Chapter 86 Almost Flipped the Table
Hayden's face darkened.
Why did this guy have to provoke Joshua? What good did it do him?
He could already feel the chill radiating from Joshua threatening to freeze the entire hospital room.
Yet this rival somehow sat there completely calm. He was genuinely afraid Joshua might flip the table in a fit of rage.
Joshua walked over to the table, and Hayden's eyelid twitched.
Was he about to flip the table?
Then he felt that icy stare land on him.
Hayden felt his scalp tingle under Joshua's gaze. He looked up at Joshua. Why are you staring at me, Joshua?
Hayden's shoulders trembled slightly as he tentatively stood up.
Joshua's grim expression softened just a bit. He bent down and sat in Hayden's seat, right next to Ava.
Gilbert looked up.
"Would Mr. Thomas like some too?"
Joshua gave him a cool glance. "Don't you think you're in the way here?"
"Isn't it you who's in the way?" Gilbert stubbornly moved the bowl of porridge that had been pushed aside back in front of Ava. "Eat."
Joshua reached out, randomly grabbed a bowl from the row of porridge, and shoved it directly into Ava's hands. "Eat."
Ava was completely speechless.
Hayden covered his face with his hand. Joshua, who gives a girl something like that, just shoving it in her hands, then keeping a straight face like you're saying she has to finish it...
Before her was a table of steaming hot porridge, beside her a menacing Joshua, the air thick with tension, two men staring each other down like they might flip the table at any moment. Ava sat in the middle, feeling like she was on pins and needles.
Ava pressed her lips into a tight line, closed her eyes helplessly, and held the spoon, truly not knowing how to proceed.
It seemed like eating either bowl would be an offense to the other. She really didn't understand what these two men were doing, insisting on fighting over a bowl of porridge.
"Want me to feed you?"
Seeing her not moving, Joshua's expression darkened. His look clearly said: if you don't eat mine, don't think about leaving this table today.
Ava was utterly helpless.
She gently pressed her lips together. "There's so much, why don't you all eat together? Hayden, has Samuel eaten? If not, join us."
Ava's suggestion clearly displeased Joshua. He gave the two men a cool glance but said nothing.
Hayden's eyes lit up, and he grabbed Samuel who was about to speak. "Alright then, Ava, I'll eat with you."
After all, he'd been sent by Joshua early in the morning to buy porridge and hadn't eaten anything yet. This whole table of hot, fragrant porridge had been tempting him forever. Ava really cared about him.
Hayden grabbed a bowl without hesitation and started eating with his spoon.
So there were five people, crowded around a small table, each with a bowl of porridge in front of them. Except for Ava, the others looked completely out of place no matter how you looked at it, strange in every way.
Ava ate some from both bowls that had been placed in front of her.
The standoff was finally broken.
In the end, Ava didn't know how this bizarre breakfast concluded. Eventually Gilbert was called away by a nurse, and Hayden and Samuel, reading the room expertly, left the hospital room.
The spacious room was left with only Ava and Joshua sitting beside her. No matter what, Ava felt the atmosphere was strange. She was about to stand up when her wrist grew warm—Joshua had grabbed it.
Ava was guarded around Joshua, and after last night... Her already tense body flinched in fright. She turned back, her clear eyes looking at Joshua with a question.
Joshua's eyes looked at her quietly, their gazes unexpectedly colliding.
Ava stared at Joshua's handsome face calmly for a moment, then pressed her lips together. "They've all left. Isn't Mr. Thomas leaving?"
"No rush. Sit." Joshua's consistently low voice sounded.
Ava looked at him in surprise, a trace of confusion crossing her clear eyes.
"About what I mentioned last night—I didn't mean to force you. I know you have reservations about the past. You can stick to what you believe in, but what I believe in won't change either."
Ava looked at Joshua's cool, detached face and unconsciously froze for two seconds.
Such domineering words made Ava's heart pound.
She could stick to what she believed in, but what he believed in wouldn't change either.
Meaning, he wouldn't let go.
Ava's clear eyes trembled slightly. Her face remained calm, but inside she was a mess.
She gently rubbed her temples that had twitched twice, took a deep breath and let it out heavily.
"Joshua, I don't understand your reason for doing this."
His proposal to remarry really baffled Ava.
She looked at him.
At such close distance, no emotion could escape the other's eyes.
He deliberately restrained his usual coldness. She didn't know if it was her imagination, but Ava noticed that this usually arrogant and domineering Joshua today actually seemed a bit cautious.
Joshua's eyes looked at her quietly. After a long while, he lowered his gaze, his deep, magnetic voice sounding as beautiful as a cello, dangerously saying, "Perhaps it's because I want the woman by my side to be you, and always you."