A Minor Confrontation

Michael approached the two and made his presence known.

"Good evening," Michael greeted, his eyes fixed on Catherine. "Happy birthday. I hope I can give you a gift but I don't have the time to pick one up, unfortunately. I hope my presence can somehow make up for it."

Catherine turned towards Michael, her eyes lighting up with recognition and a warm smile spreading across her face. "Michael, thank you so much for coming. Your presence is more than enough. I'm really glad you could make it," she replied, her voice filled with genuine happiness.

Joshua, standing next to Catherine, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's great to have you here, Michael. It's not every day we get a CEO to attend a birthday party," he added. 

Michael noticed a tinge of protectiveness in his voice as if Joshua didn't want him to speak to Catherine at all. Well, it's expected, that he saw him as a threat to their relationship, thinking that he might steal Catherine from him.