Chapter 367 Lulling Her to Sleep
"I was just in a meeting," Alexander finally said to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was stunned. "What did you say?"
"They all heard it," Alexander said truthfully.
"You're so annoying! I'm so embarrassed! How am I supposed to face them now?" Elizabeth blushed.
Alexander, however, was unfazed. "They think my wife is very cute."
Elizabeth was silent.
"And besides, I haven't had enough of your sweet talk. Now you can be as affectionate and teasing as you want, because it's just me here." Even as Alexander said this, his tone remained incredibly calm.
Elizabeth said softly, "Honey! You're so annoying!"
"Is this you being cuddly with me?" Alexander asked.
He loved it when she acted coy; even if he couldn't see it, he could imagine it. Despite her usual cold and composed demeanor, she loved being affectionate in private.
However, being asked like this by Alexander, Elizabeth felt a bit embarrassed. But Alexander had no intention of letting her off. "Give me a kiss."
Elizabeth said playfully, "I don't want to talk to you!"
Alexander chuckled. "That means you want me to punish you!"
Elizabeth said, "Come on! Punish me now!"
Alexander shook his head. "I can't come over right now."
"Then when can you come over? How are things going? How come your meeting lasted so long? Is Alice asleep?" she asked in quick succession.
She was worried about him being tired and Alice not being used to it, as it was the first time they had been separated since Alice was born.
"Don't worry; Alice is sleeping soundly. Once I finish things here, I'll bring her over right away," Alexander said.
"There's nothing to worry about back at my old home," Elizabeth said.
Strangely, she hadn't wanted to sleep earlier. Now, lying in bed and listening to Alexander's call, she slowly began to feel sleepy.
"Honey, don't hang up," she said.
"Okay," Alexander replied on the other end. "What story do you want to hear?"
She thought for a long time but couldn't come up with one. She had never heard stories as a child; her parents were too busy to tell her bedtime stories.
"Kiss me again, and I'll tell you a story," Alexander said.
She obediently kissed Alexander over the phone.
"Once upon a time, there was a girl..." Alexander's voice was warm and gentle.
"And then?" she yawned.
"The girl was stubborn and proud. And even though she really liked a man, she pretended to hate him in front of him."
Elizabeth chuckled and yawned again. "What happened next?"
"Then, the proud girl was sweetly conquered by the man, lying in his arms and only able to fall asleep listening to his stories."
Elizabeth fell asleep with a smile on her face.
She slept quite well that night, but without his arm to rest on, she woke up very early the next day. It was just past six in the morning. She had breakfast at the hotel and then went out to hail a cab.
Since she had arrived at the small town from the airport late last night, Elizabeth only felt that the town had been replaced by tall buildings, and now in the daylight, Elizabeth saw that the small town was expanding everywhere.
The town was developing quickly, and she wondered what the village to the west, not far from the town, looked like now.
Probably every household had new houses by now, right?
But her home was surely in ruins.
When Elizabeth left at twelve, her home was still a dilapidated house. After all these years, the house must have collapsed by now, right?
Elizabeth hailed a cab, negotiated the price, and didn't follow Alexander's suggestion of paying a thousand dollars a day to hire the cab. She only gave the driver five hundred dollars to hire him for the day, and the driver was ecstatic. He became very talkative.
"Judging by your outfit, you look like a girl from a big city. Are you here to visit family or friends, or just sightseeing?" the driver asked warmly.
Elizabeth said, "A bit of everything. This town has developed really fast."
The driver replied, "Of course, the town was much smaller twenty years ago. Now it's expanded a lot. Look ahead, there's a high-end community."
"Yes, the scenery here is really beautiful," Elizabeth said perfunctorily.
"You think this is beautiful? The scenery at East Lake is truly beautiful."
Elizabeth was puzzled. Although she had left her hometown fifteen years ago, she remembered that there was no lake in the town when she was a child.
"It's a man-made lake. And they're going to build East Lake. Construction is about to start, and they're mobilizing for demolition right now. It should be in the next few days. Once it's done, our town will be even more beautiful."
Elizabeth suddenly thought that her family home was to the west. She didn't know if her home would be within the construction area.
"Driver, please go faster," Elizabeth urged.
"Okay," the driver said, speeding up.
From the best hotel in town to the west was actually not far, only about 2.5 miles. The further west the driver went, the more signs of impending construction Elizabeth saw.
"Miss, you see, they're about to start construction here," the driver continued to enthusiastically explain to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was no longer in the mood to listen. At the next intersection, Elizabeth said immediately, "Sir, turn left."
The driver nodded instantly.
After a while, Elizabeth said again, "Turn right, sir."
Although the roads had been widened, the route was still the same. Elizabeth had entered the area she was most familiar with. Turning north again and driving another 0.5 miles on a country road should bring her to the village where she had grown up.
However, at the intersection, Elizabeth saw that her village had already started to be demolished, with houses along the road already torn down.
Elizabeth's heart suddenly tightened.
The driver could tell that something was off about her. "Do you have relatives here?"
Elizabeth said, "My home is here."
The driver fell silent. The car continued to move forward, and the driver said as he drove, "They've started construction."
The car stopped, and Elizabeth ran forward like crazy. "Wait!"
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