I had thought that Ashton had already forgotten about the matter of having our own kid. But little did I expect, he would bring this up again when he was drunk. Obviously, a kid was something, or someone rather, that would be with you your entire life. Who wouldn’t want their own flesh and blood?
After a long silence in my own thoughts, I went and lay down beside Ashton. “Ashton, do we really need our own child?” I asked with a hoarse voice.
I couldn’t be sure whether he had heard me or not since all he gave in response was a subtle wiggling of his eyebrows amidst his slumber.
He really did have a lot to drink.
The next day, the morning light had already shined through the yellowing leaves onto the ground when Ashton woke me up.
I slowly opened my eyes and saw him laying next to me, with a smile on his face.
“You’re awake!” I hoarsely exclaimed after rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“Yup!” he answered with a nod and a smile.
“Does your head still hurt?” I asked as I couldn’t get what happened last night out of my mind.
He reassured me with a slight shake of his head and scooted closer to me. “Did you help me undress?” he whispered.
“Yeah, what’s wrong?” I queried with some confusion.
I couldn’t help but follow his gaze onto his well-sculpted body. To my surprise, he was only dressed in his boxers and nothing else.
On top of the silence, my flushed cheeks didn’t do me any favors in hiding the awkwardness radiating from me. Trying to break the awkward atmosphere, I muttered, “Don’t get your hopes up. Nothing happened between us last night, and I didn’t do anything to you. You…”
“What about now?” he interrupted with a mischievous look on his face. Time felt like it stood still while he stared deeply at me with his jet-black eyes.
My heart skipped a beat, and without waiting for a response, he put his giant palm on my waist and got on top of me. I knew he would do this!
As for what happened next, let’s just say that Ashton’s vigor in the morning really was outside the realm of my expectations.
After I had woken up for the second time that day, I caught Ashton coming out of the bathroom in a superbly jovial mood. “So, will you come with me to the office later?” he said.
“I can’t. I promised my Mom that I would bring Summer to the hospital for a checkup as she has been getting recurrent fevers that won’t go away!” I said begrudgingly while still on the bed.
“I’ll go with you!” he responded with furrowed brows.
“It’s alright. It’s just a checkup at the hospital. Just head on over to the office yourself. I’m sure there’s a lot on your plate over there, and you don’t need to be distracted right now,” I persuaded. Even though I only said it so that we could finally get a move on with our day, I knew that all I said was true. Things at the Fuller Corporation hadn’t settled down, and I had a nagging feeling that bigger and worse things might be waiting for him.
Ashton was deep in thought contemplating what I had just said, and after a brief pause, he nodded his head in agreement.
“OK. But what about…” he tried to ask before being interrupted by his phone ringing.
I motioned for him to answer his phone, and with a curt nod, he gave my forehead a quick peck before answering his phone on the balcony. Seeing as he was occupied, I took this chance to head on over to the bathroom.
After I finished my morning routine, I noticed that Ashton had left the clothes from the night before in the bathroom, so I picked them up and took them to the laundry room. However, upon placing his clothes into the washer, I heard a clanking sound coming from his pile of clothes. After a brief investigation, I found the source coming from his trouser pocket and found what appeared to be some vitamins.
Upon closer inspection, I saw that they were vitamin A tablets. Why is he taking vitamins? Has he been feeling unwell lately?
Thinking it was nothing of big importance, I returned to the bedroom only to find Ashton hurriedly putting on his clothes halfway out the door. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” I asked instinctively.
“It’s nothing. It’s just something at the office. Nothing to worry about!” he reassured with a smile.
After finishing his piece, he resumed his exit through the door, but not before doing a double-take. “I’ll come back for dinner! Wait for me!” he said cheekily.
Seeing him leave in such a hurry only worried me further, so I decided to call Joseph to ask what actually had happened. However, try as I might, his phone was constantly engaged.
After contemplating my options, I decided to give Rachel a call. However, my phone rang before I had even dialed the first number. It was Emery.
“Are you OK? Where are you?” she asked immediately after I picked up.
“I’m at home right now. Why? What happened?” I answered with confusion.
“Heavens! Do you never check your phone? The entire web is abuzz with the news about Fuller Corporation, and you’re still in the dark?” she practically screamed.
Checking my phone was not a habit that I had, so I really was in the dark about anything and everything that morning.
However, her hysterics made it clear that I should check my phone now, so I did.
The headline on the news website could not be any clearer: Listed company caught infringing! Will the law treat the powerful Fuller Corporation the same as everyone else?
The headline got me in a daze, and I subconsciously clicked on it. What I found inside was that during the Lavelian Village project, the trending AI technology that was exhibited by Fuller Corporation had actually debuted in Western Europe a month before the exhibition by Fuller Corporation. Their unveiling was not well-received by the mainstream audience only because they were a small company.
