Chapter 219

Chapter 219

Ella casually tossed her coat to Joshua without looking at him or saying a word.

She walked straight past him, holding each child by the hand as she entered the house, a smile slowly appearing on her face. "How was your holiday? Were you bored at home?" she asked gently.

"Should I find some time to take you abroad?"

Aurora looked up at her. "To Uncle Michael's place?"

"Yes, Aurora's so smart."

Hearing Michael's name again, Aurora couldn't help but glance back at Joshua, her eyes full of sympathy.

She immediately refused. "I don't want to go."

"Why not? Uncle Michael really misses you."

"I just don't want to go."

"Aurora, don't forget, you only survived because Uncle Michael saved you. He gave you a second chance. We need to be grateful." Ella patiently tried to persuade Aurora.

Joshua followed behind like an assistant, silently holding her coat. Hearing her plan to take the kids abroad, his heart felt like it was being squeezed tight, but he didn't dare speak up against it at this moment.

He knew that otherwise, Ella would get angry again and punish him.

After entering the house, Joshua immediately went upstairs to get the loungewear she wanted to change into.

Ella let the kids play in the living room. When she went upstairs to the walk-in closet, she saw that Joshua had already selected clothes and was waiting quietly on the side.

She glanced over, took the clothes and changed, while asking coldly, "Is the wound on your head better?"

Joshua nodded. "Yeah, much better."

"Did you learn your lesson this time? Will you dare hide my phone again?"

Joshua answered quietly, "I won't."

As Ella finished changing and was about to change shoes, she saw Joshua kneel down on one knee, wanting to personally help her put them on.

Standing on one foot, she was a bit unsteady and instinctively reached out to steady herself on Joshua's head, just happening to see the gauze wrapped around the back of his head with a small patch of blood seeping through.

Ella reached out, her fingertips lightly touching that spot, and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Joshua answered, "No."

Ella smiled. After he stood up, she raised her hand and patted his cheek. "If you'd just been this obedient all along, why suffer like this? Since you knelt all night yesterday, don't worry, I'll behave myself and have the baby before I leave."

She turned and left in her elegant silk dress, her posture graceful.

Joshua followed behind her and said sincerely, "Thank you."

Hearing this "thank you," Ella couldn't help but look back at him again, but only smiled and said nothing more.

Actually, deep down, she felt that a partner like Joshua was pretty good—obedient, compliant, and gentle and considerate, basically willing to do anything for her.

Too bad she didn't love him.

The person she loved Michael.

No matter how good a person is, if your heart doesn't hold them, living together is torture. Now, Ella's thoughts were completely controlled by that parasite, all her consciousness telling her that the person she loved was Michael. No one could stop her from going to him.

Even if it meant becoming a shameless woman despised by others, even if it meant being against the whole world, she would break through all obstacles to rush toward that man.

In the dining room, the family of four looked warm and harmonious on the surface. But no one spoke at the table, and a silent sadness permeated among the father and the two children.

Aurora looked at Ella again and firmly stated her position. "Mom, I know Uncle Michael saved me. When I grow up, I'll work hard to earn money to repay him. But right now, I don't want to see him."

Dorian chimed in, "I don't want to go either."

Ella looked at them without insisting. She turned her gaze to Joshua instead. "What about you?"

Joshua was a bit surprised. "You want to take me too?"

Ella smiled. "Yes. Michael said there might be some misunderstanding between you two. He wants to apologize to you in person and hopes to make peace with you."

Joshua fell silent.

If he went along, would he even come back? On Michael's turf, he'd have no chance to fight back. Michael not getting rid of him would be good enough—how could they possibly coexist peacefully?

Between them, only one person could remain standing.

But to avoid making Ella angry, Joshua also forced a smile. "How about this—you have him come here, and I'll definitely treat him well."

Ella frowned. "He said you injured his leg and he can't come."

Joshua smiled again. "We're so far apart, how could I possibly hurt him? Has everyone forgotten how he injured me back then, making me lie in bed for three years?"

Ella still defended Michael. "That wasn't his intention, don't take it to heart. Since your leg is fine, I'll ask him again if he's willing to come over."

She served food to the children and continued, "If he's still unwilling to come, then I'll just have to go there myself."

Joshua didn't respond. He extremely hated discussing Michael with her. If he really dared come to this city, he swore he'd make him experience lying in bed for three years too.

After dinner, Dorian personally changed the dressing on Joshua's head wound. The wound was somewhat seriously infected, and he handled it very carefully.

Aurora and Ella both watched from the side. Ella showed no reaction, but Aurora puffed out her cheeks in anger, looking unhappily at her mother. "Mom, look what you did to Dad! You should apologize to Dad."

Ella was indifferent. "Who told him to disobey and hide my phone? He brought this on himself."

"That's only because you keep contacting Uncle Michael! You're Dad's wife, you should only be with Dad, you can't be two-timing like this!" Aurora spoke righteously, feeling indignant for Joshua.

Ella looked at Joshua's dim, hurt eyes without a trace of guilt, and said frankly, "Your dad and I aren't even married. Besides, I don't love him at all—he's the one who insists on keeping me here. How can this be called two-timing?"

She glanced at the time, stood up and dropped a sentence: "I need to call Uncle Michael now, you guys keep Dad company yourselves."

She didn't care about the children's opinions at all, picked up her phone, and went upstairs. Ella couldn't imagine that someday in the future, when she returned to normal and looked back on how she treated the children and Joshua now, she would be devastated with pain.

Watching her retreating figure, Joshua felt like his heart was being pierced by countless needles. He thought he could not care how she humiliated him, but when he heard her say with his own ears that she didn't love him and only had Michael in her heart, he still felt a wave of suffocating pain.

"Dad, Mom is too much! She already agreed to marry you, so she's your wife." Aurora cried grievously. "I hate Mom the way she is now."

Joshua held her in his arms and patiently explained, "Mom is only like this because she's sick, let's not hold it against her. When she gets better, she'll go back to how she was before."

Aurora didn't quite understand, but still tried hard to hold back her tears, nestling in Joshua's arms.

Dorian finished bandaging the wound and remembered the information he'd found on the dark web. He put away the medical kit and said to Joshua, "I heard there's something in the world called a 'love parasite.' Do you know about it?"

Joshua looked at him and shook his head.

Dorian continued to explain, "It's a specially cultivated parasite. If you put it in someone's body, that person will uncontrollably fall in love with another person."

Although he didn't quite understand what "love" was yet, Ella's obsession with Michael looked very abnormal. The hypnotist Joshua had brought in before also said Ella's behavior had little to do with hypnosis. So he suspected that Ella might have been given a love parasite by Lena.

Joshua was stunned, looking at Dorian in shock. "You're saying there's a bug inside your mom's body?"

Although he'd never heard of any love parasite, since Dorian could say these things, it was very likely real. Whatever the reason, he had to investigate and solve it.

Dorian nodded. "Yes. So tomorrow, let's take Mom to the hospital for a checkup to see if she really has that thing in her body."

Joshua agreed without thinking. "Okay, I'll take your mom to the hospital tomorrow." He asked Dorian curiously, "Dorian, how did you know about this?"

Dorian's eyes flickered for a moment, then he casually covered up, saying, "I saw it by chance while scrolling through short videos. I'm just guessing, but either way, taking Mom for a checkup can't hurt."

Joshua agreed.

That night back in the room, after helping Ella wash up and making love, he leaned against the headboard and tentatively suggested, "Ella, let's go to the hospital tomorrow for a prenatal checkup, okay?"

If he directly asked her to get a physical examination, she'd likely refuse. But using a prenatal checkup as the reason, she shouldn't object.

Ella was on her phone messaging Michael, not even looking up. "What prenatal checkup? I don't feel uncomfortable. With so many nutritionists monitoring me every day, are you still worried something's wrong with the baby?"

Joshua carefully moved closer to her, nuzzling her with his body, softening his voice to act cute. "Getting a checkup will put both our minds at ease, right? Please? You just need to come with me, it'll be quick and won't take much of your time."

He knew that even pregnant, Ella had a strong sex drive. Although he really minded that she was thinking about Michael, to make her compromise, Joshua took the initiative to kiss her, coaxing, "When we get back, I'll give you whatever you want."

Ella was kissed into a daze, her phone sliding to the side. She raised her hands to cup Joshua's handsome face, her cheeks flushing. "Really?"

Joshua nodded.

"So I can do anything to you?" Ella asked with a playful smile.

Joshua nodded again.

Ella smiled. "Okay then, let's sleep."

She used voice command to turn off the lights, signaling Joshua to get under the covers. To make sure she'd cooperate well tomorrow, Joshua was especially attentive tonight.

Ella didn't understand what was wrong with her. Her mind was clearly full of Michael, yet her body couldn't resist Joshua's teasing at all. Sometimes she felt pretty shameless herself, but she just couldn't control it.