I froze in shock, taken aback by his behavior. Just as I thought of lifting my arms to push him away, he’d caged me in against the walls of the elevator.
Luckily there’s no one else in the elevator, or we’ll all be in an awkward situation.
His closeness suffocated me, and I felt myself relaxing into his arms.
He swept me off my feet as the elevator doors opened, and he carried me straight to his room.
He switched on the lights in the hallway as he sat me down on the floor, pressing his body into mine. His gaze bored into mine as he said, “I’m not letting you go again.”
His words seemed to be directed at both himself and me.
I opened my mouth and replied breathily, “Ashton, I—”
“Shush, I don’t want to hear a single word!” He placed a finger on my lips.
I scrunched my lips and frowned at him. “Ashton, you jerk!”
Silently, he lifted me and strode towards the huge bed in the room.
He loomed over me on the bed. I turned my head away to avoid his gaze.
He turned my head back to face him. Staring intently at me, he sneered, “Trying to hide somewhere?”
I glowered at him since I couldn’t turn my head away. “What exactly is happening right now? Are you planning to sleep with me before we go our separate ways? Or what else do you have planned?”
His voice hardened as he replied, “Go our separate ways?”
I raised my brows at him and said defiantly, “Or what? I told you before that I didn’t love you, yet here you are forcing me to stay, so isn’t that exactly what you want? I mean, that’s usually what happens anyway when people pick up chicks at clubs, right?”
He scoffed and tightened his grip on me. “You seem to know a lot about these things, don’t you?”
I pursed my lips and refused to meet his stare. “I can’t help if I hear about it from the others.”
I seemed to have pushed him too far as he suddenly got up, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He headed straight for the bathroom without a single word.
I could only stare after him, perplexed at his behavior. I didn’t know what to do next.
I sat on the bed absent-mindedly. I felt overwhelmed with exhaustion, though it was of an emotional nature. It always seems like I’m trying to run away, like some headless chicken running around in circles because I don’t even know what I really want.
Just then, I received a phone call from Nora. Her booming voice came through the receiver. “Scarlett, did you fall into the toilet bowl or something? How could you just disappear after a brief trip to the restroom?”
Her loud voice made my headache worse, and I moved the phone further away from my ear. I replied a while later, “I’m already home. Something cropped up so I decided to leave earlier. Sorry, I forgot to let you all know.”
Nora was incredulous as she asked, “You went home? With whom? Aren’t you living with Mr. Murphy? If you left without him, who are you with now?”
I… Ugh! What a mess!
I paused for a moment to come up with a suitable excuse. “I bumped into a friend of mine from K City. Oh right, are you all still in the private room?”
“Girl, look at the time. Why would we still be there? Plus, it’s hard to last the night at my age. Oh right, I just wanted to let you know that Mr. Murphy’s pretty drunk tonight. Take care of yourself, and make sure you lock your doors and windows.”
Stunned, I asked, “Did you ply him with drinks?” She must be trying to make a move on him.
She cackled wickedly. “I wasn’t planning to get him drunk at first. But then, how often does a rich, handsome man drop in one’s lap, am I right? If I missed this chance, I wouldn’t have anything to boast about to my kid when I’m married to some mediocre man in the future. If I could bag myself a relationship with someone like that, that’d make for some great storytelling!”
The gears in my brain appeared to be jammed when faced with her unusual thought process. How does your brain come up with these things?
I couldn’t help but comment, “If you need my help, just let me know. Who knows, maybe I can be your wing-woman. You can always drop by and pretend you’re visiting me or something.”
I heard her booming laughter. She sounded ecstatic like she was already imagining her glorious future.
She asked abruptly, “How about I drop by for a visit tomorrow?”
“No!” I blurted out before continuing awkwardly, “I’m busy tomorrow, so I can’t entertain you.”
She clicked her tongue at me. “What, you need to entertain that friend of yours from K City?”
Erm.
“Yep! I guess you could put it that way.”
“Hmph! Ditching your friends for a man!”
I heard some movement behind me and hurried to end the call. “Nora, let’s talk tomorrow. It’s late, and we should get some sleep.”
“Hey, why are you in a rush to end the call? I still—”
I hung up before she could finish her sentence.
The doors to the bathroom opened, and I turned around. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, I stared at the man who walked out with a towel slung on his waist.
We seemed to stare at each other for a beat before he arched his brows and asked, “Aren’t you leaving?”
Me? He wants me to leave?
He smiled devilishly at my silence. “Do you have something to say to me?” he asked.
I pursed my lips and hopped off the bed. “Nope, it’s getting late. I’m heading off now.”
