Chapter 9

Ann quickly scrambled off the bed, wearing nothing but the sheet that covered the front of her body, grabbed her phone, and ran to the bathroom without locking the door behind her.

'WTF' Jeff thought while scratching his head. He was still recovering from the shock of being stopped when they were finally almost there. 'Now it's already over, the heat of the moment has gone away...' He didn't know what to think.

Jeff slowly got up as well and checked his phone to see who the idiot who had a death wish was. It better not be his assistant, or he would die a slow death when Jeff next met him. 'The pain I'm feeling is nowhere near what I will give to this caller.' Jeff mumbled to himself with a crease between his eyebrows.

The concern showed on his face as he checked the missed call. It was not from his assistant; It was from his Grandfather's doctor. 'Something must have happened to the old man for his doctor to call me personally. It's in the middle of the night in Asia right now.'

He called the number back. Not even a few seconds later someone answered "Hello! Jeff, is it you?"

"Yes! It's me! Do you know what time it is in Asia right now? It's around two a.m. if you didn't notice!" He told the other person gruffly.

"I know! I know! But that's not what's important right now. It's your Grandfather, he's had another heart attack and is in critical condition. He wishes to see you before he passes. You need to return as soon as possible, you hear me?" The doctor informed Jeff with anxiety and concern in his voice.

"Are you sure? You're not in cahoots with my Grandfather to get me to come back early?" Jeff questioned him intensely.

"No! No! It's for real, why would I be calling you in the middle of the night for a prank? I have better things to do, you know, like saving people's lives." He tried to make a light joke to ease Jeff's anger.

"Alright! I will be on my way back first thing in the morning. I should be back in two days." Jeff assured the doctor, then hung up the call.

Jeff knocked on the bathroom door. "Ann? Are you about done? We need to go!"

Ann replied innocently in a slightly loud voice "I'll be out in a minute. I'm a little sweaty right now, so I'm going to take a shower, ok?"

Ann was wondering why Jeff was in such a rush to leave. "H-Hello! Are you still there?" The call was from her friend Lea, the one that had been missing for a while.

Lea met a guy that night and hooked up with him. She spent a whole week on a cruise to the Bahamas with the guy she met. Lea was so drunk and in lust that she accidentally dropped her phone into the ocean. Lea had to wait until she got off the ship to get a replacement phone.

===

She was shocked by how many missed calls she had from Ann. She had forgotten about Ann's dilemma and ran off without a word. 'This is not good, not good at all.' Lea thought to herself.

"Where are you?" were the first words that came out of Lea's mouth. "Do you know how worried I was? We haven't spoken in a week! I am right in front of your apartment, and you aren't answering the door." Lea was acting like a mother when scolding Ann.

"Tell me, did you run off to another country with the man you married? I'm just kidding, alright!" Lea playfully told her.

"That's a thought since my friend seems to forget about me every time she meets a good-looking guy. Maybe I should move to another country." Ann jokingly replied.

"Lea, you're the one who's been missing for the whole week, what are you saying? I called you several times, knocked on your door, but you never answered, so how am I the one at fault?" Ann continued.

"Oh! My bad! I forgot that I was the one who went missing in action. I'm sorry! Please forgive me this one time, alright! I promise I will never do it again! You will be my priority. Men don't exist to me anymore." Lea told Ann with a serious voice.

"By the way, where are you right now?" Lea asked with a suspicious tone.

"I'm in another city, I went for the singing competition, I didn't make it to the second round though," Ann replied, she chose not to inform Lea about Jeff being with her the whole time.

Lea was sad for her friend but did her best to cheer her up. "Don't worry. There will be other chances. It's their loss, not yours!"

Hearing Lea's supportive words made Ann feel a little better. 'But what should I do about the guy out there? How am I going to face him? Oh! It's too embarrassing.' Ann thought to herself. Her face began to turn red just thinking about Jeff being butt naked and sprawled at the bottom of the bed. 'That image is too much.'

Ann exited the bathroom and to her surprise, Jeff was no longer by the door waiting for her. He was getting ready to check out and so she simply followed suit.

Ann didn't receive a call from the coordinator of the competition, so she was disheartened. She was looking forward to receiving a request or a second chance. 'Well, maybe they're not interested in me. With so many other competitors that day, they probably forgot about me as soon as I left.' She thought to herself on their way back to her apartment as she sighed deeply, leaving Jeff not knowing what to do to comfort her.

Ann was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realize that Jeff had been staring at her the whole time.

Jeff was contemplating if he should tell her now or wait until they arrived at her apartment. It pained him to see the expression on her beautiful face. He could sense that something was troubling her right now.

She looked like a little lamb on the way to the slaughterhouse because of the way she kept sighing, it was too cute. Jeff was so in love, and his heart was aching so much.

Jeff tried hard to get Ann's attention, but it was to no avail. She just ignored him and continued staring into thin air.

By the time they arrived at Ann's place, it was already late at night. They were exhausted and hungry from the long trip. They didn't have a chance to stop anywhere to eat dinner, the only thing they had all afternoon was some chips and soda.

"Would you like some noodles? I'm planning on having some," Ann asked Jeff. "Hmm," Jeff replied while nodding.

He was too distracted and kept thinking about what they should do in terms of the sleeping arrangement.

"I'll take a shower first while you're cooking, is that ok?" Ann didn't answer, so Jeff took it as a yes.

While Jeff was in the shower, Ann made a call to Lea and asked if she could spend the night at Lea's apartment.

However, Lea's new boyfriend was there, and Ann couldn't sleep over. In the meantime, Jeff had finished taking his shower and was at the bathroom door, he overheard the conversation between Ann and Lea. It left him devastated to hear that Ann was not willing to spend the night with him.

Ann finished making the noodles, then started sorting out the mail that had accumulated while she was away. Outstanding bills, previous unpaid bills, and even more bills.

Ann was getting more and more upset by the minute when suddenly one particular envelope came to her attention.

She contemplated whether or not she should open it. The envelope was from Harvard University, one of the most prestigious schools in the country where only six percent of applicants get accepted yearly.

Many famous people have graduated from Harvard. If she didn't get accepted, she would be devastated. Her dream of becoming a singer was already down the drain. If she didn't get accepted into Harvard, her life was over.

Jeff couldn't stand it any longer and grabbed the mail from her hand and tore it open so he could read it. "What the heck! Hey, that's mine, give it back!" Ann tried to take it back from Jeff, going around his body, but she was unable to reach it.

Jeff just kept on reading it and then stopped. He smiled and said, "You got it! You're in! Hahaha!" He was so happy for Ann.

"What? What did you say?" Ann jumped up and down, then hugged Jeff. "Really? Did I get accepted?!"

Jeff handed the letter to Ann so she could read it. He then sat down and started eating his noodles without a care in the world.

'Shouldn't he be happy for me?' Ann thought while looking at Jeff with sadness in her eyes.

"Jeff, we need to talk," Ann told him in almost a whisper.

"Alright!" Jeff replied.

"I know you said you need time until you get your new passport, but the thing is..."

Jeff interrupted her, "You want us to get an annulment ASAP, right? No problem! We'll do it first thing tomorrow, but tonight let's get some rest, ok? I'm exhausted." Jeff said mischievously.

"Alright! As long as you understand, we will go tomorrow then. Hurry up and finish eating so I can clean up, and then we can go to bed. We need to get up early to get an annulment." Ann excitedly told Jeff.

Jeff hurriedly finished eating his noodles, while at the same time hatching a plan. 'Whatever it takes, you want to annul this marriage on account of no consummation? Yeah right! We'll see about that.'

He hurriedly prepared for the evening to come. Ann had no idea what he had planned to do all along.