22. Accidentally Met?

If his mother was asked a question like this... The biggest possibility was that she had already found out. Although Josh himself didn’t know how.

Maybe someone had seen him with Sharon as they spent the day outside together. Maybe it was his own mother who saw them—no, his mother would've immediately confronted them both—especially Sharon—not called him alone at this time of night. Or maybe Jason had seen him with Sharon at the restaurant this afternoon? Although he was sure Jason hadn't seen Sharon at the restaurant, there was still a slight possibility.

Or—

Could Ashley have complained to his mom?

His mom didn’t just ask about today. But she mentioned last night. If it was really Jason or someone who knew him, they wouldn't know that he stayed at Sharon's apartment last night.

Was this all Ashley's doing?

Clearly, right now he had to answer very carefully.

The probability for him was fifty percent for an answer. One to tell a lie, and one to tell a little lie.

Because as bad as it might seem, Josh might still have to be a little hopeful that his own speculation just now wasn't entirely correct. It could be that this wasn't all about his ongoing relationship with Sharon.

Although his hope was almost impossible, he should at least try to find that impossible breath of fresh air.

“I went to meet with my employees,” Josh actually said cautiously, but also in a tone that tried to sound convincing. “To discuss the launch of next month's project.”

“Who?” His mom was still patient.

"Um, Mr. Lee. The marketing manager."

His mom went back to her phone and tapped her finger on it again while still asking the question without looking at her son, “Where?”

Josh was confused to death.

But he still convinced himself to say what he had told Jason this afternoon. Somehow, his instincts told him that he should tell the same lie. It would be safer for him and easier for him to control the situation than if he told many lies while he himself didn't know what kind of situation he was facing.

“At Moon Sun.”

His mother nodded vaguely, then pressed a button on the screen lightly, and closed her phone.

“I really can't get over it. I gave birth to a son who has now turned out to be so stupid and ignorant.”

At the same time, a series of sounds indicating an incoming message could be heard from his cellphone.

Josh glanced at his coat pocket, then at his mother. Meanwhile, his mother looked at him without blinking while slightly jerking her head, as if implying that Josh should immediately open the message on his cellphone.

Josh hesitantly reached into his pocket and opened his own cell phone. On the main screen, there were many message notifications that came from his own mother. Josh suddenly glanced at his mother with a lot of scenarios suddenly popping up in his head.

His mom was right in front of him, but she had chosen to send him a bunch of picture messages instead of speaking directly to him.

With cold, trembling fingers, he opened the message.

His breath caught in his throat, and his heart seemed to stop suddenly in one beat as he looked at the contents of the pictures his mother had sent him.

There were pictures of him and Sharon. They were in many of the places they had both visited today.

“I—I,” Josh stammered, “I accidentally met her.”

“But you don’t look like two people who accidentally met.”

Josh was silent this time. His mouth was locked tightly with his head down. He did not dare to ask for forgiveness or try again to give other reasons that would obviously be considered unreasonable by his mother. He could no longer evade. He could no longer lie and deceive his mother even further.

That was the end of his history.

"Walking around all day, just the two of you. From one place to another. But you're saying you guys accidentally met? Accidentally met, then accidentally spent time together? I didn't know your mindset could be this messy, son."

His mother was silent after saying so many things, staring intently at her youngest son.

"Any idea who sent me those pictures of you two?"

'No idea. I also want to know who the asshole was that ratted me out!' Josh’s riled-up heart was screaming in frustration.

Jason and Ashley were still on his list of suspects—but without good reason. But after seeing all this reality, he doubted if either of them was really capable of making it this far.

"Min Jinah. Remember her?" His mother's eyebrows rose. His stomach felt sick at the mention of the woman's name. After all the trouble he had gone through, now he had to deal with that cunning snake again.

Annoyingly, she had to sacrifice his precious attention just for a cheap scandal that really hadn't crossed her mind lately. And all because of that other snake woman—Sharon. One was eating away at her, and the other was eating away at her youngest son. It was really troublesome.

Meanwhile, Josh, who heard the name, was automatically reminded of a major incident that had almost destroyed him years ago. The apocalypse had befallen his family in one night, and his parents had to stuff Min Jinah's mouth with tons of money.

The woman looked at Josh, who was silent and contemplating, guessing that her son had begun to remember the uproar he had caused so long ago.

"Remember? Because of you two, we had to take care of it for years. I should have told you that I lost a lot of money up to this point for that woman. We were even willing to treat her very well. But after a long period of calm, she suddenly appeared at a time like this. Right after your wedding."

"Is she—" Josh ventured to ask, "asking for shut-up money again?"

"Of course. Why would she send me all that if she didn’t want something?"

The presence of the ex-journalist woman was completely beyond his expectations.

At first, he could only think that this was all the work of Jason or Ashley.

He would probably only have a limited conflict with his mother if it was one of the two of them who complained.

But when it comes to other people—especially Min Jinah—he should prepare himself to face more serious consequences. That woman was cunning and good at blackmail. That incident all those years ago and today could probably get her to shut her mouth by using Josh's weakness to sell to his own mother.

But considering that this time he was married to Ashley, there were a variety of worse possibilities that he might not be able to imagine. Worst of all, what if Min Jinah used his scandal to blackmail Ashley's parents directly? If that were to happen, his family's position in the relationship between the two families would definitely be severely harmed. And he was the only one who would have to bear the brunt of it.

All those bad scenarios were swirling around in Josh's head like a horror movie montage.

“She... is really willing to keep her mouth shut, right?” Josh asked in a tone that sounded a little shaky.

Meanwhile, his mom caught the fear in Josh's eyes.

“I mean—she’s not going to use it to gain a bigger advantage, right?” Josh's voice shook even more, “like by going to Ashley's parents?”

His mother snorted with a mocking laugh.

"Now you're scared? You just realized that what you did was very detrimental to our family—especially after you got married?"

Josh was silent. This time, he acknowledged the magnitude of what a scandal might do to him.

"I've tried to keep your past from ever surfacing. But now you're the one digging it up and holding it up high. If your eyes have been opened, you should now understand why I made that deal with you."

His mother’s forehead wrinkled. 

Many things were suddenly bubbling up from that woman’s memory, piecing together and assembling one by one into a complex puzzle.

“You really need to be careful,” his mother emphasized in a very serious voice. "Our family's survival is not only in the hands of the Song family. But also my father—your very stubborn grandfather. If they let us go, we might all really end up living on the streets."