Caught In His Embrace: A Second Chance Romance

Chapter 135

Sienna swiped her phone open to read Cedric’s message first: [Sienna, I’ll sort things out at home. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me right now. I’ll show you that I’m not giving up on you.]

‘Why would he go to such lengths for me?‘ Sienna closed her eyes for a moment. She was moved by Cedric’s determination, yet it also made her

sad.

But she knew she shouldn’t reply to this message. She figured that if she kept ignoring him, he would eventually give up. Ending it now would hurt

him the least.

Then Sienna opened Josiah’s chat: [Sienna, I saw Cedric. Are you alright?]

She frowned. ‘How could he have seen Cedric? Wasn’t he gone? Did he go back? Why did he go back?‘

There was more to his message: [You left your headband in my car. I’m returning it to you.]

‘So that’s what happened. Sienna touched her wrist and noticed the headband was gone. She raised her fingers to reply: [No need. It’s just a headband. You can just throw it away.]

At that moment, Josiah sat in his car parked at the entrance of Lyceum Street. He held a plum–colored headband with some white plastic beads intertwined in it. After reading Sienna’s reply, he looked at the headband and muttered, “She doesn’t want it anymore?”

He picked up his phone and typed back: [I’m at the corner. I’ll bring it to you, and it’s no trouble.]

Sienna replied quickly: [No need, really, and I’m not on 12th Avenue now.]

‘Not on 12th Avenues

Josiah suddenly tensed, quickly realizing that Sienna might have seen Cedric and was avoiding him. Josiah’s lips curled into a slight smile, and a trace of unbidden excitement passed through his heart. [Then where are you?]

[At a friend’s place.] Sienna typed back, not providing a specific address.

Josiah pondered, wondering if asking more would make Sienna find him annoying. After a while, he decided to let it go. Even if he knew the address, he could do nothing about it.

[I got it.] Josiah put down the phone, rolled down the car window, and extended his arm outside, holding the headband. There was a trash can by the roadside; with a slight toss, he could throw it away.

But, after pausing for two seconds, Josiah pulled his arm back. He gently rubbed the headband in his hand, not willing to throw it away.

He then started the car and hit the road. When he passed TeeMall, he stopped and went to the women’s boutique.

As soon as the sales assistant at TeeMall saw him, she exclaimed silently, ‘Mr. Flynn? The Boss is here. She quickly called the supervisor to assist him.

“Mr. Flynn, you’re welcome,” The supervisor greeted Josiah with a big smile. “Is there anything you need?”

“Just in time.” Josiah rubbed his forehead, surprised by the overwhelming number of women’s items. He picked up the headband in his hand and asked, “Can you see if there’s one like this?”

“Well…” The supervisor took the headband from him and examined it carefully. “We have some that look similar, but they’re not exactly the same.”

“Let me see,” Josiah said flatly.

“Alright.” The supervisor turned around and quickly asked the assistant to fetch them. Soon, the assistant returned with a tray, arranging them for Josiah to choose from. “Mr. Flynn, have a look, these are the styles that are quite similar.”

“Okay.” Josiah nodded, and carefully checked each one before finally picking the one that looked the closest. “I’ll take this one.”

“Alright, would you like it gift–wrapped?” the supervisor asked.

“No need. Just hand it to me. Josiah said. He knew rapping it would make it seem too serious, and Sienna definitely wouldn’t accept it.

The supervisor smiled, “Okay, please sign here. It’s $513.”

The headband looked like the one Sienna had, but hers had plastic beads while this one featured Tayitian pearls, which made the price vastly different. Josiah signed the receipt, took the headband, and left TeeMall.

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6:55 PM

Chapter 135

*****

Back at the Flynn residence, Josiah first went to see Miranda, and then went to Howard’s room.

At this moment, Howard was in the bathroom, leaning back on a shampoo chair while Yvette was getting ready to wash his hair. “You’re here, Josiah?” Yvette smiled.

“Hey, Howard, Yvette,” Josiah greeted.

Yvette was rolling up her sleeves when her phone suddenly rang. “Well, I’ll take this call. You can chat with Howard for a bit. I’ll be right back.” With that, she walked out with her phone in hand.

“Okay,” Josiah replied as he pulled out a chair and sat down, resting his arm on the back. In front of Howard, he still faintly showed that “little boy” from back in the day.

Taking advantage of Yvette’s absence, Josiah lowered his voice conspiratorially, “Lately, I heard you’ve had Hervey looking for someone?” He didn’t go snooping. It was just when Hervey was searching, Zach picked up on it. No intentional digging, just vague news.

Howard stiffened, his brow furrowing slightly in confusion. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t.

“Huh?” Josiah noticed Howard seemed nervous and curiously asked, “You’re not looking for a girl, are you?”

“Non… Non…” Howard got excited, his throat emitting indistinct sounds.

“Nonsense?” Josiah caught the hint and raised an eyebrow. He teased, “Don’t get so worked up. I know you’ve got Yvette now, and I’m just joking around. Relax. I won’t say anything to stir things up with her.”

As for who Howard was searching for, Josiah decided not to push. If Howard didn’t want to share, that was fine with him.

Just then, Yvette came in after finishing her phone call. “What are you talking about?”

“Just chatting,” Josiah smiled and stood up. “I won’t disturb you anymore.” He turned to leave, but something fell from him onto the floor.

Yvette opened her mouth, ready to call him back. But then she noticed it was a pearl headband.

‘Isn’t that something women wear? Why would Josiah have this?‘ She frowned as she picked it up and realized it looked brand new.

From behind, Howard let out a hoarse voice. “%&…”

“Coming.” Yvette snapped back to reality, lifted her hand, and tied up her long hair with the headband. “Got impatient? I’ll wash your hair now.”

Only when Josiah got back to his room did he realize that the new headband he bought for Sienna was missing. ‘What happened? Where did it go?” He searched everywhere, even went back to check the car, but it was nowhere to be found.

‘Could it be left in Howard’s room? Then it wouldn’t be good to bother him, Josiah thought and decided to just buy another one later.

At 7 PM, Sienna was putting on makeup, getting ready for her performance later.

Just then, Rosie came in, pointing towards the door. “Someone’s outside asking for you.” She lowered her voice. “It’s a cute guy.”

Sienna immediately guessed who it was. “Rosie, could you please tell him I won’t see him and ask him to leave?”

“Huh?” Rosie was a little surprised, but she nodded. “Alright then.” She turned and headed out to the door where Cedric was waiting.

Cedric looked hopeful at first. But upon seeing Rosie, he turned disappointed. “Sienna won’t see me.”