriend be such a good man?”
Joseph replied in a serious manner, “It’s fiancée.”
On her flight back to Nanking, Hayden had figured out this matter clearly.
There was no doubt in Addison’s intention of returning back here. She believed Joseph could tell too,
but it seemed that he hadn’t responded to her yet, or that Addison was already rejected at the
washroom that day when she hurriedly fled away and missed the second half of the conversation.
Hence, this female president of SG Group, East China Branch would definitely not let her off easily.
After all, she already knew when they first met that Addison wasn’t a little white bunny. It was
impossible that she relied on the delicate behaviour she portrayed in front of Joseph that she could
become the president of SG Group, East China Branch at this age.
If that was the case, she would counter Addison with her arms opened!
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