Chapter 9 A Phone Call

Yusuf froze all of a sudden. Embarrassment was evident on his face when Maya looked at him. But she didn't mean anything bad when she looked at him. On the contrary, she had the same expression that the dog held. Both of them looked innocent and cute.

"It's already past dinner hours, so I only cooked the noodles. I do apologize for my poor hospitality." Remembering how hungry his dog was, Maya could only guess how long he and the dog had been waiting outside the door.

This man was truly strange... He was unwilling to ring the doorbell, but he waited so long for her to come out. If she hadn't come out to throw her garbage tonight, perhaps he would've starved for the rest of the evening.

Yusuf uttered no response to her statement. Instead, he pursed his lips and introduced himself, "My name is Yusuf Song."

This time, Maya was the one who didn't know how to respond. 'Eh?' She tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear, taken aback by his sudden introduction. She stared at him for a long time before she got ahold of herself and said, "Maya mo. That's my name. It's a pleasure to meet you, neighbor."

Maya would rarely take the initiative to talk to strangers. But whenever she was forced to socialize with other people, she would make them think that she was an extrovert.

The two of them were neighbors, who both happened to be geeks living alone. They had a lot of things in common, so Maya thought they could be friends. In addition, she figured it wouldn't be a good idea to bear an indifferent expression all the time.

With those thoughts in mind, she decided to be a good neighbor.

On the other hand, Yusuf had never been keen on making friends with others. He was a cold and strange character. Back when he was still in school, the other students thought that he was too aloof for his own good, so nobody tried to befriend him. As time passed by, he got used to the solitude. When he was still in the US, he had been accosted by flirtatious and bold foreign women. Some of them even had the gall to visit his house and try to seduce him. Sadly, he rejected all of them arrogantly, making them feel too ashamed to proceed with their plan.

However, this girl standing before him was different. She had obviously been amazed by his appearance, and they had already met on several occasions. To top it off, they were now neighbors. But she still appeared to be disinterested in him. At this point, he had enough reason to believe that she had no desire for him. She was just a girl who enjoyed the comfort of her own home.

Nodding his head, he said, "Nice to meet you."

Maya rolled her eyes to the side and said, "Mr. Song, perhaps you should go and eat the noodles. In the meantime, I'll see if I can find someone to open the door for you."

"Oh, you don't have to go through all the trouble yourself. Maybe you can just lend me your phone, so I can call my friend?" Despite knowing her name and realizing that she had no ulterior motives, Yusuf was still annoyed at the thought of speaking to someone. However, he had no choice but to speak this time.

Maya pointed at the phone on the table and said, "You can go ahead and eat first. Once you're done eating, you can make the phone call. I need to go out and throw the garbage away."

The thought of having a man alone at her home was strange to her, but she had to leave him by himself. Soon, she donned her down jacket, gloves, and scarf, fully wrapping herself to brave the elements outside. She had to protect herself from the cold despite the fact she only had to throw away the trash.

"Well... Perhaps I can throw it away for you when I leave?" Yusuf sounded a little awkward. He stared at her in astonishment. 'How can she let me, a stranger, stay at her home by myself?' he thought. He didn't usually display such distress and embarrassment, but this time it was apparent on his face.

Hearing his suggestion, Maya turned around and gazed at him in confusion. A second later, she understood what he meant. By this point, she was certain that Yusuf Song was a lonely, lonely man. So, she tried her best to smile as gently as possible and said, "Don't worry, there's nothing valuable inside my house." After she said that, she said in her mind, 'Based on your clothes and your precious dog, I'm pretty sure that you're rich. Why would you bother to steal anything from my house?'

Before Yusuf could refute, Maya had already taken the garbage bags and stepped out of the door.

At this point, he was rendered speechless. 'Is she really not scared at the possibility that I might take over her house and lock her outside?'

It would seem that Yusuf was amused by his own thoughts. Then, with a helpless smile on his face, he shook his head in disbelief.

Striding towards the dining table, he didn't bother to cast a glance at the decorations and furnishings of the house despite his curiosity. All he took notice of was the bowl of fragrant noodles that was now before him.

There was an egg and some chopped green onions sprinkled on the noodles, and it smelled divine. The aroma was so inviting that he rubbed his grumbling stomach, pressed his lips, and sat down. Then, he took the chopsticks and began to eat elegantly.

And sure enough... It tasted heavenly.

Maya had taken the fact that men ate more than women into consideration, so she had cooked a large portion of noodles for Yusuf. In truth, he didn't usually eat that much, but this time, he finished the entire bowl of noodles.

His pale red lips had been moistened by the soup, and its color became more inviting.

When Maya finally came back and opened the door, she saw the man with his back to her. He was holding her white phone, and said in a cold tone,

"Well, she went out..."

"Mr. Song."

Before Yusuf could reach the end of his sentence, he abruptly heard a sweet voice coming from behind him. The person on the other end of the line seemed to have heard her voice, so Yusuf said to him, "Yes, she's back."

There was an indescribable frown on Maya's face for a second, but she quickly brushed it off. She thought to herself, 'He already mentioned me to his friend on the phone?'

Not long after, Yusuf turned about and gave her the phone with a tinge of hesitation on his face. "Miss Mo, my friend, Andy wishes to speak to you."

Maya was taken by surprise. 'What the hell?' she exclaimed in her head.

Nevertheless, she still took the phone and said, "Hey."

The following second, she suddenly realized something. "Andy Xu?"

Hearing her, Yusuf's eyebrows creased. He was already aware that Andy knew Maya, but he wasn't sure if she also knew him.

"Oh, it is you, Maya! How have you been? Did you miss me?" Andy's playful voice resounded from the other end of the line.

With a straight face and a cold tone, Maya asked, "What do you want?" She already had an answer in her heart. Regardless, she said reluctantly, "Wait, I seem to remember that you were planning to buy the house next to Crosby's, but now..."

"Bingo! Since Crosby has gone abroad, then it's meaningless for me to live there. My friend has just come back from the US, so I allowed him to stay there."

Maya was left speechless. 'That was it!'

In reality, Andy wasn't that close to Maya He was the son of a good friend of Crosby's father. A rich young man. In Crosby's own words, this man was arrogant and self-righteous, but he truly cared about Crosby and kept pestering her.

Maya and Crosby were inseparable. And she knew that Andy was truly crazy about Crosby, and was willing to follow her every word.

Anyone who met him would think that he was at the terminal stage of "Crosby Admiration Cancer".

Maya was surprised of how small the world was. Her new neighbor was best friend of her own best friend's pursuer. Moreover, she still couldn't understand how Andy would end up being friends with someone like Yusuf. Well, to be fair, he was a cool and noble friend.

"Didn't she go abroad to hide from you?" Andy cried at the airport on the day of Crosby's departure until she finally agreed to see him twice a year.

If there was a reason that Crosby didn't want to come back, it was pretty much because of Andy.