Usually, while Ste was busy handling paperwork in her office, Joshua would be resting in his own.


    Ste had set up a separate office just for Joshua.


    It wasn''t just an ordinary workspace-besides aputer, TV, and gaming console, there was also a bed and a private bathroom. Whenever he had nothing else to do, Joshua could watch TV, y games, or even take a nap.


    That evening, Ste received a call from the project team. There was an important contract to sign that night, and thepany needed a senior representative to attend in person.


    After hanging up, Ste was about to call Joshua and ask him to get ready. But then she paused, realizing he''d seemed a little offtely-quieter than usual, with a subdued mood. Work had kept her so busy that she''d hardly had time to check in on him.


    Thinking it over, she decided to go find Joshua herself and see if he was having any trouble.


    As she passed the break room, Ste overheard two women talking.


    One was saying, "Vivian, just give it up. Honestly, Joshua doesn''t seem interested in women at all. Don''t set yourself up for disappointment. Remember that cute assistant from admin? She brought him homemade lunches for a whole week, and he didn''t even nce at them—just tossed them straight in the trash. Andst time, when Natasha ''identally'' tripped and tried to fall into his arms-guess what happened? He pushed her away so hard she chipped a tooth! Not to mention, he''s got a razor-sharp tongue. There was a girl who confessed to him, and he made her cry with just a few words. You''re still new here, so you probably don''t know all this. Trust me, steer clear-he''s seriously entric."


    The other woman sounded like she was on the verge of tears.


    "I just went to talk to him, and he said my perfume was disgusting and called me ugly. Then he kicked me out. He''s so mean..."


    Ste hadn''t thought much of it at first, but when she heard Joshua''s name, she stopped in her tracks.


    Was this really the Joshua she knew?


    "Honestly," the first woman continued, "maybe he just likes men."


    Likes men?


    No way.


    Yet, unbidden, a memory surfaced-Joshua once mentioning someone he''d loved dearly, someone out of reach. She wondered how things were between him and his ''one that got away'' these days.<fn15a0> Newest update provided by find{n}ovel</fn15a0>


    Ste quickly made her way to Joshua''s office.


    He wasn''t there, but she could hear water running from the bathroom. He must have been taking a shower.


    She decided to wait.


    The only other time she''d been in here was on the first day, when she set up the office for him. Since then, her workload had kept her from visiting.


    Ste took a quick look around. Not much had changed, except the bookshelf, now crammed with even more books. She idly picked a few off the shelf flipping through them, To her surprise, they were written in all sorts ofnguages.


    belongs to s


    Ste herself was proficient in several, but some of these books were in scripts


    she didn''t even recognize.


    Was Joshua teaching himself newnguages?


    As she mulled this over, her eyes drifted to theputer on the desk, its screen still aglow. She nced casually at it and saw Joshua had been in the middle of replying to an email-it was half-written, unsent. The message wasn''t in English, but in one of those rarenguages Ste had studied a bit of it before. so she could only make out a few words. From what she could tell, it seemed to be about following some original n for an uing task.  s


    Before she could read further, the bathroom door swung open.


    ort


    Joshua stepped out, towel in hand, drying his hair. He didn''t look startled or flustered to find Ste waiting for him. He shot a quick nce at hisputer screen and out"


    asked, nonchntly


    somewhere?"  s