Chapter 18
The next day, Josephine had an uneventful day at work but received an invitation from Gideon in the evening. After some thought, she decided to accept.
Gideon had rented out an entire restaurant, preparing steak, wine, flowers, and music—the whole place oozed romance. He wore a formal suit while Josephine showed up in casual clothes and sneakers, creating a stark contrast. He didn't mind, politely pulling out a chair for her.
"Have a seat."
They sat facing each other, and Gideon produced a bouquet of flowers like a magician. Blue roses—her favorite—with a color as clear as the ocean. But looking at them now, she felt nothing. She hadn't come for a date.
"Jojo, I've been thinking," Gideon said seriously. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted you. I apologize."
"Apologies aren't just words," Josephine replied.
He was pleased she was responding. "Tell me what you want me to do."
"You'll agree to whatever I want?"
"Yes," Gideon answered without hesitation.
Josephine laughed coldly to herself while maintaining a calm exterior. "I want to join the core team of the Hera System project."
Gideon's immediate response was: "Jojo, don't be ridiculous."
The Hera System was R&D's flagship project, their top priority. But no one understood it better than Josephine. The project was originally called Dawn before Gideon took ownership and renamed it Hera System—a pretentious name. Named after the jealous queen of Greek mythology, it seemed to declare absolute control over women's domains, carrying an ominous meaning.
In reality, the system was a deep learning algorithm for medical image diagnostic assistance. Its core was a dynamic semantic analysis model that Josephine's team had painstakingly built for medical applications.
Unlike simple AI recognition systems on the market, Hera was designed to "understand" the extremely subtle textures and dynamic changes in mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs that even the human eye struggled to detect.
It not only flagged suspicious lesions but generated quantitative analysis reports on malignancy probability and development trends by comparing massive historical data.
This was one of her most socially valuable and technologically forward-thinking contributions to Gideon's company. Yet her brainchild was in the hands of an incompetent like Marshall.
Entrusting a device that could determine the fate and happiness of countless women to someone who couldn't even read the manual—and expecting him to maintain and upgrade it? It was a disaster.
"Jojo, if you really want to work on something, I can give you other less critical projects, but not this one."
"This is the only one I want."
Gideon slowly put down the blue rose. "I can't let you mess around with this."
"Gideon, have you ever believed in me?"
"I..."
Josephine gave a small, sarcastic laugh. "You haven't. You don't believe anything I say. You think I'm just being moody. You'd rather believe I'm being difficult than accept that I genuinely want to work on the Hera System, that I truly want to contribute something for women."
"But you don't understand research..."
"What I don't understand, I can learn. What I don't know, I can study. What I'm unfamiliar with, I can ask about." Josephine emphasized each word. "Was anyone born a genius? Besides, how do you know I don't understand? Yesterday's data was my best answer, but you wouldn't believe it."
After a long silence, Gideon asked, "Did you really do that data work?"
"Why would I lie about that?"
Gideon believed her on this point. He might have initially thought she was being temperamental, but Josephine wasn't someone who would repeatedly insist on a lie. After years of marriage, he had at least that much trust in her.
Seeing his hesitation, Josephine lowered her eyes, feigning dejection. "Forget it. If my own husband doesn't believe in me, how can I expect others to? If you don't want me there, I'll stop going to the company. Tomorrow I'll start sending out resumes. Someone will hire me."
"No!"
Gideon immediately rejected this idea. It seemed that compared to losing control over her, the Hera System wasn't that important after all.
"Fine, I agree."
Josephine slowly raised her eyes. "Really?"
"Really." Gideon took her hand. "Now can you enjoy dinner with me?"
For this project, she would endure it. "Alright," she said, lowering her gaze.
---
The next day, Gideon personally escorted Josephine to R&D and announced in front of everyone that she was officially joining the Hera System research team.
This sudden appointment sparked discontent among her colleagues. Marshall was the first to object. "Everyone has been working day and night on this project. The people on this team are all top-tier talents. What does Ms. Kennedy have? Why should she be allowed in?"
Gideon gave him a cold glance. "I'm here to inform you, not to ask for opinions." His decision was final. He wouldn't allow anyone to change it or oppose it—pure authoritarianism.
Marshall had no choice but to accept it, though he later ran to Lorelei, who was at home nursing her pregnancy.
"You're just sitting at home while Josephine's already at the company! If this continues, everyone will know she's the CEO's wife, and you're nothing!"
Lorelei was shocked. "She really went?"
"Yes! Why would I lie?"
This didn't make sense to Lorelei. In her mind, Josephine was strong-willed and principled. Learning that her husband had cheated and fathered a child, she should be demanding a divorce. But instead...
This development, so different from what she'd expected, made Lorelei increasingly anxious. She couldn't sit still anymore.
---
That night, Josephine was reviewing documents on the couch, trying to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Hera System, when the doorbell rang.
She opened the door to find Gideon. He walked right in, took off his coat, and tossed it on the sofa, acting completely at home—as if he planned to stay.
Josephine remained composed. "I don't have extra blankets or a spare room for you."
"I wasn't planning on sleeping separately."
He was blunt.
She was equally direct. "And I wasn't planning on sleeping with you."
"Jojo." Gideon approached her, suddenly pulling her into his arms and kissing her ear. The more she struggled, the tighter he held her.
"I've granted your request... don't you think you should give me something in return?"
Otherwise, he wouldn't be happy.
Josephine gritted her teeth slightly, then said, "I need to review these documents late into the night. I don't have time for this. You care so much about the Hera System—don't you want me to do a good job?"
Only then did Gideon notice all the documents on the sofa. His heart softened. "You're working so hard."
Before Josephine could respond, she was swept off her feet as Gideon picked her up.
"What are you doing?"
"The documents can wait."
Gideon had made up his mind. He wasn't leaving tonight, and he wouldn't let her sleep separately.
Seeing his intense, familiar gaze, Josephine panicked inside. She absolutely didn't want to sleep with him! He was tainted!
Just as she was struggling with what to do, Gideon's phone rang. Josephine quickly pulled it out. The screen showed an unknown number with no saved contact.
Gideon froze mid-step.
Though there was no name, Josephine knew this was Lorelei's number.