Doubts aside, Joshua didn’t seem like that type. Shermaine brushed off the strange feeling he gave her.

After completing the examination and finding no abnormalities, Shermaine fell into deep contemplation.

Joshua quietly put his glasses back on. “So, how is it?”

Shermaine asked, “Have you ever experienced anything like that before when you drank?”

“No,” Joshua replied.

Shermaine asked, “Was that the first time it happened?”

Joshua smiled faintly and hummed in agreement.

Shermaine wondered to herself, “Am I really that bad at medicine? How can I not figure out what’s wrong, past a headache and a fast heartbeat?”

She paused, then said, “All your vitals indicate you’re perfectly healthy.” After another moment, she added with concern, “But if the headaches persist, please let me know immediately.”

“Alright,” Joshua replied softly.

They’d better not dwell on this topic any longer. Otherwise, Shermaine might be overly concerned about his condition. “Bradley mentioned that the organism you found in Wendelyn’s corpse was something you’d never seen before.”

The world was vast and full of all kinds of things. It was perfectly normal for her to come across things she had never seen before.

“Yeah,” replied Shermaine.

Joshua said, “Send me the photos. I’ll have my team look into it.”

“That couldn’t be better,” Shermaine said.

Then he added, “Just send it to me on WhatsApp.”

In fact, they weren’t even WhatsApp contacts.

Joshua wasn’t one to frequently use messaging apps, so he barely opened WhatsApp.

Normally, they just called each other.

After the engagement party, Owen added Shermaine on WhatsApp and invited her into the family group chat. The next day, Joshua logged in and asked Owen to invite him into the same group.

Shermaine pulled out her phone, located Joshua in the York family group chat, and quickly found his number. “Done. We’re friends now.”

“Just a moment,” Joshua said.

Sipping her coffee, Danielle watched with amusement. "Joshua, what a schemer," she thought. "He went through so much just to add her on WhatsApp. Impressive."

Back in his hospital room, Jason lay back on the bed, his face dark with displeasure.

As soon as Jason saw Danielle, he was overwhelmed by the urge to make her his. Never had he been so infatuated with a woman, which drove him to seek every opportunity to get close to her time and again.

But Danielle was always swamped with work. When he finally got a rare chance to see her, Shermaine had to go and ruin it. At the thought, gloom clouded his eyes.

Jason waited for quite a while. When the door finally opened, he thought it must be Danielle. A smile tugged at his lips, and the gloom dissipated, anticipation written all over his face.

But when he saw it was actually David who entered, his smile faded. “What brings you here?” he asked.

David glanced at his medical records and explained, “Dr. Shelly has been overwhelmed with surgeries lately, so your case has been transferred to me.” After a brief pause, he asked, “So, what’s bothering you today?”

With David taking over his case, Jason knew his chances of seeing Danielle would become slim to none. If it weren’t for Shermaine, he would have ended up worse than this.

Jason pressed his lips together. “My wound… It’s not feeling right, really hurts.”

“Let me check,” David said, bending down to examine the wound.

It was almost lunchtime.

Upon meeting Shermaine’s close friend for the first time, Joshua took the initiative to suggest they have lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Shermaine didn’t mind; it was up to Danielle.

Danielle had a 2 p.m. surgery. Having lunch now would leave her just enough time to rest before the operation, so she agreed.

As they stepped out of the office, Joshua took Shermaine’s hand, their fingers interlacing tightly.

Shermaine’s hand was pillow-soft, yet, as always, cool to the touch.

Shermaine looked up sharply. “What are you doing?”

Joshua replied, “Bradley said my hospital visit drew media attention. The paparazzi might be lurking. As pretend fiancés, we have to maintain the loving couple act in public.”

On his way back to the office, Bradley suddenly sneezed. Rubbing his nose, he muttered, “Who’s talking about me? I keep feeling a chill down my back."

If Bradley, who was in the know, heard about this, he’d be completely baffled. When did he ever say there were reporters at the hospital?

Shermaine wrinkled her nose in slight distaste at first, but after a moment’s thought, she decided to let it go. His hand was actually pretty warm anyway, so she allowed him to keep holding it.

Still holding her hand, Joshua tucked it into his pocket. “Your hand is cold again. Let me warm it up for you,” he said. What he hadn’t gotten to do last time, he could finally do now.

Danielle was starting to regret agreeing to this meal. Joshua never missed a chance, always looking for an opportunity to make moves on Shermaine.