What Separates Me and You

Chapter 260 Unspoken Concern

Josephine was already tired by then. Even though she was still sitting on the couch, she could feel her

heavy eyelids sliding shut uncontrollably. The moment they did, she forcibly snapped them open in an

attempt to wake up. Just like that, she was stuck in a never-ending cycle of sleeping and waking up.

She was still stuck in a sleepy haze when she suddenly heard footsteps approaching her from behind.

Josephine cracked her eyes open to look at Lewis blearily.

He looked down at her, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, but he didn’t say anything.

Then, he raised a hand and attempted to place it on Josephine’s cheek. Her first instinct was to dodge

out of the way, but she forced herself to suppress that urge.

Lewis’ hand stopped a few inches away from her face. He chose not to touch her at all after seeing her

reaction. Eventually, he retracted his hand quietly.

The silence was torturous for Josephine.

She didn’t know what the man was thinking.

His phone rang again, prompting him to pull it out and look at the screen. After activating the silent

mode, he threw it onto the couch casually.

This time, Lewis walked toward Josephine and sat down next to her. He decided to speak to her at that

moment. “Where are you sleeping?”

The latter was surprised upon hearing that question. She glanced at the couch before signing that she

was fine with where she was.

Lewis stared blankly at her for a while before replying, “Do whatever you like.”

After that, he stood up from the couch, grabbed his phone, and headed upstairs without looking back at

her. Next, Josephine could hear a door slam loudly in the distance.

The man never came downstairs that night.

Josephine curled up on the couch, her eyes heavy with sleep, and conked out right away.

The couch might be narrow, but it was wide enough to accommodate her. She felt incredibly safe there.

Now that Josephine’s knee got injured, she kept to herself and lay low in the mansion. She could only

stay in the mansion for the next two weeks.

Even if she wanted to go out, her constitution was too weak and painful to handle the trip.

During that period of time, Josephine started getting to know Mrs. Larson and the rest of the staff well.

Even though she kept forgetting their names, she gradually familiarized herself with their faces.

At the same time, Dr. Halliday had also been recording her illness. During those two weeks, Josephine

no longer lost her memories as quickly as she did in the past. Occasionally, she would find herself

forgetting a memory or two, but she would be able to recall them soon enough.

The doctor’s final verdict was that Josephine’s medical condition was stabilized for now. She wouldn’t

lose years’ worth of memories as long as her condition didn’t continue deteriorating. Since it was

almost the end of the year, Lewis was very busy with his work. He only returned to Styx Mansion twice

during the past half a month. He only returned to grab his stuff both times, and he never uttered a word

to Josephine.

Dr. Halliday felt that something was wrong between them. Lewis seemed to be mad at Josephine for an

awfully long time.

Despite the fact that he didn’t talk to Lewis much, the doctor could still judge the situation based on his

past experiences. Whenever Lewis got mad at Josephine, his anger would last for three days

maximum.

Even though Lewis tended to blow his lid off every time Josephine did something that displeased him,

he wouldn’t leave her alone. This man was a classic example of one’s inability to show their real

feelings in front of the person they cared about.

It seemed that the cold war between Josephine and Lewis would be extended for a long time.

Besides, Josephine looked like she didn’t care about Lewis at all. Now that Lewis never returned home,

she didn’t wait up for him every night like she used to. Instead, she just did whatever she wanted and

spent her days lazing about.

Her daily goal was to leave the mansion. Unfortunately, her knee’s condition prevented her from doing

so.

Meanwhile, Lewis attended countless meetings for three days in a row because the year was coming to

an end. He met up with Conrad after he exited the meeting room with some documents in hand.

“Chairman Alvarez, there’s another meeting with the board of directors tomorrow. Your schedule will be

cleared once the meeting is over.”

Lewis nodded in response as he started walking toward his office. Conrad trailed behind him,

continuing, “I’ve already bought the tickets. The flight will be in three days. I have yet to book the tickets

for the return flight. Are you planning to spend the holidays in Hardington?”

The man paused in his tracks while tilting his head to look at his assistant. “How many tickets did you

buy?”

“Three altogether. Yours, Mr. Fairchild’s, and Madam’s.”

Lewis thought for a moment but chose not to say anything as he continued walking toward his office.

Before he opened the door, Conrad added, “By the way, Derek came to the company just now. He’s

currently waiting for you in your office.”

The man acted as though he didn’t hear Conrad’s warning as he entered his office right away. As

expected, Derek could be seen sitting on the couch. Surprisingly, Seth was seated next to him as well.

Both of them seemed to be talking about something. Derek looked pale and exhausted. One could

vaguely notice the gray streaks in his dark hair.

When Derek noticed Lewis entering the office, all he did was raise his head and glance at him.

Exhaustion was written all over his face.

Lewis walked to the couch across from Derek and took a seat there. He asked impassively,” Why are

you here, Derek?”

The latter stared at him unblinkingly. Despite being exhausted, there was still a spark of hatred in his

eyes.

“Why am I here, you ask? Don’t you know the reason very well?”

Lewis chuckled softly while crossing his legs and lighting a cigarette. “I’m not a mind reader; therefore, I

don’t know why you’re here.”

Derek gritted his teeth while clenching his fists tightly, causing his knuckles to crack upon witnessing

the man’s arrogant behavior.

“My father knew everything about me. As a result, he got so furious that his illness acted up, and he got

sent to the ICU. Aren’t you the one behind this?”

Lewis raised a brow in return, clearly amused by Derek’s assumption. “What’s wrong with you, Derek?

Why are you always blaming me for things I never did?”

“Hmph! Stop playing dumb! Who else would do this but you? Haven’t you always wanted the Moss

family’s shares? Fine, I’ll give them to you!”

Lewis paused in his actions as he glanced at Derek again. “So, you’ve thought it through, hmm?”

The latter snarled out angrily, “Stop calling me by my name! I don’t want to hear it coming from

someone like you!”

Lewis just continued to smile without saying anything.

Seth decided to speak up. “Since you’ve already made up your mind, did you bring the

contract?”

Derek replied in a rough tone, “Nope. You’re coming to Moss Corporation tomorrow to sign the

contract.”

Having reached this point in the conversation, Derek asked another question. “Lewis, are you planning

to absorb Moss Corporation into Alvarez Corp?”

If Moss Corporation were to be absorbed into Alvarez Corp, that meant Lewis wouldn’t be able to

include Moss Corporation’s shares in his own. Those shares would be counted as Alvarez Corp’s

shares. Once the total funds of Moss Corporation were calculated, they would be administered to all of

the shareholders according to the percentage they were entitled to.

That also meant Lewis’ actual shares wouldn’t increase by a huge margin.

Lewis replied, “What gave you that idea that Alvarez Corp will be absorbing Moss Corporation?

”

Derek frowned immediately. “Then what are you planning?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. All you need to do is go back and prepare the transfer

contract.”

Derek narrowed his eyes, seemingly having remembered something. He said, “I can prepare the

contract, but you have to promise me not to harm my family.”

“How can I make that promise? I won’t be able to defend myself if you decide to blame me without

investigating the actual truth like what you did today.”

Derek was surprised, but he quickly understood what Lewis meant.

If something were to happen to anyone in his family in the future, Derek would definitely suspect Lewis

first. That meant if anyone were to frame Lewis, Derek would definitely fight tooth and nail to get

revenge on the former.

That was why it was useless for Lewis to promise Derek anything.

The latter stopped speaking after that. It was true that there wasn’t a perfect solution to this question.

Once he transferred the shares to Lewis, someone was bound to get mad at him for doing so. Once

that happened, those people would definitely lay a finger on the Moss family.

A long time later, Derek finally raised his head to look at Lewis. “Then I want you to promise me that

you’ll prevent anyone from hurting my family, no matter who they are. I know that we are mortal

enemies and that I can’t defeat you, but I don’t want to risk my family’s lives anymore. Also, I hope that

you’ll agree to my request, seeing as you and Lily used to be siblings.”

Derek was unable to withstand the humiliation, but at the same time, he couldn’t let the Moss family be

sacrificed alongside Lewis and himself.

Like the old adage, the dead were already dead, but the living would continue to live.

Sometimes, one had no choice but to submit to their fate no matter how reluctant and enraged they

were.