It was the kind of thing that, if she repeated it out loud, even Judy wouldn’t believe it herself.

“…” Joseph hesitated, scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile, clearly unsure how to begin.

Judy raised an eyebrow at the sight. “What are you being shy about now?”

She didn’t hesitate to ask.

Now that her rose-colored filter was gone, she looked at Joseph the same way she’d look at any other man—nothing more, nothing less.

Pressed by her directness, Joseph finally started explaining everything he’d been up to these past few days.

“I’ve actually been working at my family’s company, but I kept my identity hidden. No one knows who I really am.”

“And?” Judy still didn’t quite buy it.

A pampered heir working under the radar? Really?

“It was something I asked my father for. I don’t want to drift through life anymore. I want to be with you sooner, and I know I have to earn it.”

He paused before continuing, his voice steadier this time. “If I want to take over the company, I have to prove myself. This is my challenge–not just from my father, but for myself too.”

“So you’re starting from the bottom?”

Joseph nodded without hesitation. “Judy, I’m serious this time. I’m not trying to trick you or play games.”

He stepped forward, trying to pull her into an embrace.

But Judy stepped back. She couldn’t bring herself to accept this version of him.

Looking at his disheveled state, she doubted anything good would come of it.

“I… I understand. Thank you for telling me.”

Judy had her eyes on the connections behind him, not on staking her future on a man like this.

So, what if he was trying now? Who could guarantee how long he’d keep it up?

This was Joseph Hunt, after all.

She knew full well what he was made of. He wasn’t cut out for this grind.

“Joseph, let’s talk about us another time, alright? I’ve got work to do.”

Judy glanced at the time. Her next client was about to arrive.

She couldn’t afford to waste another second going in circles with Joseph.

“Judy… Judy, wait!” Joseph reached out and grabbed her arm, a desperate, pleading look on his face.

“I finally got out to see you… and you’re really not going to stay with me?”

A flicker of hesitation crossed her heart.

On one side was her career. On the other, a man.

But right now, she wanted nothing more than to keep moving forward, to keep building something for herself.

She wasn’t going to throw it all away—not for a man, especially not one like him.

Even if Joseph failed, he still had a company to fall back on. But she? She had nothing.

This tiny studio had cost her nearly everything.

She didn’t have the money, or the luxury, to gamble on anything else.

“Joseph, calm down, okay?”

As she spoke, she gently pried his fingers off her wrist, one by one.

Joseph’s expression shifted, disbelief clouding his eyes.

He hadn’t expected her to actually push him away.

“Judy… are you sure?”

“You’re really going to treat me like this?”

She faltered for just a second. That voice and tone were so sharp and cold.

There it was. The switch.

One moment he was calling her sweetly by name, and the next, he was snapping back to that entitled tone, spitting out her full name like a threat.

Judy felt a wave of self-disgust rise in her chest.

This man, she had once pitied and cared for, was this really the person she’d been willing to compromise for?