President’s Twins: Buy One, Get One Free

Chapter 211: Friend in Adversity

Joseph’s face did not look good.

The previously warm atmosphere also became a little bit cold, invading Hayden’s marrow and spreading the coolness across her body.

Hayden who was gripping her chopsticks froze in mid-air, and she frowned at Joseph, “Didn’t I say that? We are just friends. What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s his or her name? Is the person a man or a woman?” Joseph’s expression was a bit gloomy, but his tone had softened a bit, “I want to know.”

“You don’t know him also.”

Hayden glanced at him suspiciously, and she said a bit jokingly as well as a bit seriously, “You’re not even to be jealous of me answering a friend’s phone call, are you?” Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

Joseph secretly clenched his fist. At this moment, Hayden’s attitude made him feel he was very ridiculous. It was obvious that the truth was close at hand, but both of them were covering it up.

In the end, he took a step back and pulled out his chair, and sat down before saying with a low voice, “I just want to know what other friends you have besides Alayna. Can’t I do that?”

“I don’t have many friends. When I was in America, Alayna was the only friend I have.”

Hayden smiled and told Joseph naturally.

“His name is Edison Godfrey. He was my senior when I was studying in the college in China before, but his batch was a few years before mine. He was starting a business when I reached the United States and he lacked some money. I was quite rich at that time, and after knowing that he and I were alumni of the same college. I helped him out.”

They were friends in adversity.

As Joseph listened to her words, he felt more suffocated as if the air was not circulating and he felt like he lacked oxygen.

Hayden finishing introducing Edison in a few words, but she didn’t tell him the most important thing, which was the marriage between her and Edison.

“This chicken wing is quite tasty, but the taste still can be improved.”

Hayden commented on the taste of the chicken wing and put another piece into Joseph’s bowl.

“Try it, and guess what’s the thing that can be improved.”

The chicken wings were covered with brightly-coloured sauce, which looked particularly tempting.

Joseph was a little distracted and he took a big bite randomly under Hayden’s excited gaze, looking like he was annoyed.

“How was it?”

“Um.” Joseph nodded.

“Hey…” Hayden looked dumbfounded. “Are you sure the taste is fine?”

Joseph looked at her quizzically, “What taste?”

“It’s not cooked, Joseph.”

Hayden pointed to the remaining half of the chicken wings in his bowl. She looked astonished as the chicken wings were still oozing blood in the flesh, and she could not believe him to be able to take such a big bite and swallowed it without changing his expression.

Joseph’s face turned pale, and he immediately rushed to the bathroom with a complicated expression on his face.

After a while, Hayden rested her head and arms on the table while laughing out nonchalantly.

“Hahaha… what the hell were you thinking about when you were eating?”

Joseph’s cooking skills were actually considered good and he was talented in cooking, although he hadn’t cooked much before, today the dishes he served included a plate of meat, a plate of vegetables as well as a pot of soup. The vegetable dishes done by him were still stir-fried well. Besides, the fish soup was also quite nice under Hayden’s guidance by his side.

The only thing was, Hayden always felt that Joseph seemed to be preoccupied during the meal.

When he came out from the washroom, Joseph’s face was a little pale.

“Are you alright?”

Hayden served him a bowl of fish soup. Seeing his expression of self-doubt, she could not help but explain to him, “I have tasted it. The soup is fine. Drink it to nourish your stomach.”

Only then Joseph heaved out a sigh of relief.

Although it was the first time he cooked, he also didn’t want to feel ashamed, right?

As he drank the soup, he glanced at Hayden from the corner of his eyes and he saw her looking at him with concern. Her gaze was like water, and it was much gentler than when she was working with him.

If he compared her with the sharp-tongued look she had when they first met, it was a real contrast.

“Why are you looking at me? Drink the soup.”

Hayden winked at him and said, “Are you looking at me while you’re drinking soup and thinking I’m pretty.”

Joseph coughed badly twice. When he looked up again, his face was red.

She was not only treating him gentler than before but also cheekier than before.

…

It was already night in the United States. After the video conference was over, Edison returned home. His house was on the 60th floor, which was high enough to overlook the entire Manhattan, which was the economic centre of the world.

Edison propped himself up against the glass of the French Window. Streamlined folds could be seen in his well-tailored handmade suit. While he overlooked the bustle of the city, he looked a bit despondent.

If one stood at the top of the world, one would realize that he or she would feel really lonely.

“Edison, this is the research report for the market in China.”

She heard Lorraine saying something from his back. The language she spoke was Chinese but with a strong American accent.

“Put it there first. Has the trip for next week been canceled?”

Edison turned around, and the despondency in his eyes had already been properly restrained.

Lorraine stood upright. Her mixed-race facial features were pronounced, yet they were just the right combination of oriental softness. She looked at the man in front of her, showing her appreciation and concern towards the man.

“It’s been canceled. The tickets have also been booked. There are already a few companies in China that are interested in working with us. I’ve listed an opinion about the order of approaching them in the market research report I’ve just done.”

Edison simply nodded seeing how meticulous his assistant worked, without making too many comments. This meticulousness of doing her work might seem rare to ordinary people, but in places like New York, Manhattan, or Wall Street, it was just a mandatory quality of a worker.

“After I reach China, I’ll spare some time for me to travel personally, and it’ll be enough for you to engage with those companies.”

Lorraine nodded obediently, “No problem.”

Edison moved his finger, signalling that she could leave first.

“Edison, are you going to meet with Hayden?”

Lorraine did not leave, but she asked him a personal question in a soft tone, unlike the sharp tone that she would usually use when she was working.

“Yes.”

Edison’s eyes showed a little warmth when she mentioned Hayden.

Hayden was the light of his life, lighting up the time when he was gloomy, but she seemed to have treated him as a friend for so long that she had neglected the fact that he was also a normal man who would like the good women around him. He was too afraid of scaring her, so he had always been treating her cautiously all these years.

A flash of loss showed in Lorraine’s eyes and she smiled bitterly.

“Then rest early, Edison.”

After the room door was closed, the room turned silent again.

Edison took off his gold-rimmed glasses and casually rested them on his desk, pinching his brow bone to kill his boredom. He glanced at the family photo on the table from the corner of his eyes. He was stunned at a moment, and then he looked tender.

The photo was showing a family of three. At that time, Stella was still very small, and she could only babble and called her parents ‘Daddy’ and ‘Mummy’. She was too cute and there were too few Chinese children here, so whenever she was taken out, she would be pinched by passers-by, making her angry. Then, when she wanted to go out again, she would shamelessly ride on Edison’s shoulder as no one could reach her when she did that.

Thinking about them, he realized that it’s been almost a year since he last met them, and the number of times for him to meet them every year was very little.