28. Ssshh

Josh woke up in a much better condition than before. As his consciousness rose to the surface, and his eyes peered open, he could feel the fatigue that had previously settled over his body had now vanished. Perhaps not entirely, but it was enough to make him feel lighter and more comfortable.

He turned her head to the side—just because before going to bed he remembered Ashley was there—and found emptiness. The lighting in the room was also still the same as last night, the curtains were still closed, and it was so quiet. It certainly piqued her curiosity, about how long he had fallen into a deep sleep and what time it was.

Slowly, he got up from the bed and sat himself on the edge. Then he swept his gaze across the room as he recalled where he had last placed his cell phone.

After a few careful head turns, his eyes found the phone lying on the coffee table by the window.

Josh then stood up and walked towards the location of his cell phone. Intending to check the time and if there were any incoming messages.

After grabbing the phone and bringing the screen closer to his face, Josh found that there were tons of message notifications and miss calls. His finger scrolled from top to bottom only to find that they were all from the same sender and caller: Sharon.

Without opening the messages, he could see snippets of messages from the front screen of his phone. Josh only skimmed through them, but he could already summarize everything in one short sentence—his girlfriend was angry and threatened to make him never see her again.

Josh let out a long breath as he closed his phone again and put it back on the table. Leaving the notifications unopened.

With his head still as full as ever, the man approached the long curtains that covered the large windows in the room. Then with a single tug, he dragged them open and let the hot sunlight in and hit him. It was already hot outside. And being too preoccupied with the pile of messages, he had even forgotten his main purpose of checking the current time.

So he bent down again and double-tapped the screen of his cell phone lying on the table.

The illuminated screen showed 1:01 am.

Once again, his breath was exhaled in a long sigh. A sudden uneasiness crept into his chest as he regretted not realizing that he had overslept for so long while at the same time getting more and more worried because he didn't know what to do after ignoring Sharon for so long.

Not to mention, he had yet to find a way out of the complicated problem that attacked him last night.

His head really still held a burden like a volcano that was about to meet its time to erupt hot lava. What a contrast to the condition of his body which had begun to relax. Making the emergence of new sensations that are very uncomfortable, very tormenting.

But this time Josh tried to force himself to remain calm.

All the things he had to deal with right now were too much too complicated.

He still didn't even know where to unravel this tangle of threads from—where to begin and where to end.

As such, he would try to take things slowly.

Of course, after examining which situations would be the least difficult for him and which parties he could best cooperate with.

Josh tried to let go of all those unresolved thoughts for a while. Putting everything in the back of his head, and intending to start trying to see if Ashley could soften up a bit to him.

Thus he moved to look for the girl.

He walked out of the room and down the short hallway that connected to the living room. Then he easily found her in the kitchen located right next to the living room, along with a middle-aged woman he didn't recognize at all.

Just as Josh revealed himself, Ashley raised her face in recognition of his presence. Her hands, which were busy transferring the soup from the pot into small bowls, stopped for a moment.

“Are you awake?” her voice sounded soft. It was very different when the turmoil of anger and resentment overcame her yesterday. Afterward, she even flashed a wide smile. “Sit down, the food will be ready soon.”

Josh, who saw and heard it all, became awkward. He couldn't hide the gesture of surprise as well as confusion that caught him by surprise. His eyes were even floating aimlessly, with his head repeatedly moving around.

While Ashley, who again realized the shock experienced by Josh, tried to cover it up as much as she could.

"Here, Aunt Gong. I told you about it, didn't I?" Her voice was still as soft as before, ”She'll be taking care of the house and cooking for us as well."

Aunt Gong took the time to bow as a sign of respect to Josh in between frying things in the wok.

Ashley quickly put a few bowls filled with soup and two empty bowls on a tray, and brought them to the dining table. She set it up for two, with various dishes already available in the center of the table. He occasionally glanced at the back of Auntie Gong who was busy cooking the last dish, and signaled silently—just by the look in his eyes and the gesture of his head—for Josh to sit down immediately without showing anything odd.

Josh knew Ashley was only trying to be reasonable because there were other people here. He just wasn't used to receiving treatment from the girl that was a hundred and eighty degrees different all of a sudden. Especially after their fight, after what he did to her.

Silently, without making any sound, he walked leisurely to the dining table. He sat down almost at the same time as Ashley who was filling his rice bowl to the brim.

“Eat up,” Ashley threw another big smile at Josh.

While Josh, who was still awkward, immediately turned his gaze to the mound of white rice without being able to respond more.

Ashley, who saw the man's attitude, sneered silently. Only a look of annoyance and an annoyed lip gesture appeared spontaneously on his face. But she quickly realized and quickly corrected it into a normal expression again before Aunt Gong caught her.

“I—” Josh took a breath, “I think we should talk about yesterday again soon.”

Ashley stopped spooning rice onto her plate.

“Talk about what?” her voice remained soft.

“To—”

"Later. Now let's eat first. There's no need to rush, hm?" her voice was still unchanged—it was as soft as if someone in love was talking to their real life partner. Then quickly and firmly gave a sharp look at Aunt Gong who had her back to the two of them. Trying to give a stern signal to act casual as long as the old lady was here.