Chapter 3 3

The medicine began to take effect, the morning sunlight gently sprinkling Astrid's clear, clean skin. Anyone who saw her would say she looked like an angel... The angel was slowly drawn into the world of dreams-Joshua-she whispered the name of her beloved.

At Los Angeles airport, people came and went, drawn by the hustle and bustle. When they turned their eyes to the source of the noise, they saw a tall man standing in the middle of the crowd.

He was approximately 1.90 meters tall. This allowed him to be the center of attention among the crowd. The man looked around, as if he were looking for someone. The moment the man turned his face, his high nose, firm jaw, and sensual vermilion lips made the women around him sigh, as if they had been robbed of their breath.

His face was so beautiful that it could never be forgotten after just one glance, and it would surely take root like a tree with strong and firm roots.

But the only thing that was sad about that face was the coldness that made it difficult to want to approach him. The people around him limited themselves to talking among themselves, with no one having the courage to approach him to speak.

He frowned slightly, and someone in the crowd said, "It looks like the president of Steel Technology! Joshua Steel."

Suddenly, the people around him seemed to have come to their senses, and his surroundings reminded him of a pot of boiling water as they desperately and sloppily searched for their cell phones to take pictures.

The sound of the shutter distracted him. If this were normal, Joshua would not let this kind of thing happen at all. In normal times, even if something like this happened, Joshua would immediately take care of the situation, but not today. He did not want that person to see that side of him.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the crowd, a voice that Joshua recognized and found very familiar, a voice he had thought about countless days and nights.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to disappoint you all, but he's not a president." It was a soft, charming voice, almost hypnotic to Joshua.

Joshua turned his head. It was really her. She was back!

Seeing her walk slowly toward him, his heart raced for no apparent reason. He was ecstatic just to see the face of the person he had longed for so long. He hadn't seen her in over three years.

"Right?" Marilyn approached Joshua and touched his shoulder, an action that brought Joshua's thoughts back.

Joshua looked with immense tenderness at Marilyn Dean, the person who stood quietly beside him. "I'm sorry to disappoint everyone; I'm not Joshua Steel. President Steel should be in a meeting right now." Even as they spoke, his eyes never left Marilyn's face.

In fact, he wasn't lying. Joshua did have an important meeting today, but to see Marilyn on her first day back home, Joshua had canceled the meeting on the spur of the moment. She was more important than the meeting.

However, Joshua didn't know that the person at home, like a fool, had given up everything she had for him, even her own dignity and aspirations, discarded by and for Joshua. Joshua took the initiative to take the luggage from Marilyn's hand. Marilyn looked at the unfamiliar surroundings. Three years had passed, and everything that was once familiar was now unfamiliar. Even he had changed.

"Are you hungry?" Joshua looked at Marilyn, who was dazed, and spoke softly, "I know a traditional European restaurant that will blow your mind. It's a place that just opened; it's very good; you'll like it."

"European food?"

Marilyn thought that if she were the same person she had been three years ago, she would have begged Joshua to take her there, but unfortunately, after spending so much time outside the United States, she was tired of eating European dishes. Even her meal before boarding the plane had been cassoulet.

"No, really, I don't want to eat European food. Let's go to that Chinese restaurant we always went to when we were students." Joshua froze at that moment, his heart inexplicably panicking. Suddenly, he couldn't remember which restaurant Marilyn was referring to.

"Hua Yuan Restaurant," Marilyn replied when she saw Joshua's face. For Marilyn, that reaction made her heart flutter, and she had a feeling of loss. "Have you forgotten?" she added with a smile. "It's a few blocks away, very close to Chinatown. You mentioned that it tasted like authentic Asian food."

Only then did Joshua react. She was referring to that place. He hadn't been there in over two years. That's right, since he took Astrid there once, he hadn't been back. Astrid... Astrid White... He wondered what that cheeky woman was doing at that moment. How annoying.

"How silly," he patted his forehead playfully, "how could I forget something so important?" He opened the car door affectionately for Marilyn. The Porsche drove smoothly along the highway. "In these few years, I see everything so differently, everything has changed so much," said Marilyn as she looked thoughtfully at the streets. "Yes, many things have changed, everything is different." Joshua looked at Marilyn as if he had guessed what she was thinking.

"Silly, what are you thinking? Even if all this has changed, we'll still be together." Hearing that statement, Marilyn turned her head to look at Joshua. His eyes were soft, as if he were openly declaring that she was Joshua's world. Before Marilyn even had time to respond, Joshua continued, "We're here already."

Marilyn didn't notice the sweat Joshua had left on the steering wheel due to his nervousness. Joshua was scared. He really feared being rejected once again, so this time he decided to be more cautious. Joshua didn't know that this path would change his whole life. He opened the car door for Marilyn and arrived at the restaurant they used to go to a long time ago. The restaurant owner was a heavyset man who approached Joshua when he saw him arrive.

"Mr. Steel, it's been a long time since I've seen you around here. The last time I saw you was two years ago." Joshua nodded in agreement. "The usual."

Only then did he notice the person standing next to Joshua. "How is Mrs. Astrid these days?" Joshua was perplexed. He did not expect that after two years, the restaurant owner would remember Astrid, whom he had only seen once. He remembered that when he brought Astrid here for the first and last time, the owner had asked why the person who had come with him before had not come. Looking at Marilyn's confused face, Joshua replied coldly, "Sir, she's not Astrid." The owner knew he had said something wrong, quickly apologized, and said nothing more. Joshua, in a state of panic, opened his mouth to explain, "Marilyn, listen to my explanation.

Mrs. Astrid is a customer. Her name is Astrid White..." I brought her here two years ago and haven't brought anyone else since. Then a customer, thinking about this, Joshua laughed coldly, "How could that waste of space be a customer? Bringing her here last time was a hassle. For that person, it was better to just give her instant soup to live on. Marilyn slowly raised her head and looked at Joshua. The tension was clearly visible on her face, but she let out a sigh of relief.

"You, this place is our secret. How could you bring someone else here?" After hearing Joshua's explanation, her heart felt relieved, and she didn't care too much. However, this meal felt different from the past, as if something was missing.