His Housewife Had Secret Identities novel Chapter 858

In the plaza out front, the clown was still diligently handing out balloons. He only had a few left, and they weren’t the best-looking ones. Niamh and Lana, carrying shopping bags of all sizes, walked up to him. “Hello, I won a prize. They said I could collect my balloon here.” As she spoke, Niamh looked up and met the clown’s eyes. Most of his face was hidden behind a stark white mask, leaving only his eyes visible. As their gazes locked, for a fleeting moment, Niamh felt she had seen those eyes before.

“Yes, this is the place…” The clown took the card from Niamh’s hand and looked at it. “Congratulations, you’ve won the special prize. Please follow me, and I’ll take you to get a special edition balloon. It’ll be a perfect gift for your son.” “Really?” Lana’s face lit up with excitement. “We won a special prize! The leftover balloons are pretty ugly anyway. What does the special one look like?” “It’s bigger than these and shaped like a cartoon character,” the clown explained. “That’s great! Marlin will love it.” Lana linked her arm through Niamh’s. “Let’s go!”

Lana started to walk, but Niamh didn’t move. “How did you know I have a son?” The clown, who had just turned around, froze at Niamh’s question. Lana looked at Niamh, also sensing that something was wrong. “Just a guess! Was I right?” the clown asked, looking at Niamh. “In that case, my friend and I will wait here for you. You can go get the special prize balloon yourself and bring it to us.”

After Niamh spoke, the clown just shook his head. “Customers are required to register at the storeroom.” “I’ve never heard of taking a customer to a storeroom to register. Are you really an XAD employee?” Niamh pressed, her tone now filled with distrust. Lana grew vigilant as well, pulling Niamh back to create distance between them and the clown.

The clown let out a crisp laugh. “Of course I’m not an XAD employee. Who do you think I am?” “If you are, then why aren’t you wearing the work boots with the company logo?” This time, Niamh’s question silenced him. Now that Niamh mentioned it, Lana remembered. When they had arrived that morning, the clown handing out balloons in the plaza was definitely wearing work boots with the XAD Mall logo printed on them. They had even chatted about how miserable it must be to wear such heavy boots in the heat, and what hard work it was.

“Even if they changed the person playing the clown for the evening shift, they wouldn’t be missing part of the basic uniform. XAD employees aren’t that unprofessional. Unless… someone thought work boots would be inconvenient for, say… kidnapping me.” As Niamh said this, the clown took off his mask and wig. “It’s been a long time, Joker.” Niamh greeted the old acquaintance, her face cold and her eyes filled with caution.

By the end of Niamh's sentence, Lana had realized it too. It had been so long since they’d had any news of Joker that she’d almost forgotten he was the one who wanted to kill Niamh. Lana stared at Joker, a storm of emotions churning in her chest. Once, they had been lovers, but that was all a facade. Now, Lana felt nothing romantic for him. Joker looked drastically different from how she remembered him. He was much, much thinner, to the point of being gaunt and almost unrecognizable. Niamh noticed it too. “Are you sick?”