Wayne knelt down to pick up the house keys without saying anything. He then handed her the keys and asked her, “Are you worried that I’ll have an accident?”
“I’m afraid you’re going to hit someone and go to jail because of it. That way, there would be no one to look after Matthew later on. Are you going to abandon Matthew while he is still a child? What on earth are you thinking? This is not the way you raise kids.” Anna grabbed her keys and turned to face him.
The light in Wayne’s eyes disappeared. He was silent for a moment before saying, “Gotcha! I arrived here by taxi.”
Anna realized he hadn’t gone completely insane. She glanced at him and said, “You’re not drunk? Then, you should call your assistant and ask him to pick you up and take you home. “
Anna opened the door, entered the house, and slammed it shut. She seemed to shake the entire building. After entering the house, Anna cleaned the bathroom. She then realized it had only been ten minutes.
The rain was pouring even harder outside. The terrifying sound of thunder was followed by lightning that illuminated the dimly lit house as if it were daylight. The rain pelted the windows and made a horrible sound. Anna thought to herself, Did Wayne leave? Is he really gone? It’s raining heavily outside. I hope that he won’t be so drunk that he would just walk in the rain, waiting for his assistant to pick him up.
After a while, Anna washed her face and went to her room to sleep. However, she kept thinking about Wayne. She lay in bed for a long time without being able to fall asleep. At last, she couldn’t take it any longer.
She jumped out of bed and walked to the door, looking out through the peephole on the door. And she was surprised to see that Wayne was smoking while leaning against the wall.
Anna thought to herself, Wayne, why haven’t you left yet? Are you really gonna spend the whole night in the cold and dim corridor?!
Thinking of that, Anna opened the door and looked at Wayne with doubt, but she didn’t say anything. Wayne paused for a moment. He held his cigarette in his long slender fingers, and the ashes were blowing in the wind.
Then Wayne explained, “It’s raining too heavily, and I couldn’t get a cab. Besides, my cell phone’s dead. So, I decided to stay a little longer.”
Anna wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not. She noticed Wayne had gotten wet when he arrived, so she paused, saying, “Come on in.”
Wayne was taken aback, then he quickly extinguished his cigarette and followed her into the house as if he feared Anna would shut the door immediately if he got into the house a second later.
When Anna went into the kitchen to make some tea, the scent of jasmine filled the house. She had always enjoyed drinking tea, and this habit of hers had not changed a bit.
She set the cup of tea in front of Wayne, then went to the bathroom, grabbed a dry towel, and said, “Wipe your hair. You arrived here bu taking a taxi, and you got soaked. Wipe your hair dry now, or you might catch a cold.”
Wayne felt his body was not so cold after drinking the tea, and he was slowly sobering up.
Sitting on the sofa, Anna asked, “Is your assistant still Gabe? Do you remember his cell phone number? “
“No. He was transferred to a foreign branch three years ago, and my assistant now is his cousin Noel. “
“Give him a call,” Anna said as she took out her cell phone and handed it to him.
Wayne had an excellent memory and was especially good at remembering numbers. As a result, he dialed Noel’s phone number without difficulty.
Noel responded quickly and anxiously, “Hello?”
“It’s me,” Wayne said. His voice sounded very clear in the quiet living room.
“Mr. Wright, where have you been? It’s raining heavily outside. Originally, the board members planned the reschedule the meeting in the evening, but since we couldn’t find you anywhere, they had no choice but to reschedule the meeting again.”
“I, um… I’ll deal with it later. Don’t worry.” After that, Wayne told Noel Anna’s address and told him to come pick him up. After he hung up, he handed the phone back to Anna and said, “He should be here soon. I can wait for him outside if you mind me being here. “
Anna said, “You don’t have to do that. We’re friends, so I can let you sit in my house for a while. “
Wayne froze and appeared to be lost in thought think when he heard the word “friend.”
Anna was cleaning up around the house and didn’t say anything to him. “Do you want something to eat?” she asked after a while.
“No, thank you.”
Anna shook her head and said, “I didn’t have any dinner, so I’ll make some for myself. Since you’re already here, I’ll make some for you as well.”
Wayne looked at her back with mixed feelings. Anna returned twenty minutes later with two plates of pasta, telling Wayne to eat. She remained calm throughout as if she didn’t mind Wayne’s presence.
Wayne was devastated because Anna seemed to regard him only as a friend. After taking a bite of the pasta, Wayne found that it tasted the same as before. His stomach felt slightly better than before, but he only ate half of it.
“Isn’t it good?” Anna asked suspiciously.
Wayne gave her a tired look and said, “It’s good; it still tastes the same as before.”
“Five years have passed, so do you still remember what my cooking tastes like?” Anna laughed, “Besides, you haven’t finished your meal yet. Is it because I’m a terrible cook?”
“My stomach is not good,” Wayne explained, “and the doctor said I can’t eat too much.”
Anna clenched her fist around the fork. She almost asked him why, but she restrained herself. She had no idea why he was having stomach problems. She thought to herself, Wayne, you’re an adult now. I know your work is important to you. But at least you should take good care of yourself. Otherwise, it will be pointless if you get sick after working your ass off. Also, I remember clearly that you have an assistant and a maid. And a wealthy man like you is more than capable of hiring an excellent cook to cook nutritious meals for you every day. Why do you torture yourself like that?
Then Anna simply asked, “What time is it? Shouldn’t your assistant be here by now?”
Noel still hadn’t arrived a while later. It was a stormy weekend night, so he drove cautiously and carefully. He slowed down because there were occasional traffic accidents at night.
Meanwhile, Anna cleaned up the dishes, and the house still smelled like spaghetti. She then poured a glass of hot milk for Wayne.
After that, Anna put her head down and washed the dishes. She appeared calm, but she was struggling on the inside as if her heart was also raining.
Time did not allow her to forget Wayne. She still had a love-hate relationship with him and knew that no matter how much time passed, she would feel the same way about him.
The living room was unusually quiet. Anna returned from doing the dishes to find Wayne lying on the couch. She tried to wake him up, but he looked tired and haggard. He was asleep, but he was still frowning like he was sorrowful.
Wayne had already finished the milk, leaving only an empty glass on the table. Anna stood next to him for a moment before picking up the blanket. She was about to wrap the blanket around Wayne when she heard a knock on the door from outside.
Wayne opened his eyes as Anna froze. They locked their gazes, and the atmosphere seemed strange. Anna rose to her feet, but Wayne grabbed her arm and threw her on top of him.
Anna asked angrily, “What are you trying to do? “
Wayne looked at her and gently said, “I should be asking you what you want to do. You’ve been acting as if you don’t care about me since the first time you saw me. But, if you didn’t care about me, why did you give me milk when you knew I had a stomach problem? Why did you offer me a blanket while I was sleeping?”
Anna gritted her teeth and growled, “I never should have let you in!”
Wayne chuckled and said, “But you still let me in. You’re still concerned about me! You still love me, don’t you?”
Anna began to struggle. Then, Wayne showed a pained expression. “What are you trying to do again?” Anna asked, staring at him. But she quickly realized Wayne was not acting.
Anna was taken aback when she noticed blood on his shoulder. His white shirt was stained with so much blood that it looked horrible.
Wayne laughed and said, “I’m fine. This is the same wound as before. Don’t be alarmed, I only got a scratch. It’s scabbed over, so perhaps I just touched it and caused it to fall off.”
Anna didn’t believe his words because his wound wasn’t serious, and it had been a week. There was no way he hadn’t healed yet. At the same time, Noel was still knocking on the door.
Anna said, “It should be your assistant. Ask him to come in. And take off your shirt so that I can treat your wound.”
Then Anna dashed into the bedroom. After seeing Anna’s panicked expression, Wayne was no longer in pain but smiled tenderly. He saw Noel when she opened the door.
Noel said, “Mr. Wright, please accept my apologies. It was pouring heavily, so I drove slowly.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply