What Separates Me and You

Chapter 261

Chapter 261 She’s So Far Away

Lewis smoked quietly for a while before his lips curled into a smile. “That’s easy. You and your family can just move to another country. Problem solved.”

Derek’s eyes became as wide as saucers. He finally realized that it was Lewis’ actual goal.

Once he became the owner of Moss Corporation, he would then exile the Moss family to an overseas country, thus snuffling any possibilities of them making a grand return once and for

all

Now that everything finally clicked into place, Derek couldn’t help but laugh through gritted teeth. “I see. As expected of you, Lewis Alvarez.”

He stood up from the couch and furiously stomped out of the office.

Lewis ignored the furious man who just left the office. Instead, he tilted his head to glance at Seth, who had yet to go.

“You seem to have so much free time on your hands today, Mr. Fairchild. Have you started your holidays in advance?”

Seth shrugged casually while smiling at Lewis. “I’m here to receive Derek on your behalf, Chairman Alvarez. Or could it be that you’re hoping for someone else to receive him?”

The “someone else” that Seth was referring to could only mean one person.

Lewis replied, “I was hoping that he’d be the one receiving him.”

Seth raised an eyebrow in response, having immediately understood the underlying meaning

in Lewis’ reply.

If Kiran did end up working with Derek, the latter would transfer him his shares. Knowing Kiran, he would never merge Moss Corporation with Alvarez Corp. If he were to merge Moss Corporation with an international company that was based in an overseas country, the procedures he needed to go through would be more problematic and complicated unless Kiran decided to take over Moss Corporation as an individual. Once he did that, Lewis would have a

perfect reason to kick him out of Alvarez Corp.

Hence, all Kiran had been doing recently was stirring up trouble as much as he could. He wanted to prevent Derek from giving the shares to Lewis. Either that, or he could prevent Lewis from signing the contract.

Seth nodded in response. “Alright, then I’ll resume my work. I’ve already compiled the information you sent to me previously. When are we traveling to Hardington?”

“In three days.”

Seth hummed in response before shooting a meaningful look in Lewis’ direction. Even though

he was unable to discern anything based on the latter’s expression, he still stared at him for a couple of seconds before leaving the office.

That evening, Lewis returned to Styx Mansion.

It was his third time going home over the past half a month.

Josephine happened to be watching television at that time. It was an episode of Looney Tunes, but she still leaned against the couch, looking quite bored. At the same time, she spaced out while staring at the screen.

She quickly snapped out of her trance the moment she heard Mrs. Larson greeting Lewis respectfully. Then, she managed to prop herself upward and sat on the couch properly before turning her head to look at the silhouette standing at the doorway.

Instead of going upstairs right away, Lewis decided to approach Josephine and sit beside her.

Both of them kept staring at each other the whole time.

Josephine scanned Lewis’ features, hoping to find any trace of familiarity. Unfortunately, his expression was still cold as ever. There was no spark of the old Lewis tucked away in his visage.

Many days had passed, yet Josephine had never seen him smile before.

Whenever Lewis used to spend time with her in the past, he tended to have a small smile curled on his lips. Affection always glinted in his eyes whenever he looked at her.

Now, there was nothing but coldness in his eyes. They looked even colder than the melting snow outside the mansion.

Josephine’s gaze caused Lewis’ expression to darken immediately.

Suddenly, his hand shot out to grip her chin tightly. “What exactly are you looking for?”

Pain flared from Josephine’s chin, prompting her to shove him away subconsciously. Unfortunately, she lacked physical strength and could not push him away even by an inch.

It was difficult having to communicate with a mute. Those who had come in contact with Josephine in the past probably shared the same thought.

Her silence was often the fuel that ignited everyone’s flames of fury.

Lewis released her chin but moved to caress a thumb across her cheek. Naturally, she tried to dodge it as well.

He latched his fingers around Josephine’s cheeks effortlessly before turning her back so that he could force her to look at him. Then, Lewis asked again, “Do you know who I am?”

Josephine remained silent.

She had no idea who the man before her was. Perhaps she did know, but she didn’t want to admit who he was.

Lewis fell silent after that. His gaze flitted from one spot to another on Josephine’s face. At the same time, he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t even utter a word.

The young woman reached out all of a sudden and placed her hand on his cheek.

Her hand was very soft, as though it was made of jelly.

Josephine’s hand then slid up to Lewis’ brows, where she started massaging the spot between his brows with one thumb, hoping to smooth down the crease that formed the frown.

Surprised, Lewis continued gazing at her passionately while letting her do whatever she

wanted with him.

Then, Josephine’s hand slid down slowly before stopping right on the corner of his mouth. After that, she pushed both corners upward with her fingers so that a smile would appear.

It was as though she was fiddling around with a doll by arranging it to make a pose she was

satisfied with. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Even after Lewis’ lips were curled into a smile, Josephine was unable to detect any hint of cheer and joy in that expression. It was then she realized that the person she was looking for

would never, ever return to her side.

At that moment, she felt Lewis gripping her wrist and removing her hand from his face. The corners of his mouth were quickly pressed into a familiar, cold line in an instant.

“Josephine, I’m going to repeat myself. Don’t play dumb with me. Just stay here obediently. I don’t care if I’m the person you’re looking for. From now on, I’m the only one you need. Do you hear me?”

A frown slowly appeared on Josephien’s features as she listened to Lewis’ order. Anger slowly seeped into her eyes as well.

Suddenly, she twisted her wrist and tried to yank it out of the man’s grip forcefully.

However, Lewis maintained an iron-clad grip on her. Instead, he pulled her toward him and moved to grip her chin once again. “Have you remembered what I said?”

Josephine kept shaking her head wildly while struggling defiantly against Lewis. She was practically mustering as much energy as she could to escape from him.

Having lost his patience, Lewis scooped her into his arms and headed upstairs.

He kicked the bedroom door open and tossed her onto the bed. Before Josephine could get up, he moved forward and gripped her wrists, thus pinning her down on the bed.

“Let me ask you one more time. Who am I?”

With reddened eyes, Josephine studied the cold expression belonging to the man before her. Then, she turned her head away, refusing to look at him.

She refused to admit that he was Lewis Alvarez.

It was as though he would never be Lewis, and it was as though she refused to acknowledge it.

Lewis responded by turning Josephine’s head back forcefully to face him. As he stared into her eyes, he slowly spat out, “You know better than anyone else who I am. You think you can continue fooling yourself into thinking that the old Lewis is still around by refusing to acknowledge my identity?”

Josephine stiffened up, completely forgetting to struggle at that moment.

“Josephine, we can’t go back to the old times. We just can’t, you know?” Lewis’ voice became. tender as he leaned into the crook of her neck. He wasn’t really talking to her per se; it was

more like a conversation with himself.

“This has gone on long enough. It’s time to stop.”

His hot breath was sprayed against Josephine’s ear, his tone filled with nothing but exhaustion. His voice was so weak at the end of his sentences that she could barely hear him.

The moment Josephine heard those words, she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore.

She was unable to accept that reality. How could she ever accept it?

In her perception, the Lewis from the day before was still smiling affectionately at him. He

devoted all of his attention to her.

However, the moment Josephine opened her eyes, Lewis had turned into a completely different person. He no longer paid attention to her. The space between them was forcibly torn, thus forming a rift that separated them. Lewis had already retreated to the shore that she

could never reach no matter what.

That man chose to abandon her. He even traveled a long distance on his own.

The rift was too deep for her to cross.

If Josephine were to accept this reality, did that mean she would have to stay where she was while staring at the unfamiliar version of Lewis, who guarded the other shore?

He refused to return to her side, yet he didn’t want her to go looking for him.

What should she do? She had no idea what to do.

Josephine turned her head away as tears started streaming down the corners of her eyes. She then stared at the man’s face while raising her hands gingerly to slowly gesture her question.

“Why? Why doesn’t he want to come back?”

Lewis could only gaze down at the woman with mixed feelings written all over his face. He raised a hand just to wipe her tears away gently.

At the same time, the man softly replied, “He’s unable to return. He can no longer return. Do you understand now?”

More tears sprang out of Josephine’s eyes. Sobs racked through her body in violent shudders, yet she was unable to make a sound.

Then, she gestured, “What should I do?”

Lewis’ voice was starting to become hoarse, but he also sounded very vulnerable. “Then tell me, what should I do as well?”

Josephine took a deep breath while trying to suppress the pain she had been feeling. It felt like a huge boulder was crushing her heart then.

She gazed into Lewis’ dark eyes for a very long time. Finally, she gestured, “Then, we should walk our own paths. You march forward while I’ll head back to the way I came from.”

“Head back? Where do you think you’re going?”

Josephine didn’t answer him. Instead, she just gazed at him meaningfully while placing a hand on his face. There, she slowly sketched out his facial features with her finger.

Where would she go?

She was going to look for Lewis, of course. Since the old Lewis would never return, she would journey everywhere in search of him instead.

The distance between them was akin to the distance between the sky and the earth.

Perhaps the rift which separated them was the horizon that could never be reached.