'Did she... Did she just hit my boss?' thought Josef.
He was dumbstruck for a moment. This clearly stunned Andrew too. He just sat there, rooted to the spot, staring unblinkingly at Ashley.
As for Ashley, she remained perfectly still, but in her mind, her thoughts were running wild. She regretted it the second she hit Andrew. 'Oh my god! What did I do? Why did I do this? Did I hurt him? It sounded bad. Ouch! My hand hurts. Yup! It definitely hurts. I used all of my strength to slap him. God! Why did I do this?'
Ashley was panicking. She couldn't figure out what to do next.
Her hand was already swelling up. Her beautiful, white fingers turned red.
'Calm down, Ashley. He asked for this. You just tried to protect yourself!' Ashley was trying to calm herself down.
'He brought this all on himself. No man would poke a girl's face like that! I was just trying to protect myself. If you really want to poke a face, poke yours!'
Although loud, the slap didn't hurt Andrew much. It really was not a big deal in comparison to what he had suffered in the past.
Andrew recovered from the shock and saw Ashley staring at him in embarrassment. He wasn't upset at all. Her cheeks were puffed out in anger. The only thing on Andrew's mind right now was how cute she looked. He just wanted to poke those cheeks.
But he didn't. He knew his limits. If he crossed the line, she would just slap him again.
"My apologies. I didn't mean to offend you but I just couldn't help it," said Andrew. He looked at Ashley earnestly.
Ashley had mentally prepared a whole bunch of excuses for her actions, but Andrew didn't give her a chance to say a word. She gulped uneasily.
Andrew had apologized in all sincerity, so she decided to let it go.
"Alright, just this once!" she said.
Andrew didn't respond. He loved teasing her. How could he promise it would be the last time?
Ashley took his silence as agreement. She didn't say another word either.
Josef who was driving couldn't believe what he had just seen in the car.
He thought he was delusional.
It was just too hard for him to believe that the guy in the backseat apologizing to the lady was his normally cold and ruthless boss.
His boss was not the kind to apologize to a girl, especially one who had just slapped him.
He suddenly remembered Johnny's words. He had told him to be careful about what he saw in the car, keep his eyes on the road and his mouth shut.
It seemed like Johnny had preempted this sort of situations.
Josef appreciated the fact that he had told him beforehand what he should do in these scenarios.
Josef and Johnny were not related. They just happened to have the same last name.
Josef was formal and exact but tactless too. He was a bit of slow compared to Johnny. Johnny was a smart man. He could be as flexible as the situation demanded. That was why Andrew absorbed him into the business, and kept Josef as his driver.
"What do you want for dinner?" Andrew asked, moving closer to Ashley.
Ashley's mind was not on food, but when Andrew mentioned it, she felt her stomach rumbling. She thought about the dinner that she and Ellie had made. She didn't even get a chance to taste it. She just wanted to tear this man apart.
But Ashley would not waste her energy on anger right now.
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