Chapter 5

“Mari?"

Looking at the hint of loss on Marilyn's face, Joshua cursed Astrid a million times in his heart. Damn it.

"It’s okay, my hand is a bit cold, I might freeze you," Marilyn didn’t expect him to subconsciously avoid her, her heart was regretful. What was wrong with her? How could she have suspected him? There had to be a reason for him not to tell her now. Once the issue was resolved, she would definitely tell him.

"Foolish, what foolish words. It’s all my fault for having you here so long," This time, Joshua took Marilyn’s hand directly. When the warm tips of his fingers touched Marilyn's cold hand, it felt like Joshua’s heart was being gripped by someone. Holding her hand a little too tight, he couldn’t wait to grip it harder to keep it warm.

The night was growing colder and the room gradually darkened. The lavender light was a bit dim, and Marilyn couldn't see the room clearly. Suddenly, the room lit up, only to reveal a yellowish light filling the entire room, scattered with stars ranging from white to golden yellow, reflecting the yellowish light, like a starry sky during the day.

Indescribable emotions rushed to her heart, and Marilyn’s eyes became slightly red. Joshua, the man who had touched her countless times, had decided that today was the day he would surrender to her. On this first day of their reunion after three years, she would take the initiative to tell Joshua how important he was to her heart. And today, he would become her man. She would forgive him for his untimely departure three years ago. His departure wasn’t because he didn’t feel anything for Joshua, but because she cared too much.

Marilyn’s vermilion lips parted slightly. She was about to tell Joshua, the man she had loved for years, her true feelings.

Before the words could leave her mouth, the sudden sound of her mobile phone interrupted her thoughts.

Damn it, who the hell was calling at this hour?

The impulse to confess was interrupted, and she had to set the matter aside for now and find another opportunity to tell Joshua, since she would be staying with him today anyway.

Joshua opened the door and asked, "Was it your uncle who called?" As soon as they landed today, Marilyn had been picked up by him, so maybe she hadn’t had time to tell her uncle that she had returned.

"I don’t know," Marilyn answered with little emotion. Could it be her father? But how could it be? He hadn’t called her once in the three years she had been abroad, and it definitely wouldn’t be him right now.

As expected, on the screen there was a string of numbers she had never seen before. Marilyn didn’t pay much attention to it and pressed the answer button.

"Hello?" Marilyn’s face was filled with confusion. Who the hell was calling at this hour? She hoped it wasn’t a spam call. She would curse it to death.

Only to see the confusion on Marilyn's face suddenly freeze.

The next second, her face filled with disbelief, followed by her hand trembling, breaking the phone as it fell to the floor.

"**Mari, what’s happening?**" Seeing this, Joshua hurriedly grabbed Marilyn, suddenly having a bad feeling that this call might be related to him. "Who called?"

Marilyn looked at Joshua with hollow eyes, her voice trembling so only the two of them could hear, she asked, "Joshua, have you gotten married...?"

"**What!**" Joshua’s eyes widened, and suddenly, a feeling of weakness filled his heart. Along with this feeling, a sudden burst of anger erupted as if he couldn’t control it. How did she know? Who the hell was calling? What beast was calling? He better not tell her who it was, or he would surely kill them!

Joshua picked up the phone from the floor and contained his anger. "Hello?" He wanted to see who was bold enough to call here.

A familiar voice came from the other side, "Joshua?" Astrid’s voice was very faint, but Joshua didn’t notice her abnormality. Hearing that voice, one he had grown tired of over the past three years, Joshua could no longer contain his rage and exploded, "Astrid White? You really have the guts to call here—"

"No, Joshua, I... I can’t talk to you." Hearing Joshua’s tone of disgust, Astrid clutched her heart. It hurt, it really hurt.

Had she done something wrong again? Would Joshua hate her even more? Tears gently crossed her cheeks. No, if Joshua knew she was crying right now, he would definitely get angrier. Joshua unconsciously touched his pants pocket. His phone was gone. That’s right, Astrid had just called and told him to hang up. To avoid Astrid bothering him again, Joshua had simply placed his phone on the sofa upstairs, never thinking this kind of thing would happen.

There was no doubt. When he heard it was Astrid’s voice, Joshua immediately hung up the phone and blacklisted her number. That idiot was even bragging about disrupting his date. Ridiculous. There was no time to deal with it now. He just had to take this opportunity. He needed to explain everything to Marilyn properly.

"Marilyn, listen to my explanation..." He stopped as he saw Marilyn’s shoulders trembling, leaving only a helpless figure with her back to him. Damn it, he made Marilyn cry! He couldn’t hold himself back any longer. Today, he was going to tell her everything. He was going to hug Marilyn and tell her that he didn’t want any of that.

Unfortunately, the phone rang again, and Joshua took a deep breath.

Suppressing the urge to hug her, he said patiently, "I’ll explain everything later, wait for me." Joshua pressed the answer button and was about to speak when an urgent voice came from the other side.

"Mr. Joshua, it’s not good, the lady has fainted!"

Hearing this, Joshua’s anger slightly subsided, but his voice was still impatient. "She fainted? Why don’t you take her to the hospital? Do you really need to call me for something so small? Who’s giving you these orders? If you don’t understand, get out."

After hanging up the phone, Joshua’s mood completely soured, and he could say he was in a foul mood.

It was really too annoying. How could she faint when she was obviously fine this morning?

Just when he wanted to go upstairs to find his phone, his own body was suddenly embraced by a soft touch.

"**Joshua!**" Marilyn’s face pressed against Joshua’s, and he could feel her tears slowly soaking his shirt.

Damn it, he made her cry. Joshua could imagine her red eyes from crying and couldn’t help but feel his heart tighten. It was all that trash’s fault! It was all that trash that made his Marilyn so sad!

"I’m sorry, Mari, I can’t stay with you today, but I’ll definitely be with you tomorrow, okay?" Joshua had just been embraced by Marilyn. At this moment, he wanted to return her embrace tightly, but he didn’t dare look at her face. Just remembering her tearful eyes made his heart hurt so much that he could hardly breathe. He would definitely not let Astrid White go!