- 3 months ago
Step into a world of passion, power, and drama. On this channel, you’ll find captivating billionaire romances, intense mafia sagas, and heartfelt love stories that will keep you hooked until the very last word.
Whether it’s the allure of wealth, the danger of the underworld, or the beauty of love against all odds — Ashley’s Stories brings you tales that are bold, emotional, and unforgettable.
💖 Subscribe now and lose yourself in stories of desire, danger, and destiny.
Whether it’s the allure of wealth, the danger of the underworld, or the beauty of love against all odds — Ashley’s Stories brings you tales that are bold, emotional, and unforgettable.
💖 Subscribe now and lose yourself in stories of desire, danger, and destiny.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00It began on a Thursday morning.
00:02Sunlight pouring through the wide windows of my apartment like it always did,
00:07spreading itself across the marble floor,
00:09the pale linen curtains,
00:11the quiet rhythm of my solitude.
00:14I liked my mornings clean and quiet.
00:16Coffee, emails, structure.
00:18I had built my life around control.
00:21Not the loud, demanding kind,
00:22but the kind that looks effortless from the outside.
00:26Then he arrived.
00:28He was supposed to be temporary.
00:31A tenant.
00:32That's what I told myself when I opened the door to a young man
00:35with too much sunlight in his eyes
00:36and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
00:40He smiled, a little too easily,
00:42and introduced himself as Evan.
00:45His voice was low, polite,
00:47but beneath it, something restless.
00:50I remember how the light caught the edge of his jaw,
00:54how his black shirt clung to him in that careless, undone way,
00:58the top button open,
01:00the sleeves half rolled,
01:01like he didn't quite know the effect he had.
01:03Or maybe he did.
01:05This place looks even better than the pictures,
01:08he said, stepping inside.
01:10Most things do in daylight, I replied.
01:13My tone was dry, practiced.
01:15I never let people get too close too quickly.
01:17I gestured toward the spare room down the hall.
01:20That's yours, if you're still interested.
01:23He smiled again.
01:24Slower this time,
01:25like he'd caught something in my voice.
01:28I'm interested.
01:29It should have been routine.
01:31A simple arrangement.
01:32I had the space.
01:33He needed it.
01:34But there was a pause when he passed me in the narrow hallway.
01:37A breath too long.
01:39A glance that landed and stayed.
01:41I told myself it was nothing.
01:43Just awareness.
01:45A natural byproduct of proximity.
01:47Except awareness has a way of growing.
01:49Days passed.
01:51And he fit into my apartment like he'd always been there.
01:54His footsteps in the kitchen.
01:56His laughter from the balcony when he spoke on the phone.
01:58The space began to sound different.
02:00Lived in.
02:01Alive.
02:03And I began to notice him in ways I shouldn't have.
02:06The way he moved.
02:08Unguarded.
02:09Easy in his skin.
02:11He was twenty-two.
02:12Maybe twenty-three.
02:14I didn't ask.
02:15I didn't need to.
02:17Youth has a texture.
02:18You can feel it before you name it.
02:20It's in the way they look at the world as if it still belongs to them.
02:24One afternoon, I found him fixing the blinds in the living room.
02:29Sunlight hit his hair and turned it gold.
02:31His shirt was half unbuttoned again, and I could see the line of his collarbone.
02:36It was ridiculous, how aware I became of something as simple as that.
02:40You didn't have to do that, I said.
02:43Standing a little too far, pretending not to notice how he reached up.
02:47Muscles flexing.
02:48I don't mind, he said.
02:49You do enough around here.
02:51The words were simple.
02:53Harmless.
02:54But his tone wasn't.
02:56There was something tender in it.
02:58An acknowledgement.
02:59Quiet but deliberate.
03:01I turned away before he could see what it did to me.
03:04At night, when the city glowed below the window and my apartment settled into its hush,
03:09I could hear him.
03:09The faint sound of music from his room.
03:12The soft tread of his feet.
03:14It shouldn't have mattered.
03:15But silence has a way of magnifying what you're trying not to feel.
03:19I told myself it was loneliness.
03:22The kind that creeps in when everything else in your life looks perfect.
03:25I told myself I was too old to be noticing someone like him.
03:29But there's something cruel about attraction.
03:32It doesn't ask for permission.
03:34And it doesn't care for logic.
03:35One morning, I caught him standing by the counter.
03:38Shirt undone again.
03:40Hair messy.
03:41Pouring coffee into my favorite mug.
03:43The one with the small crack on the handle.
03:46I should have said something.
03:47Instead, I just watched him for a moment.
03:50The morning light tracing his shoulders.
03:52His throat.
03:52The soft smile that appeared when he finally noticed me.
03:56You're up early, he said.
03:59So are you, I replied.
04:02He tilted his head, studying me.
04:04You always look like you're thinking about something serious.
04:07Maybe I am.
04:09What about?
04:11Boundaries, I said before I could stop myself.
04:14He smiled at that.
04:16Slow, amused.
04:17A flicker of understanding behind it.
04:20Should I be worried?
04:21Yes, I said.
04:23Probably.
04:24He laughed.
04:25And I turned away.
04:27But the sound followed me.
04:28Warm, unguarded, and far too close.
04:32It's strange how tension builds.
04:35Not in grand gestures, but in small things.
04:38The way his hand brushed mine when passing a dish.
04:40The way he leaned against the doorway when I spoke.
04:43His eyes tracing every word.
04:44The way he listened.
04:46The way he listened.
04:46The way he listened.
04:46The way he listened.
04:46Really listened.
04:47When I talked about my work.
04:49My life.
04:50The choices I'd made to keep everything steady.
04:54One evening, the city outside turned gold with sunset.
04:57I was sitting at my desk, reviewing something half-heartedly, when he knocked lightly on my door.
05:04Come in, I said without looking up.
05:07He stepped in anyway, hesitating at the threshold like he knew he shouldn't.
05:12Sorry, I just…
05:14The internet's acting weird.
05:16Can I use your Wi-Fi for a bit?
05:18I gestured to the couch.
05:20Sure.
05:20He sat down too close.
05:22The air shifted.
05:23I could feel the heat of him.
05:25Not touching.
05:26Just there.
05:27My pulse picked up, uninvited.
05:29He smelled like something faint and clean.
05:32Soap.
05:32Sunlight.
05:33Youth.
05:34He leaned forward to plug in his laptop, and his shoulder brushed my arm.
05:39Barely.
05:40But enough.
05:41I felt it like a spark, quick and unwelcome.
05:45Thanks, he murmured, voice low.
05:47I looked at him then.
05:49Really looked.
05:50And he looked back.
05:51Not like a tenant.
05:53Not like someone renting a room.
05:55There was no pretense left in his eyes.
05:57Just awareness.
05:58Sharp, deliberate, and mirrored.
06:01I should have pulled away.
06:02Said something, anything, to remind us both where the line was.
06:05Instead, I just breathed.
06:07He didn't move.
06:08Neither did I.
06:09The air between us thickened.
06:11Quiet.
06:12Suspended.
06:14The kind of silence that hums.
06:16Outside, the city glowed with gold light.
06:19But inside, it felt like the world had narrowed to this.
06:23Breath and stillness.
06:25And the steady thrum beneath my ribs.
06:28Finally, he spoke.
06:30Barely above a whisper.
06:32You know this doesn't feel like just rent, right?
06:35My throat went dry.
06:36I managed a smile that wasn't really one.
06:39You should be careful what you say.
06:41He leaned back, eyes still on me.
06:44I don't think I can.
06:46I looked away.
06:48At the sunlight spilling across the floor.
06:50At the faint reflection of us in the glass.
06:52It was the kind of moment that changed everything without meaning to.
06:57Because after that, every glance lingered.
07:00Every word carried weight.
07:02And every time I heard his footsteps in the hall, I knew, whatever this was, it wasn't harmless anymore.
07:08For a long time, neither of us moved.
07:13The afternoon light had softened into amber.
07:16Sliding across the floor and catching on the glass edges of the room.
07:20He was still there beside me.
07:22Close enough that I could hear the quiet rhythm of his breathing.
07:26Steady.
07:27Patient.
07:27Waiting.
07:28I should get back to work.
07:30I said, finally.
07:32My voice quieter than I intended.
07:34He didn't move.
07:35You don't want me to.
07:37I turned to look at him.
07:38Forcing a small, restrained smile.
07:41You're very sure of yourself.
07:43I'm sure of this.
07:44He said.
07:45His gaze steady.
07:47Whatever it is.
07:48There was no arrogance in his tone.
07:50Only truth.
07:51Unvarnished.
07:52He wasn't trying to win.
07:54He was simply telling me what we both already knew.
07:56I stood.
07:57Trying to create space.
07:59But he followed a beat later.
08:01Not toward me.
08:02Just after me.
08:03The subtlety of it made it worse.
08:05His nearness.
08:06His calmness.
08:08His youth threaded with something older.
08:11Restraint that mirrored mine.
08:13I said it was just rent.
08:16I murmured.
08:17Half to myself.
08:19And do you still believe that?
08:20I wanted to say yes.
08:22To put this back in its box and walk away.
08:25But something in me.
08:27Something that had been silent for years.
08:29Was done pretending.
08:32Evan.
08:32His name felt too intimate on my tongue.
08:35I exhaled.
08:36You should go out for a while.
08:37Get some air.
08:38He smiled faintly.
08:40Not unkindly.
08:41You think air's the problem?
08:42I almost laughed.
08:44Almost.
08:45But laughter would have cracked something wide open.
08:48And I wasn't ready for that.
08:49Instead, I walked to the balcony doors and opened them.
08:54The city hum rushed in.
08:55Distant voices.
08:57The low rumble of traffic.
08:58Life moving forward while mine stood still.
09:01I leaned on the railing.
09:03My heart beating in my throat.
09:05He came to stand beside me.
09:07Leaving just enough space for decency.
09:10Not enough for peace.
09:11The sunlight reflected off the glass buildings opposite.
09:15Turning everything into gold.
09:16You don't look like someone who lets things happen.
09:19He said softly.
09:21I don't.
09:22So why me?
09:24It was an unfair question and he knew it.
09:26But I couldn't lie.
09:27Because you make everything feel...
09:29Unfinished.
09:30I said.
09:31Like there's still something left to want.
09:34He was quiet for a moment.
09:35When he spoke again, his voice had changed.
09:39Lower.
09:39Gentler.
09:40Maybe you should let yourself want it then.
09:43I turned to him.
09:44That's not how it works.
09:46Maybe it should be.
09:48There it was again.
09:49The quiet defiance.
09:51The kind that doesn't raise its voice but makes you listen anyway.
09:55I hated how much I admired it.
09:56I stepped back inside first, breaking whatever spell the moment was weaving.
10:02He didn't follow this time.
10:04He just watched me go.
10:05And that somehow felt more intimate than touch.
10:08The days that followed blurred at the edges.
10:11I tried to anchor myself in routine.
10:14Work calls.
10:15Morning runs.
10:16Carefully timed silences.
10:18But the air in the apartment had changed.
10:21Every shared space became a negotiation.
10:24The kitchen.
10:25The hallway.
10:26The living room bathed in morning light.
10:28It wasn't what we said.
10:30It was what we didn't.
10:32His gaze would find mine across the counter.
10:36I'd reach for a glass and feel the heat of his body a step behind me.
10:40The smallest things grew heavy with meaning.
10:43One afternoon, I dropped a stack of papers near the window.
10:46He was there in an instant, crouching to help.
10:49Our hands brushed.
10:51That was all.
10:52But it stopped everything.
10:54Neither of us moved.
10:55His fingers were warm, calloused.
10:58Trembling just enough to betray him.
11:00When I finally looked up, his face was closer than it should have been.
11:05His eyes, that mix of restraint and want, held mine.
11:08The sunlight made his skin glow.
11:10Turned his black shirt into shadow and light.
11:14Don't.
11:15I whispered.
11:16I'm not doing anything.
11:18Yes, you are.
11:20He smiled faintly, but his voice was steady.
11:24So are you, the papers fell between us, forgotten.
11:27The silence stretched until it became unbearable.
11:29Then, he exhaled, long and quiet, and stood.
11:34Okay, he said, taking a step back.
11:37I'll stop.
11:39He walked away, and the sound of it, his footsteps fading down the hall,
11:43left the room emptier than it had ever been.
11:46That night, I couldn't sleep.
11:49The city outside glittered like it was alive just to mock me.
11:52I tried reading, tried music, even tried work.
11:55But every thought circled back to him.
11:58The way he looked at me without apology.
12:00The way I kept finding reasons not to look away.
12:02At some point past midnight, I heard him in the kitchen.
12:08The faint clink of glass, water running.
12:11I told myself not to go.
12:13And then I went.
12:14He was leaning against the counter, hair tousled, half asleep,
12:19wearing that same black shirt.
12:21Open again, of course.
12:22As if sunlight had never left it.
12:25He froze when he saw me.
12:26Neither of us spoke.
12:28The apartment was quiet except for the hum of the refrigerator
12:31and the city's distant pulse.
12:33I couldn't sleep, I said, though it wasn't an explanation.
12:39He nodded.
12:40Me neither.
12:41We stood there a few feet apart.
12:43It should have been ordinary, forgettable, but it wasn't.
12:46Because when you want something you shouldn't,
12:49even silence feels like confession.
12:50I took a step closer.
12:53He didn't move.
12:54Just watched, breathing slow,
12:57eyes tracing the shape of my hesitation.
13:00This is wrong, I whispered.
13:02I know.
13:04Then why?
13:06Because it feels right, he said quietly.
13:09I should have walked away.
13:11I didn't.
13:12Instead, I reached out, not to touch, not yet,
13:14just to close the distance.
13:16My hand hovered near his arm,
13:18close enough that I could feel the heat of his skin.
13:21He waited, utterly still.
13:24Say stop, I murmured.
13:27He didn't.
13:29The moment stretched thin as glass.
13:32One breath.
13:33One heartbeat and everything changed.
13:35Not in a rush, not with hunger,
13:38but with something deeper.
13:39Surrender wrapped in stillness.
13:42I didn't touch him.
13:42I just let my fingers fall away,
13:45the ghost of contact enough to undo me.
13:48He exhaled shakily,
13:50his eyes never leaving mine.
13:52You're not what I expected.
13:55Neither are you.
13:56He smiled.
13:57Small.
13:58Rueful.
13:59You scare me.
14:01Good.
14:02And yet beneath the words there was warmth.
14:05A kind of gentleness that came from knowing this was no longer about right or wrong.
14:10It was about truth.
14:12He stepped back,
14:14giving me space.
14:15And I realized that's what undid me most.
14:19The respect.
14:20The patience.
14:21The quiet promise and the restraint.
14:23I turned away first.
14:25My heart still racing.
14:27My hands trembling just enough to betray me.
14:30Behind me,
14:31his voice came softly,
14:32almost a whisper.
14:33You can keep pretending this is harmless if it helps.
14:36But I think we both know it's already something else.
14:39I didn't answer.
14:41But when I finally went to bed,
14:44the sheets felt too cold,
14:45the silence too loud,
14:47and every breath I took carried his name somewhere inside it.
14:50The next morning the city woke in gold.
14:55I hadn't slept much.
14:56The hours had stretched long and uneven,
14:59filled with the memory of his voice.
15:01Low.
15:02Certain.
15:03Impossible to forget.
15:06I made coffee the way I always did.
15:09Two cups,
15:10though I told myself one was enough.
15:12The kitchen was bright,
15:14every surface catching light.
15:16Control.
15:17Order.
15:18Familiar lies.
15:19When he finally appeared,
15:22hair damp,
15:23shirt the same black one half open again,
15:25he looked both hesitant and fearless.
15:28Morning,
15:29he said softly.
15:30I nodded.
15:31Coffee's ready.
15:32He took the mug from me,
15:33fingers brushing mine.
15:35Not by accident this time.
15:37We both knew it.
15:38The world didn't tilt,
15:40but something inside me steadied,
15:42like acknowledgement after denial.
15:45For a while,
15:45neither of us spoke.
15:47The apartment felt too full of things unsaid.
15:50Then he said,
15:51I meant what I said last night.
15:54I looked at him.
15:56Which part?
15:57That this isn't just rent.
15:59A quiet laugh escaped me.
16:01Dry,
16:02tired,
16:03real.
16:04You have a way of saying things I spend weeks trying not to feel.
16:07Maybe you shouldn't have to fight so hard.
16:11Maybe you don't know what it costs,
16:13I murmured.
16:15He set his mug down carefully.
16:17Then tell me I didn't.
16:19Not right away.
16:20Instead,
16:20I walked to the window.
16:22Outside,
16:22the day was bright.
16:24People moving below like the world had no idea how heavy some mornings could be.
16:28I've spent years building a life that doesn't need anyone,
16:33I said finally.
16:34People see the apartment,
16:36the job,
16:36the calm,
16:37and they think I'm unshakable.
16:39But that calm is built on walls.
16:41I like control because it's safe.
16:43And I ruin that,
16:45he said quietly.
16:46I turned,
16:48meeting his gaze.
16:49You unravel it,
16:50he smiled,
16:51small,
16:51sad.
16:52Maybe it needed unraveling.
16:54The day moved slowly.
16:55He left for class,
16:56and I tried to work but every line blurred.
16:58By afternoon,
16:59I found myself standing in his empty room,
17:02sunlight spilling across his desk,
17:04his jacket draped over a chair.
17:06It smelled faintly of cedar and youth and warmth.
17:10I sat on the edge of the bed,
17:12hands clasped,
17:14the quiet pressing in.
17:15The truth was simple.
17:17I didn't just want him.
17:18I wanted what being near him made me remember,
17:21that I was still capable of wanting anything at all.
17:24That evening,
17:25he returned to find me on the balcony.
17:28The city glowed again,
17:30windows flickering like small fires.
17:33You were right,
17:34I said before he could speak.
17:36He leaned against the doorframe.
17:39About what?
17:40About wanting.
17:41About not fighting it.
17:43He waited,
17:44still impatient.
17:46I keep thinking about consequences,
17:48I went on.
17:49About judgment.
17:51About age.
17:52About what people would say if they knew.
17:53But then I realize,
17:55no one's living this life except me.
17:58No one's waking up in this apartment.
18:00With this light.
18:01With this heart.
18:02He stepped closer.
18:04The golden air wrapping around us both.
18:06Then stopped living for what they'd think.
18:09I don't know how.
18:11Then let me help.
18:13His hand lifted.
18:15Hesitated.
18:16Then rested gently on my shoulder.
18:17A simple touch that held everything.
18:20Respect.
18:21Hope.
18:21Restraint.
18:22I closed my eyes.
18:24For once,
18:24I didn't fight it.
18:26The days that followed felt lighter.
18:28Not perfect.
18:29Just clearer.
18:30We didn't name what was happening between us.
18:33We didn't need to.
18:34It lived in the way he waited for me to come home.
18:37The way I found myself leaving the door slightly open at night.
18:40As if the air needed to breathe between our rooms.
18:43One Sunday morning,
18:46the apartment filled with music.
18:48He was cooking.
18:49Terribly.
18:51And the smell of burnt toast drifted down the hall.
18:54I walked in laughing.
18:56You're going to set the smoke alarm off, I said.
18:59Worth it, he replied.
19:01You smiled.
19:02I froze at that.
19:03Not because of the words,
19:04but because he was right.
19:05I hadn't noticed how rare that had become.
19:08He handed me a piece of toast that was barely edible.
19:11I took it anyway.
19:13Do you regret letting me stay?
19:15He asked suddenly.
19:17I looked at him,
19:18sunlight spilling over his face,
19:20turning his hair gold.
19:22No, I said.
19:23Not even a little.
19:25He nodded,
19:26but his expression softened into something uncertain.
19:29You know, you could still ask me to leave.
19:31If this is too complicated.
19:33It is complicated, I admitted.
19:35But maybe that's what makes it real.
19:38He smiled then.
19:39Slow, relieved, genuine,
19:42and reached for my hand across the counter.
19:45I didn't pull away.
19:47Weeks later,
19:48I caught my reflection in the window,
19:50hair loose,
19:51eyes softer,
19:52posture unguarded.
19:52The woman staring back at me looked alive in a way I hadn't seen in years.
19:58He was beside me,
19:59reading something on his laptop,
20:01sunlight pooling around us.
20:04Ordinary, peaceful, steady.
20:06I realized then that love,
20:08real love,
20:09isn't the lightning strike.
20:11It's the stillness after,
20:13when the air is clean and warm and safe again.
20:16He looked up.
20:18You're staring,
20:19just thinking,
20:20I said.
20:21About what?
20:22That sometimes,
20:23I smiled.
20:24The best things begin with the lies we tell ourselves.
20:27He laughed softly,
20:29reached over,
20:30and brushed his thumb against my wrist.
20:33A touch that felt like both a promise and a question.
20:36This doesn't have to end, does it?
20:39He asked.
20:40No,
20:40I said simply.
20:41Not if we keep choosing it.
20:44That evening,
20:45we sat together on the balcony,
20:47the sun lowering behind the glass towers,
20:50the city glowing in gold and rose.
20:52I leaned into him,
20:54not a surrender,
20:55not a weakness,
20:56but an answer.
20:58For the first time in years,
21:00I felt no need to explain myself.
21:02I had said it was just rent.
21:04I had said it to keep the world in order,
21:07to keep my heart quiet.
21:08But now,
21:10in the hush of the fading light,
21:12his hand resting over mine,
21:13the truth felt simple.
21:15I didn't need to justify love that made me feel alive.
21:19The city shimmered below us,
21:21windows reflecting the last of the day.
21:24He turned to me,
21:25smiling that easy,
21:26youthful smile that had once unsettled me,
21:28and now felt like home.
21:31Still think I should be careful what I say?
21:33He teased.
21:34I met his gaze,
21:35my voice soft but sure.
21:37No,
21:38say it.
21:39He leaned closer,
21:40sunlight catching the corner of his mouth.
21:42Then I'll say it.
21:44I love you.
21:45And I,
21:46finally free of hesitation,
21:47answered,
21:48I know.
21:49The world outside kept moving,
21:51but up here,
21:52in the warmth,
21:53in the light,
21:54in the quiet we had built together,
21:56everything felt still,
21:58not perfect.
21:59Just real.
22:01If this story made you feel something,
22:04leave a comment.
22:05Tell me which moment stayed with you.
22:07Hear a tap subscribe
22:08so you don't miss the next love
22:09that shouldn't have happened.
22:11But did.
22:12Your words keep these stories alive.
22:14Every read,
22:15every reaction matters.
Comments