Take My Breath Away

Joshua jumped to his feet, quickly straightening his clothes. He caught up with Terilynn just as she was about to leave. "Terilynn, you've misunderstood. It's not what you think..."

She sighed and said, "Joshua, I don't discriminate against gay people, but it's not kind to use my sister to cover up who you really are. You've gone out of line. And she was so worried about Sheffield that she asked me to come and check on him."

Evelyn had asked Tayson to find out where Sheffield had gone. She had called Terilynn soon after and had asked her to check if he was fine.

"No, no, no. It's not like that..." Joshua tried to explain.

But Sheffield's mind was elsewhere. He jumped up from the sofa and ran to her. "Did Evelyn really ask you to check up on me?"

His smile was so charming that Terilynn blushed and quickly nodded, "Yes. She said that Dad hit you." But, she didn't know why.

Sheffield grinned. "Please tell her that I'm feeling very miserable. Not only was I beaten to a pulp by her father, but now, I am being taken advantage of by her boyfriend too. Ask her to come and help me."

Joshua gaped at him. He really wanted to beat this man to death. He kept throwing him under the bus all the time. "Terilynn, listen to me. It's nothing like—"

"It doesn't matter. I respect your sexual orientation, but please let go of my sister, okay? Don't hurt her. She really likes you, otherwise she wouldn't have chosen to be with you. But she isn't desperate to date someone who isn't even interested in her." She stared at Joshua. Terilynn always preferred to negotiate before resorting to force.

Sheffield didn't care. All he could think about was how much Evelyn was worried about him. Before Joshua could say anything, he laughed and coaxed the little sister, "Terilynn, can you tell me Evelyn's phone number? I want to personally inform her that I'm fine."

"Evelyn's numbe

"Sheffield," Horace called him.

After saying goodbye to the nurses, Sheffield walked towards his office. Along the way, many people showed their concerns about his face, but he just smiled and told them that he was fine.

Staring at him, Horace asked, "Where have you been? What happened to your face? It was fine in the morning."

"Don't ask. Just fix it." He threw the first-aid kit to Horace.

Horace opened the kit and took out the medicine to treat the swelling. At the same time, the doctors in the department came to check on Sheffield.

"I'm okay. I made a small mistake and my father hit me," he told them with a faint smile.

Nobody doubted it, and they even asked him what mistake he had made to make his face look like that.

Horace asked, "I've never heard anything about your family before, and I didn't ask either. Now that this has happened, tell me, what do your parents do? I've never seen them. Do they live in another city?"

"No, they're here."

Only he knew which set of parents he was talking about.

"Oh. Did your father hit you because you skipped work?" Horace took out a cotton swab, dipped it in some medicine to dissipate the swelling and the bruises on his face. He threw him an ice bag to place on his face.