After crying so much earlier, Joanna Lawrence was exhausted. Not long after getting in the car, she fell asleep, leaning against Ashton Heath.
In her drowsiness, she felt his phone vibrating.
Then she heard him pick up the call,
She faintly heard him say, "I’m not available now."
"Yeah, I’m with my baby, so I have to accompany her."
"Just go ahead and make arrangements, but don’t choose any shoddy places."
"Alright, that’s it. Goodbye."
Ashton Heath hung up the phone.
He looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms and whispered to Zack, "Turn up the air conditioning by two degrees."
After driving for a while, as they passed a fork in the road, Zack asked, "Should we drop Ms. Joanna off at her school first, sir?"
Ashton Heath pondered for a moment before saying, "Head to the company directly."
Given her current state, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go to school.
Zack drove towards Heath Group on a street that was lit by a red light in the distance.
The phone that was just hung up vibrated again.
Ashton Heath looked down and saw that Rebecca Kelloway had sent him a message on Twitter: Ashton, I’m back in the country. I’m hanging out with Yannick and the others right now. He said he called you earlier, but you were too busy to join us for dinner. Are you available this afternoon?
After reading it, he replied: I’m busy.
Rebecca replied quickly: Then, can I come to your office this afternoon? It’s been a whole year since we last saw each other, and I can’t wait to see you.
Ashton looked at the deeply asleep Joanna Lawrence, her cheeks red from the warmth, and hesitated for a moment before replying with his phone: I’m pretty busy this afternoon and won’t have time to entertain you.
Rebecca: You don’t need to worry about me, just go about your business. I can play games in your office while you’re busy. It’s always been before, right?
Rebecca’s message reminded Ashton of their past times together.
Back then, he and Rebecca indeed had that kind of relationship.
When he was busy, he didn’t have time to deal with her, but Rebecca didn’t mind. She would find things to do to pass the time.
Rebecca had grown up with him since childhood. Their relationship was like friendship and somewhat like family.
Being together was relaxing and casual.
Ashton used to think that their relationship was quite good.
If he were still single, had he not married Joanna, he would have agreed to her request.
Even with zero romantic experience, he knew there were some things he couldn’t do anymore.
After all, he and Rebecca were not real siblings.
Now that he had Joanna, he had to establish a boundary with other women, even if that woman was Rebecca.
After contemplating for a moment, he replied: She’s with me right now, so it’s not convenient for you to come. See you tonight.
A long time passed after he sent the message, and Rebecca didn’t reply.
Several minutes later, her message finally came through: You haven’t told her about our relationship? She’s not that petty, right?
Ashton frowned slightly: It’s not that she minds, it’s me who minds.
Rebecca: You mind? What do you mind about?
Ashton: Rebecca, I’m married now. She doesn’t have any demands on me, but as a married man, I need to be conscious of my status. No matter what our relationship was in the past, we need to maintain some distance now. If you were the one who got married first, I would do the same.
This time, Rebecca didn’t reply.
Ashton didn’t care. He locked his phone screen and put it aside.