68. Cousin

Ashley's breath caught as she suddenly found herself in a very complicated situation like this.

“Who is that girl with your husband, Miss?” Mrs. Go narrowed her eyes. Intending to be able to see more clearly as well as make sure that her vision was not wrong. “Do you know her?”

Mrs. Go successively asked those curious questions just as Josh was feeding his girlfriend with a very wide drawn smile on his face. Then as the two of them laughed happily and jokingly at each other, Mrs. Go began to shake her head and snort in frustration.

“I don't understand—the reason she can't come is because of this?”

Ashley looked at Mrs. Go with mounting panic. She was completely confused and didn't know what to answer this time. The couple's intimacy was currently being witnessed firsthand by Mrs. Go—her mother's confidante and the only person closest to her besides Bella. Seeing the current situation, Ashley is not sure if Josh can survive even if she defends him by giving the best reason.

The interaction between Josh and his girlfriend was very suspicious. Anyone who saw them would automatically think that the two of them had a romantic relationship.

She could even infer from Mrs. Go's tone of voice that there was undeniably a faint hint of surprise. And that shock could not have arisen if it was not preceded by logic that processed that what she saw was not something natural.

Ashley was thinking very hard at the moment. Trying to make her brain work properly to find a plausible reason to assuage Mrs. Go's suspicions.

It was impossible for her to say that the girl was Josh's friend, or Josh's sister—Mrs. Go knew the faces of all of Lim's family, or Josh's coworkers, or other figures. Because by any stretch of the imagination, there was no one who could reasonably and normally interact like that with Josh. Especially when the man was married.

Now all Ashley encountered was a deadlock and a very dark room. She really didn't know what to make of this one.

In the end, all she could get out of her mouth was, "I don't know. He didn't say anything to me."

“Can you tell me how you asked him out, and how he refused, Miss?” Mrs. Go's forehead frowned deeply. “I should at least know what happened.”

“Well,” Ashley swallowed with difficulty, “I said that if Mom asked to see someone... And he said he couldn't.”

"That's it? What reason did he give you?"

Ashley opened her mouth and then closed it again, remembering that Josh didn't give her any reason at all and she didn't ask further for a good reason—their relationship was falling apart, and she thought it would be more comfortable if she went with her mom without Josh.

“He didn't give you a reason,” Mrs. Go simply deduced from Ashley's gestures and expression. It was as if the woman could read the entire head of the girl she had nurtured for the past twenty-five years.

Ashley was surprised when Mrs. Go guessed right away like that. She suddenly shook her head to correct the woman's one-sided judgment.

"He gave a reason.He said...“ Ashley's throat felt choked with panic, ”he said he had important business to do."

“Did he say what his reason was?” Mrs. Go continued to pry for the truth.

“No,” Ashley answered briefly. In her opinion, her answer was the most she could do to maintain Josh's image in Mrs. Go's eyes at the moment. It was also the safest for herself.

“Let's go say hello to him then.”

Mrs. Go immediately stood up and walked to the table where Josh was.

“What? Wait,” Ashley was struck with a thousand times more panic than before. She tried to grab Mrs. Go's hand but the woman was already moving swiftly away from her. Forced Ashley to move along and follow where the woman went.

She could now imagine the horror on Josh's face when he saw Mrs. Go approaching him.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Lim.”

From where she was walking, Ashley could hear Mrs. Go's voice even though she was quite far away. And from that distance, she saw Josh jump up from his chair—almost jumping.

Ashley who had approached and stood beside Mrs. Go could only remain silent without wanting to show any expression. After all, this was not in her plans and out of her control. She didn't know that Josh and his girlfriend were coming to the cafe—she didn't even know if he was in Seoul. Whereas, she had informed him that she was going to Seoul to accompany her mother. So Josh couldn't just suspect or blame her. Josh should have been the one to be careful.

"I didn't expect to see you here. I heard you were busy so you didn't refuse Mrs. Song's invitation," Mrs. Go said in a friendly tone and didn't seem to have any suspicions. Ashley understood that the woman was just trying to be as polite as possible according to their respective positions.

Josh felt his breath stop right in his throat and choke him relentlessly. He glanced with frantically twitching eyes at Sharon while trying to string together an excuse to save himself. He deeply regretted having taken off his mask and hat even though it was too long. Since he had first taken off and then put on his mask alternately with great care to eat snacks, nothing surprising had happened. But when he let his guard down a little by taking it off for a little longer, he did not expect this horrible thing to happen to him.

He knew very well who the person with Ashley was. And meeting her when he was with Sharon like now, it was like he was exposing his scandal with his own hands.

"Yes. I... I have something to do."

“And may I know what it is, Mr. Lim?” Mrs. Go continued to speak still in her polite tone.

Josh's eyes fluttered again. He glanced at Sharon who was still sitting with an expression no less anxious than his own. “She is—my cousin,” Josh's brain worked quickly as usual, "just came from overseas. So there are things she has to take care of here. That's why I'm doing her a favor."

After Mrs. Go looked at Sharon, the girl stood up and bowed in greeting. An awkward smile played on her lips.

“So that's it...” Mrs. Go described if she understood.

"Yeah. “

”You're here, Josh?" Ashley's mother's voice suddenly appeared behind them.

It sent a storm of shock through all four of them.

Mrs. Go did not expect that her lady boss would come in here and witness that her son-in-law was also here with another girl. Because she wasn't sure she could clean up this complicated mess. She didn't even know what was really going on despite her strong prejudices.

Ashley felt like collapsing and melting down because she was too confused and not strong enough to deal with all of this. She only wondered if after this she would still be able to see her biological mother and live a quiet life like before.

As for Sharon, all she could think about was if Josh ends up splitting up with his wife, will she lose out or gain as much as she had before.

The one who suffered the most was Josh, of course. He was plunged into his own hell.

Josh took a breath, “Mom?” then tried to control himself to be as calm as possible.

“Weren't you unable to come to Seoul?” Ashley's mother looked at Josh with shallow curiosity and then turned to look at Ashley in turn.

"Umm, let me introduce you, Mom. She is my cousin. I'm here because I have to help her with something," he tried to stall to give himself time to find an answer that wouldn't raise any suspicions. "I don't know if the location is here. If I knew I would have arranged a time to go with you."

“Ashley, didn't you tell him that we're going to the hospital in this town?” Ashley's mother asked Ashley in an annoyed tone.

Meanwhile, Ashley could only frown and glare at Josh.

It was obvious that he had told her where to go via text message earlier. What a sneaky bad guy.