"Hello…" Ashley answered with a sleepy raspy voice. She was still half asleep and her voice sounded
different than she would normally sound. However, her smoky nasal tone still had a seductive sound to
his ears.
Andrew was still sitting in his car when he heard the voice on the other end of the line. He froze on the
spot, just from hearing that, one single word. He sat dumbstruck and speechless with the cellphone still
held against his ear.
Andrew was extremely tired after days spent solving a business emergency in another city. He rushed
back to J City, driving all the way from the airport without a break. Feeling greatly fatigued, both
physically and mentally, Andrew sat silently in his car. He had dark black circles under his bloodshot
eyes from lack of sleep.
Even though it would have been wiser for Andrew to have driven straight home to rest, he couldn't help
himself. He had to drive straight to Ashley's apartment. Andrew knew that it was late and that she
would most likely be in bed sleeping. But he thought it might ease the deep longing that he felt for her,
by sitting outside her window for a little while.
However, after a short while of gazing up at her apartment window. He pulled out his cell phone and
scrolled down the contact list until he came to Ashley's name. He stared at the name on the screen and
absentmindedly stroked the name gently with his thumb as if he was caressing her. The very first time
that he entered Ashley's phone number into his cell phone, he had set it on speed dial. That way he
could reach her within seconds. Andrew had gazed upon those string of numbers so many times
before, that he knew them by heart.
After he stared at the screen and contemplated about it for quite a while, his thumb finally pressed on
her name and the phone began to dial out the number. As soon as he pressed the button, his heart did
a little flip in his chest. His feelings were mixed with both excitement and uneasiness. He sat anxiously
waiting the phone to be put through.
And when Ashley had finally answered the phone, Andrew was surprised to find that he was too
nervous to say anything. He had never been like this before, with anyone.
The longer the silence between them on the phone remained the more nervous Andrew seemed to
feel. However, Ashley's patience was beginning to run thin.
"Hello?" she answered once again. But a little louder this time, just in case the person on the other end
didn't hear her the first time. Yet, there was still no response at all.
Ashley was already annoyed that she had been woken up so late in the night. However, the fact that
whoever it was that called her, wasn't even answering, was starting to make her feel angry. 'Who the
hell is calling me in the middle of the night and won't even answer, ' she thought furiously.
"Who is that? I'm going to hang up if you don't start talking," she said frustrated. Ashley thought her
voice sounded threatening and angry. But on the other end of the line, to Andrew, it sounded thick,
raspy and slightly nasal with an almost flirtatious undertone. His cheeks even flushed a little when he
heard her voice.
Ashley waited for a few seconds longer and was about to hang up when she heard a voice,"It's me..."
His voice was low and husky. When Ashley heard the familiar voice on the other end, she sat up and
suddenly became wide awake.
She blinked her eyes a few times and then focused on the screen of her cellphone and read the name,
Andrew Lu.
Ashley brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle a gasp. She had nearly forgotten about him
completely since she hadn't seen or heard from him in quite a while.
In fact, the last time she had anything to do with him was when she had dinner with him at that
restaurant. Since then she had been so immersed in her cake shop that she hardly thought about him
at all. She had been too busy to think about anything else, but the cake shop.
And it wasn't until he called her just now that she remembered the conversation they had from that day.
"Andrew?" murmured Ashley in a low voice.
When Andrew heard his name being called by Ashley, his heart melted.
The sound of his name had never sounded so pleasant to his ears as it did just now. The tone of her
voice was like warm honey and his heart was filled with joy just to hear it.
Andrew's heart was raising just knowing that she was so near. But he contained his emotions and only
spoke to her in a low and neutral tone. "Yes."
Again, they both fell silent.
After a few awkward seconds of silence, Ashley asked,"So, why are you calling me so late at night?"
Andrew trailed his long fingers along the top of the steering wheel and bit his lip. He glanced up at the
window of her apartment again and said in a low husky voice,"I'm downstairs, outside your apartment."
"What!" Ashley called out when she heard what he said.
And then she realized that it was very late and Ellie would probably be in bed sleeping. She covered
her mouth to stop herself from making any more noise and waking Ellie up.
With eyes as wide as saucers she asked,"Wait, what did you say? You're downstairs, right now?" Her
voice was much lower this time.
"Yes," Andrew replied instantly.
Ashley still couldn't believe that Andrew was outside her apartment. So she quickly scrambled out of
her bed, turned the lights on in her bedroom and then rushed over to the window and pulled the
curtains apart. When she looked outside of the window she could see a car with its lights on, parked
outside. Although it was very dark outside, the dim light that was coming from his car was enough for
her to see Andrew standing next to his car. She could see his tall strong silhouette leaning against it.
Then suddenly, unexpectedly he looked up at the window where Ashley was standing.
She was so alarmed that she abruptly closed the curtains and turned her body away. With her back
against the window, she could still feel his gaze on her. She felt so anxious it was as if he was in the
room with her now.
She bit her lip nervously and asked,"Why are you here at this hour?"
'It's so late, what does he want?' she wondered.
"Come down right now," he said in a low tone.
Ashley wasn't pleased by the way he ordered her what to do and the annoyance was clearly evident on
her face.
'How dare you command me like that, Andrew Lu! You have called me on the phone in the middle of
the night, waking me up from my sleep. And now you expect me to come to your beck and call, '
thought Ashley fuming.
Then she marched angrily back to her bed, crawled in and covered herself with the quilt. "No, it's late,
you should go home now," she said lazily as she yawned and closed her eyes snuggling in.
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. And just as she thought that Andrew had given
up and decided to go, she heard a low commanding voice,"I'll come to you if you don't come down. Do
you want me to do that?"
As Andrew drove here from the airport, he thought that it would be enough for him, to just sit outside of
her apartment. But then being so close to her, he had to hear her voice, so he called her.
However, now that he had heard her voice and seen her contour standing by the window, he couldn't
control himself any longer. He needed to see her, to touch her. His whole body was on fire, consumed
by his longing for her. He had to have her.
He missed her more than he would allow himself to admit.
When Ashley heard his serious voice and what he was suggesting, her heart skipped a beat and her
eyes shot wide open in shock.
She immediately sat up in her bed and thought to herself in a panic, 'If I don't go to him, I know, that he
will do what he said. He will come up here.
What am I supposed to do? Ellie's still sleeping, I can't let him in now.' Ashley furrowed her brows
feeling annoyed and thought, 'This man is so infuriating. What the hell is he up to?
Why does he want me to go outside in the middle of the night? Why can't he just let me be and let me
go back to sleep? But wait a minute...
Why do I suddenly feel like I am having a midnight rendezvous with a lover?'
She couldn't ignore the feeling. That was exactly what she felt like at this moment.
After going through the options in her mind, Ashley quickly realized that she didn't have any. She
agreed to his demand and hung up the phone. Ashley threw the covers aside and crawled out of bed
once again and put a coat on over her pajamas.
Slowly, she opened her bedroom door and quietly crept out. Once she reached Ellie's door, she
stopped and put her ear against it, listening for any sound. When she was satisfied that Ellie was deep
in sleep, she continued to creep softly across the hall to the front door.
Standing in the hallway outside of the apartment she quietly closed the door behind her and breathed a
sigh of relief that she didn't wake Ellie up.
She then casually went down the stairs without having to worry about waking anyone and soon was
outside of the building. As she walked to the gate she could see Andrew standing next to his car
waiting expectantly. His eyes were firmly on her, watching as she approached him.
Ashley felt self-conscious and uneasy under Andrew's steady gaze. 'Why is he looking at me like that?'
she wondered.
She breathed in deeply to give herself courage as she slowly walked towards him. Once she reached
Andrew, she couldn't wait to give him a piece of her mind,"What was so important that we couldn't talk
about it over the phone? Why did you insist on me coming out…" All of a sudden, before she had time
to finish what she was going to say, Andrew took a step forward and she felt two strong arms wrap
around her. Andrew couldn't wait any longer, so as soon as he saw Ashley was close he virtually
pounced on her. He wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to his body.
He held her tightly in his arms as he buried his head near her neck and breathed her in. She was
intoxicating. His breath on her neck tickled her.
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