Free Web NovelChapter 62: Chapter 62: A Midnight Phone Call
This must be fate!
Georgia Thorne couldn’t bear to let the kitten starve, but she also couldn’t bring herself to give it away. She was at a loss for what to do.
Miss Lynch took one look at the kitten and said that since it was so small, it would be best for it to be with a mother cat.
She had her own cat, which had just had a litter, come over for a sniff.
The mother cat approached the kitten and sniffed it. At first, she seemed a little resistant and lay down on the floor nearby.
After a moment, she heard the kitten’s incessant, pitiful cries, so she stood up and walked over.
She sniffed the kitten’s scent again, then gently took its head in her mouth and carried it toward the door.
"There we go. Let my cat take care of this little one for now. I’ll bring it back once it’s a bit bigger."
Georgia Thorne was incredibly grateful. She had found a home for the kitten and could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
On a weekend evening, Georgia Thorne had just returned from checking on the kitten at her neighbor Miss Lynch’s house.
She tossed her phone onto the bed, grabbed a change of clothes, and went to take a shower.
She had taken quite a few pictures of the kitten. After her shower, she picked up her phone, planning to select some of the cuter ones to post on social media.
She picked up her phone, but before she could even turn on the screen, a call came in.
It was a number she knew all too well. For the past six years, she had committed it to memory, dialing it tirelessly, countless times, only to find it was disconnected.
Now, Justin Sullivan was back, and so was his number.
She hesitated, unsure if she should answer.
She glanced at the time. It was already ten o’clock. ’Why is he calling me?’
Georgia Thorne tried to convince herself to answer the phone.
’Since I’ve decided to think of Justin Sullivan as family from now on, as Selena’s boyfriend, then I have nothing to be wary of.’
She took a few deep breaths, and her trembling thumb swiped across the screen.
When the phone screen displayed that the call was connected, the steady breaths she had just managed to take became ragged and uneven.
"Who is this?" she asked, feigning ignorance, her tone perfectly pleasant.
’A voice inside her head kept telling her to just pretend she didn’t know.’
’That would be better for everyone.’
There was a half-minute of silence on the line. Justin Sullivan didn’t say a word.
"Hello? If you don’t say anything, I’m going to hang up."
The words had barely left her lips when Justin Sullivan’s voice came through the phone. "Georgia, have you forgotten even my number?"
The last four digits of Justin Sullivan’s phone number were 0823—Georgia Thorne’s birthday.
Justin Sullivan had chosen it specifically. Even if Georgia forgot his phone number, she would never forget her own birthday.
"...Sorry, I’ve been getting a lot of calls lately, so I didn’t realize it was you," Georgia said with a laugh. "Oh, so this is your number. That’s strange. Wasn’t it disconnected after you went abroad?"
"This number is very important to me, so I had it reactivated," Justin Sullivan replied. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"..."
’Very important? What does he mean by that?’
’Is it because the last digits are my birthday?’
Georgia had no idea how to respond. She felt like every word Justin Sullivan said backed her into a corner.
"Georgia, are you free right now? I’d like to see you," Justin Sullivan said after a long silence, getting no response from her.
’He called just to ask me out?’
"I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well. I was already in bed. If it’s something important, can it wait until tomorrow?"
Georgia rejected him outright.
’She couldn’t go out. She couldn’t meet Justin Sullivan alone.’
’She had already told herself, point-blank, that she had to end this. She couldn’t let herself entertain any other ideas.’
"It’s nothing important. I just wanted to ask you about the kitten."
"Oh, is that it? The kitten has a mother cat looking after it now, so you don’t have to worry. My next-door neighbor, an elderly woman, has a cat that just had a litter, so I’m letting the kitten stay with her for a while."
When Georgia started talking about the cat, her words flowed more easily, her tone less stiff. "They aren’t related by blood, but the mother cat doesn’t reject it at all. A mother’s instinct is truly amazing. My neighbor said the mother cat has probably already accepted the kitten as one of her own."
On the other end of the line, Justin Sullivan remained silent, just listening quietly to Georgia’s voice.
Georgia’s voice was lovely—soft and sweet, with a clear, bright quality that set it apart from other girls’.
Georgia realized she had said too much.
She tended to get carried away whenever she talked about cats.
"Sorry, I’m rambling. You probably don’t want to hear all this."
"No!" ’It wasn’t that. He just desperately wanted to hear her voice.’
Justin Sullivan took a deep breath, his grip tightening on his phone. "It’s getting late, and you have work tomorrow. I won’t bother you any longer."
"Okay, goodbye," Georgia replied, hanging up.
Her voice, calm until the very end, trembled on the last word.
She let out a long breath. ’Just give it some more time,’ she thought. ’It’ll be okay.’
’Right now, it’s really not.’
Georgia turned off the light and lay in bed, but she couldn’t fall asleep.
’Her mind raced. What did Justin Sullivan want to meet her for?’
Unable to sleep, she tossed and turned before finally switching on the light, getting up, and going to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Down below Georgia’s apartment building, a black car was parked at the intersection, directly facing her window.
The car window was down, and thin wisps of white smoke curled out from inside, drawing a curious glance from a passerby.
The man inside the car was smoking.
Sitting in the driver’s seat was Justin Sullivan.
What Georgia didn’t know was that when Justin Sullivan had called her, he was right downstairs.
He finished one cigarette, tossed it, and immediately lit another.
He had finally been unable to resist picking up his phone to call Georgia, but there was no answer. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Undeterred, he had tried two more times before Georgia finally answered.
The moment she picked up, he had been happy, regardless of whether she had been deliberately ignoring his calls.
But in the next second, he was plunged into despair. Georgia didn’t even recognize his personal number.
’She said she was going to sleep, but her light was still on. It was a gentle rejection.’
’Georgia was avoiding him as much as she possibly could.’
She was more talkative about a cat than she was with him.
An indescribable feeling washed over him. After hanging up, he chain-smoked the rest of the cigarettes in the pack.
He saw her light turn off, only for it to turn back on a moment later.
Justin Sullivan finished all the cigarettes he had in the car.
But still, he was unwilling to leave, his profound gaze fixed on Georgia’s window.
Only when Georgia’s light went out for a second time did he glance down at his watch. It was already midnight.
’She was clearly staying up late, yet she had lied to him.’
A pile of cigarette butts littered the ground outside his car. He rolled up the window before picking up his phone from the console.
He glanced at the missed calls. They were all from Selena Sheridan.
He called her back, and she picked up instantly.
Selena’s happy voice chirped, "Jean!"
"Sorry, I was in the shower. I didn’t hear it ring."
"Oh, are you about to go to sleep?"
There was a hint of disappointment in Selena’s voice; she had been so happy to finally get a call back from Justin Sullivan.
"Yeah. You should get some sleep, too."
"Okay," Selena replied, though she sounded reluctant.
