What Separates Me and You

Chapter 24

What Separates Me and You

Chapter 24 He Doesn’t Want Us Anymore

Mr. Casio sighed. His heart ached for the young lady in front of him. Pushing the food to her, he urged, “Go on, tuck in. We don’t want the food to get cold.”

Josephine wiped her tears away and forced a smile.

She picked up a fork and ate hastily, stuffing her mouth.

From Mr. Casio’s point of view, she must have been starving for days.

As Josephine wolfed down the stroganoff, her tears kept falling into the plate and mixing in with the food that she ate.

The diner was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Casio, a middle–aged couple in their forties. They used to have a child, but the child had passed away due to a traffic accident.

They ran the diner and did what they could by trying their best to help people who couldn’t afford their meals.

Josephine sat in the diner for the entire afternoon and stayed on until after dark.

Mrs. Casio was quite worried about her, so she asked her husband, “This poor child, looks quite pitiful. Has she nowhere to go?”

“She can’t speak. I guess she’s looking for a job here.”

When most of the diners left for the night, Mrs. Casio approached Josephine. “Young lady, where do you stay?”

Josephine shook her head. She didn’t have a home. She hadn’t had one since she was five.

Mrs. Casio sighed. “Why don’t you stay here and work for us if you don’t have a place. to go? We have a storage room in the back where you can sleep. All you have to do is wash the dishes and keep the place clean during the day.”

Josephine was stunned. She looked at Mrs. Casio in wonder.

Mrs. Casio chuckled. “But we don’t make much too, so you’re not going to get any wages.”

Josephine nodded in agreement, and even though Mrs. Casio did not understand. sign language, Josephine still signed her a “Thank you“.

Mrs. Casio looked at her dazedly. She seemed to look past Josephine to a faraway place. “If my daughter was still alive, she’d be around your age.”

Josephine’s gaze was downcast as she kept silent.

They cleared out the storage room which had a metal bed frame in it. That was where they usually took a break after a long day in the diner.

There Josephine slept in the cramped storage room, and though it wasn’t as spacious and luxurious as Lewis‘ mansion, she felt an inexplicable sense of security.

She caressed her belly and thought to herself how nice it would be if Lewis didn’t come for her and she could keep staying here until the baby was born.

Lewis went home to an empty mansion that night. He looked down at his wristwatch. to find that it was almost midnight. And…the mute wasn’t home yet.

He went to the kitchen, and then to the bedroom upstairs, all to no avail. As he searched for her, his expression darkened.

At the thought of something, he hurried over to the walk–in wardrobe, pushed open the door, and found Josephine’s clothes still inside. His expression lightened up ever so slightly.

He went back to the living room and gave his assistant a call. “Find out where Josephine’s at.”

“Has Mrs. Alvarez gone missing?”

Lewis lit a cigarette and took a long drag. With a laugh, he said, “She’s enjoying a taste of freedom.”

Lewis‘ assistant could tell from his tone that something wasn’t right, so he immediately agreed and cut the call.

It wasn’t difficult to track her down. All they needed to do was to check the CCTV outside Playtime to know in which direction she went.

Then, they saw that she got down at the last station, and headed to the older

part

of

town, so they knew that Josephine had to be there.

Lewis‘ assistant stole a glance at him and saw that his gaze was fixed on the footage. displayed on the monitor. His face held no expression.

His assistant asked cautiously, “Should I bring Mrs. Alvarez back?”

“Nc. Freeze all her cards. Lewis shut off the CCTV footage and smirked. “Shell

come back when she’s had enough of a hard time.”

However, things did not seem to go as he wished.

The diner’s business wasn’t great per se, but still, it buzzed with customers after work hours. However, as they did not charge much for food, they did not make much. of a profit.

Josephine was very helpful and diligent. Not only did she wash the dishes in the

kitchen, but she would also clean the tables after diners left without being asked to..

Mr. and Mrs. Casio was very pleased with her work, and they even felt bad for not paying her any wages.

Contrary to what Lewis believed, Josephine did not go back because she was suffering. In fact, she actually enjoyed it there.

Mr. and Mrs. Casio treated her very well. They had their meals and went grocery shopping together. She had never felt this happy with Lewis.

It almost gave her the delusion that she finally had a home.

Mrs. Casio would teach her how to cook basic meals, but Josephine already knew how to do that.

Lewis was an extremely picky eater who could taste the most minute difference in each dish, so Josephine was always practicing her culinary skills after marriage. She trained herself to cook everything to suit his tastes.

Hence, after Josephine showed them what she could cook, Mrs. Casio was impressed. “Josie, you’ve learned to cook before, haven’t you?”

Josephine nodded as she smiled brightly.

“Not bad at all! Seems like we’ve wasted your talent by having you wash dishes! Should you be a chef here?”

Josephine waved her hands. She got nauseous at the smell of food these days, so she was worried that she might just throw up in the pot one day.

Just as Mr. Casio was about to say something, Josephine felt her stomach churn. She immediately rushed over to a corner where the rubbish bin was and started dry heaving.

She retched for quite a while, but all that came out was some bile.

Mrs. Casio came over to pat her on the back at the sight of that. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Josephine took a few breaths to steady herself before she straightened up and wiped her mouth. She touched her belly to gesture that she was pregnant.

Mrs. Casio gaped in astonishment and exclaimed, “You’re pregnant? Then… Where’s. your husband?”

Josephine pursed her lips as she took out her phone and started typing. “He doesn’t want us anymore.”

She did not think that there was anything wrong in putting it that way. She had left. for several days, and Lewis did not so much as send her a text message. Maybe he hadn’t even gone back to the mansion yet!

He was probably over the moon now that she was gone. This way, he had not broken. his promise to his grandfather and was still able to stay with Sierra without a care int the world.

Although that was all to be expected, Josephine still felt something weighing down. on her heart at the thought of that.

Mrs. Casio was obviously angered by what she saw. “Is he even a man? How irresponsible! He’s a bastard, that’s what he is! How could he let you fend for yourself out here? How can you live like this?”

Josephine’s gaze lowered. It seemed like everyone thought that she would never

survive once she left Lewis.

Mrs. Casio noticed her sadness and consoled her, “Don’t you worry, you just stay here and be at ease. You’ve got great culinary skills. It’ll be easy for you to find a job as a chef after you give birth to your child. You’ll make enough to support yourself and your child.”

Her words gave Josephine hope. She raised her head and met Mrs. Casio’s gaze

with a determined one. She nodded with a smile.

She had already started to plan for her future, but two weeks later, Lewis showed up. at the run–down diner.

When he caught sight of Josephine, she was crouched down on the ground washing dishes. Her grey sweatshirt looked like rags, and she had an apron around her waist. Her sleeves were rolled up, showing off her slender arms.

She had her back toward him, and her hair was tied up into a bun, so he was able to

see her bare neck.

Josephine wiped the sweat off her brows and transferred the clean dishes to

another pail. Her hands were still busy washing the plates in the sudsy and murky water in the basin.

Mrs. Casio came out with a plate of pasta in her hands when she caught sight of a

man with an elegant bearing standing at the entrance. She was somewhat surprised.

“Are you looking for someone?”

One look at him and she could tell that he did not belong there. Such was his elegance and poise.

Lewis said nothing and simply stared at Josephine’s figure as she busied herself with work.

But Josephine heard Mrs. Casio speak, so she turned around to look.