Natalie fell silent after hearing that.
"If that's the case, you'd really be using him like you said.Justin may have asked for this himself, but
you agreeing to it would still make you guilty" she said after a brief pause.
"Yeah, which is why I haven't agreed to date him just yet.I don't want him to waste his time on me, let
alone for him to end up with nothing.What should I do, Nat?"
Joyce's eyes began to tear up as she said that.
Natalie gently pulled her into her arms and whispered, "There, there...Don't stress yourself out thinking
about this, okay? It's bad for both yourself and your baby.I'm not too sure about this either, so maybe
you should just let nature take its course.Wait till he comes to see you two days later, and talk to him
about this in detail.If he's willing to go through with It even after hearing about your concerns, then I
think you two can try dating.He seems to be a nice guy, so you might just end up falling in love with him
in the end.We won't know what the future holds until we take the first step, right?"
Joyce sniffled as she mumbled, "I know...I'm just scared that I won't have the courage to take that first
step..."
Natalie patted her on the head.
"That's something you'll have to work on yourself.You were brave enough to attempt suicide, so
mustering the courage to deal with this should be a piece of cake.Take your time to think long and hard
about this throughout the next two days, and discuss your decision with him afterward.If you want to be
with him, then accept his confession.If not, make sure to reject him properly.Got it?"
"Got it..."
Joyce mumbled.
"All right, then.I bet you must've forgotten a lot of stuff after taking such a long time off work, huh? You
should return to your office and familiarize yourself with stuff"
Natalie said while getting to her feet.
Joyce stood up and wiped her tears as she replied with a forced smile, "Okay, Nat.I'll get going, then"
"See you later!"
Natalie waved at her.She then waited till Joyce left before returning to her desk and sending Shane a
text: Joyce is back.
Shane was going through some documents in his office at the time, so he frowned when he heard the
incoming message alert from his phone.
His frown turned into a loving smile the moment he saw that it was a text message from Natalie.
As Shane already knew about Joyce's return, he didn't react much after reading her message.He was
well aware of how much Natalie cared about the Rivers family.
Fearing that Sean would use the Rivers family to get at them, he had Silas arrange for bodyguards to
be stationed near their house.
As such, he was up to date on every single one of their activities throughout the past two days,
including the contents of the phone call between Joyce and Justin.
Not wanting Natalie to find out about that, Shane pretended to not know about it and replied: Really?
That's nice.
Natalie smiled as she texted: Yeah! I feel much better now that Joyce is back.
At the very least, she won't do anything stupid under my watch.
Shane replied: Yeah.
Natalie then sent him a long voice message telling him all about Joyce and Justin.
Shane simply listened on with an expressionless look on his face as he already knew all of that.
After that, Natalie sent him yet another text message: Darling, do you think Joyce should date Justin?
Shane twirled the pen in his hand as he replied: She can do whatever she feels like.
Natalie rolled her eyes and texted: I know that, duh! I'm asking if she should! Shane let out a groan and
gave it some thought before replying: Since Justin is the one who asked her out, I'm pretty sure he has
taken into consideration the possibility of Joyce not loving him.
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