The night wind soon puffed away the white smoke. Leo asked him directly, "Do you like her?"
"Yes, I do," Joseph admitted without any hesitation after blowing the smoke. The rising smoke blurred his eyes, but he said it very firmly.
Leo was surprised. Maybe he had just never expected that he would admit it without hiding. Then he sneered, "Joseph, are you entitled to like her?"
Joseph flickered the ash and answered lightly, "It is my business. So I do not need to report to you."
"Irish is my friend, so I cannot just see her destroyed by you." Leo squinted lightly and continued, "If she gets together with you, she will be hurt."
Joseph kept the cigarette close to his mouth. "Really? Leo, you knew that she was the daughter of my father-in-law, Mr. Henry, and then you approached her. This behavior has already expressed that you are not entitled to care about her happiness either."
"We both knew her identity before. If you had told me earlier, she might not have been the psychological consultant of the Runestone Group."
Joseph smoked his cigarette and raised his eyes to look at him, "And she might have been your company's psychological consultant. Was that not your original purpose?"
"So are you showing off your ability, or are you saying it is only the result of luck?" Leo looked at him coldly.
"Neither. To be honest, I'm tired of this battle with you." Joseph sighed and looked at the moon, "If you just want to know my feelings for her, then I can clearly tell you that I like her. It's true. Even I would say I love her. It began from the moment I first met her. If you are questioning my sincerity as her friend, then I can also tell you that I can make sacrifices for her if necessary. I will not let my beloved woman be blamed by others."
"It sounds moving," Although Leo expressed his feelings in this way, he was very clear that Joseph truly loved Irish since he had never been touched by any woman or loved someone regardless of principles over the years. But today, he could show his feelings and thoughts explicitly. That meant that he really loved Irish.
"You like her, so you decided to employ her? Have you ever thought that she will eventually be criticized as you get closer to each other? And then how do you protect her? Get divorced from Ruby? Or give up the relationship with the Lake family? Even if you have no relationship with them, Irish does. She is one of the Lakes forever. The Heiress, to be exact. Even if you get a divorce, you have been her brother-in-law, and you still think you can get together? How do others like Irish?"
After these words, Joseph frowned and smoked the last of his cigarette. He put it out. Then as he looked at Leo, his expression was still cold. He said slowly, "Is your speech tonight out of protecting Isabel or just retaliation to me for sending Jenny to the asylum?"
Under the moonlight, Joseph's voice was as dark as his desolate eyes, which seemed to suck up all the moonlight. Leo was in a bad mood already, but when he heard the name "Jenny," he turned ice-cold, giving off an air of aloofness, and his eyes became chilly.
He didn't reply immediately, but his lips compressed into a thin line with his jaw tightened. He looked like a dangerous animal, about to tear out someone's throat, while Joseph just sat there quietly, with his arms on his legs, his fingers crossed, looking at him directly with his cold eyes.
For a while, the atmosphere was unusually tense and even the evening breeze stopped his wanton pace while the air was full of fire and brimstone.
After a long while, Leo said with a harsh voice, "Jenny and Irish are two different individuals. Don't confuse them."
Joseph maintained his course and said indifferently, "Leo, if I want Irish, perhaps I should use some hard tactics on her. But she is not a child and should make her own choices. I would hold up the sky for her, so my beloved woman could soar freely, even if I could just look at her from afar."
"Should I be moved by your sanity?" Leo sneered and continued, "You are a heartless man. Joseph, are you resorting to this seemingly high-brow method to achieve ulterior motives? I'm different from you. The way I love someone is to give her infinite love even if she has made some mistakes."
"In my opinion, you are selfish. It's right to give her the best in the world if you love her, but you should help to teach her right from wrong. You can dote on her, but you can't be unscrupulous. Otherwise, you will hurt her."
"That's why you took Jenny to the madhouse, is it? Her trust in you finally ruined her." It's the first time he mentioned something about Jenny.
Joseph replied to him directly, "If I didn't do that, she had no choice but to be imprisoned."
After hearing this, Leo sneered and said, "Well, she did finally fall into madness."
"So it's better for her to stay in the madhouse. If it hadn't been for you, she might have been married and had a baby." Joseph looked at him with dismal eyes.
Leo stood up abruptly, and his hands were clenched, his knuckles bulging. He stared at Joseph for a long time and said word by word, "Sometimes I really want to kill you and take out your heart to pay homage to Jenny."
"The feeling is mutual," Joseph said indifferently with an extremely cold voice. "For that matter, I also want to kill you."
Leo suddenly sneered, but his eyes reddened.
The memories of the past were like old photos. The time of youth was so insolent, which was what caused the pale times now.
Jenny was a sweet girl, just like her name.
Strictly speaking, Joseph, Leo, and Jenny had no sibling relationship at all, but they were intimate as families that year.