CEO's Passion: Love by Mistake

Chapter 1694

Chapter 1694 The Past Hurts

“I mean, why he didn't realize it sooner?” Joyce's lips curled into a bitter smile. “Why didn't he find out sooner that the person he loved was me? If he had known earlier, would my past self have been spared so much pain and suffering?”

“Well...” Natalie's mouth opened and closed, wanting to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.

Because she knew that what Joyce said was right.

If Stanley had discovered his inner feelings earlier, he wouldn't have hurt Joyce so much, and he certainly wouldn't have harbored such hatred towards the Rivers family.

Perhaps they would have been together a long time ago.

“Joyce,” Natalie spoke, calling out to Joyce with a tender voice full of affection.

Joyce closed her eyes, an air of loneliness enveloping her. “Nat, I'm fine.”

Her voice was a bit hoarse, clearly indicating that she wasn't as fine as she claimed to be.

“So, Nat, how did you find out that he fell in love with me?” Joyce took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before asking again.

Natalie didn't hide anything and directly answered, “It was Shane who told me.”

“Mr. Thompson?” Joyce exclaimed in surprise.

Natalie responded with a hum, “It's him.”

“How could Mr. Thompson know?” Joyce expressed her confusion.

Natalie chuckled, “It was him who figured it out. He once talked to Stanley about it, revealing his true feelings. I think that's why Stanley knew that the person he loved was you. At first, Stanley didn't accept this truth, but as time went by and he didn't do anything to you, even showing great care for you, I think Stanley might have come to terms with the fact that he's fallen in love with you and is willing to embrace it.”

“I mean, why he didn't realize it sooner?” Joyce's lips curled into a bitter smile. “Why didn't he find out sooner that the person he loved was me? If he had known earlier, would my past self have been spared so much pain and suffering?”

Joyce quickly shook her head. “That's impossible!”

She didn't believe that after Stanley found out the person he loved was her, he would want to be with her.

“Why is it impossible?” Natalie countered.

Joyce replied without hesitation, “Don't forget, Nat. The Rivers family still has unresolved grievances with him, so how could he possibly want to be with me?”

In short, she didn't believe anything she said. Joyce's reaction, in fact, didn't really surprise Natalie.

Before, Stanley treated Joyce with such indifference, neglecting her for over a decade and even forcing her to have an abortion in the past.

All these things combined were enough to hurt a woman's heart deeply. Even if this woman had forgotten everything from her past, after hearing the descriptions of Stanley from those around her, Joyce wouldn't have many positive feelings towards him.

So, it was only natural that Joyce didn't believe Stanley had fallen in love with her now and wanted to be with her.

“Alright, since Stanley hasn't officially expressed his intentions of wanting to be with you, just pretend you don't know,” Natalie shrugged and said. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Joyce didn't respond.

Natalie didn't get angry, but smiled and continued, “Also, Joyce, I wanted to ask you, if later on Stanley really confesses his feelings to you and wants to be with you, what will you do?”

“I won't agree to it!” Joyce replied without hesitation.

Natalie blinked. “Why?”

Joyce bit her lip and replied, “The past hurts won't just disappear because he wants to be with me. Besides, he's the kind of person whose mood is always changing, and you can never really understand what he's thinking. Being with someone like that is just so exhausting even to think about. That's why there's no way I could be with him. I don't want to live a life where I have to guess his thoughts every day and face his mood swings if I get it wrong. And considering how poorly he treated me in the past, would he really treat me well if we were together?”

“This...” Natalie fell silent.

Indeed, the pain of the past was right there, and they couldn't be ignored just because of present emotions.

Joyce was right in her considerations.

“Alright, it's fine if you think that way. I won't persuade you or speak on Stanley's behalf. I just want to know your true feelings towards him. Since you're not interested, if Stanley really pursues you in the future, you must stay firm, understand? I'm actually really afraid that you won't be able to resist, considering how passionate and intense your feelings for Stanley were in the past. I've seen it all,” Natalie sighed.