“You done?"I typed.
“Not quite, maybe in 5 minutes,”he replied in few seconds.
“Okay, I am coming to meet you anyways,”I replied and held my phone, leaving my office to meet him in his office.
Chapter 12
Ashley
The day was well spent. June, Steve and I were able to draft out our plans for the presentation tomorrow and I hoped to beat that grumpy CEO’s plan to make me look bad.
It's 5:40pm, and the building was starting to empty. I powered down my laptop and closed it, calling it a day. My back ached from sitting in one posture for too long. The number of voices heard in the building had greatly reduced but I could discern the voice of Justin in the air. I packed up my table and emptied the coffee jug in the coffee maker.
I walked to the window and shut the curtain. I could hear the sound of footsteps coming from the stairs. It got louder as time passed, meaning that someone was coming up to the office.I immediately picked up my phone and quickly arranged my laptop and documents in my bag.
The effects of the coffee I have been drinking seemed to be wearing off. My eyes were tired and watery.“I want to lie down on my bed, but I still need to refine our presentation for tomorrow.”I pondered to myself.
I heard the squeaking noise of the doorknob followed immediately by the creaking sound of the door. I turned my eyes to see who it might be.
Seeing a black loafer, I figured it was Justin.“That's what he wore to work today.”I immediately relaxed and turned my face back to the window, thinking of what to make for dinner tonight.
“Hey! Are you ready to go or are you working late again?” Justin inquired as he walked past the coat rack to sit on the desk. His gaze wandered the whole room and finally came to rest on the wastebin which had been filled with paper.
“Yes, I am. I was actually waiting for you so we could go home together.” I replied as I watched him bend towards the wastebin to pick a paper and unfold it.
“Hmmm. This is crazy!" he exclaimed in shock and immediately pointed his hazel eyes at me with a sharp gaze. “This is one hell of an idea!” he screamed again.
“What? If it was, it wouldn’t be in the trash.” I replied uninterestedly, taking my eyes away.
“No, really, this is really good!" he insisted. “Take a good look at it again, will ya?” He went on stretching the paper towards me.
“Really? You think so?” I inquired, taking the paper from his outstretched hand.
“Of course. While you ponder on that, let's start heading home.” He said, finally lifting his bum from the desk and walking towards the door. I followed suit, still pondering on the idea in the crumpled paper Justin picked up from the trash.
In a moment that felt like seconds, we were already at our apartment building. We drove to the car park adjacent to the building and left to make our way upstairs for the apartment.
I prepared some spaghetti and meatballs for us for dinner and went to my room to round up the presentation for tomorrow. I had to go to bed early to wake up more refreshed tomorrow for this.
The morning was cool and calm.
I turned on my bed to look at the window; there was a pigeon sitting in front of it. I could hear the sound of the neighbors’ kids from the background, seems the school bus has arrived for them.
I turned to look at the ceiling of the room, looking at it for a minute. I decided to get up from the bed to go prepare for work. It took me exactly 30 minutes to prepare and leave my room.
On my way to the living room, the apartment was strangely quiet.“Justin's still asleep?”I guessed.
Nearing the door to the kitchen, I stopped and turned to go check up on Justin. Now in front of Justin's room, I could hear faint sounds of music coming from behind the door. I hesitated but knocked three times on the door.
I immediately heard him scream from behind the door. “Ashley? Wow you are up early!” he answered as I heard running music in the room.
“Yeah. But what's up? You good in there?” I asked concerned. I still heard him struggling to do something in the room coupled with rumblings in the room. In a moment, the door was creaked open.
“Uhmmmmm, I'm good I'm good... Just busy...ish,” he said, but his facial expression gave him away.
“Justin...” I said with persuasion “Open this door.”
“Nope. Can't do that...” he stammered.