0.1 | No Exit from Deception ✓

0.01 | Love Is A Waste Of Time

"Is it true that you completed the Pullman Project in just three days?"

To say, Joseph Holden was many things wouldn't be an overstatement. The senior management at the mansion stood with their perspiring foreheads, watching him ascend to the top and acquire the most sensitive appointment at the young age of twenty-seven. Katherine Warner's assistant with no multiple professional degrees and white hair! wasn't any easy feat at all.

To his credit, he even provided trusted bits of advice on personal topics but was not a counselor. He had zero experience with vehicles but took to the steering wheel like a professional chauffeur. He stood with the medicines in hand, even before Mrs Warner caught 2.5/5 symptoms of migraine. As a result, Mrs Warner came to treat him as her eldest son.

In the realm of work, he had tackled the burdensome ties of business with his sharp conscience, strong wisdom, and quietness which never produced any arrears so far.

Well, this was Joseph for his colleagues, Mrs Warner, and the rest of the world.

But his alter ego . . . had a different story to share.

Mrs. Warner who was dressed like a particularly fragile Wedgewood vase entered from a door of the great room - a soaring, 1,500-square-foot space with floor-to-ceiling windows and an adjoining deck that overlooked the crowns of artistic giant sequoias.

"Tell me, Joseph, why do you work this hard?"

Joseph was rooted at his workstation like always. His eyes danced across the laptop screen as he was checking the redrafted email for the third time. What was monotony for other people, Joseph equated it with vigor. As a result, many lived with the impression that he was a victim of excessive work disorder, and, well, he was glad that they thought that way.

"I believe in hard work, Mrs Warner. Besides, I . . . owe you a lot."

"No, that's not hard work, Joseph. That's called overwork and you are mixing the two." She nodded her head while wagging a finger at two shapeless objects in the air. "You see, sometimes your passion forces me to rethink if you are going too hard on yourself. I understand it comes naturally to you." She spoke after a while, picking up a book and wondering about what she was going to say, "Still, consider going on a vacation. There's Hunter, Kevin, Ahmad─ they are the seasoned workers, too." Her face withered. Could she survive without him?

Katherine Warner came from old money and had earned her space in elite business magazines around the globe. Currently, she had been the leading name behind the homeless children's organization called 'Nurture Youth'. She played a greater role in building her husband's real-estate empire. Revenues and royalties had been the road signs so far. But now, at the age of sixty, she had moved past the provocative worldly pleasures and had only two consistent mottos in her life. One, she had decided to dedicate every single breath of hers to providing all sorts of facilities to orphan children alongside promoting child rights. Second, she had a shattered, unrealistic, and dormant hope of reuniting with her daughter, Elizabeth Warner someday.

"Will that make any difference?"

She turned to face him. "Exploring a new place. Getting a good dose of vitamin D. And more importantly, attending social gatherings full of beautiful girls will surely help you make out a difference. Time is fleeting away. I'm waiting to hear the wedding bells ring in each corner of this mansion in celebration."

He had willingly tossed his personal life on the back burner, for his obsession stayed at one crime, that no one would ever suspect him for.

Joseph let out an obvious breath. Mrs Warner's motion depicted her stark disbelief with his statement, which was, "Then I strongly believe I'm in a healthy relationship with my-" Even as he nonchalantly swung his arm, his gaze brushed off his wristwatch.