Forever And A Day

e you doing here?" she asked. Ryan smiled. "I came to congratulate you, of course," he said, holding out a elegantly wrapped gift. Rachel looked stunned. "I didn't invite you," she said, taki

ll, yeah! That's some juicy gossip." Ashley teased, "You're such a gossip queen, Rach. I'm surprised you didn't grill me more about my encounter with Ryan." Rachel's voice was mischievous. "Oh, don't worry, I'll get all the details out of you soon enough." Ashley laughed. "I'm shaking in my boots." As they chatted, Ashley couldn't help but feel a little relieved that the conversation had shifted away from Ryan. She wasn't ready to think about him too much just yet. But as she hung up the phone with Rachel, Ashley couldn't shake the feeling that her encounter with Ryan was only the beginning of something more. ******NEXT MORNING****** Ryan walked into his office building. He was the boss of a multinational conglomerate. His assistant, Mark, greeted him. "Good morning, sir. You have a meeting at 10 am." Ryan nodded and looked at his phone. The elevator doors opened, and Ryan walked out into the busy office. His workers said hello as he passed by. Ryan went into the meeting room, where his team was waiting. "Let's start," he said. As they talked, Ryan was very focused. He asked tough questions and made his team think hard. But then Ryan's mind started to wander. He thought about Ashley, the way she smiled, and the way her eyes sparkled... He remembered when they were in high school together. They would laugh and explore the town... Ryan's eyes snapped back to the present. His team was staring at him. "Sorry, what were we talking about?" he asked. Mark spoke up, "We were talking about the new product launch, sir." Ryan nodded and focused again. But he couldn't stop thinking about Ashley... Ryan tried to push Ashley out of his mind and focus on the meeting. He listened to his team's ideas and made decisions about the new product launch. As the meeting ended, Ryan felt a sense of accomplishment. He had made some tough decisions, but he knew they