Angela tried to squash the jealousy bubbling up inside her as she approached. "Josephine."
Josephine glanced at her, realizing for the first time that as long as she was strong enough, nothing and no one could mess with her head. She smiled. "What's up?"
Seeing Josephine's confident smile made Angela want to rip her apart. But she had to swallow that feeling and reluctantly said, "I'm here to ask for your forgiveness."
Josephine got it but wasn't about to bring it up herself. "Why?"
"Back then, you saved Stuart," Angela said, struggling with the words. "But all these years, he thought it was me."
Admitting this was like pulling teeth for Angela. She'd taken credit and reaped the benefits for years. Now, giving it all up felt like a death sentence.
"Stuart thought it was you?" Josephine laughed bitterly. "How could he get that so wrong?"
Angela held back her anger. "Do you really want me to spell it out?"
Josephine said, "You said you came to ask for my forgiveness. Is this how you apologize?"
Angela's face twisted with effort. She gritted her teeth. "Fine, it was my fault back then. I agreed to Robin's plan to pretend I was Stuart's savior."
"Robin?" Josephine asked. "It was his idea?"
"Yeah!" Angela, thinking 'if I'm going down, you're coming with me,' didn't hesitate to throw Robin under the bus. "He threatened me. If I told Stuart the truth, he'd go after my family!"
Josephine stayed silent.
Angela went on, "You know, our business isn't as strong as the Bailey family's. He threatened me. What was I supposed to do?"
"You act like you had no choice. If you had told Stuart the truth, would he have allowed Robin to harm your family?"
Angela looked at her. "You don't get it! Stuart liked you, Robin liked you too. How could you understand unrequited love?"
Josephine almost laughed. How could she not understand? She'd spent three years in a marriage with Stuart, dealing with the pain of unrequited love.
She thought, if Stuart had known she was the one who saved him, would she have faced his coldness all these years? In the end, Angela was the root cause of all this.
But now, looking at Angela, Josephine didn't feel hatred. It just felt like fate messing with them.
Angela was pretty pitiful. It would be best if this secret stayed buried forever, but she couldn't make that happen.
The worst thing for someone wasn't losing everything. It was climbing to the top and then crashing down hard.
Angela faced a bleak future, but she had no one to blame but herself. Her own selfishness and greed had brought her to this point.
Angela kept going, "God is so unfair. I'm just as beautiful and talented as you. Why do they only see you? Even the chance to save someone fell to you! If I'd been there, I would've saved him too!"
Josephine looked at her calmly. "Saving him was no walk in the park. One misstep, and I could've been toast."
It was a case of mishandling, accidentally triggering the switch for the toxic gas, which led to Stuart's collapse.
That was one of the reasons the military base kept it all hush-hush.
Angela was floored. She had no clue about any of this.
Josephine smiled. "You say you love him and approached him this way. Fine, I get it. But is your love that shallow? Did it only move you?"
Angela shook her head. "No! I've been alone all these years for him! I've been waiting for him!"
"Waiting only matters if it's mutual, right? You hid behind a fake identity as his savior, stayed away, and never got involved in his life. Is that love?"
Angela gritted her teeth. "You wouldn't understand! Do you think I didn't want to be part of his life? I..."
"You can stop right there," Josephine interrupted. "I'm really busy. If you're here to apologize, sure, I forgive you."
Angela was dumbfounded, in disbelief. "You, you forgive me?"
Josephine nodded, heading towards the door. "If that's all, I'm out."
"Wait!" Angela called out. "You really forgive me?"
Josephine said, "Is there any doubt?"
"No," Angela said. "I did such a thing, and you just forgive me?"
Angela thought that if she were in Josephine's shoes, she'd want the person who stole her credit to suffer.
"What else?" Josephine said. "Punish you? I don't have the time. Besides, you don't seem to be doing well now, and that's enough."
"Josephine!" Angela roared. "You really can't stand to see me doing well! Even if you saved Stuart and I took your credit, besides that, I never did anything to wrong you!"
"Should I thank you?" Josephine sneered. "You came to apologize, I forgave you, and you're still not satisfied?"
Angela said, "I've apologized. Can't you and Stuart put in a good word for me? Is that too much to ask?"
Josephine looked at her incredulously. "You want me to plead for you? Angela, do you really think I'm that foolish?"
"I've apologized. What more do you want?" Angela said. "He knows you saved him, and your relationship will definitely get better! I'm just the sacrificial lamb."
Josephine found it laughable. "And you feel wronged?"
Angela said, "I'll back off and never interfere in your relationship again! I know I was wrong before. What more do you want? Do you want me to lose everything to make you happy?"
"Angela, you're a grown-up. Isn't it absurd to spout such nonsense? We all have to face the consequences of our actions."
"So you're just going to watch our family go bankrupt? Josephine, how can you be so heartless!"
Josephine looked at her with amusement. "Who messes up and then has the guts to blame others? Check yourself before you start pointing fingers!"
"You!"
Josephine continued, "Angela, what you did almost changed a person's entire life. Don't you think you were terribly wrong? Have you ever thought about how serious this mistake was?"
"In the end, you still won't forgive me!"
Josephine, no longer willing to engage, turned around and locked eyes with the person before her, her gaze widening. "Stuart? You... what are you doing here?"